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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1891 | 21 |
| 1892 | 21 |
42 stories matching start
- Olympia’s new broom factory wants to sweep the market — and keep it local
A carload of broom corn and machinery is due from Chicago, and George W. Ellis promises three jobs and brooms made on Main Street.
- Armed Robbers Hit the Kitsap Pacific Train at Shelton
Two men boarded the morning train at Shelton, broke into the express car, and held up the messenger and a passenger, making off with money and jewelry.
- Sheriff Rescues Abducted Child in Mud Bay Custody Dispute
A father steals his child; a sheriff's late-night ride ends in recovery and a court date.
- A Chinese Mission School Opens in an Old Olympia Schoolhouse
Eleven Chinese men attended the first meeting of a Presbyterian Sunday-school mission on Fifth Street, where, according to the Church News, several quickly learned the alphabet.
- The Railroad Beats the Steamboat on Puget Sound
Olympia’s favorite steamer Bailey Gatzert makes its last run as Northern Pacific trains drain the passenger trade.
- Three Children Die in Seattle Fire as Father's Rescue Fails
A morning blaze destroyed John Simpson's Seattle home, killing three children asleep upstairs while Simpson and his wife escaped with their baby. Simpson was badly burned in several failed attempts to reach the children.
- The Captain Who Sailed North to Sell Ice — and Found There Wasn't Any
A would-be ice merchant arrived in Puget Sound expecting a frozen market. The climate had other plans, so his crew started cutting piling instead — and stumbled into the region's real fortune.
- He Kept a Dead Man's Skull as a Souvenir — and the Paper Printed the Story
Writing from North Yakima in 1892, Milburn G. Wills recalls the 1855 volunteer campaign that broke the Yakama resistance — the forced marches, the starving commands, the men shot beside him, and the trophy he carried home.
- Seattle's Election Was Supposed to Draw 8,000. Then the Fraud Reports Started.
With 10,841 names on the rolls, officials expected a big vote—but blank registration certificates were circulating, and Tacoma police found Seattle papers on men arrested as hobos.
- The Governor Who Filled Washington Returns, and Finds It Full
Sixteen years after leaving office, former territorial governor Edward Salomon walks back into an Olympia hotel and finds old friends grown wealthy — and a young state he helped populate now competing with Seattle and Tacoma for its own future.
- A Rainy Election, and a Runaway Horse
Olympia’s municipal election unfolds in rain and quiet, with saloons shut, candidates’ teams hauling voters, and one horse making a break down Main Street.
- Olympia's Streetcar Franchise Shell Game
A franchise extension granted on a promise of negotiations turns out to be empty—and the editor wants electric cars for the capital.
- Thirteen Carloads of Rail and Four Miles of Track: Olympia Gets Its Electric Streetcar
Delayed by a blizzard back East, the rails are finally in Tacoma and due tonight — and a crew will start laying them down the middle of Fourth Street tomorrow morning.
- Ladders to the Rescue: Spokane's Crescent Block Burns
A pre-dawn fire guts a three-story brick building, trapping lodgers until firefighters raise ladders to the windows.
- The Prospector Who Tried to Outsmart the Great Northern
A local prospector claimed to know a secret, lower pass through the Cascades, sparking a high-stakes search by railroad engineers.
- A Beardless Boy's 1855 Passage Through Puget Sound—and the Death of Abe Moses
A reminiscence from the Montesano Vidette recalls Olympia as a village in the woods, a kindness in Steilacoom, and a fatal ambush during Washington's early Indian wars.
- Two Iowa Veterans Find Each Other After Thirty Years in an Olympia G.A.R. Hall
At the first meeting of Geo. H. Thomas Post in its new rooms, a visiting commander discovered a fellow Iowa soldier in the audience—and the speechmaking dissolved into a handshake.
- The Railroad President Who Said No to Olympia
A Great Northern snub prompts the Olympia Tribune to rally the capital city behind its railroad ambitions.
- Six Hours Stranded in Gate City: When the Railroad Made Portland Closer Than Tacoma
A new Northern Pacific timetable leaves Grays Harbor travelers — and Olympians — fuming, forcing a six-hour wait at Gate City and making far-off Portland a faster trip than nearby Tacoma.
- The Westside Streetcar Line Starts Grading Toward Harrison Avenue
Olympia's new Westside Railway begins cutting a street approach and prepares to lay rails across the Port Townsend Southern tracks.
- The Settler Who Watched Olympia Get Claimed
R. C. Smith, who crossed the plains in 1848, recalls the canoe landing where Edmund Sylvester took the claim that became Olympia.
- Defective Brick in the Courthouse? The Former Superintendent Says Yes
Former superintendent W. A. Rogers says the county courthouse contains defective brick that can be crushed by hand, disputing the county attorney's claim that only the architecture is at fault.
- Olympia's Whole City Government Quit Rather Than Face the Voters Again
After a botched bond election sank the city in debt, the mayor and councilmen resigned en masse — and the Tribune says the incoming administration must come clean about the finances before asking for another dollar.
- Two Red Boxes on Wheels: Olympia's Sorry Excuse for a Streetcar Line
The street railway's president has told the council he can keep the city tied up in court for two years. The Tribune suggests the new council simply take his franchise away.
- A Brick Barn or a University? Olympia Presses Seattle on Its Grand Campus
A newspaper duel over the University of Washington's costly new buildings asks who pays for civic grandeur—and whether Seattle's generosity comes with unpaid debts.