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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 10 |
| 1877 | 2 |
12 stories matching small
- Smallpox Aboard the David Hoadley—and a Health Officer’s Warning
A vessel bound for Port Gamble brought a smallpox case into Port Townsend harbor. Dr. Minor had the bark fumigated and the crew quarantined, then told the owners the captain’s recklessness would not be tolerated again.
- A Ferry Before the Ferry: The Fight to Replace Open Boats on Admiralty Inlet
Whidbey Islanders were crossing to Port Townsend in open rowboats through tide rips and chopping seas. Local merchants and an island resident with $4,000 wanted piers, a steamer and a regular route.
- A Kitchen Fire on the Hill — and a Town Saves the House
Capt. Willoughby's kitchen burned with $800 in utensils and stores, but quick-acting citizens kept the blaze from taking the main building.
- The Body in the Bay: Peter Samuelson's Mysterious Death
After nearly two weeks missing, a Port Townsend man was found dead on the shore, his boat capsized and his pockets still heavy with gold. A coroner's jury ruled accidental drowning.
- A Desperate Note Sealed in a Bottle Washes Ashore at Admiralty Bay
A corked vial found on the beach contained a pencilled message of exhaustion and despair—and three initials no one could explain.
- Fatal Wharfside Shooting Leaves Town in Uproar
A long-standing feud ends in murder on Union Wharf, with the suspect fleeing by boat as the community demands accountability from local law enforcement.
- The Coin Toss That Named Portland — and the Man Who Founded Port Townsend
A.M. Pettygrove comes back to the town he laid out in 1851, and the Argus retells how a flipped coin gave Portland its name, how a claim was sold for $5,000 in cash and leather, and how a Puget Sound bluff became a city.
- The Log Jam That Held Back a Valley: Skagit Settlers Propose a DIY River Clearance
With a massive log jam blocking navigation on the Skagit River, a settler proposes that landowners take matters into their own hands rather than wait for Congress.
- A Reader Says Smiles and Bows Won't Save Port Townsend
A letter to the editor takes aim at the sentimental notion that a town prospers on politeness alone, insisting that Port Townsend needs capital, labor and trade — not suave manners and boosterism.
- The Preacher Who Turned 170 Acres of Wilderness Into a Home
When Port Townsend could not pay its Methodist minister enough to live on, Rev. Laubach moved to Discovery Bay and built a farm — house, fences, orchard and skiff — with his own hands.
- The Pioneer Who Built Port Townsend's First Wharf
Captain Enoch S. Fowler, a Maine-born mariner turned merchant and officeholder, dies at 63, leaving a town shaped by his ships, wharves, and stone buildings.
- Old Yank, the Sequim Inventor Who Rigged His Counter to Sting Thieves
A correspondent visits Professor Watkins of Sequim Prairie, an eccentric mechanic whose inventions ranged from a needle-spring burglar trap to a wooden mowing machine and a windmill made to grind the prairie's wheat.