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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1858 | 8 |
| 1859 | 9 |
| 1860 | 4 |
| 1861 | 2 |
23 stories matching capt
- A Miraculous Escape on Puget Sound: Two Steamers Collide Near Steilacoom
The steamer Northerner and a second vessel met suddenly on the water in October 1858, crushing the little steamer’s bow and nearly sending its captain into the Sound.
- Gold Fever Lands at Bellingham Bay
Mail-steamer dispatches report 1,400 argonauts bound for the new mines, Victoria land prices climbing to a 'dizzy elevation,' and rumors of a fresh townsite at Semiahmoo Bay.
- Eighty Artillerymen Bound for the Spokane War
A San Francisco dispatch reports Company K of the 3d Artillery heading north to reinforce Col. Steptoe, with a new commander for the company lost when Lt. Gunn was killed by Spokanes.
- The Steamer Traveler Goes Down Off Foulweather Bluff
A sudden leak in a winter gale drowned Captain Slater and several others on a routine Puget Sound run from Port Townsend to Port Gamble.
- Steilacoom Empties Its Garrison for a Near-War on San Juan Island
On Aug. 9, 1859, soldiers and two brass cannon left Steilacoom aboard the steamer Julia to reinforce Capt. Pickett’s tiny command, as the U.S. and Britain edged toward war over a boundary and a pig.
- Four British Sailors Jump Ship—and Find American Liberty at Port Townsend
A steamer captain tried to return stowaways to Esquimalt, but a U.S. commissioner freed them, exposing a diplomatic gap over extradition.
- Gold Fever Empties Puget Sound
A schooner captain confirms rich strikes on the Fraser and Thompson rivers—and hundreds of workers are already leaving Victoria and the Sound for the mines.
- The Lost Schooner's Dark Secret
A confession in Victoria reveals the brutal fate of two missing vessels and their crews.
- A Murdered Pioneer's Scalp, Kept as a Relic in Olympia
A grisly relic of Col. Isaac Ebey's 1857 killing on Whidbey Island turns up in Olympia, a reminder of the violence that shaped Washington Territory.
- Gold Fever Reaches Steilacoom by Schooner
A Saturday arrival brings word of gold at Fort Yale, a turn-by-turn route up the Fraser River, and a miner's warning that provisions are very high.
- Four Canoes, One Lighthouse, and a Midnight Theft on the Strait
The keeper at New Dungeness reported that a party of Northern Indians broke into the lighthouse storehouse and made off with oil; a revenue cutter was dispatched in pursuit.
- The Boiler Bursts at Five Twenty
A mill boiler at Port Madison exploded before the morning shift was fully at work, killing five men and scalding a sixth. A witness wrote that ten minutes later would have killed more.
- Pioneering the Snoqualmie Pass Road
Citizens of King County organize to build a wagon road across the Cascades, raising over a thousand dollars to bridge the wilderness.
- The Schooner That Never Came Back
A Steilacoom resident and a captain vanish after leaving Port Townsend; a rumor from Vancouver Island speaks of a wreck and murder.
- A Brutal Murder on the Trail to Fort Steilacoom
A soldier is found dead after a violent altercation involving multiple men, leaving the community in shock.
- The Volunteers Were Paid Twice—Sometimes Thrice—For the Same War
A federal commission auditing the 1855–56 Indian War muster rolls finds men drawing captain's, wagon-master's and private's pay all at once—including a Nisqually ferry keeper who billed the government for the same ten ferrymen he never properly mustered in.
- Gold Fever Empties the Army Posts—and Leaves Steilacoom’s Mail in a Canoe
A steamer from the north brings word of rich surface diggings on the Fraser and Thompson rivers, soldiers deserting lower Puget Sound posts, and Steilacoom cut off from its mail.
- Olympia Loses the Capitol: A Letter Writer Predicts the Seat of Government Will Move to Vancouver
A Steilacoom correspondent gloats that Olympia's 'mandarins' overplayed their hand in the territorial legislature — and that the $30,000 Congress set aside for a capitol building will sit unspent while the prize drifts south.
- Gold on the Wenatchee
Miners returning from the Wenatchee country report paying prospects—and a rush is already forming from Puget Sound.
- A Yakama Chief Falls as the Territory's Indian War Ends
Col. Wright's campaign is declared over; Owhi is shot near the Snake River, and the Herald celebrates executions and hostages as peace.
- Two Governors, One Island, and a War Called Off by Letter
Gen. W. S. Harney writes to Queen Victoria's man at Victoria to explain why United States infantry are dug in on San Juan; Gov. James Douglas writes back hoping no 'collision' follows. The boundary quarrel that became the Pig War, in the principals' own words.
- The Night Seattle Danced Until Two: A Steamer Excursion from Steilacoom
In July 1859, the steamer Julia carried Olympia and Steilacoom society across the Sound to Seattle, where three supper tables and a hall full of dancers made territorial news.
- The Fur Company’s Land Empire Is Declared Public Domain
A letter from Washington City reports that the Hudson’s Bay and Puget Sound Agricultural companies’ territorial claims have been ruled forfeit, opening their Nisqually and Fort Vancouver lands to American survey and settlement.