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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1858 | 2 |
| 1859 | 6 |
| 1861 | 1 |
9 stories matching commenc
- The Military Road That Opened the Northwest
A $100,000 federal appropriation sends Lieut. John Mullan back to the Pacific to push a wagon road from Fort Walla Walla to Fort Benton—and with it, a tide of settlers into Oregon and Washington.
- 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.
- Fighting Whisky and a Free Fight in Steilacoom's Streets
A dozen strangers brawl outside Jerry Dennis's house, prompting the editor to demand the disorderly den be closed.
- Opening the Cascade Gateway
A committee of citizens reports on the progress of a new wagon road through Snoqualmie Pass, promising a vital link between the Sound and the interior.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- The Senate Ratifies the Treaties That Remade the Northwest
Ratified in 1859, the 1855 treaties with tribes across Oregon and Washington promised annuities, schools and mills while ceding millions of acres to settlement.
- ‘Rule or Ruin’: A Territorial Lawmaker Turns on Governor Stevens
Confined to his room with a cold, a member of the Washington Territorial Legislature answers his critics — defending his right to name the governor's unpopular appointees and accusing a ruling clique of trying to shut the rest of the territory up.