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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1897 | 15 |
| 1898 | 28 |
| 1899 | 3 |
46 stories matching much
- The Wheat Was Ready. The Threshers Weren't.
After several lean years, farmers in the big wheat district around Spokane finally got the crop they had been praying for — and then two weeks of rain and snow arrived before the machines could get to it.
- Turning Salt Flats into Wheat Fields
A Yakima sheepman discovers how to reclaim abandoned alkali-ridden soil through careful irrigation.
- The High Cost of Neglected Apiaries
A local beekeeping expert warns that failing to clear weeds from hive entrances is costing regional producers significant honey yields.
- Yakima Farmers Answer the Call to Organize
At Mason's Opera House, A. B. Leckenby tells North Yakima growers that cooperation—not outside capital—is the valley's best hope, and a countywide farmers' club takes shape for Feb. 12.
- Seattle Sets Its Sights on Honolulu's Grocery List
A Seattle schooner sails for the islands with flour, hay and shingles aboard, and Hawaiian importers begin to wonder whether they still need San Francisco at all.
- Apples and Prunes, Not Peaches: The Hard Truth About Shipping Fruit East
A horticultural commissioner's verdict — apples and evaporated prunes are the only sure commercial crops — forces Northwest growers to reckon with soft fruit that spoils on the long haul east.
- The Persimmon Pilgrimage
A local man returns from Missouri with fruit that brings homesick settlers to tears.
- The Great Wheat Bottleneck
Eastern Washington farmers face a crisis as railroads prioritize long-haul freight over local grain shipments, leaving warehouses overflowing.
- The Expert's Guide to the Inland Empire Orchard
A federal pomologist warns Northwest growers against over-watering and bad variety selection, while offering tips on pest control.
- The Klondike Nugget: A New Yakima Valley Fruit
After nearly two decades of experimentation, a local farmer unveils a plum variety that promises to outshine the industry standard.
- The Butter Swindler's Comeuppance
A clever farm wife turns the tables on a traveling salesman peddling a fraudulent 'miracle' churn.
- A Filthy Milk Trial, a Lenient Judge, and a Convention's Disgust
The state dairy commissioner lost his Tacoma case against two milkmen whose cows were caked in manure — and the delegates wanted to know what kind of milk the judge kept on his own table.
- Every Street a Sled Trail: Seattle Breaks in Dog Teams for the Klondike
In the winter of 1898 the thoroughfares of the Sound cities turned into training grounds — sleds, go-devils and sail-carts everywhere, companies buying and selling sled dogs at $25 to $100 a team, and one man solemnly breaking in a team of billy goats.
- The Poison That Was Too Weak to Hurt a Child
Yakima County's fruit inspector found orchards sprayed and Paris green so adulterated that a child who ate it showed no serious symptoms.
- The Saloon at the State Fair: A Temperance Warning from Yakima
An impassioned editorial condemns the state fair commission for auctioning saloon rights, warning that liquor will corrupt young men and tarnish the fair's educational mission.
- Pay Rent or We Drive the Flocks Elsewhere: Sheepmen Balk at the Railroad's Grazing Leases
Dan Goodman tells a reporter that if the Northern Pacific charges for pasture, whole bands of sheep will be pushed off its line — while the company says the leases exist to keep outside herds from eating out the range.
- The High-Stakes Poultry Trade
A Spokane breeder reports a surge in demand for pure-bred chickens, while warning of the persistent threat posed by local coyotes.
- Wenatchee Bets the Valley on Alfalfa — And Dreams of Dairy Herds
A touring correspondent finds the apple country sowing alfalfa by the acre, convinced the real money is in feed, stock and cream rather than in boxed fruit shipped east.
- The Myth of Civilization
A satirical look at the displacement and forced assimilation of Indigenous people in the Yakima Valley.
- Counterfeit Yakima Potatoes on the Sound
A Tacoma paint dealer tells the valley's paper that Puget Sound merchants were passing off second-grade Western Washington spuds as Yakima's prized crop — and that in a full year he got the genuine article only three times.
- The $80,000 Cranberry Bog Behind the Ilwaco Beach
A state commissioner tours Pacific County's cranberry marsh — 1,600 acres, 7,280 bushels shipped to San Francisco, 200 pickers at fifty cents a bushel, and a company openly hoping to replace its Chinese crew with white labor.
- The Milk Inspector Spokane Loved to Hate
Dr. James Bullivant fined five Spokane dairymen for selling milk below standard. The dairymen said he was less interested in public health than in collecting half the fines.
- Spokane’s Fifteen-Cent Fair Was a Dollar Show for the Inland Empire
In October 1897, Spokane turned a downtown block into a clean, no-gambling agricultural exposition—and invited the whole Inland Empire to admire its fruit, grain, and future.
- When Every Eastern Market Was Swamped: The 1897 Fruit Glut That Broke Northwest Growers
A Northwest agricultural writer tallies the wreckage of a boom season — glutted markets, freight and icing bills nobody could pay, and a blunt prescription for growers: dry your prunes and hold for a price.
- The War on Narrow Wagon Wheels
Seattle's Chamber of Commerce wants the legislature to force wider wagon tires — to save the city's wooden sidewalks and brick streets from being chewed to pieces.