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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 3 |
| 1892 | 4 |
| 1893 | 7 |
| 1894 | 3 |
| 1895 | 4 |
22 stories matching arc
- The Sun Dogs of Douglas County
A rare and haunting atmospheric display over St. Andrews puzzles local observers and scientists alike.
- Seattle Tries to Halve Its Street-Light Bill
A council debate over arc versus incandescent lamps exposed ward rivalries and a fight over how much control the city should keep over a private lighting contract.
- The Great Telephone Switchboard Fire
A tangled mess of high-voltage arc light wires sends fireworks cascading through the central telephone exchange, nearly incinerating the entire plant.
- Seattle's Early Electric Power Wars
As rival power companies rush to wire the city, a price war breaks out, forcing residents to choose between competing arc-light contracts.
- Fremont's Dark Streets
The Seattle City Council faces a standoff with the electric company over street lighting for the neighborhood.
- Power Struggle: Rebuilding the City's Light
Following a devastating fire, the city's electric light plant scrambles to rebuild its capacity while equipment remains delayed in transit.
- Sander Purchases Washington Electric Light Company
A major consolidation in Seattle's early utility market as entrepreneur Fred E. Sander acquires a key power plant with plans for city-wide expansion.
- The Arsonist's Confession: 'He Wanted Me to Burn It'
A Tacoma man details his coerced participation in the Aurora Hotel fire, revealing a plot by property owner Ed Williams to collect insurance money.
- Seattle’s Early Debate Over Public Power
The Chamber of Commerce considers whether the city should break from private monopoly and run its own electric grid.
- Vandals Target Seattle Shingle Mills Amid Labor Unrest
Striking shingle weavers are suspected of sabotage at the Stimson and Cedar Lumber Company mills, marking a tense escalation in local labor disputes.
- The Peril of Water and Wire
Electrical engineer A.L. Kasson warns that firefighters face a hidden danger when spraying water on high-voltage power lines during city fires.
- The Struggle for Streetlights
A heated debate erupts in city council over a new contract with the Union Electric Company, revealing tensions over public service, penalties, and infrastructure quality.
- Why Seattle Should Own Its Own Power
An 1889 editorial argues that municipal control of gas, electricity, and water is the only path to fair pricing and civic progress.
- When Wires Crossed: Seattle's Great Electrical Tangle of 1895
A freak accident at 11 p.m. mixed electric light, fire alarm, and telephone lines, cutting off 50 subscribers and burning out equipment across downtown Seattle.
- The Fever and the Fall: Life in a Frontier Boomtown
A vivid account of the psychological and physical intensity of rapid urban growth—and the devastating silence left behind when the bubble bursts.
- Tacoma’s Electric Light War
A private power company accuses the city of selling light below cost to drive it out of business—and of a local editor gagging the story because he runs his own hotel plant.
- Buy Our Waterworks, or We'll Sell You to a Syndicate
Tacoma's Light and Water Company files its inventory for a $1.75 million city buyout — and a critic notes that the company has always known how to win a Tacoma election.
- Seattle’s Fire Department Answered 197 Alarms in 1893 — Nearly Half Were False
The chief’s annual report counted 98 false alarms, touted small losses, and asked the city for a fire marshal and better alarm wires.
- The Battle Over the Old Soldiers’ Home
Grand Army veterans accuse the home’s board of planting a hired engineer and laundress to force out Commandant S. E. Street—and they want a judge to rule on the ouster.
- Snohomish, 1898: A Ferry Claim Becomes a Booster's Dream City
A promotional tour of the inland Puget Sound town traces its founding by I.C. Ferguson, its lumber and fishing wages, and the railroad that turned a river landing into a self-described city of homes.
- The Night a Streetcar Powerhouse Fire Left Half of Seattle Dark
A pre-dawn blaze at Fifth and Pine gutted the Consolidated Street Railway plant, destroyed nearly all its cars and dynamos, crippled three lines, and blacked out everything north of Pike Street.
- The City That Vanished: Seattle’s First Real Estate Bubble and the Ghosts of Terry’s Addition
A look back at January 1890, when Seattle’s land boom was in full swing, prices were soaring, and developers like George Dorffel were selling lots in new subdivisions to speculators eager for a quick profit.