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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 5 |
| 1889 | 19 |
| 1891 | 4 |
| 1892 | 31 |
| 1893 | 21 |
| 1894 | 20 |
| 1895 | 7 |
107 stories matching border
- The Deadly Knife Fight at the South End
A fatal stabbing in Tacoma reveals a web of tavern disputes, jealousy, and police misconduct in the South End.
- Smallpox Fears Disrupt Trains and Border Crossings
As smallpox cases spiked in British Columbia, Seattleites feared the contagion was crossing the border via Indian canoes and passenger trains.
- The Border-Walking Japanese Laborers
An early 1894 legal test of the 'pauper and assisted immigrant law' sees laborers shuttled back and forth across the Washington-Canada border.
- The Man Who Thought He Owned Seattle Died Chasing a Ghost Fortune
Henry Zechow spent nine years and a small army of lawyers trying to claim an uncle's imaginary empire—including a block of downtown Seattle—before his body turned up in the Fraser River.
- The Smuggler Who Ran a School for Contraband
A smuggler caught near Sumas taught Chinese immigrants American geography to help them evade border officers.
- Blaine Posted a Smallpox Patrol on the Border
With Victoria reporting dozens of cases, Washington border towns put travelers under quarantine and sent six officers to watch the line.
- Judge Lewis Blasts Portland and Olympia Over Seattle's Canal
A Tacoma judge's letter urges Washington state to fund the Lake Washington canal, accusing Portland's Oregonian and a political 'combination at Olympia' of trying to strangle Seattle's growth.
- A Shootout on the Border
A prospector and a frontier rival face off in an armed dispute at the mouth of the Pend Oreille River, only to be stopped by a local storekeeper.
- Bellingham Bay Burned While Puget Sound Choked on Smoke
Forest fires from the British border to the Olympic Mountains sent a pall over Seattle, slowed steamers and trains, and destroyed homes, a bridge and a thirty-room mansion near Whatcom.
- The Wharf King’s Victory: Yesler Wins Millions in Land Battle
Judge Lichtenberg rules that the state cannot seize waterfront property without paying just compensation, halting the Harbor Line Commission and protecting H.L. Yesler’s empire.
- Seattle Health Officers Screen Trains and Steamers for Smallpox
As smallpox cases surge in Victoria, B.C., Seattle and neighboring ports enact aggressive, sometimes illegal, quarantines to stop the infection from crossing the border.
- The Great Spokane Land Rush
Hundreds of 'boomers' flooded a disputed railroad tract in the heart of Spokane after a legal ruling fueled rumors of unclaimed land.
- Cowboy Terry Caught Running Chinese Immigrants Across the Sumas Line
A notorious border outlaw, already linked to a fatal shootout, is arrested by customs inspectors after a stolen railway speeder is stopped south of Sumas.
- The Pig That Almost Started a War
Before Seattle became a metropolis, Puget Sound was a wild frontier of rugged homesteaders, vigilante justice, and international border disputes sparked by a single, ill-fated swine.
- The Forgotten Prisoners of McNeil Island
Thirteen men held in limbo for years, caught between a nation that didn't want them and a border that refused their return.
- The Plague Panic at the Border
As smallpox cases surge in British Columbia, Seattle and surrounding towns scramble to implement strict quarantine measures and mandatory vaccinations to keep the disease at bay.
- Tacoma Man Arrested for Refusing Smallpox Vaccination
As fear of disease grips the border, travelers are being forcibly vaccinated and quarantined in a climate of escalating hysteria.
- A Nighttime Murder in Tacoma
A popular patrolman is stabbed to death by strangers while off-duty, sparking a vigilante threat in the streets.
- Four Killers Confined in Pierce County Jail
A grim summary of four separate homicide cases in Tacoma, as of August 1892, including one death caused by a drunken assault.
- The Kidnaping of Sam
A witness speaks out against the detention and deportation of a Chinese laborer by a local official.
- Border Smuggling and Violence Near Wickersham
A citizen posse intercepts a group of thirteen migrants near the railroad tracks, leading to a shootout and local manhunt.
- The Judge Who Warned Seattle Not to Sell Its Waterfront to a Canal Company
In 1894, Judge John J. McGilvra urged Congress to build the Lake Washington Ship Canal and warned that a private company's tideflat scheme would put tolls on the water and enrich speculators at public expense.
- A Wall of Smoke and Flame Across Puget Sound
Forest fires from Hood Canal to the Nooksack Valley left dozens of families homeless in 1894, while smoke turned steamboat travel blind and daily life in Seattle into a gray haze.
- The Poet-Waiter Who Drowned in Seattle Harbor
C. W. Chantrell came from a noble French family and carried a love poem in his pocket. He died broke, alcoholic, and alone on the steamer Idaho—and Seattle's coroner called it an accident.
- Olympia’s Capitol Fight: Donate the Land or Lose the Statehouse
A late-night Senate debate over the new state capitol turned on eleven acres, a $150,000 land scheme and whether Olympia should pay to keep the building—before the bill passed to applause.