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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 26 |
| 1889 | 41 |
| 1891 | 31 |
| 1892 | 87 |
| 1893 | 78 |
| 1894 | 76 |
| 1895 | 32 |
371 stories matching dollar
- Seattle’s 'Reform' Government Promised Clean Streets and Low Taxes. Two Years Later, the Bill Came Due.
A furious 1894 editorial accuses the Democratic city administration of breaking every campaign promise—keeping Whitechapel open, protecting gambling, and cutting day laborers while salaried officials kept their pay.
- The Mine That Wasn’t? A Captain Denies a Half-Million-Dollar Gold Swindle
An English capitalist’s suit against Alaska millionaires turned a Port Townsend sailing into a Pacific Coast sensation, with charges of swapped ore, gold-soaked drill cores, and a forceful denial from Capt. James Carroll.
- Judge Burke: Washington cannot borrow a dollar to build its capitol
Answering Populist weeklies that accused the capitol commission of planning to sink the state a million dollars into debt, commissioner Thomas Burke said the law allows exactly one funding source — 132,000 acres of granted land — and no taxes at all.
- Seattle’s Million-Dollar Water Gamble
Facing a growing population and urgent infrastructure needs, city leaders propose a massive bond measure to build a municipal water system, aiming to secure control over the city's future.
- The Million-Dollar Protest: Front Street Owners vs. The Cable Car
Pioneers and property magnates rallied against a proposed cable railway on Seattle’s main thoroughfare, arguing that the city council was ignoring the will of taxpayers in favor of outside capital.
- The Million-Dollar Water Heist
A scathing audit reveals that Tacoma taxpayers were bilked out of over a million dollars in a rigged water works acquisition deal.
- King County's Almshouse 'Vindication' Came With a Taxpayer Bill
A committee appointed to investigate charges against King County commissioners billed the public for its own defense—including $10-a-day duty and a detective sent after a newspaper leak.
- Bribery Scandal in the Fire Department
Mayor J. T. Ronald accuses Fire Commissioner James Foster of taking bribes to influence personnel appointments.
- The Counterfeiter’s Wife and the Stolen Life
A vengeful woman’s tip to the police exposes a counterfeit ring in Seattle, revealing the desperate life of a young man coerced into crime.
- The Winnifred Burns: A Lake Washington Steamer Lost at the Dock
An early-morning fire at Leech's Dock destroyed the Newcastle-run steamer Winnifred, a wharf and a boardinghouse, exposing how much of Seattle still depended on borrowed hose and luck.
- The Political Economy of 'Free Silver'
An editorial critique of the Populist push for silver currency, warning that inflation would only devastate the working class.
- Seattle’s Post-Panic Pep Talk: Canals, Steel and Paved Streets
On New Year’s Day 1895, Seattle’s mayor and aldermen promised economy, railroad terminals and a Lake Washington canal—and insisted the Panic of 1893 was finally fading.
- The Founding Charter of the Seattle Public Library
A look back at the 1888 constitution of the city's first library association, which operated on membership dues, fine-print regulations, and a dream of civic enrichment.
- 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.
- The Dispossession of Josephine Hatch
A Snohomish widow, unable to speak English, sues a powerful land conglomerate for swindling her out of a multi-million dollar stake in the founding of Everett.
- A Ballard Family's Desperate Winter: Five Children Crying for Bread
A sick father, a dying mother, and five hungry children in Salmon Bay Park. A stranger's dollar is all they have.
- Spokane Falls Devastated by Fire
Following the Great Seattle Fire, the sister city of Spokane Falls faces its own catastrophic conflagration, with millions in damages.
- The Railroad’s Big Heist: Northern Pacific Claims Indian Land It Doesn’t Own
As the Puyallup Reservation faces a legal siege from the Northern Pacific Railway, federal officials warn that a treaty-protected land grab could strip thousands of acres from Native families for pennies on the dollar.
- The City’s Debt Ceiling Crisis of 1892
Facing a massive backlog of unpaid warrants and legal judgments, Seattle's city council puts a multi-million dollar bond package to a city-wide vote to stave off municipal insolvency.
- City Council Caught in Costly Pipe Scandal
Seattle’s city fathers accused of wasting thousands of dollars by rejecting cheap, high-quality pipe in favor of a politically connected supplier.
- Fifteen Minutes to Confess: The Morphine Trial of Port Townsend's Captain De Lion
A former mayor, Chilean consul and dry-dock promoter worth half a million dollars sits in superior court while his emaciated wife describes a year of morphine, delusion and a pocket watch set on the table between them.
- Tacoma’s Water Crisis and the Million-Dollar 'Steal'
A court injunction cuts off the city's primary water source, prompting fears of pestilence and highlighting a suspicious, debt-laden municipal purchase.
- The Collapse of Tacoma's Merchants' National Bank
As the bank's receiver publishes a grim accounting of assets, depositors learn that their savings are being liquidated to cover loans made to the institution's own directors.
- The Great Seattle Streetcar Heist
A scathing editorial exposing the city council's plans to give away a lucrative cable car franchise on Front Street without public oversight or fair payment.
- The Sound Goes Silent: Steamboat Crews Strike Over Wage Cuts
A coordinated walkout by skilled engineers and captains across Puget Sound brings mail service to a halt as operators face the reality of losing their irreplaceable workforce.