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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 10 |
| 1889 | 40 |
| 1891 | 26 |
| 1892 | 69 |
| 1893 | 84 |
| 1894 | 57 |
| 1895 | 73 |
359 stories matching electr
- Seattle's Rival Gas and Electric Firms Merge Under One Roof
The Union Electric Company and the Seattle Gas and Electric Light Company lease their plants to a new Union Illuminating Company, promising customers that 'consumers will be unaffected.'
- Tacoma Beats the Electric Company in Court and Keeps Selling Cheap Light
A Pierce County judge ruled the city may supply its own electricity — and that the private Commercial Electric Light Company has no right to shut down a competitor whose prices are simply too low for it to match.
- The Curious Case of a Seattle Man’s Electrical Delusions
A local veteran was apprehended for insanity, claiming his body was charged with electricity he caught while living in an asylum.
- The Electric Charge Sweeping Seattle
Horse cars are officially a relic of the past as the city embraces the new-fangled Thompson-Houston electric system to conquer Seattle's steep hills.
- 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 Miracle of the Magnetized Spikes
A visiting electrical engineer stuns a packed Plymouth Congregational Church with a massive 5,000-candlepower lamp and a demonstration of magnetic force.
- A Live Wire Takes a Trimmer's Foot
An electric-light worker pays a brutal price for a fall across Tacoma's city wires.
- The Teenaged Inventors of North Seattle
Two brothers, aged 13 and 15, harness the power of electricity to drive boats, light homes, and saw wood along the Seattle waterfront.
- Seattle Council Pushes Back on Streetcar Franchises
Electric railway companies plead poverty to avoid mandated street lighting, prompting a civic showdown over franchise obligations.
- The Great Seattle Streetcar Consolidation
A multi-million dollar maneuver promises to unify the city's competing electric lines, potentially abandoning local power-houses in a massive quest for operational efficiency.
- The Waterfall That Would Light Seattle
In 1895, promoters promised to harness Snoqualmie Falls—taller than Niagara and only 23 miles from Seattle—and send thousands of horsepower over copper wire.
- The Shocking State of the Port Townsend Courthouse
A dangerous electrical grounding issue in the county building leaves water pipes charged with current.
- Streetcar Chaos on Madison
An electric car crashes into a cable car at Second and Madison, causing a machinery backup that carried the crippled vehicle blocks away.
- Ballard's Electric Company Sold for $1,210—Franchise and All
A receivership sale handed the Ballard Electric Light Company's property and franchise to a mortgagee, while the company's subscription stockholders were written off as 'wholly irresponsible.'
- 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.
- Tragedy on the Twenty-Fifth Street Bridge
A young Tacoma boy is killed by an electric streetcar after being blinded by locomotive smoke.
- The Great Columbia Fish Rush
When an electric railway culvert at Columbia flooded the flats, local residents turned the disaster into a spontaneous community harvest of salmon and trout.
- The Electric Line to the Lake: Seattle's Suburban Dream
A newly opened electric rail line promises to turn the shores of Lake Washington into a suburban paradise, sparking a scramble for prime real estate.
- Harnessing the Snoqualmie Falls
A new company of Seattle capitalists plans to transmit electrical power from Snoqualmie Falls, aiming to rival the scale of Niagara and spark a regional economic boom.
- Three Light Plants Become One, With a Promise of Cheap Electricity
The Union Electric Company and the Seattle Gas & Electric Light Company have merged into the Union Illumination Company. Boilers are being hauled to the Grant Street bridge powerhouse, and the new manager says rate cuts are two weeks away.
- Kent Farmers Demand the Electric Railway Seattle Promised
A Kent Valley letter-writer says freight costs to Seattle are strangling the valley — and calls out the Rainier electric line to finally reach Renton and Kent.
- The City Debates Public Power
Seattle officials initiate a formal investigation into the city owning its own electric light plant.
- Ballard Goes Dark
Facing a fiscal crisis, the Ballard City Council votes to cut off the neighborhood's electric streetlights to save $250 a month.
- Ballard Electric Goes Under
A receiver is appointed for the Ballard Electric Light Company as its debts overwhelm its assets.
- The Niagara of the Northwest: Wiring Snoqualmie Falls to Seattle
A new company with $2 million in capital proposes to harness a 265-foot waterfall 23 miles east and sell 5,000 horse power of electricity to the city — if the capitalists will foot the bill.