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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 11 |
| 1889 | 23 |
| 1891 | 7 |
| 1892 | 30 |
| 1893 | 29 |
| 1894 | 26 |
| 1895 | 36 |
162 stories matching fast
- The Price of Elegance in 1883
A look at the luxury fabrics and household goods enticing early Seattleites at the Golden Rule Bazaar.
- A Mysterious Collision on the Sound
The steamer Sehome hits a schooner in the early morning fog, leading to a sudden resignation and a wall of silence from the crew.
- Wedded in Under an Hour
A long-distance correspondence turns into a lightning-fast wedding after a lamp nearly explodes.
- Seattle Deeds Top $29,000 in a Single Day
Public records from July 1888 detail a frantic wave of property transfers, capturing the speculative fever that defined the city's early expansion.
- The Woodin Mill Burns Down
A fire sparked by a friction belt destroys a major Fairhaven lumber mill, leaving forty-seven men jobless in an already struggling economy.
- The Great Northern Is Coming as Fast as Men and Money Can Push It
A contractor's progress report puts track at the Columbia by October—if enough workers can be found.
- Legal Troubles and Domestic Strife in Tacoma
A Chinese missionary arrested under the Geary Act and a father's charge of vagrancy against his daughter.
- The Narrow Escape of Tacoma
A painting shop blaze threatened to raze a downtown block, but a fast-acting fire department and a bit of luck spared the city from a worse catastrophe.
- Eighteen Tons of Deer Skins Arrive in Seattle
A single shipment of 115 bales of hides, bought from hunters across the mountains and islands of the North Pacific coast, shows how fast the Northwest's game is being thinned out.
- The Lamp That Started (And Stopped) a Fire
Patrolman S. O'Neil broke into a North Seattle lodging house at 2 a.m. and smothered a lamp fire before it spread.
- The Hops Were Ripe. The Pickers Weren’t Coming.
A Snoqualmie grower reports only 400 pickers for a crop that usually needs 1,200—and at 75 cents a box, few are willing to save it.
- The Opium Smuggling Ring of Pike Street
A failed nurseryman and a former grocer are arrested in a desperate scheme to smuggle opium in Seattle, orchestrated by a local 'fast young man.'
- Two Towns Emptied Overnight as Gold Fever Hits the Methow
Ruby and Conconully stand nearly deserted while a brand-new townsite at the mouth of the Methow fills faster than carpenters can raise walls.
- Steamer Cascade Lost Near Edmonds
A stern-wheeler meets a watery end after a labor dispute leaves it stranded on the beach during a windstorm.
- The Stowaway in the Flour Car
A freight train arrived at the Seattle depot with a terrifying surprise: a man had been sealed inside a flour car since Sunday, nearly dying of starvation.
- A Child’s Tragic Afternoon on the Flats
A six-year-old Seattle boy drowns in the harbor while fishing for crabs, exposing the perils of the waterfront mudflats for the city's youth.
- Police Raid a Pioneer Square Poker Game
Officers break up a high-stakes poker game at the New Zealand House, arresting the 'cappers' and seizing evidence.
- Seattle Observes Yom Kippur at the New Synagogue
Seattle's Hebrew community marks the Day of Atonement with solemn services, reflecting on centuries of history and the city's growing cultural diversity.
- The Aphid Crisis in the Puyallup Valley
Hop growers grapple with an infestation of lice that threatens the regional crop, revealing the precarious nature of early Washington agriculture.
- A Steamship Runs Aground at West Point
The collier Mackinaw, heavily loaded with coal, became stranded on the sandbar near the lighthouse, providing a tense morning for the crew and local observers.
- The Railway's Endless Fight Against the Mud
High hills between Seattle and Everett continue to collapse onto the tracks, creating a nightmare for the Seattle & Montana Railway.
- The Little Steamer That Ate the Sound
The Flyer ran four Seattle–Tacoma trips a day, kept to the minute through fog, and logged a record 84,000 miles in a year.
- A Foggy Collision in Seattle Harbor
The tugboat Mystic is sent to the bottom of Elliott Bay after a collision with the steamer State of Washington, but the crew miraculously escapes.
- The Diver’s Quest for the Sunken Mystic
An underwater salvage attempt on a Seattle tugboat encounters extreme darkness and technical difficulties at 190 feet.
- The Steamship City of Seattle Runs Aground in Thick Fog
A dangerous collision with another vessel narrowly avoided, but the steamer finds itself high and dry on a Point Ringgold sandy beach.