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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 26 |
| 1889 | 99 |
| 1891 | 43 |
| 1892 | 119 |
| 1893 | 117 |
| 1894 | 148 |
| 1895 | 53 |
605 stories matching govern
- The King Who Wasn't: How Seattle Watched a Pacific Empire Betray Its Own
While the city prepares for its own boom, a local editorial warns that American honor is being sacrificed to German ambition in Samoa—and asks if Washingtonians care enough to stop it.
- Seattle's 1894 Election: Corruption, Fraud, and the Fight for City Hall
As voters head to the polls, the Post-Intelligencer unleashes a blistering attack on the Democratic administration, alleging graft, forgery, and a machine determined to hold power at any cost.
- The 1893 Plan to Untangle Seattle’s Government
A powerful city official wanted a stronger mayor, a one-house council, and fewer commissions—arguments Seattle still has today.
- A Fraternal Leader Draws the Line at English—and at the Ballot Box
Visiting Knights of Pythias supreme chancellor W. W. Blackwell wants the order to require English and ties voting rights to language, warning of foreign anarchists.
- A Dead Man’s Name on the Payroll
A Walla Walla ex-employee files twenty charges against L. T. Erwin, accusing the Yakima Indian agent of fraud, perjury, and turning the agency into a private larder.
- A Sermon on Civic Corruption
Rev. Wallace Nutting takes the Seattle municipal government to task for its failure to control vice and its admission of helplessness.
- The Canal That Would Raise Salmon Bay—and Fill Its Marshes
Government engineers promise Seattle property owners that the Lake Washington ship canal will not strand them: excavated earth will fill submerged land and a public street will run alongside the right-of-way.
- Bismarck’s Bluff: Germany Claims Samoa While Washington Watches
As the German Chancellor declares no treaty prevents his nation from seizing control of the Pacific islands, U.S. officials in Washington struggle to respond to a diplomatic crisis that threatens American interests across the ocean.
- 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.
- Three Hundred Republicans and a Barrel of Tariff Whisky
Seattle's First Ward Republican Club packed its South Third Street headquarters, signed up 300 members, and spent the night attacking the Havemeyer tariff bill and the Democrats who defended it.
- The Octopus and the Seal: A Local Captain’s War Against a Washington Monopoly
In 1901, Port Townsend resident James G. Swan published affidavits from experienced hunters to debunk Professor Elliott’s claim that seal pups sink like stones, exposing the Alaska Commercial Company’s stranglehold on federal policy.
- The Squatters of Port Angeles
A government land reservation intended for protection is caught in a web of bureaucratic delays, shifting administrations, and local political infighting.
- The Forgotten Fort Lands of Puget Sound
A Washington congressman fought to open tiny abandoned military reservations at Gig Harbor and Point Roberts to homesteaders. The House shut him down.
- The Wagon King Tells Seattle to Build Roads and Put Idle Men to Work
Clem Studebaker, visiting from South Bend, says Puget Sound is beautiful but backward: good roads, an army-built highway system, and the Nicaragua canal would cure unemployment.
- The 75-Year-Old Whistling-Buoy Inventor Comes to Fit the Navy's 600-Ton Gate
James Bigler, who has built the giant steel caissons in every government dry dock in the country, arrives on Puget Sound to assemble the mammoth gate for the Port Orchard dock — a 600-ton steel vessel shipped in pieces around Cape Horn.
- The 'Second Gibraltar': Britain’s Plan to Fortify Puget Sound
Tensions mount on the Pacific border as the British Admiralty, spooked by U.S. sealing regulations, orders immediate military improvements to the entrance of the Puget Sound.
- The Dry Party That Wanted Woman Suffrage, Equal Pay and Public Railroads
One hundred and fifty Prohibitionists from thirteen Washington counties met in Tacoma in 1894 and wrote a platform that went far beyond liquor — endorsing votes for women, equal wages regardless of sex, government ownership of railroads and telegraphs, and the forfeiture of unearned land grants.
- The War of the Waterfront: Port Angeles' Battle for Its Soul
As the town fights to incorporate, two factions clash over who owns the shore—leading to a chaotic 'jumping' spree where men pile claims on top of each other in a desperate grab for Pacific real estate.
- 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.
- The Fight for Puyallup Land Rights
A Congressional debate reveals the struggle for tribal land ownership and the interference of government commissions.
- The Squatter-Citizens of Port Angeles
Before Port Angeles was fully incorporated, a determined association of residents occupied government land to force federal recognition and protect their homes from wealthy speculators.
- The Canal Came With a Catch: Seattle Had to Secure the Land
Congress had finally committed to a Lake Washington ship canal, but the money came with a condition: Seattle had to secure a free right-of-way from property owners. In 1894, civic leaders began the campaign that would decide whether the project moved forward.
- Seattle’s 1891 Election-Eve Alarm: ‘Watch Until the Vote Is Counted’
On the eve of municipal elections, the Post-Intelligencer accuses the Democratic administration of protected gambling, a looted treasury and stacked election boards—and warns Republicans that the only danger left is the count.
- Seattle Voters Topple the 'Tammany' Machine in a Republican Landslide
A sweeping 1894 municipal election repudiates a corrupt city government, a boss named John Collins, and a looted treasury — with Democrats joining the revolt.
- The People's Choice: Robert Miller Named Seattle Mayor in Historic Convention
In a dramatic display of civic unity, the Republican City Committee bypassed traditional balloting to unanimously nominate Robert Miller for mayor, signaling a new era of reform and efficiency in Seattle's leadership.