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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 3 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1892 | 3 |
| 1893 | 2 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1895 | 8 |
19 stories matching illumin
- 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.
- 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.'
- The Chautauqua Assembly's First Season at the Sound
After a summer of lectures and illumination, Seattle and Tacoma residents bid farewell to the gathering that organizers hope will define a permanent Puget Sound cultural tradition.
- When Wires Crossed: Seattle's Great Electrical Tangle of 1895
A freak accident at 11 p.m. mixed electric light, fire alarm, and telephone lines, cutting off 50 subscribers and burning out equipment across downtown Seattle.
- Seattle Celebrates the Great Northern Arrival
Thousands flock to Pioneer Place for the opening of the Mineral Palace, marking the completion of the railway and the Fourth of July.
- Walla Walla Battles for Public Water
A landslide vote rejects private control in favor of a new municipal gravity system.
- The High Cost of Commuting on the Rails
After seeking work at a local mill, a man attempts to board a moving freight train in Centralia, leading to a life-altering accident.
- The Electrified Watchman
When the Seattle Electric Railway’s infrastructure turned the city into a hazard, a local watchman learned the hard way that his job required handling more than just time.
- The Next Governor Hits the Campaign Trail
Republican gubernatorial candidate John H. McGraw receives a hero’s welcome in the coastal town of Ilwaco during a rain-swept campaign tour.
- The Great Rainier Climbing Debate
A classic Pacific Northwest squabble over who actually reached the summit of Mount Rainier first.
- The Ghostly Fire on Mount Rainier
A mountain party finds their camp transformed into an eerie, glowing scene during an alpine electrical storm.
- The Bankrupt Streetcar Company Ordered to Keep a Mansion Lit
A Seattle court rules that a receiver must honor a close corporation's strange side deal to power G. E. M. Pratt's home.
- The Day Seattle Swallowed 10,000 Strangers: The Great Fourth of July Flood
In 1888, the Territory of Washington threw its biggest-ever Independence Day celebration. Steamers arrived loaded with visitors until the streets were so packed that police could barely move. Here is how Seattle hosted a crowd that nearly burst its seams.
- Fifteen Thousand for Dinner: The Butchers Roast Seattle a Whole Ox
The trade closed the shops, marched from Pioneer Place to the Yesler dock to meet Tacoma, and hauled the whole town out to Madison Park for four solid hours of carving, a ball game against Arlington, a greased pig and a dance under the lanterns.
- A Powerhouse Fire Couldn't Keep Seattle's Streetcars Down for Long
Flames destroyed the Consolidated Street Railway's power house and dozens of cars before dawn, but borrowed dynamos and quick repairs had the lines running again by morning.
- The Battle Over the Old Soldiers’ Home
Grand Army veterans accuse the home’s board of planting a hired engineer and laundress to force out Commandant S. E. Street—and they want a judge to rule on the ouster.
- The Night a Streetcar Powerhouse Fire Left Half of Seattle Dark
A pre-dawn blaze at Fifth and Pine gutted the Consolidated Street Railway plant, destroyed nearly all its cars and dynamos, crippled three lines, and blacked out everything north of Pike Street.
- 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.
- A Newspaper Editor's Silence in Court: The Lugrin Libel Trial
C. H. Lugrin, managing editor of the Seattle Telegraph, rested his defense without calling witnesses in a libel trial brought by Police Chief Rogers. The case now goes to the jury.