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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1893 | 1 |
| 1894 | 4 |
| 1895 | 6 |
14 stories matching improb
- The Mill That Left Town: Snoqualmie's Hope Goes to Portland
After a December fire, the town waited for a rebuild. Instead, Park & Lacy is hauling the machinery south, closing a $75,000 chapter.
- The Ghost of a $30,000 Debt
A bitter court battle over a disputed promissory note reveals the messy financial dealings of the deceased.
- The Abduction of a Lighthouse Keeper's Son
A mysterious robbery at the Admiralty Head light station left a 16-year-old boy missing and officials suspecting passing opium smugglers or indigenous travelers.
- The Eight-Hour Day That Was Amended to Death
A bold proposal to limit public works labor to eight hours faces a grim fate in the Washington State Senate, where 'amendments' have stripped the bill of its power before it can even reach the House.
- The Contract Squabble that Held Seattle Baseball Hostage
In 1891, the Pacific Northwest League’s amateur-professional status was in disarray, and a tug-of-war over star player Abner Powell became a litmus test for Seattle's rising civic pride.
- The Bold Bid for Seattle’s Shipyards
An 1889 editorial argues that if San Francisco can successfully build naval warships, Washington Territory—with its vast timber and coal reserves—should be the next center of American maritime power.
- A Timber From the Lost Collier: Wreckage of the Montserrat Comes Ashore at Cape Flattery
Six feet of painted stanchion, dragged from the sea off Tatoosh Island, convinces veteran mariners that the missing coal ship Montserrat has finally given up a piece of herself.
- A Ship's Name-Board Washes Ashore 115 Miles From Where the Ivanhoe Went Down
A lighthouse keeper's wife finds the port quarter name-board of a lost coal freighter buried in the sand at Willapa Bay — and a Navy inspector uses the currents to argue the ship foundered far south of Cape Flattery.
- The Confederate Major Who Set Type in Seattle
A German-born printer who saw Fort Sumter bombarded and later joined Seattle's typographical union died at Providence Hospital, taking an improbable Civil War past with him.
- The Federal Jobs That Came With Life Tenure
A new civil-service order gives Puget Sound customs officers—from deputies to private secretaries—protection that even a change of administration may not break.
- The Free Train Passes That Kept a Senate Seat in Play
In Olympia, a deadlocked legislature, a withdrawn reform candidate, and John L. Wilson's railroad-funded lobby decide who will represent Washington in the U.S. Senate.
- From Vera Cruz to Seattle: The Improbable Life of Levi F. Compton
A Mexican War veteran, gold rusher, bridge builder and Odd Fellows patriarch died at his Spring Street home, leaving a civic record that stretched from Virginia slavery to a Chehalis reform school.
- Tacoma's Water Chief Accused—and the City Hall Feud Behind It
Mayor Orr's appointment of George H. Hollidge to run Tacoma's water and light plants blew up into a public corruption fight, with secret affidavits, anonymous postal cards and a grand jury waiting.
- Ida May Love Went to Sea as 'Dan McArdle'
A Whatcom newlywed walked out on her husband, her skirts and her name to serve seven weeks aboard the warship Monterey — and the Post-Intelligencer tracked her to a Leavenworth dance hall, where she was still talking about 'us boys.'