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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 3 |
| 1889 | 3 |
| 1891 | 3 |
| 1892 | 5 |
| 1893 | 8 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1895 | 2 |
26 stories matching network
- The Last Days of Thomas: A Seattle Family’s Grief in 1899
An obituary for a local resident reveals the intimate scale of life in early Seattle, where death was a public event and family networks were the primary social safety net.
- The Farmers' Alliance Grain Rebellion
Palouse farmers bypass railroad-controlled elevators to handle their own grain, yielding massive profits.
- The Cable Car That Changed Seattle: Jackson Street Line to Open August 1st
As the Jackson and Mill Street cable road prepares for its inaugural run, developers are already betting that this new artery will double and triple property values in the city's most desirable district.
- The Smuggler Who 'Skipped' Town
After her arrest for opium smuggling, Hattie Hastings of Port Angeles has vanished, leaving the community debating her innocence and her connection to a larger criminal ring.
- The Safety of City Lights
A San Francisco electrician tours Seattle's growing network of lights and warns that competition among workers leads to dangerous, sloppy wiring.
- Chief Jackson’s Quest for a Better Police Dispatch
Seattle’s Chief of Police returns from a fact-finding mission to Portland and San Francisco, hoping to import a superior telephone patrol system to curb the static and confusion of the local line.
- Great Northern Moves to Seize Downtown Blocks
The expanding railway network files suit to condemn an entire city block, displacing residents and businesses in the Whitechapel district.
- The Great Seattle Railroad Blockade
A federal court issues a stinging injunction to halt the construction of rival railroad lines in Washington Territory, sparking a corporate war between the Union Pacific and local interests.
- The Waterfront Heist and the Chief’s Clever Ruse
A notorious 'beach-comber' terrorized Beacon Hill and Fremont, hiding stolen silverware in the mud under a dock until a detective’s staged ruse cracked the case.
- The Great Grain Blockade of 1890
While the Palouse region produced record-breaking wheat yields, a lack of rail infrastructure caused a catastrophic 'grain blockade' that paralyzed the local economy.
- The Iron Road Reaches Seattle
How James J. Hill bypassed government land grants to connect the Pacific Coast to the interior, permanently altering Seattle’s future.
- The Corporate Coup at Seattle Consolidated
An Eastern financial takeover of Seattle’s street railway system aims to consolidate the city's fragmented and unprofitable transit network.
- 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 Banking Titans Building Modern Seattle
A look inside the financial engine driving Seattle’s rapid expansion in the early 1890s through the lens of a newly rising financial institution.
- The Shadowy Trade of the Sound
A Canadian steamer allegedly lands contraband laborers and opium near Olympia, revealing a thriving underground network of smuggling that has turned the city into a Puget Sound rendezvous.
- The Iron Road Rushes East
In 1892, railroad tycoon James J. Hill arrived in Spokane to finalize plans for a massive rail expansion that would forever link the Columbia River plateau to the transcontinental network.
- The Forger Who Could Not Outrun the Telegraph
A determined sheriff tracks a cunning forger from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest by leveraging a new network of law enforcement telegrams.
- Fireboat Battles Blazing Mill on the Tide Flats
McMaster's shingle mill, a sprawling wharf-side structure, is lost to a massive fire as the city's fireboat struggles to maneuver through a congested waterway.
- The Secret Game Under the Sidewalk
A reporter uncovers a network of hidden gambling dens and 'wire-puller' locks operating with total impunity under the city's reform administration.
- The Banquet That Built Seattle's Legal Elite
In 1903, the city’s most powerful lawyers gathered at the Rainier Hotel to honor Judge Julius Stratton, cementing a social network that would shape Washington State's legal landscape for decades.
- The Temperance Union’s Grand Flower Festival
As Seattle grew, the local chapter of the W.C.T.U. organized elaborate civic events, revealing the powerful social network of women shaping the city's public life.
- The Streetcar Line That Paid Its Way—Until the Bonds Came Due
Seattle’s consolidated street railway reports that fares cover operations but not mortgage interest, while receivership leases and a city council refusal reshape the young transit network.
- The Asylum Ward’s Unseen Hunger
A patient describes the grueling conditions inside a Seattle insane asylum, where the sick are fed wormy prunes and bread meant for the refuse pile, while robust workers with influence dine on fresh milk.
- The Fight to Save Nordstrom: Money, Friends, and a Legal Race Against the Noose
Convicted of murder and sentenced to hang, C. Nordstrom finds a network of supporters—including the Swedish consul—raising funds for a last-ditch appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
- The Packing Plant That Wasted Nothing
At Meeker on the Seattle–Tacoma line, the Pacific Meat Company turned cattle, hogs and sheep into cured meat, sausage and fertilizer with almost no waste—and kept a small town working.