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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 5 |
| 1889 | 5 |
| 1892 | 22 |
| 1893 | 20 |
| 1894 | 11 |
| 1895 | 20 |
83 stories matching pole
- A Soaking and a Saving at the Seattle Waterfront
A porter on the City of Topeka fell overboard while inebriated and had to be prodded with a pike pole to save his life.
- A Dangerous Drop on Madison Street
A lineman for the Western Union Telegraph Company narrowly survives a thirty-foot fall while hoisting poles.
- A Juvenile Maypole Dance for Charity
Four hundred attendees filled Ranke's Hall to watch a complex ribbon-weaving dance performed by local children for the Bureau of Associated Charities.
- Puyallup Tribe Begins Commercial Hop Farming
In a historic shift, local indigenous farmers take the first step toward independent hop production.
- The Copper Wire Bandits
Two ex-linemen were arrested in Tacoma for stealing 5,000 pounds of copper wire from dead poles and selling it.
- The Greasy Pole Gambit: Seattle’s Summer of Slapstick and Sweat
On a sweltering July evening in 1889, thousands gathered at the foot of Madison Street not for politics or protest, but to watch three men fail spectacularly at climbing an oiled pole—a moment of pure, unadulterated civic joy.
- The Wild Madison Street Sled Crash
A group of young men took a bob-sled on a high-speed, downhill run in winter, ending in a violent collision with a telegraph pole.
- A Daring Climb Above Second and Cherry
A Home Messenger Company lineman risks a terrifying ascent to repair a flagpole atop the New York building.
- A Tolt Farmer Grows Tobacco Good Enough for Eastern Cigar Wrappers
Charles Nelson's tobacco samples from Tolt draw flattering reports from Eastern houses, with buyers calling it the finest wrapper leaf grown in the United States.
- Scaling the Courthouse Spire
After multiple failed attempts by laborers, a young man scales the courthouse roof to restore the Stars and Stripes to its rightful place.
- The Fight for Cheaper Calls
City council debates regulating telephone rates and forcing lines underground in a push to modernize Seattle's infrastructure.
- The Hop King's Forecast
Ezra Meeker weighs in on the state’s hop yield, the superiority of 'short-pole' farming, and the labor politics of the Puyallup Valley fields.
- A Runaway Grocery Team Crashes on Second Avenue
A panicked grocery wagon, fleeing down the steep slopes of Pine Street, ends in a tragic collision with a cable car, killing the horses and scattering goods.
- The Delicate Sensitivity of Seattle’s Fire Alarm
An accidental rock throw reveals how fragile the city's early fire alarm infrastructure truly was.
- The Hop Fever Gripping Puyallup
As hop vines hit 21 inches in the fertile valley, a local developer and hop baron makes big moves to capitalize on the boom.
- The Perils of Rooftop Baseball Fans
When an amateur bleacher made of nailed cleats gave way, two men plummeted twenty-five feet to the sidewalk, triggering a panic among hundreds of spectators clinging to city infrastructure.
- Gymnastics and Basketball at the YMCA
A local physical culture exhibition draws an enthusiastic crowd for tumbling, vaulting, and the sport of basketball.
- A Dugout, a Gunny-Sack Sail, and a Boy Lost on Lake Washington
Harvey Wehn was 15 when his makeshift sail capsized near Taylor's mill. A 4-year-old was the only witness.
- A Former Seattle Policeman Fell Between the Logs — and the Tide Took Him Before Anyone Could
Edward Kane went out at nine o'clock to bring in a raft of spruce. At noon his hat and pike pole were floating on water barely four feet deep, and there was no body to be found.
- A Whole Ox on a 30-Foot Trench: The Butchers' Free Feed for Ten Thousand
Six beeves, sixteen sheep, one ox and 45 boiled hams — roasted overnight over open coals at Madison Street Park and handed out free on pasteboard plates, with a greased pig, a greased pole and dancing until daybreak.
- The Mystery of the Cedar River Monsters
A fishing expedition into the wilderness turns into a strange, unexplained struggle against an unseen force in the depths of the river.
- A Promised Fortune in Kittitas Mines Turns to Legal War
John R. Wolcott promised to develop eight mining claims on Negro Creek, but when the ore proved worthless, the owners tried to cancel his contract—and he sued to keep his third interest.
- A Polish Colony in the Washington Woods
Organizers are recruiting hundreds of dissatisfied Polish and Swiss families from the Midwest to a planned settlement called Rapperswyl, on the south fork of the Nooksack — a Swiss name planted on the edge of Whatcom County.
- A Runaway Laundry Wagon
Horses pull a laundry wagon down a steep Seattle hill, ending in a wreck that miraculously injures no one.
- The Mayor's Flag Fight
A Seattle opera house owner sparks a civic brawl by flying a green flag above the Stars and Stripes, leading the mayor to forcibly intervene.