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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 5 |
| 1889 | 6 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 23 |
| 1893 | 13 |
| 1894 | 5 |
| 1895 | 3 |
56 stories matching sand
- Striking Gold in the Black Sand of the Beach
A Tacoma visitor reports a machine at Ocosta that pulls a dollar of gold from every ton of beach sand — and a local banker has already bought it.
- The Gold Rush on the Pacific Beaches
A Tacoma syndicate aims to extract gold and platinum from the sands of Beard's Hollow near Ilwaco.
- The River That Cost Twice
A landowner is forced to pay for the same property twice after the Columbia River shifts its channel and alters the state boundary.
- Trapped by the Tide on the Road to Queets
In 1892, poet Herbert Bashford joined a camping party for a walk up Washington’s wild Olympic coast—and found the rising tide more dangerous than any highwayman.
- The Tragedy Beneath Lake Union
A routine sewer tunneling project turns into a deadly nightmare, leaving one laborer lost beneath six feet of quicksand as his comrades narrowly escape.
- The Battle for Salmon Bay’s Sand Spit
A multi-year legal feud over a railway right-of-way and a squatter’s claim reaches the courtroom.
- Seattle's First Real Street Paving
A specimen half-block is laid on Commercial Street as a test to end the era of plank roads and mud.
- The Sawdust in Your Spice Cabinet
A Seattle newspaper exposé from 1888 reveals that the city's food supply was being systemically poisoned by greed, with sawdust in spices and grease in butter.
- The Midnight Landing at Smith's Cove
When dozens of Chinese laborers were smuggled into Seattle via a frigid landing at Smith’s Cove in 1892, a frantic, city-wide pursuit ensued.
- The Opium King’s Last Stand: A Seattle Showdown
As federal agents prepare to prosecute the city's most notorious vice figure, he stands defiant in his hotel room, claiming his trunks were rigged and vowing to clear his name before a New York jury.
- The Navy Secretary Goes Down Into the Big Hole
Secretary of the Navy Herbert rides the lighthouse tender Manzanita across the Sound to inspect the giant new dry dock at Port Orchard, settles a bitter dispute over how deep to drive the pilings, and dances the night away at the Rainier.
- The Fight for Smith’s Cove Sand Spit
A judge dismisses a suit against the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad, cementing its claim to the waterfront land at Smith’s Cove.
- The Miracle at the Bend
An engineer’s harrowing account of a toddler playing on the tracks, the desperate silence of the brakes, and an inexplicable survival.
- Redirecting the River: Reclaiming the Stuck Valley
Pierce County engineers cut a new channel through the Stuck River to drain 2,000 acres of farmland and end the cycle of sand-choked floods.
- The Great Northern Train Heist That Wasn't
A bungled opium bust and a wild chase through the woods turned an everyday commuter trip into a farce.
- Experimental Electric Car Crashes in Tacoma
A prototype electric streetcar plunged off its track on the Tacoma waterfront, leaving one passenger injured and highlighting the hazards of emerging transit technology.
- The Strange 'Living' Well of Port Townsend
A dry well dug in an addition to Port Townsend acts as a natural, pneumatic barometer, baffling local scientists.
- The Man Who Walked With a Bolt Through His Foot
John Moore, Seattle's most noted diver, recounts the harrowing moment he was impaled by a railroad bolt in the Mississippi River—and how his tender saved him.
- The Great Blizzard of 1892
A historic ten-inch snowfall paralyzes Seattle's transit systems, forces school closures, and creates an eerie, blanketed stillness across Western Washington.
- The Struggle for a Baby's Safety in the Waterfront Slums
A twelve-month-old Japanese child was rescued by neighbors after being neglected and abused by the couple hired to care for him.
- A Fatal Duel Over a Horse in the Cascades
A young railway worker claims self-defense after shooting a known gambler near Nason Creek.
- The Heroine of North Beach
How Martha White, a solitary woman on the storm-lashed coast, braved mountain-high waves to pull dying sailors from the surf.
- Bullets for a Neighbor on Vashon Island
A rancher says George Weston, his only neighbor, fired through his cabin window and later drew a bead on him from the beach. Now Ole Christofersen wants the law to bind Weston to keep the peace.
- The Ghost of the Eagle Gorge Landslide
Months after a devastating slide on the Green River, a deputy coroner uncovers the remains of a laborer buried by the earth.
- A Desperate Leap into Lake Washington
A woman known as 'Bessie' was rescued from the waters of Lake Washington near Madrona Park following a reported suicide attempt.