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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 11 |
| 1889 | 27 |
| 1891 | 8 |
| 1892 | 34 |
| 1893 | 44 |
| 1894 | 27 |
| 1895 | 49 |
200 stories matching settler
- The Settlers' War Against the Railroads
Aberdeen settlers demand protection as railroad companies skirt the law to clear-cut timberland.
- Extension of Time for Land Settlement
A new congressional act provides crucial relief for settlers on former Northern Pacific land grants along the Columbia River.
- The Homesteaders Who Couldn’t Own Their Land
A delayed federal survey left settlers near Sedro unable to prove title, borrow money or improve their farms—red tape with real human cost.
- The Settlers Beat the Railroad
A Pacific County land fight ends in favor of homesteaders after the Northern Pacific tried to claim their township under its indemnity grant.
- A Seattle Party Ran Fifteen Deer Into Puget Sound — Then Shot Them From Boats
Vashon Island settlers had let the local deer grow so tame they were a familiar sight. Then one snowy dawn a hunting party came over from Seattle with five hounds and swept the herd into the water.
- The Teenage Outlaw of the Dungeness Valley
A sixteen-year-old boy armed with a rifle terrorizes settlers, holding up officials and sparking a manhunt.
- The Struggle to Survey Washington’s Wilds
A historic circular reveals the bureaucratic and financial hurdles homesteaders faced to prove their land claims in 1883.
- Tension and Violence at the Colville Reservation
Settlers at Colville petition for military intervention following reports of burned hay fields and armed conflict with local Indigenous people.
- The Great Land Grab of 1890
Official records from the Seattle land office reveal a massive migration of settlers moving into Washington’s 'virgin soil,' fueling a population boom and shifting the region's economy toward private ownership.
- The Lonely Soul of the Yukon Territory
An 1888 lonely-hearts advertisement from a settler in the Washington Territory reveals the frontier's stark isolation and the desperate social engineering that built the Pacific Northwest.
- A Life Remembered in Snohomish
A long-time resident of Snohomish, known to local white settlers, is laid to rest with ceremony by his community.
- Federal Pressure on Port Angeles Settlers
Senator John B. Allen pressures the Land Department to resolve the stalled Port Angeles townsite survey.
- Vigilantes Burn Settler's Cabin at Hoko River
A Seattle man is left homeless after a masked party of seven enforced their claim on the Hoko River by fire.
- Bureaucratic Delay, Bloody Quarrels: The Land Survey That Left Homesteaders in Limbo for 15 Years
Senator Squire demands answers from the General Land Office as settlers on townships 38-40 wait over a decade for their land titles, with boundary disputes turning deadly.
- The Settlers' War Against the Land Office
How the administration of Grover Cleveland turned homesteaders into outlaws, sparking fear across Washington Territory.
- The Minor Land Grabbers of Port Angeles
Federal authorities rule that underage settlers may claim townsite lots, sparking a unique legal experiment.
- Lemuel Holgate, Early Seattle Settler, Dies at 58
Lemuel J. Holgate, who defended the city during the 1856 Indian War, dies at the age of 58.
- The Precarious Wealth of a Marcus Bachelor
A wealthy settler in the Colville Valley suffers a public health scare, highlighting the risks of frontier isolation and the burden of managing an estate.
- The Snow Drove Twenty Elk to the Beach. A Hunter Killed Them All.
Near Brinnon, settlers formed a vigilance committee after an unknown hunter slaughtered a snowbound herd—and then burned his cabin.
- The Terror of the Middle Valley
A massive cougar that plagued local settlers with livestock raids finally meets its end through a cunning trap.
- Settlers Fight for Vashon Island Homesteads
Homesteaders on Vashon Island petition the government to open up lands held as military reservations, arguing they are no longer strategically necessary.
- The Battle Over Wenatchee Fishing Rights
A treaty-based reservation for indigenous fishing rights sparks a localized protest from settlers and speculators.
- Timber Thieves and Stolen Homesteads
A federal land agent details how wealthy mill corporations are systematically dispossessing homesteaders and stealing public timber.
- The Kittitas Range War
Armed settlers and their wives confront a canal company to defend their family farms from state-sanctioned land seizure.
- Vigilantes of the Big Bottom: A Land War in Lewis County
When an aggressive claim jumper tried to terrorize a homesteader, twenty-five settlers organized a committee of order to run him out of the woods.
Also about this, in other words
- The Settler's Hunger for the Moses Reservation
An 1891 report from Colville showcases the era's aggressive push to seize Indigenous land for white settlement, detailing the minerals and rich soil the state's residents felt belonged to them rather than the tribes.