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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 4 |
| 1889 | 5 |
| 1892 | 5 |
| 1893 | 7 |
| 1894 | 9 |
| 1895 | 8 |
38 stories matching sky
- The Great Rainout: Seattle’s Masonic Festival Drowned by the Sky
As delegates from across the territory gathered for a grand celebration, an unrelenting downpour forced organizers to cancel races and hope for a dry evening tea.
- The Boom on the Heights: How Seattle’s Real Estate Hype Reached for the Sky in 1888
Long before today's high-rise fever, ambitious developers were betting on the future of Seattle's hillsides with promises of a 'Queen City' rising from the sound.
- The Sudden 'White Squall' Hits Tacoma
A ferocious storm rips through the harbor with wind, rain, and snow, causing ships to drift and confusing local scientists.
- John H. McGraw Inaugurated as Governor
In an ceremony marked by fair skies, John H. McGraw assumes the governorship of Washington, succeeding Elisha P. Ferry.
- A Perilous Trip Near Lake Chelan
An advertising agent and his companions narrowly avoid a fatal plunge into a canyon while traveling through the mountains.
- The Celebrity Cult of the Gilded Age
A writer in 1888 questions the bizarre, sycophantic public obsession with the ultra-wealthy, who are 'petted in Belgravia' simply for their riches.
- Mount Rainier Was Smoking, and Olympia Noticed
In January 1895, a correspondent watching through a glass saw great volumes rising from the summit — and wondered whether the mountain had awakened.
- The Death-Defying Leap at Madrona Park
A daredevil aerialist and a monkey perform a high-altitude parachute jump over Lake Washington, drawing a massive, cheering crowd.
- The Meteor That Set a Lagoon Boiling
A blazing object fell from the sky over Chimacum, terrified Jefferson County farmers who thought the world was ending, and left a lagoon bubbling hot enough to cook eggs hours later.
- Fremont Mill Saved from Total Destruction
A late-night fire at the Pacific Manufacturing Company plant threatened the suburb of Fremont until local fire crews intervened.
- An Ethereal Display Over the Pacific Northwest
A witness reports a strange, luminous phenomenon over the Washington plains that left onlookers spellbound.
- The Sun Dogs of Douglas County
A rare and haunting atmospheric display over St. Andrews puzzles local observers and scientists alike.
- The Balloon Boy of Seattle
A 12-year-old boy is snatched into the sky after becoming entangled in a hot-air balloon's rigging, leading to a desperate mid-air struggle.
- The Real Estate Pitch That Promised a Mediterranean Paradise in West Seattle
A 1889 promotional blurb captures the early, breathless hyperbole used to sell West Seattle as the 'Italy of the Pacific Northwest.'
- The Mountain That Watched: Fire on Mount Rainier’s Peak
As Seattle and Portland celebrated the Fourth of July with parades and speeches, a mysterious signal fire blazed atop Mount Rainier, drawing thousands of eyes to the sky.
- The Night Seattle Painted the Town Red
After a landslide victory in the 1892 city elections, thousands of jubilant supporters flooded Pioneer Place to celebrate the end of a 'brazen, triple-plated' political ring.
- Militia Encampment Under Siege by Rain and Mud
Washington's National Guard troops endure a damp, difficult training session near Olympia, marked by runaways, a fistfight, and dismal weather.
- The Bank Failure, the Postmaster Letters, and the Fickle Financiers of Seattle
When a Seattle bank collapsed, twenty-five men wanted to be receiver — until the controller of the currency discovered the same businessmen who protested one candidate had just praised him to the skies for a different job.
- 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.
- A Free Vaudeville Show Was Meant to Fill the Madison Street Cars
Stockholders in the Madison Street cable road hired a company of performers for nightly free shows at the lake pavilion, hoping the crowds would ride the line.
- Seven Lots, Three Judges, and a Railroad's Sky-High Bill
With jurors suspected of being bribed, three judges took over the Great Northern condemnation case—and the valuations for a few lots near King Street swung wildly.
- The Jealousy That Shut Down a Shop: A Seattle Woman’s Fight for Livelihood
In 1888, a Seattle lumber shop owner saw her business destroyed not by market forces, but by the petty sabotage of her customers' wives. Her story reveals the fragile economic existence of women in the frontier city.
- The Anna M. Pence Burns to the Waterline; Her Cook Jumps and Drowns
A hay-laden steamer caught fire near Lowell Point before dawn. The crew escaped onto a scow, but cook Thomas Sullivan — just days on the job, with a daughter married the week before — went overboard and was lost.
- A Christmas on the Ice King: The Climb That Saw Rainier Smoking
In 1894, Major Ingraham led six men, seven homing pigeons, and a camera onto Mount Rainier’s glaciers. They came back with frostbite, a story of steam and smoke rising from the crater—and one pigeon missing.
- A Lake Union Mill Went Up in Flames—Then Neighbors Saved the Lumber
A sash-and-door factory leased by George E. Dow & Co. was destroyed late Sunday night. The fire department could not save the building, but quick action kept a $3,000 lumber stock and the wharf from burning.