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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 3 |
| 1889 | 12 |
| 1891 | 4 |
| 1892 | 4 |
| 1893 | 10 |
| 1894 | 12 |
| 1895 | 13 |
58 stories matching soft
- Seattle's Broken Sewers Were Shoveled to Pieces, Engineer Says
City Engineer Thomson rejects the explosion theory and blames wet clay clods and soft-burned pipe for fractures under Kenny Street.
- The White Doe of the Cascades: A Rare Albino Captured in the Wilds
A peculiar white deer, killed north of Cascade Valley and brought to Spokane for exhibition, offers a glimpse into the region's untamed wildlife.
- The City’s Coldest Necessity
A historic advertisement reveals the reliance of early Seattle on the 'Seattle Wood Yard' to heat the city during harsh winters.
- The Last Great Gush: West Seattle’s Promoters Promise Paradise on the Edge of the Sound
In February 1889, real estate agents and newspaper editors were busy selling a dream of West Seattle, touting its majestic views of Mount Rainier and promising that the new railroad would turn this rugged plateau into the next gold rush for land speculators.
- 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 Price of a Forgotten Debt
A chance encounter on a crowded city street five years later reminds a man of a twenty-dollar loan and the delicate social dance of repayment.
- The Real Estate Pitch That Conquered West Seattle
A booster-era advertisement uses high-flown, flowery prose to compare the views of West Seattle to the Swiss Alps, aiming to sell lots in a burgeoning new neighborhood.
- The Real Estate Boom of the 'West End'
Developers pitch the sweeping vistas of West Seattle as the city's future crowning jewel, borrowing praise from a San Francisco journal to lure investors.
- The Counterfeit Salmon Bait Incident
Two teenagers on Mercer Island find themselves in federal court after attempting to trade a counterfeit dollar for salmon eggs.
- The Quest for Water at Temperance and Mercer
Developer D. T. Denny is drilling deep into the ground of North Seattle, hoping to tap an artesian aquifer to secure water for his property.
- The Anatomy of a Public Works Disaster
Engineering testimony reveals how cheap, porous bricks and massive inefficiency turned city sewer projects into money pits.
- A Shootout on Front Street
An attempted arrest of two suspected thieves ends in a violent exchange of gunfire near the waterfront.
- Trolley Car Disaster Narrowly Averted
A construction car derails near Lake Washington, trapping a man in the mud.
- The Poker Habit of a Public Official
L. D. Ross, implicated in the city treasury scandal, led a double life as a high-stakes gambler at a downtown cigar store.
- The Real Estate Poet of West Seattle
In an era of aggressive land speculation, developers sold West Seattle not just as property, but as a vision of the Mediterranean transplanted to the Pacific Northwest.
- When the City Council Accidentally Legalized the Dance Halls
A lawyer finds that Seattle's council quietly repealed its dance-hall ordinances, and the halls reopen in defiance of the police chief — who can only threaten warrants until a new law is passed.
- The Sewer Scandal: A Whistleblower’s Warning
City Engineer Thomson testified that he repeatedly warned officials against using sub-standard, 'rotten' brick in Seattle’s sewer construction, only to be ignored as the project fell into corruption and mismanagement.
- The Promised Heights of West Seattle
A booster-era description of a neighborhood rising above the clouds, promising a future of wharves, factories, and mountain views.
- The Jailbreak Tools Hidden in the Steel
A search of the county jail reveals two hack saws and a DIY heating lamp hidden in the structural pipework, intended for a prisoner's escape.
- Seattle’s Sewer Scandal and the Mayor’s Failed Purge
Mayor J.T. Ronald’s attempt to remove members of the Board of Public Works over allegations of mismanagement and cronyism is blocked by an injunction.
- A Bicycle Plunge from the Grant Street Bridge
A young cyclist was sent over the edge of the bridge by a narrow guardrail, plummeting onto the tide flats below.
- The Hop Blight and the Fall of Washington's Premium Crop
Ezra Meeker warns that poor cultivation and sloppy picking are costing the region its competitive edge in the global market.
- Who Killed Zens Mayeda? The Footprints in the Potato Patch
A Japanese man is found murdered in Seattle. A sullen suspect gives little away, and a deputy sheriff finds three sets of hurried footprints — one pair barefoot — leading away from the house.
- The Real Estate Boom of 1890
A booster’s pitch for West Seattle highlights the city's turn-of-the-century obsession with land development and panoramic vistas.
- The Custom House Spoils System
A political power struggle over federal appointments in Port Townsend reveals the deep-seated corruption and infighting within the local Democratic Party.