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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 116 |
| 1889 | 270 |
| 1891 | 106 |
| 1892 | 547 |
| 1893 | 597 |
| 1894 | 593 |
| 1895 | 655 |
2,884 stories matching work
- South Sewer Tunnel Project Stalled
Financial chaos at City Hall halts work on a major infrastructure project, leaving thirty workers unemployed.
- Spokane Victory for Day Labor
A permanent injunction halts a private contract, forcing the city to hire workers directly.
- Work Relief at the County Farm
Faced with a surge of unemployment and the limitations of traditional charity, King County Commissioners implement a work-for-pay program to sustain struggling families.
- Hunger and the City Council
Tacoma’s unemployed protesters storm City Hall, forcing local leaders to prioritize local families for municipal public works.
- The Mayor's Veto: A Battle Over City Bonds
Mayor J. T. Ronald blocks a city council ordinance requiring a bond from a waterworks cashier, citing legal advice from the city's corporation counsel.
- Seattle’s Million-Dollar Water Gamble
Facing a growing population and urgent infrastructure needs, city leaders propose a massive bond measure to build a municipal water system, aiming to secure control over the city's future.
- The Seattle Longshoreman’s Strike of 1888
When the steamship Alki arrived in Seattle, a confrontation between non-union workers and the Longshoremen's Union highlighted the volatile labor climate on the Puget Sound docks.
- Tacoma’s Work Relief Experiment
Facing economic hardship, the city of Tacoma launches a public works program that prioritizes heads of households over others.
- The Mayor vs. The Board
Mayor J.T. Ronald rejects a city ordinance, clashing with the Board of Public Works over who controls the schedule of the city's executive branch.
- The Laundry Con Artists
Two men posing as city water works employees extorted a Chinese laundry owner, sparking a police crackdown on a recurring racket.
- The Harbor Master’s Religious Test
An immigrant laborer claims he was denied city sewer work specifically for being a Greek Catholic.
- The Criminalization of Unemployment
A Seattle candy maker, down on his luck during hard times, faces repeated arrest for the 'crime' of being unable to find work.
- Fifty Unemployed Men March on Port Angeles — and Ask the County for Work
Led by Judge W. Clark, they told commissioners they had cleared the old Port Angeles reservation but could not make a living on it. Without work, they said, they would demand county support.
- City Hall's Cold Water Crisis
Seattle's Board of Public Works removes a water department superintendent after intense pressure from local labor groups.
- The Floating Saloon vs. the Everett Barge Works
A superintendent at the Everett barge works fights back against a 'floating drink shop' that threatened to demoralize his workforce.
- The Dry Dock Deal That Promised 300 Jobs in Ten Days
A revised Navy contract at Port Orchard promised hundreds of jobs and a permanent naval station—and contractors insisted their work had been vindicated.
- Great Northern Crews Race to Save a Columbia River Bridge
A Waterville railroad worker reports sixty men straightening a tunnel and reinforcing a Columbia crossing after engineers feared the bridge might slide into the river.
- Ballard's Water Fight Goes to Court
When a lawsuit tried to block the young city from buying the West Coast Improvement Company's springs and pipes, Ballard's answer warned that an injunction would leave the water system in peril.
- Why is the City Buying Eastern Hydrants?
A citizen questions why the city administration is shipping tax money to Michigan for inferior equipment when local iron workers remain idle.
- Unemployed Rail Worker Attempts Suicide After Years of Hardship
A former American Railway Union member, struggling to find work since the great strike, attempts to take his own life near the Denny clay works.
- Everett Is Born—But Its First City Limits Leave Out the Mills and Tide Flats
County commissioners granted Everett’s incorporation but drew the boundaries to exclude Lowell, the paper mill, nail works, barge works, smelter and tide flats—setting a March 29 election.
- The City Wharf as a Stone Yard: Seattle's Plan to Put Its Idle Men to Work
A petition signed by dozens of prominent Seattle businessmen asks the city council to turn the waterfront into a public stone yard, trading honest labor for meals and lodging — and to run the beggars out of town.
- The Gigantic Mining Operation at Monte Cristo
A mechanical superintendent reports on the massive, singular challenges of building a tramway into the isolated mining camp of Monte Cristo.
- The Birth of the Big Steel Dream
A British entrepreneur plans to transform a massive site on the shores of Lake Washington into a steel empire, promising jobs for thousands.
- Tacoma’s Mayor Calls the Public Works Board a Political Machine
At a council investigation into the suspended light and water superintendent, Mayor Orr accused the public works president of running the department as a patronage operation—and talk turned to impeachment.