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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 8 |
| 1862 | 9 |
| 1863 | 3 |
21 stories matching work
- A Territorial Feud Over Public Printing
A scathing editorial from The Standard details a dispute between the newspaper and a Federal official over control of territorial printing contracts.
- The Morning Glory Fizzle
A group of Vancouver Southern sympathizers attempted to print a campaign paper in Portland, only to have their equipment and their vanity locked away in a safe they couldn't open.
- The Meadow Snake Fiasco
A bashful farmhand’s desperate attempts to avoid the local quilting party result in an unintended, high-speed chase with a black snake.
- The Gold Rush at Nez Perces
A local captain reports on the booming prospects for thousands of miners seeking quartz gold in the Blue Mountains.
- The Threat of Slave Labor in Washington
A local writer warns laborers that the introduction of enslaved people into the territory could crash wages and destroy the dignity of free labor.
- An Editor Steps Down Amidst Political Intrigue
James Lodge defends his reputation after withdrawing from the Pioneer and Democrat, denying secret negotiations with Republican rivals.
- The Bureaucracy of Abandonment
Olympia’s land office is paralyzed by backlogs, leaving settlers and their titles in legal limbo while officials in Washington, D.C. ignore local pleas for help.
- The Scandal of Surveyor General Henry
Dr. Anson G. Henry fights back against accusations of swindling the government and bribery in a blistering public defense.
- Four Subscriptions Canceled: Tumwater Punishes the Editor for Printing Olympia's County-Seat Pitch
The Standard ran the Olympia town trustees' case for moving the county seat — and four Tumwater readers struck back the only way they could: 'Stop my paper!' The editor is not gracious about it.
- The Great Vancouver Land War
A government ruling unravels decades of competing claims between the St. James Mission, the U.S. Military, and the heirs of Amos Short over the heart of Vancouver.
- The Gold Rush Mania: A Cautionary Tale for Settlers
As disheartened miners return from the upper Columbia, the Standard warns local farmers and mechanics that steady work at home is worth more than the speculative, dangerous 'El Dorado' scramble.
- Founding the University of Washington
In 1861, commissioners reported on the hard-won construction of the territory's first university, built from scratch with donated land and volunteer labor.
- Life on the Edge of the World: A Dispatch from Tatoosh Island
A rare 1861 account of the desolate, storm-battered lives of lighthouse keepers and their interactions with the Makah people at the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
- The High Cost of Borrowing in Territorial Olympia
An indignant citizen writes to the editor to protest the predatory lending practices bankrupting the territory's early settlers.
- The Struggle for an Inland Route
Olympia’s leadership frets that without a wagon road over the Cascades, the capital city risks losing its status to the burgeoning trade of the Upper Columbia.
- The Violent Expulsion of a Black Resident from Olympia
A white resident publicly recounts his role in forcing a Black man out of town, illustrating the overt racism prevalent in the territory during the Civil War era.
- The Unlikely Enforcer of a Party Game
A jealous husband at a frontier social insists his young wife receives equal attention—or else he will settle the matter with his fists.
- The Public Printer's Stand-Off
A legislative clerk threatened 'foul means' to seize official manuscripts from the printer, leading to a tense standoff over territorial records.
- The Capital Crisis of 1861
A fiery letter to the editor captures the volatile politics of Washington Territory, as Pierce County residents accused the legislature of a 'corrupt bargain' over the location of the capital.
- The Loyalty Oath of a Washington Surveyor
Public official James Tilton defends his reputation against accusations of secessionism during the onset of the Civil War.
- The Dollar Deed: How a Husband’s ‘Gift’ to His Wife Cost Him His Land Claim
In a dispute over who settled first on public land, the Register of the Olympia Land Office ruled that W.S. Fish could not claim priority because he had technically transferred his donation claim to his wife for just one dollar.