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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 4 |
| 1890 | 4 |
| 1891 | 3 |
| 1892 | 5 |
| 1893 | 7 |
| 1894 | 3 |
| 1895 | 4 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 5 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1916 | 2 |
42 stories matching arc
- Seattle Tries to Halve Its Street-Light Bill
A council debate over arc versus incandescent lamps exposed ward rivalries and a fight over how much control the city should keep over a private lighting contract.
- The Barber Who Inhaled Gas and Ran Screaming Down Pacific Avenue
A faulty gas arc left a new barber violently irrational and touched off a street struggle in Tacoma.
- The Sun Dogs of Douglas County
A rare and haunting atmospheric display over St. Andrews puzzles local observers and scientists alike.
- The Great Telephone Switchboard Fire
A tangled mess of high-voltage arc light wires sends fireworks cascading through the central telephone exchange, nearly incinerating the entire plant.
- The $275,000 Plan to Dredge Olympia Into a Deep-Water Port
In 1892, a federal engineer proposed cutting a 12-foot channel through two miles of tide flats so ocean steamers could reach Fourth Street. The price tag was $275,000—and a bet on Olympia’s future.
- A City on the Brink: Olympia’s 1891 Debt Crisis and the Fight Over Jobs
Facing a constitutional debt limit, Olympia’s city council considers firing the deputy clerk, assistant city attorney, and city engineer—while a motion to revoke the street railway franchise fails by a tie.
- Kennewick Bargained for Brighter Streets—and a Ten-Year Utility Deal
In December 1916, Pacific Power Light proposed replacing Kennewick’s carbon arc lamps with hydrogen lamps, but council members wanted guarantees that new technology and future rate cuts would reach the city.
- Newport Turns On the Lights
The Northern Idaho Montana Power Co. is wiring 2,500-candlepower arc lights and tungsten incandescents at intersections across Newport—a $4,500 bet on the town's future.
- City Lights Up the Dark Corners of Tacoma
New electrical transformers finally arrive, powering up dozens of new arc lamps in the Indian Addition and across the city—just in time for the council elections.
- Tacoma’s Electric Light War
A private power company accuses the city of selling light below cost to drive it out of business—and of a local editor gagging the story because he runs his own hotel plant.
- A Packed Council Chamber, a Railroad Franchise, and a Fight Over Public Streets
Newport's city council meeting drew a standing-room crowd as aldermen tangled over an Idaho Washington Northern street-vacation request, a conflict-of-interest accusation, saloon licenses, and an electric-light contract.
- Seattle's Early Electric Power Wars
As rival power companies rush to wire the city, a price war breaks out, forcing residents to choose between competing arc-light contracts.
- A Rare Celestial Display Over the Highlands
The aurora borealis put on its most vivid show in memory last Saturday, capturing the attention of Kennewick residents.
- Snohomish, 1898: A Ferry Claim Becomes a Booster's Dream City
A promotional tour of the inland Puget Sound town traces its founding by I.C. Ferguson, its lumber and fishing wages, and the railroad that turned a river landing into a self-described city of homes.
- The Night a Streetcar Powerhouse Fire Left Half of Seattle Dark
A pre-dawn blaze at Fifth and Pine gutted the Consolidated Street Railway plant, destroyed nearly all its cars and dynamos, crippled three lines, and blacked out everything north of Pike Street.
- Vandals Target Seattle Shingle Mills Amid Labor Unrest
Striking shingle weavers are suspected of sabotage at the Stimson and Cedar Lumber Company mills, marking a tense escalation in local labor disputes.
- The Battle Over the Old Soldiers’ Home
Grand Army veterans accuse the home’s board of planting a hired engineer and laundress to force out Commandant S. E. Street—and they want a judge to rule on the ouster.
- Fairhaven Businesses Rally Behind City Incorporation
Citizens gather to fund city services and strategize for the upcoming municipal incorporation battle.
- Buy Our Waterworks, or We'll Sell You to a Syndicate
Tacoma's Light and Water Company files its inventory for a $1.75 million city buyout — and a critic notes that the company has always known how to win a Tacoma election.
- The Fever and the Fall: Life in a Frontier Boomtown
A vivid account of the psychological and physical intensity of rapid urban growth—and the devastating silence left behind when the bubble bursts.
- The Arsonist's Confession: 'He Wanted Me to Burn It'
A Tacoma man details his coerced participation in the Aurora Hotel fire, revealing a plot by property owner Ed Williams to collect insurance money.
- Seattle’s Early Debate Over Public Power
The Chamber of Commerce considers whether the city should break from private monopoly and run its own electric grid.
- The Gas Monopoly and the Hunt Administration
A political war over city franchises and utility prices threatens to lock Walla Walla into a high-cost energy future.
- Selling the 'Magic City': Fairhaven’s 1890 Development Boom
Boosterism was at its peak in Fairhaven as the Fairhaven Land Company touted steel furnaces, electric lights, and an inexhaustible connection to Skagit coal.
- Fremont's Dark Streets
The Seattle City Council faces a standoff with the electric company over street lighting for the neighborhood.
Also about this, in other words
- The City of Destiny Lights Up for the Fair
Tacoma plans a massive electrical display of double arches across Pacific Avenue to welcome visitors for the upcoming A.-V.-P. fair.
- The Chain-Gang’s Shovel Symphony
In the heart of Olympia, a group of convicts turned Pacific Avenue into their personal construction site, wielding pickaxes and shovels with obstinate pride.
- A High-Stakes Wrestling Match at the Opera House
The Victoria champion Quinn faced off against Matsada Karakichi in a brutal match that ended in controversy and injuries.
- The Human Spider of Occidental Square
A sailor scaled a 135-foot flagpole in downtown Seattle to keep the city’s Fourth of July celebrations on schedule.
- No Safety Net, No Ordinance: A Trapeze Act Falls in Seattle
Two acrobats plunged from a Madison Street trapeze in 1895, exposing a gap in city safety rules and a very lucky escape.
- Japanese Laborers Defy Armed Extortion at Ashford
Contracted workers at the Tacoma Eastern rail site force a confrontation over predatory wage deductions and fees.
- The Deadly Alley Between Cherry and James
Fire Chief A.B. Hunt races to protect Seattle firefighters from electrocution in the city's most hazardous alleys.
- The Bear That Earned Its Salt
A traveling menagerie arrives in Pullman, offering a rare glimpse into the oddities of frontier entertainment and the community's skeptical gaze.