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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
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| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 1 |
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37 stories matching barrier
- The Panhandle's Longing: A Century-Old Border Dispute
Before Washington became a state, Northern Idahoans fought for annexation, citing mountain barriers and shared economic interests with the Columbia River basin.
- Trapped on the Columbia River Ice
A bank cashier and his stage coach driver find themselves stranded on shifting ice flows until an Indigenous horseman orchestrates a daring rescue.
- The Railroad’s Big Heist: Northern Pacific Claims Indian Land It Doesn’t Own
As the Puyallup Reservation faces a legal siege from the Northern Pacific Railway, federal officials warn that a treaty-protected land grab could strip thousands of acres from Native families for pennies on the dollar.
- The Deadly Secret of the Giant Street Bridge
A cold-blooded 1887 murder finally finds its motive in a hidden past, revealing a plot involving stolen identities, deserted wives, and a double-dating betrayal.
- The Struggle for Industry in Fairhaven
A local Chamber of Commerce defends its record against editorial attacks, citing structural economic barriers and the legacy of broken 'boom' promises.
- The Broken Promises of the Northern Pacific
A scathing editorial accuses the railroad giant of land-grab schemes and consistent bad faith toward the people of Washington Territory.
- The Great Northern's Monopoly on the Waterfront
Railroad superintendent McCabe warns that the city's waterfront is being handed over to James J. Hill, effectively cutting off public access.
- The Looming Rivalry Between Seattle and Portland
A visiting correspondent examines the high-stakes battle for Pacific Northwest dominance as the Northern Pacific Railroad nears completion.
- The Push for Idaho Territory
Residents in the eastern reaches of Washington Territory call for a split from Olympia, citing a government that is 'a supreme farce.'
- The Waterfront Right-of-Way Battle
The Supreme Court rules in favor of the railroads, allowing them to rebuild the controversial 'Ram's Horn' track along the waterfront.
- The Empty City: How a Housing Shortage Stalled Pullman’s Growth
In November 1888, the newspaper admits that 'there is not a vacant house, store, or room in town,' forcing potential residents to look elsewhere—a crisis of affordability and infrastructure that mirrors modern debates.
- The First Socialist Manifesto in the Washington Territory
A bold reader writes to the Post-Intelligencer to challenge a local minister’s sermon, demanding justice for the working class and defending socialist principles as the only path to economic dignity.
- The Fight for a Son’s Birthright in Pioneer Seattle
A prominent Chinese merchant takes the extraordinary step of filing court petitions to prove his son is an American citizen and thus eligible to own property.
- The Dam That Shut Down Ballard
Fremont millers raised a timber barrier at Lake Union’s outlet. When Ballard’s mills lost their water, the fight went to court—after some talked of tearing it out by hand.
- The Wireless Miracle at City Hall
Curious citizens gather to witness a demonstration of the mysterious 'wireless telephone' inside police headquarters.
- The Fight to Bypass the Railroads
Civic leaders across three states unite to promote Columbia River shipping as a 'shackle-breaker' for isolated interior towns.
- The Color Line in Trade Unions
A letter to the editor challenges the claim that Seattle trade unions exclude Black members, arguing that class solidarity transcends racial barriers.
- The Rival Engineers Who Carved the Pacific Northwest
A look back at the lives of General Anderson and Major Rogers, the architectural titans whose competition through the Cascades and Selkirk mountains built the backbone of the region's railroad legacy.
- The Great Partition: Why Walla Walla Wants to Leave Washington
A fiery editorial warns that the eastern half of the territory is plotting to join Oregon, leaving Seattle and the Puget Sound region stranded in a 'provincial' limbo.
- The Price of Progress: Seattle’s 1878 Ultimatum
Facing a desperate need for a mountain-crossing railroad, Seattle civic leaders demanded total community compliance—and warned that those who refused to subsidize the line would face 'social ostracism.'
- The General Who Conquered Rainier First
A century after his perilous climb, Gen. A.V. Kautz recounts the first recorded ascent of Mount Rainier to a Seattle reporter, correcting the historical record on glaciers and glory.
- The Brewery Barricade: A Pioneer Land Grab
A young saloon keeper attempts to fence off a public path to build a beer garden, igniting a neighborhood revolt in 1887 Seattle.
- The Cattle of Port Crescent
A month after a historic windstorm, four cows were found miraculously alive, fenced in by the very trees that had fallen upon their pasture.
- The Untamable Columbia
Army engineers dismiss dreams of a navigable river highway, citing fatal drops and impossible terrain.
- The Frontier Prospect: Surveying the Skagit River's Hidden Wealth
An 1872 exploration report charts the potential for settlement, steam navigation, and resource extraction along the Skagit River, framing the 'great jam' of timber as a challenge to be conquered by modern commerce.
Also about this, in other words
- Defending the Bridge Against the Similkameen
As the spring flood swells the Similkameen River, residents fear the 'multitudinous battering ram' of drift wood will destroy the town's primary crossing.
- The Automatic Suitor-Smacker
A fed-up father builds a booby-trapped gate to drive away his daughters' persistent suitors, turning a domestic headache into a mechanical triumph.
- The 1885 Fight to Protect the Workingman’s Tools and Bedding
A proposed territorial law sought to expand property exemptions from debt, shielding everything from a mechanic's tools to a family's bedding from creditors.
- The High-Fence Strategy Against 'Vagabonds'
In an attempt to deter 'traveling vagabonds' from loitering in Seattle's waterfront district, the city's rail companies have erected a 16-foot-high barricade.
- The Looming Treaty Conflict
Washington state leaders fear that a new proposed treaty between the U.S. and China might undermine local exclusion laws.
- The Senator and the Exclusion Act
In 1892, Senator Watson Squire argued before the U.S. Senate for the formal registration and continued exclusion of Chinese laborers, framing the policy as a defense of 'American manhood' and societal stability.
- The Looming Gate: Labor and the Fear of the Canal
As the opening of the Panama Canal approached, the Everett Trades Council lobbied for strict immigration restrictions, fearing a flood of 'undesirables' into Pacific ports.
- Building a Seawall to Save the Waterfront
A proposal to use excavated earth from new construction to extend the city's harbor, protecting the waterfront while expanding valuable land.