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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1859 | 2 |
| 1876 | 5 |
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| 1878 | 4 |
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| 1888 | 1 |
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210 stories matching benton
- The Price of Separation: Benton County’s Debts
Newly formed Benton County grapples with the financial burden of its division from Yakima County.
- The Brutal Politics of the Benton County Bench
An editorial endorsement attacks a rival candidate, arguing that splitting the vote would hand the superior court seat to an outsider.
- Benton City Marks Irrigation Milestone
Thousands gather to dedicate the Benton extension of the Sunnyside Canal, signaling a doubling of local irrigated acreage.
- Benton City Prepares to Welcome the Canal
A day of speeches, picnics, and festivities marks the expansion of irrigation to the thirsty fields of Benton County.
- The Editors Came, Saw the Grapes, and Went Home to Boost Kennewick
For three days in September 1914 the young river town threw its Fourth Annual Grape Carnival, wined and dined the weekly editors of three counties, and sent them home to write love letters about cement sidewalks, shade trees and enormous bunches of grapes.
- The Secret Bond Deal Costing Taxpayers Thousands
A critical look at why Benton County’s courthouse bond issue failed to provide the value achieved by neighboring Walla Walla County.
- Federal Dollars Head to Kennewick Fields
The U.S. Department of Agriculture formally integrates Benton County’s agricultural oversight into its federal mission.
- Supreme Court Backs Benton County Taxpayers in Bond Case
The Supreme Court rules against Benton County commissioners for 'bad faith' in a courthouse bond dispute.
- The Courthouse Deal Done in the Dark
Benton County commissioners quietly sold $125,000 in bonds for a new courthouse. Farmers from Finley to Prosser cried foul over up to $40,000 in extra interest—and demanded to know why it had to be secret.
- The Great Benton County Gas Scam
A complicated legal battle erupts in Spokane over who actually owns the rights to Benton County's oil and gas leases.
- The Political Spoils of a Walla Walla Clerk
After relocating his entire life and family for a government job, a deputy clerk is unceremoniously fired—exposing the bitter, transactional nature of territorial patronage.
- Benton County Fights Back Against Sunnyside’s Road Grab
Local leaders successfully blocked a petition for an independent highway district that would have taxed Benton County landowners to pay for Sunnyside's infrastructure.
- 1876 Snohomish Court Targets Indigenous Gatherings and Brothels
In March 1876, Judge Lewis charged the first Snohomish County District Court grand jury to address public nuisances, including Indigenous gatherings and brothels, while also holding county officials accountable for fee books.
- The Price of Panic: Mass Foreclosures in 1877 Seattle
As the territorial economy tightens, a single Sheriff’s notice reveals the vast, liquidated assets of early Seattle real estate speculators.
- The Foreclosure Auction: Luke Walsh Loses His Farm to Louis Rottmann
A Benton County sheriff’s sale is set for May 2, 1914, as a judgment of over $1,200 forces the transfer of land from one local farmer to another.
- Washington Votes Dry
Benton County joins a statewide landslide for prohibition, leaving only two 'wet' counties in Washington.
- The Deadly Ambush at Council Prairie
An eye-witness account of a harrowing escape during the Puget Sound Indian War, describing a fatal skirmish, a desperate trek through winter swamps, and the loss of Colonel A. Benton Moses.
- Benton County's Courthouse Fight Turns Into a Four-Commissioner Circus
A newly elected commissioner is kept waiting, a courthouse contract is let in defiance of a court order, and $125,000 in bonds leave just $1,362 for furnishings.
- Benton County's First Bank Failure of the Depression
A collapse in Prosser reveals the fragility of an agricultural economy reeling from repeated crop failures and frost.
- The Courthouse Contract Benton County Couldn't Swallow
Commissioners Clements and McNeill let a courthouse contract and issued a warrant without advertising for bids. A judge said they were within the law; the Courier-Reporter said the taxpayers would remember.
- The Dark-Lantern Courthouse Deal That Split Benton County
Two defeated commissioners pushed a $125,000 courthouse bond through in thirty minutes, and Kennewick's editor saw a county-seat conspiracy — and a raid on the taxpayers' treasury.
- The Sunday Bond Deal That Split Benton County
Two commissioners secretly arranged a courthouse bond sale, and a courtroom fight over lost premiums exposed how far they went to keep the third commissioner—and the public—in the dark.
- The Fight for the Finley Highway
A political brawl between Benton County towns erupts over construction of a new permanent highway, pitting local taxpayers against county officials.
- The Ghost Railroad That Never Reached Benton City
A failed land investment lawsuit reveals how the death of a railroad titan doomed a town's hopes for becoming a major terminal.
- The Governor’s Nightmare Road
An editorial critique of the state's failure to maintain a fifteen-mile stretch of road between Richland and Benton City.