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| 1872 | 2 |
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65 stories matching blockad
- The Great Grain Blockade of 1890
While the Palouse region produced record-breaking wheat yields, a lack of rail infrastructure caused a catastrophic 'grain blockade' that paralyzed the local economy.
- When the Water Came Up to the Post Office: Floods Cut Seattle’s Rail and Mail Lines
Spring freshets submerged low streets, stalled Great Northern and Northern Pacific trains, and left Seattle business houses waiting days for mail.
- The Seattle Water-Hose Rail War of 1888
When two rival railroads fought over a contested stretch of waterfront track, the dispute escalated from legal threats to a chaotic brawl involving barricades, hired detectives, and a fire hose.
- The Fiery End of the Steamship Mississippi
A historic blockade runner turned coal vessel is lost to a massive wharf fire in Seattle.
- The Fern Hill Streetcar Siege
Residents of a Tacoma suburb blockade streetcar tracks for nearly 24 hours to protest a fare hike.
- The City vs. The Depot: Seattle's 1889 Eminent Domain Fight
When the Oregon Improvement Company tried to blockade South Third Street to protect their rail interests, the city council responded that the public interest was not for sale.
- Snowed In: The California Mail Famine of 1872
For thirteen days, the telegraph was the only connection to the outside world, leaving businesses and citizens reeling from the silence of the snow-blocked passes.
- The Grain Blockade at Seattle's Elevator
While wheat exports surge, an internal bottleneck of storage and capital leaves the city’s grain industry struggling to keep pace.
- A Railroad Blockade Broke the Lumber Glut
Puget Sound mills had been selling below cost. Then floods and a strike cut the supply line—and manufacturers finally got the upper hand on prices.
- The Flour Price Plunge
Washington millers slash prices as the local wheat market faces blockade-related distribution issues.
- Seattle Health Officers Screen Trains and Steamers for Smallpox
As smallpox cases surge in Victoria, B.C., Seattle and neighboring ports enact aggressive, sometimes illegal, quarantines to stop the infection from crossing the border.
- The Great Northern Strike Ends
After an eighteen-day standstill that paralyzed the Northwest, President James J. Hill and the American Railway Union reach an uneasy truce.
- The Wellington Disaster
A massive snowslide buries two Great Northern trains in the Cascades, marking one of the deadliest rail disasters in Washington history.
- The Great Railway Tie-Up
As the Pullman strike brings regional rail service to a halt, Seattle residents look to Tacoma, where the labor struggle has turned violent and service is at a standstill.
- The Siege of Seattle: A City Born in Fire
Recalling the 1856 Indian War attack on Seattle, when a handful of settlers held their ground behind a blockhouse against a barrage of fire and shell.
- The Seattle School Board Executes the High School
A legal dispute over the state constitution prompts the sudden, controversial dissolution of Seattle's only high school, leaving teachers and students adrift.
- The Industrial Army Crosses the Cascades
Unemployed men, part of the Coxeyite movement, use cunning, boxcars, and mountain trails to make their way toward Washington D.C.
- The Coxeyites Trek Across the Cascades
Striking laborers barred from Northern Pacific trains walk over the mountains to Cle Elum, leaving the rail yards in a state of uneasy tension.
- The tugboat blockade at Grays Harbor
A local editor exposes a corrupt tugboat manager for sabotaging a critical federal survey of the harbor bar.
- The Tacoma Wharfage War
A passenger steamship line faces a bitter blockade after refusing to inflate prices to protect Northern Pacific rail interests.
- Railroad Standoff at the Coal Bunkers
A high-stakes blockade at the Puget Sound waterfront reveals the tense territorial battles between the Great Northern and Northern Pacific lines.
- The Plague at the Doorstep: Seattle’s Battle Against Smallpox in 1877
As smallpox ravages Port Orchard and Salmon Bay, the city's Health Officer takes drastic quarantine measures against Indigenous communities, highlighting the fragile public health infrastructure of early Seattle.
- The Collapse of a Railroad Empire
A classic story of overreach, mismanagement, and the harsh realities of the market as Jay Gould maneuvers to seize the Union Pacific during the Baring Brothers financial crisis.
- Vancouver Smallpox: No New Cases, One Death, Quarantine Debate
Across the Pacific Northwest, health officials struggle to contain smallpox as performers and desperate travelers attempt to dodge mandatory quarantine.
- Railroad Monopoly Faces Legal Blockade
A federal judge sides with minority stockholders, placing the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern under receivership to check the reach of the Northern Pacific.