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244 stories matching cabl
- The $10,000 Bet That Built Seattle’s Front Street
Superintendent Thompson risks a fortune to beat the calendar, while a separate land dispute erupts over tide flats near Grant Street.
- The Great Front Street Fraud: City Council Exposes Fake Petition for Cable Car
In a stunning display of civic integrity, Seattle’s Common Council unmasks a fraudulent petition designed to grant a monopoly cable car franchise, revealing that applicants forged signatures and misrepresented property frontage.
- Death at the Neah Bay Cable Crossing
A cable car over the Neah Bay river snapped mid-crossing, killing a prominent attorney as horrified passengers looked on.
- Twenty Inches of Snow Bring Seattle to a Standstill
A February 1893 blizzard blocks streetcars, freezes water pipes and threatens a coal famine, forcing schools to close and residents to melt snow for drinking water.
- The Cable Car That Dodged a Runaway Electric—and the Lawsuit That Followed
A Madison Street cable car narrowly avoided a speeding Third Street electric car in 1893; passenger E. K. Marvin won $1,000 after a second trial over his sprained ankle.
- The Battle for the Seattle Streets
A fierce legal and corporate rivalry over cable car franchises threatens to tear up Seattle's downtown, while a mysterious entrepreneur promises to modernize the city with electric power.
- The Streetcar Franchise Seattle Couldn't Enforce
Alderman J. Eugene Jordan accused the Yesler Avenue Cable Car Company and its City Council allies of dodging a franchise requirement to double-track the line—while the city pleaded poverty and working men waited for jobs.
- Streetcar Smash-up on Madison and Third
A cable car and an electric car collide downtown, leaving passengers injured and raising questions about right-of-way.
- A Ten-Inch Snowstorm Buries Seattle and Stalls the Cars
The city's streetcars, telegraph wires and outlying districts struggle under a heavy January snowfall as Portland reports three feet and the weather observer warns of more to come.
- The Million-Dollar Protest: Front Street Owners vs. The Cable Car
Pioneers and property magnates rallied against a proposed cable railway on Seattle’s main thoroughfare, arguing that the city council was ignoring the will of taxpayers in favor of outside capital.
- Streetcar Chaos on Madison
An electric car crashes into a cable car at Second and Madison, causing a machinery backup that carried the crippled vehicle blocks away.
- The Cable Car Scheme: How Seattle’s Council Blocked a Franchise to Save Front Street
In a decisive move against corporate influence, the City Council rejected the Seattle Electric Railway Company’s bid for a new cable car line on Front Street, citing public safety and narrow roads over private profit.
- The City Will Pave First Avenue—Cable Tracks or Not
Seattle's street committee orders brick pavement from Yesler to Pike and threatens to pave straight over the Front Street Cable Company's sagging rails if the company won't pay to raise them.
- The Burnside Returns from Rough Northern Waters
A US cable ship brings back tales of hard seas and the successful integration of Filipino labor.
- Cape Flattery Telegraph Line Fails
The expensive underwater cable connecting the mainland to Tatoosh Island has snapped, and the government may abandon it rather than foot the repair bill.
- The Cable Car Veto: How a 1889 Power Struggle Defined Seattle’s Streets
Mayor Robert Moran’s refusal to approve a cable railway franchise on Front Street—citing private greed over public interest—mirrors Seattle’s century-long battle with developers and transit infrastructure.
- The Tragic Cost of Seattle's Early Cable Cars
A mother sacrifices her life to save her children after a runaway cable car loses its grip at Second and Pine, exposing the perils of the city’s rapid, unregulated infrastructure boom.
- Seattle Gives New York Millionaires Another Year to Fix Yesler Avenue
A council committee lets the cable road off the hook while riders wade through mud—and a stockholder accuses City Hall of standing in with railroads.
- The Great Seattle 'Slot' Debate
A local cable railway company threatens to abandon a major investment after the city council forces an impossible construction standard on their tracks.
- The Cable Car Standoff
A proposed sewer project threatens to paralyze Seattle's transit, pitting the city's public works against the cable car company.
- The Day Seattle Died (And Didn’t): A Telegraphic Blunder
A faulty cable connection and a panicked operator convinced the world that local industrialist John Sherman had passed away. The resulting obituary was so lavish it nearly became his own biography.
- The Transit Dream of 1889
A Seattle streetcar consolidation promised a single nickel fare from the bay to Salmon Bay, linking the city's future through private transit deals.
- The Daily Struggle of Tacoma’s Hillside Transit
Commuters express growing frustration as the unreliable cable car line repeatedly leaves passengers stranded mid-slope.
- A Cable Car Gripmans's Violent Run-In
A cable car operator faces legal trouble after a collision with a child results in a serious infection.
- City Council Demands Better Cable Car Service
Tacoma citizens are fed up with broken-down, slow streetcars, and the City Council is finally demanding that the company stop cutting corners on passenger safety.
Also about this, in other words
- Victory for Railway Workers: The 'Standard Caboose' Law
New legislation mandates safer, more humane conditions for the men who ride the rails.
- A Life-Threatening Day at the Yesler Wharf
While working at the coal chutes in 1872 Seattle, a young man is crushed by a rail car, highlighting the brutal risks of the city’s early industrial backbone.
- Alice Hamblet and the Columbian Drill
A Ballard musical event celebrates the talent of Alice Hamblet, a descendant of Chief Seattle.
- A Mill Worker's Narrow Escape
A standard day at the Port Blakeley mill turned catastrophic when a falling door triggered the log carriage, pinning a worker against the machinery.
- The Desperate Act of a Waitress
A young worker's suicide attempt at the Seattle block leaves questions and a mystery about the men in her room.
- The Ghost Caboose of Seattle
A high-wind storm sends a riderless train car hurtling down the tracks in a moment of unexpected local drama.
- Worker Injured in Elevator Shaft Fall
A mortar man narrowly survives a thirty-foot plummet at the construction site of the Cadwell building.
- The Guilland House Advertises 'No Chinamen'
A local hotel uses xenophobic hiring practices as a primary marketing hook to attract guests.