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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1872 | 3 |
| 1876 | 6 |
| 1877 | 3 |
| 1878 | 3 |
| 1883 | 3 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1892 | 2 |
| 1894 | 3 |
| 1895 | 2 |
| 1909 | 1 |
29 stories matching centr
- A Ghastly Discovery on Samish Island
A decomposed body found on the shores of Samish Island reveals signs of a brutal, weighted murder.
- The Ring of Corruption: How King County’s Auditor Hid the Books
A scathing editorial in the Puget Sound Dispatch exposes Gardner Kellogg for refusing to explain thousands of dollars in missing county funds, accusing him of treating public office as private property.
- The Board of Health Weighed Closing Every School in Seattle
Scarlet fever was moving through the city's classrooms in May 1895, and the men who ran public health argued over whether to send thousands of children home for six weeks — and whether parents could be trusted to report the sickness at all.
- The Fire Fiend Stalks Washington
After catastrophic blazes in Seattle, Vancouver, Ellensburg, and Spokane, the Mason County Journal sounds the alarm for Shelton to modernize its water system.
- The Night Steilacoom's Records Burned
A Tuesday-night blaze destroyed the county auditor's office, forced the demolition of a neighboring building, and nearly took Anthony's Hotel—until soldiers joined the bucket brigade.
- Spokane's Date with Destiny: Welcoming the Northern Pacific Railroad
The completion of the transcontinental line brings Henry Villard and hundreds of guests to Spokane Falls, promising a new era of growth and connection.
- The Great Railroad Standoff: Seattle’s Future Hinges on a Visit
As Northern Pacific directors arrive to survey the route, local leaders warn that without a guaranteed connection north of Tacoma, capital will flee and population will drain to California.
- The Chief’s Last Stand: A Vision of Justice Beyond the Grave
In a rare and poignant interview, Spotted Tail articulates a theology of retribution where the Great Spirit favors the Native American over the white settler in the afterlife.
- Stevens County Votes Itself Dry, Two to One
On November 9, 1909, the precincts outside every incorporated town in Stevens County went to the polls on a single question — liquor or no liquor — and closed the saloons by 1,419 votes to 814.
- The Primary Teacher’s Plea: Why Seattle’s Schools Are Failing Our Children
Miss C.I.T. Parsons delivers a scathing indictment of the King County Teachers' Institute, arguing that cheap buildings and unqualified instructors are robbing Seattle’s youth of their potential.
- A Twelve-Ton Locomotive Rolled Down the Street to the Water
Seattle's Washington Iron Works spent months building a geared logging engine. When it was finished it drove itself through town on temporary track to the foot of Washington Street, to be lashed to a scow and floated north to the woods.
- The Courthouse That Built Itself
As Seattle transitioned from a frontier lumber outpost into a formal city, the County Commissioners finally took the 'bull by the horns' to replace scattered offices with a grand civic monument.
- A Near-Miss Conflagration in Old Seattle
A pre-dawn fire in a Commercial Street smokehouse nearly levels a city block, sparking a call for urban reform.
- The Great Snohomish Church Fight: Who Owns the Soul of the County?
A Presbyterian minister arrives in Snohomish to find a fractured community. With two rival congregations already formed and the Probate Judge playing both sides, can outside help unite the town—or just deepen the divide?
- The Town That Rose from the Jam: Mount Vernon’s Wild Start
A new settlement is sprouting along the Skagit River, fueled by loggers, surveyors, and a patriotic name change.
- The River Escape That Failed
A riverside elopement turns into a dramatic showdown when a steamer captain intervenes in a young woman's flight.
- A Hanging in the Armory: The Unpopular Corporal and the Men Who Stuffed His Uniform
Company E turned a grudge into theatre — an effigy rigged with an electric-light wire, a pair of odd-coloured glasses and a chalked gravestone — and a military court may follow.
- The Wires That Grew With Seattle
How the Sunset Telephone and Telegraph Company rode Seattle from a forest village to a 25,000-person city — and, when the Great Fire of 1889 burned its plant out of existence, rebuilt the service in tents within ten days.
- The Monster Canoe That Defeated a Donkey Engine
Judge James Swan's colossal Northwest canoe sat nine months on the wharf — until one determined shipping agent and a hundred willing hands hauled it aboard the Dakota for Philadelphia.
- The $25,000 Question: Where Olympia's New High School Should Stand
A proposed exchange for the Blinn block on Main Street would give the district room for a full-block school—but cost $12,000 to $15,000 more.
- The Snohomish Afterlife: A Spiritualist Joke
In an 1878 newspaper, a medium's séance takes a darkly humorous turn when a grieving widow asks her late husband if he is in heaven.
- The Industrial Rebirth of Mukilteo
Despite the regional economic downturn, one investor is transforming the waterfront into a bustling industrial center.
- City Hall's Belt-Tightening Cost Two Officers Their Badges
Facing a sudden budget crunch in 1876, the Seattle City Council moves to dismiss two members of the police force to balance the books.
- Designing the Washington Territory Seal
An early proposal for the official seal that featured a log cabin, a settler’s wagon, and the Chinook jargon word 'Alki'.
- Port Ludlow Wakes Up: New Boilers, a New Schooner, and a Boom in Houses
A correspondent's New Year letter from the sawmill town: the mill comes back to life after three dark weeks, a 140-foot vessel rises on the Hall ways for the Coos Bay coal trade, and even the hotelkeeper is building himself a house.
Also about this, in other words
- The Perils of the Hand-Crank
A Hover resident sustains a serious injury while starting his automobile, highlighting the physical dangers of early motor travel.
- 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.
- The Rising Power of the Common Citizen
A look at the growing influence of public opinion against the encroachment of corporate monopolies in late 19th-century American politics.