Research the archive
Narrow 22,457 newspaper stories by words, years, place, newspaper and subject. See when and where they ran, then download what you find.
Put a phrase in quotes ("rent strike") or leave a word out with a minus (strike -baseball). Old scans misspell names, so when little is found, near-spellings are offered.
Refine
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 3 |
| 1877 | 12 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1880 | 2 |
| 1883 | 3 |
| 1885 | 3 |
| 1886 | 3 |
| 1887 | 3 |
| 1888 | 3 |
| 1889 | 11 |
| 1891 | 7 |
| 1892 | 12 |
| 1893 | 12 |
| 1894 | 14 |
| 1895 | 7 |
| 1899 | 4 |
| 1903 | 7 |
| 1904 | 8 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1907 | 1 |
| 1909 | 8 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1914 | 4 |
| 1915 | 2 |
| 1916 | 9 |
| 1918 | 2 |
| 1924 | 1 |
| 1925 | 2 |
148 stories matching cheaper
- The High Cost of Keeping Warm in Pioneer Seattle
As Seattle's population climbed toward 45,000 in 1880, local leaders sounded the alarm on the soaring price of firewood and looked to the untapped coal mines of the region for a heating revolution.
- The Seal-Skin Obsession: Why Seattle Ladies Wear More Fur Than Any Other City
A local furrier reveals that the city's obsession with expensive sealskin sacks is driven by climate, fashion, and a secret supply chain from London.
- The Home Market Fight: Farmers Say Seattle Merchants Look Past Their Own Fields
A Port Angeles farmer’s letter to the Post-Intelligencer argues that Seattle merchants undercut local growers by buying from California, Oregon, and Chinese gardeners—and warns that the city’s food economy is bleeding money out of Washington.
- The Steamboat Strike That Tied Up the Sound
Officers of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company refuse to accept wage cuts, halting ferry service between Seattle and Tacoma in a rare display of maritime labor solidarity.
- Eastern Washington Farmers Question Canal Freight Claims
A local farmer challenges the Post-Intelligencer’s claim that a canal will lower freight rates, sparking a heated editorial defense on the economic future of the region.
- Two Plans, One Spring, and a $25,000 Holdup
Walla Walla's council will let voters choose between a $191,000 pipeline up Mill Creek and a cheaper gravity system at Thomas Springs — but the editor suspects a land speculation scheme is baked into the ballot question.
- The Open River Was Supposed to Pay Dividends. Was Anyone Counting?
A year after the Celilo Canal opened, the Courier-Reporter asked whether the Inland Empire would actually use the river—and bragged that Kennewick was already the Columbia’s busiest freight town this side of Celilo.
- Free Wool, Free Lumber: Washington's Mill Towns Brace for the Tariff Shock
Seattle and Tacoma manufacturers warn that the new Havemeyer tariff will cut wages, ruin sheep raisers and hand the lumber trade to Canadian timbermen.
- The Whaler That Never Was: A Yankee Betrayal of Puget Sound
In 1877, a local newspaper exposed how Boston shipbuilders stole a lucrative contract from Seattle’s own yards, ignoring the region's superior timber and strategic advantage for whaling.
- Will the Great Northern Build Through the White River Valley?
Chief engineer E. H. Beckler surveys the route between Seattle and Portland, weighing the high costs of a shore line against an inland rail path.
- The Fight for Safer Streets
Walla Walla's decaying wooden sidewalks are proving hazardous, prompting a push for modern cement alternatives.
- Seattle Merchants Rally to Keep the Tariff on Coal and Lumber
Meeting at the Chamber of Commerce, business men draft a memorial to Congress warning that free trade in lumber and coal will hand the Northwest's timber trade to British Columbia—then vote to put the whole fight off another week.
- The End of the Volunteer Era
Seattle decides to abandon its volunteer fire system in favor of a professional, paid department, prioritizing efficiency over neighborhood spirit.
- The Printer’s Panic: Will the Type-Setting Machine Steal Your Job?
A local compositor argues that fears of automation are overblown, predicting a future where machines assist rather than replace skilled labor in Seattle's printing industry.
- Priest Rapids Dam License Brings White Bluffs a City Dream
A century ago, boosters dreamed of a massive industrial city on the Columbia, promised by the General Electric Company as a 'second Niagara Falls.'
- The Last Train out of Carbonado
After miners descended on the coal camp to forcibly expel Chinese laborers, a group of workers recounted the indignity of their forced departure.
- The Power Struggle for Seattle’s Future
As the city council investigates the Cedar River water rights dispute, a fierce corporate war erupts between the Snoqualmie Falls Power Company and the Union Electric Company, threatening to monopolize the region's energy supply.
- The $3 Million Strike: How the Great Northern Railway Bet on Breaking Workers
In the winter of 1893, the railroad’s board calculated that paying workers less was cheaper than losing millions to a strike. They were right—and Seattle paid the price.
- The Coal Wars of Newcastle
Facing declining profits and labor unrest, the Oregon Improvement Company declares war on its miners, threatening total shutdowns unless the union relents.
- Seattle’s 1895 Co-op Where 150 Unemployed Men Ate for 7 Cents a Day
At a Belltown barracks, unemployed single men pooled their wages, submitted to military-style rules and fed an average of 150 people daily for about 7 cents each.
- The Fight for Public Power
Seattle municipal power superintendent J. D. Ross defends the controversial Bone Bill in White Bluffs, arguing for cheaper rates through public competition.
- The Tacoma Wharfage War
A passenger steamship line faces a bitter blockade after refusing to inflate prices to protect Northern Pacific rail interests.
- A Dead Unmarried Worker Was Worth Nothing—Until This Law
Washington's legislature finally let dependent parents and siblings sue when a provider was killed on the job, ending a rule that made unmarried workers cheaper to kill than to maim.
- The Speculative Bubble: Why Seattle’s Rents Are Unsustainable
An editorial in the *Seattle Daily Intelligencer* warns that rampant real estate speculation is driving up costs for actual producers, urging a return to sensible valuation before the inevitable crash.
- The Oil Men’s Last Stand: Seattle’s Battle Over Fire Safety and Corporate Power
In March 1889, a proposed ordinance to ban oil storage within city limits sparked a fierce standoff between the Board of Trade and powerful petroleum interests. While the city pushed for safety, the oil dealers argued the rules were discriminatory and economically impossible, setting the stage for a legal battle that would define Seattle’s industrial future.
Also about this, in other words
- The Fight for Cheaper Calls
City council debates regulating telephone rates and forcing lines underground in a push to modernize Seattle's infrastructure.
- The Price of a 'Cheap' Haircut
Everett union barbers expose an unlicensed 'lady barber' working in a non-union shop.
- The Price of Printing: A 19th Century Fight Against 'Cheap John' Contracting
An editorial from the 1873 Seattle Dispatch excoriates the municipal habit of awarding city printing contracts to the lowest bidder, arguing it degrades the press and serves only the interests of 'ward demagogues.'
- The Price of a Loose Tongue
A logger learned the hard way that when you negotiate a premium price in secret, you better keep it a secret.
- The Great Beef Price Drop of 1893
Wholesale cuts fall to record lows, making meat affordable for the city's working poor during the lean winter.
- The Price of Municipal Transparency
A local newspaper challenges a long-standing government graft scheme by undercutting the official printing contract, sparking a showdown at City Hall.
- The Spokane Newspaper Price War Heats Up
A cutthroat competition between rival morning and evening papers leads to plummeting subscription rates and new publishing schedules.
- The Seattle Soap Factory's Industrial Ambition
A local manufacturer touts a 'better than oil' solution for the region's logging industry in 1877.