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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 8 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1884 | 2 |
| 1885 | 3 |
| 1886 | 2 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 3 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 4 |
| 1893 | 2 |
| 1894 | 6 |
| 1895 | 9 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1914 | 1 |
| 1916 | 1 |
| 1917 | 1 |
| 1924 | 1 |
| 1925 | 1 |
52 stories matching cheapli
- The Iron Giant Lands: Moss Bay Steel Chooses Seattle Without Asking for a Penny
In a stunning victory for civic pride over corporate bribery, the massive Moss Bay Iron and Steel Company has selected Lake Washington as its site, rejecting lucrative bonuses from rival cities and the Northern Pacific Railroad.
- The Schoolteacher vs. The Coal Baron
An outspoken Newcastle teacher risks his career to confront the Oregon Improvement Company over its brutal labor practices and the displacement of local widows.
- Northern Pacific Railroad's Columbia River Land Grab
A skeptical look at how the Northern Pacific Railroad is using speculative track-laying to claim 1,000,000 acres of public land.
- The 15,000-Word Plan to Build a Great Harbor on Seattle's Tide Flats
Virgil Bogue's report to King County proposes dredged slips, public docks, a union station and a jointly owned terminal railroad—if Seattle can sort out its tide-land titles.
- The City That Refused to Stay Burnt
After the Great Spokane Fire of 1889, civic leaders rejected the urge to build cheaply, choosing instead to construct a permanent, iron-and-stone metropolis fueled by the river's immense power.
- The Secretive Life of a Wealthy Pioneer
A ventriloquist who became a wealthy Seattle landlord dies with no family to claim his riches.
- Timber Syndicates Used Dummy Squatters to Seize Washington’s State Lands
A state land cruiser describes a systematic scheme: Eastern syndicates paid men to squat on the best timber, commute it cheaply, then move on to the next quarter section—land meant to fund schools and public institutions.
- The State vs. The Oyster Poachers
Land Commissioner C.V. Savidge cancels a tide land deed in Hood Canal, setting a precedent that public oyster lands must serve the shellfish industry, not private real estate greed.
- The Great Land Squeeze of 1885
While the Northern Pacific Railroad publicly promised to 'build up the country,' settlers in King County found their land held hostage for mineral rights and future profits.
- A Landmark Hotel Burns, and a Sawyer Dies Trying to Save His Trunk
The International Hotel in Blaine, the first large hotel in the county, was destroyed by fire, killing Ed Jacobson, a head sawyer who went back for his belongings.
- The Struggle to Open Snoqualmie Pass
A pioneer successfully demonstrates the feasibility of winter transit, igniting hope for a direct route between Eastern and Western Washington.
- The Mail-Order Menace: How Catalogs Were Killing Kennewick’s Main Street
A fiery editorial in the 1914 Courier-Reporter warns that buying from Montgomery Ward’s catalog is a betrayal of local commerce, arguing that every dollar sent to Chicago or New York directly causes the death of small-town merchants.
- Rain Turns Early Seattle's Front Street to Mud
When heavy rains turned downtown thoroughfares into impassable quagmires, residents demanded better engineering than the temporary, 'penny-wise' patch jobs of the 1870s.
- The Argument for Statehood: Washington's Manifest Destiny
An impassioned appeal for Washington Territory's admission to the Union, highlighting its timber, agriculture, and shipbuilding potential as proof of its readiness to become a state.
- Seattle’s Iron Dream: The $3 Million Plant That Promised to Remake Puget Sound
In the wake of a depression, boosters announced a blast-furnace and steel-works complex on Salmon Bay — plus a freight-car factory — predicting thousands of jobs and 25,000 new residents.
- Seattle’s Lost Bid for the Navy Yard
While the 1876 Congressional committee debated the future of the Mare Island naval site, Seattle’s local press made a bold, visionary pitch for the Sound as the premier industrial hub of the Pacific.
- The Paper War: Port Townsend vs. Seattle
In 1876, a small rival town accused Seattle of economic sabotage over who printed their business cards.
- The Boom-Town Pitch: Selling Washington’s Future
In 1877, a local politician’s grand argument for statehood painted Washington Territory as a bustling industrial powerhouse—and a future 'granary of America.'
- The Beet Sugar Boom of the White River Valley
An ambitious local entrepreneur outlines plans to transform King County farmland into a massive sugar production hub to compete with global markets.
- The Wagon King Tells Seattle to Build Roads and Put Idle Men to Work
Clem Studebaker, visiting from South Bend, says Puget Sound is beautiful but backward: good roads, an army-built highway system, and the Nicaragua canal would cure unemployment.
- Railroad Tycoon Predicts Pacific Coast Steel Boom
James J. Hill, president of the Great Northern Railroad, outlines the regional economic outlook and argues that the West's raw materials will soon fuel a local industrial revolution.
- The Rising Cost of Living and the Local Monopoly
A representative of a regional retail chain faces local anger over accusations of price-gouging and lack of competition in White Bluffs.
- Protecting the Timber Frontier
Seattle business leaders lobby to maintain trade protections against foreign competition.
- Railroad Workers Plan Co-op to Survive Pay Cuts
Facing a 10 to 15 percent salary reduction, Northern Pacific employees in Tacoma consider starting a cooperative store to lower the cost of living.
- The Year Palouse Horses Were Worth Less Than Hog Feed
With Eastern markets closed and thousands of horses starving on overgrazed range, Whitman County farmers began eyeing their herds as pork feed.