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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 4 |
| 1858 | 3 |
| 1859 | 3 |
| 1860 | 2 |
| 1861 | 5 |
| 1862 | 6 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1865 | 1 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 13 |
| 1876 | 58 |
| 1877 | 42 |
| 1878 | 52 |
| 1879 | 4 |
| 1880 | 8 |
| 1882 | 6 |
| 1883 | 52 |
| 1884 | 22 |
| 1885 | 51 |
| 1886 | 24 |
| 1887 | 42 |
| 1888 | 32 |
| 1889 | 118 |
| 1890 | 15 |
| 1891 | 74 |
| 1892 | 154 |
| 1893 | 159 |
| 1894 | 119 |
| 1895 | 143 |
| 1897 | 3 |
| 1898 | 14 |
| 1899 | 23 |
| 1900 | 6 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 59 |
| 1904 | 42 |
| 1905 | 5 |
| 1907 | 2 |
| 1908 | 17 |
| 1909 | 73 |
| 1910 | 15 |
| 1911 | 5 |
| 1912 | 3 |
| 1914 | 18 |
| 1915 | 9 |
| 1916 | 16 |
| 1917 | 10 |
| 1918 | 3 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 7 |
| 1924 | 6 |
| 1925 | 5 |
| 1928 | 3 |
1,561 stories matching clear
- The Lake Washington Land Fight That Turned on a Cabin, a Railroad Claim, and 'Crazy' Miller
A decade-long homestead contest ends with William L. Miller keeping first claim—if he or his guardian can prove it within 90 days. His rival says the cabin was never really a home.
- The Moss-Cloaked Giants of Bay Center
A teacher’s letter from the Pacific Northwest frontier describes a landscape of colossal trees and lush undergrowth, challenging the myth of the harsh pioneer struggle.
- The Brutal Labor of Clearing the Snohomish River
For over two years, crews braved the most dangerous and grueling work in the territory to clear the river for navigation, battling everything from treacherous snags to a lack of promised payment.
- The Poor Man's Stump Burner: Newport Farmers Pack Kelly's Hall
In 1909, 150 farmers crowded a Newport hall to hear a state expert explain how to clear land by charring stumps—a low-cost method that promised to open Pend Oreille County fields.
- Selling the Pend Oreille Valley as an Agricultural Eden
A booster’s tour of bench land, clover, and bumper potato crops—and why the railroad and Spokane cream market changed everything.
- The Bell in the Woods: How Seattle Built Its First University
A 34-year anniversary feature on the Territorial University: 48 laborers, $2-a-day wages, lumber from Port Blakely, and an old bell that warned ships in fog and rang for hangings.
- Clearing the Ground for the University of Washington
Regents approve site clearing and launch a work-relief program to aid the city’s unemployed during the winter.
- Newport's 1909 Boom: New Additions, Orchards and Fifteen Houses at Once
Real-estate agents opened fresh tracts on the edge of town while a land company put thirty men and ten teams to work clearing apple orchards.
- The $15,000 Orchard Gamble on Newport's South Bench
An Iowa-backed land company buys a donkey engine, clears stumps and lays out Cedar Park lots, betting Newport's bench land can become fruit country.
- The Great Cedar Jam: How Settlers Cleared the Skagit River by Hand
In September 1876, a group of determined farmers and loggers took on the massive timber jams blocking the Skagit River, hoping to unlock sixty miles of navigation for their struggling community.
- Thrown Into a Saw at Colman's Mill — and the Law Looked the Other Way
When Peter Feeney attacked a Chinese coworker in a Seattle sawmill, the man's foot was mangled beyond repair. The justice of the peace declined to hold Feeney, the prosecutor dismissed the case, and the town's paper argued the injury was just an accident.
- English Homesteader Runs Out of Money Near Seattle
An immigrant family struggling to clear their homestead near Seattle loses their only daughter and everything they own to a tragic logging accident.
- The Great Northern Strike: Quiet on the Tracks
Striking workers for the Great Northern railroad maintain a disciplined presence, even stepping in to clear dangerous landslide debris to protect the company's property.
- The Great Land Rush: Seattle’s West Side and Coney Island of the Northwest
As real estate brokers hawk cleared lots for $200 and advertise excursion trips to 'Coney Island' pleasure groves, Seattle is rapidly transforming from a logging town into a booming speculative market.
- The Log Jam That Held Back the Skagit
Settlers bet their savings on cutting a channel through a massive timber jam—and begged Sound steamboat captains to link the Skagit to Seattle.
- When the Forestry Agent Came for the Homesteaders’ Timber
In Republic, a federal forestry agent pressed charges against settlers for cutting timber on their own homesteads, raising a hard question: how else was a family supposed to clear land and survive?
- Racing the Blossoms: Snoqualmie Pass Clearing Efforts
State crews work to clear the Sunset Highway in time for the annual Wenatchee Blossom Festival.
- The Dairy Commissioner’s War on Adulterated Food
A Washington dairy official warns that fake honey, poisoned candy, oleomargarine and brewers’ grain are cheating farmers — and demands stronger pure-food laws.
- The Skagit River Jam Scandal
A public spat between two men regarding the funds collected to clear the Skagit River, a vital waterway for early logging and shipping.
- The Industrial Revolution of the Puget Sound Frontier
Two local inventors debut a massive, horse-powered stump-pulling machine, promising to clear vast swaths of Washington timberland for a fraction of the cost.
- Seattle Rebuilds With Brick After Great Fire
How the Queen City responded to the 1889 conflagration with both civic resilience and a remarkable display of internal charity.
- Under Fire on the Way to Spokane: Seattle's Militia Rode Into a Rail War
Col. Joseph Green's detachment returns from Spokane after escorting a mutinied company through burned bridges, ambushes and striker country—and the city turns out to cheer.
- The Wickersham Scandal: A Judge’s Honor on Trial
In a Tacoma courtroom that captivated the Pacific Northwest, Miss Brantner takes the stand for days, detailing alleged improprieties with Probate Judge Wickersham. The trial exposes a web of land fraud, cocaine use, and social climbing, culminating in a judge’s furious rebuke of a laughing crowd.
- After the Fire, Seattle Rebuilds Its Burnt District
In the weeks following the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, the city scrambled to clear debris and restore order, as business owners set up temporary shops in tents and city officials struggled to enforce new sanitation rules in the 'burnt district.'
- A Sawmill Owner's Terrible Day: The Buzz Saw That Took a Leg and Nearly Two
James P. Allison was cutting logs at Clear Lake when a cant hook threw him into the teeth of an immense saw. Doctors were summoned from Olympia, Centralia and Bucoda, but the injured man waited hours for relief.
Also about this, in other words
- Mother Rescues Four Children from Raging Clear Lake House Fire
A local mother successfully navigates a burning home to save her children, sustaining painful burns in the process.
- A Financial Collapse on Front Street
The closure of Thomas Cleary’s long-established dry goods house shocks the local business community amidst economic uncertainty.
- A Public Retraction of Slander
After circulating damaging rumors about a young woman in camp, a local man takes to the newspaper to publicly clear her name.
- Everett's First Annual City Cleanup
After a successful city-wide 'Clean-up' day, local editors urge residents and businesses to maintain pride in their streets year-round.
- The Fight for Clear Water Rights
A new commission report proposes sweeping changes to ensure farmers and businesses can finally secure legal titles to their water.
- The Clearwater Rail Wars Cease
After a fierce corporate struggle, the Northern Pacific gains control of the Clearwater territory, ending a bitter railroad rivalry.
- The Price of Clearing the Frontier
A laborer dies on a brutal journey from the woods to a Seattle hospital after a tree-felling accident at a Richmond Beach grading camp.
- The Shack Clearers of the Waterfront
A laborer finds himself in jail after being ordered by a railway company to tear down the homes of squatters living on the Seattle tideflats.