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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 4 |
| 1878 | 1 |
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| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
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38 stories matching commod
- A Railroad Rate Cut Redrew the Northwest's Trade Map
The Northern Pacific's new freight tariff aimed to make Puget Sound the gateway for Eastern Washington and Idaho—shutting out St. Paul and San Francisco.
- Northern Pacific Slashes Freight Rates in a Coast-to-Coast War
Seattle shippers get word that commodity rates from Chicago and the river cities will drop to match the Southern Pacific’s Sunset route.
- The Lumber Blockade: A Plea for Economic Sovereignty
An 1878 editorial argues that Seattle’s timber and the inland prairies are two halves of a whole, choked by a 'grinding monopoly' of railroads and steamship companies.
- The $500 Vote: How a Spokane Judge’s Bribery Plot Exposed Seattle’s Political Rot
In the winter of 1903, Washington’s legislature was paralyzed by a scandal involving bribed senators and a desperate governor. When Representative Metcalfe revealed he was paid to vote for Judge Calkins, the resulting investigation tore through Olympia’s elite, revealing a web of corruption that threatened to define the state’s young democracy.
- Territorial Governor Orders Segregated Schooling
Governor Isaac I. Stevens enforces new restrictions on Indigenous student access to public education in Olympia.
- Everett Pushes for a City-Owned Water System
Advocates argue that water is a public necessity, not a commodity for private corporate profit.
- The 'Lazy' Reservation: A White Settler's Rant Against Indian Farming
In May 1877, a Seattle correspondent published a vitriolic letter in the *Intelligencer* challenging claims of Native agricultural success on the Suckley Reservation, arguing that federal land policies encouraged 'idleness' and demanding the lands be opened to white settlers.
- He Loved Her Too Much to Marry Her
Adam Gehm, a Bavarian logger working in Carbonado, shot himself in a Seattle lodging house after confessing to a friend that illness left him unable to provide for the woman he loved. He had tried once before.
- The $37,500 Handshake: How Benton County's Tax Crusaders Blessed a Courthouse Deal
Prosser's anti-tax league swore it would guard the public purse to the last janitor's salary. Then its own man changed his mind on Monday, and the Kennewick editor noticed where the $37,500 went.
- The Seattle Grocer Who Died Chasing Central American Trade
J. E. Chilberg clawed back from a fire, a failed corporation and a panic to build a Puget Sound steamship trade with Guatemala — then went down with the foundering Colima on the voyage that was supposed to secure it.
- The Rising Sentiment Against Chinese Labor in Seattle
An editorial reflection on the arrival of Chinese laborers in Seattle and the prevailing local attitudes regarding their employment.
- The Price of Patronage: Political Graft in Washington Territory
A scathing editorial exposes how federal appointments in the Washington Territory were treated as commodities, with government officials accused of padding their estates through systemic corruption.
- The Great Railway Freight Revolt
In a 1891 legislative showdown, Washington lawmakers slashed freight rates by 25 percent to combat railroad monopolies, sparking a fierce debate over state versus corporate control.
- The Railroads Beat the Farmers in Olympia
A bill to cut freight and passenger rates across Washington goes down in the state Senate after a bruising fight, handing the railroads their biggest Northwest victory yet.
- The Hop Gold Rush of 1886
As hop prices soar in the Puyallup Valley, Washington Territory farmers find themselves in the midst of a speculative frenzy, echoing the volatility of modern commodity markets.
- The Tinderbox of the Waterfront: Fire Chief Warns of Seattle’s Oil-Fueled Doom
Chief Collins warns that Standard Oil’s wooden warehouses along the waterfront are a 'match away' from destroying the city, while overcrowded lodging houses threaten the poor with similar fates.
- The High Cost of Shipping Produce to the Sound
Yakima farmers complain that exorbitant transport rates are leaving them with nothing to show for their labor.
- Silver Men Pack the Armory and Demand a Senator Who Won't Waver
Populists, Republicans and Democrats shared a Seattle stage to demand the legislature elect a 'free silver' U.S. senator — then a lawyer stole the show doing an impression of a rival orator.
- Keep Your Money at Home? In Kennewick, the Shoe-Leather Trail Led to Pasco
A letter to the editor takes aim at buy-local boosterism, arguing that Kennewick shoppers already knew the real prices—and often crossed the river to Pasco or sent away for mail-order catalogs.
- The Lumber Lobby Scores a Panama Canal Win
Pacific coast lumbermen outmaneuvered the Panama Canal Commission to exempt deck-loads from tonnage fees, signaling the power of regional industry over federal regulation.
- The Struggle for Labor's Worth
As telegraphers across the country walk off the job, the local press debates the morality of corporate monopolies versus the rights of the individual laborer.
- Spokane Wins Freight-Rate Fight Against the Railroads
The Interstate Commerce Commission orders cuts from Chicago and St. Paul, a victory that promised cheaper goods and a broader home market for Newport and the Inland Empire.
- Northern Pacific Takes Its Rate Fight to Federal Court
The railroad will challenge Washington's sweeping grain-rate cut as unconstitutional, warning the reduction is ruinous and confiscatory.
- Why One Mill Refused the Shingle Trust
A local manufacturer pens a defiant letter against the push for a shingle monopoly, arguing for the free market over artificial price fixing.
- Shippers Face New Freight Tax
Northwestern fruit growers are bracing for a 15 percent hike in shipping rates that could devastate their margins.
Also about this, in other words
- The Real Estate Fire Sale of the Comstock Estate
A court-ordered liquidation of downtown Seattle property hits the market, signaling the rapid consolidation of city center land during the late 19th-century boom.
- The Real Estate Gambles of Pioneer Seattle
A historic real estate listing reveals the precarious nature of land titles in early Seattle and the high-stakes land development following the death of P.C. Comstock.