Research the archive
Narrow 25,688 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 |
|---|---|
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1876 | 4 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1892 | 4 |
| 1893 | 1 |
| 1894 | 5 |
| 1895 | 8 |
| 1898 | 2 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1903 | 4 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1909 | 4 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1916 | 2 |
| 1917 | 1 |
| 1923 | 1 |
| 1924 | 1 |
48 stories matching cotton
- Five Years on a Fraud's Word
John Bryan was pardoned out of the Walla Walla penitentiary after the real robbers confessed — but his companion was still inside.
- Cotton, Flour and Rumors of Rifles: Tacoma's Steamer Sails Into the Sino-Japanese War
As Japan presses for Manchuria, Tacoma's Japanese community shares news from home while a Northern Pacific freighter swaps flour for Boston cotton—prompting speculation about hidden munitions.
- Northern Pacific Superintendent Heads South
W. T. Tyler leaves his Pasco post to manage the Cotton Belt Line in Texas, marking a significant leadership change for the regional rail network.
- The Marsh That Could Feed a City: Snohomish’s Hidden Goldmine
A detailed survey of the vast wetlands between Snohomish and the Skykomish River reveals thousands of acres of fertile land, drained by new ditches and accessible by scow, waiting for developers to turn swamp into wealth.
- The Manipulation of Crop Prices
Farmers are warned that exporters are artificially suppressing wheat prices in the Inland Empire, but holdouts may see a payoff in the long run.
- The Railroad’s 160-Acre Bet on Cotton in the Columbia Basin
The O.R.N. set aside land near Wallula to test cotton, sorghum, peanuts, tobacco, and more—with and without irrigation—and invited farmers to copy the results.
- The Shoddy Scandal: How the Tariff Made Our Clothes Garbage
Aberdeen readers are warned that under the McKinley Tariff, the American clothing industry has swapped quality wool for 'shoddy' rags, hair, and cotton.
- Farmers vs. the Railroads: The $3-a-Ton Fight in Olympia
At a legislative hearing, Washington's grain growers demand a cap on wheat freight rates — while Northern Pacific warns the bill will come straight out of its working men's wages.
- The Fashion Cost of Bird Extinction
A national wildlife advocate warns Tacoma women that wearing feathered hats is fueling a $800 million annual agricultural crisis.
- The Vanishing Mill: How Chicago Capital Was Driven Out of Vancouver by a City’s Defiant Stand
A Chicago millionaire’s plan to build a massive sawmill on an island in Vancouver, B.C., collapsed after local police and citizens physically evicted his workers. The fallout has sent the industrialist packing to Seattle, leaving behind political chaos and a debt of thousands to the Dominion government.
- A Midnight Knock, a Hidden Fortune, and a Brutal Beating on Vashon Island
Two men demand an old rancher's money, bind and club him, then ransack his cabin for a cache of cash. Seattle police arrest a suspect—and then the victim's wife.
- Puget Sound Out-Sailed Every U.S. Port but New York in 1894
Customs records showed a young Washington district building an Oriental trade from scratch, even as falling wheat and lumber values masked the boom in raw tonnage.
- The Ghost City That Never Was
A century ago, corporate giants promised a $100 million industrial empire at Priest Rapids, envisioning a city of 40,000 where only sagebrush grew.
- Seattle Miners Rush to Sultan River Gold Claims
When a chance discovery in the dry bed of the Sultan River sparked a desperate dash for fortune, the town of Snohomish was left nearly deserted as laborers abandoned their jobs to try their luck in the mud.
- The Cabin Shootout: A Violent Encounter in the Woods
A standoff between a local traveler, a 10-year-old boy, and law enforcement leaves one man dead and another wounded in a remote cabin near Puyallup.
- The Myth of Civilization
A satirical look at the displacement and forced assimilation of Indigenous people in the Yakima Valley.
- The Promised Metropolis on the Columbia
A booster report envisions a massive industrial city of 50,000 residents rising from the sagebrush desert at Priest Rapids.
- The 'Man of Destiny' Faces a Cold Reception in Olympia
Isaac I. Stevens attempts to rally local Democrats, but finds his political influence waning as the territory grapples with a nation on the brink of civil war.
- 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 Coin Toss That Named Portland — and the Man Who Founded Port Townsend
A.M. Pettygrove comes back to the town he laid out in 1851, and the Argus retells how a flipped coin gave Portland its name, how a claim was sold for $5,000 in cash and leather, and how a Puget Sound bluff became a city.
- The Cigar-Box Bomb That Came in the Mail for Gertie Spicer
A Washington woman suspected a prank, set the package on the sidewalk and opened it with a stick—just before it exploded and shook the buildings.
- The Slaughterhouse Stench South Seattle Blamed for Scarlet Fever
As an epidemic closed the schools, residents near Grant Street petitioned the board of health to remove stockyards and slaughterhouses they said were breeding disease on the tide flats.
- The Man Who Walked the Continent: A Fifteen-Year Pilgrimage Ends in Seattle
Frank M. Streamer arrives in the Pacific Northwest after completing a staggering 14,000-mile journey on foot across the United States, offering a rare glimpse into the grueling reality of 19th-century travel.
- The Jailbreak Tools Hidden in the Steel
A search of the county jail reveals two hack saws and a DIY heating lamp hidden in the structural pipework, intended for a prisoner's escape.
- A Yacht's Wild Ride Through a Puget Sound Gale
The Rainier survived 75-mile squalls, dragged anchors and a split jib on its run from Victoria to Seattle.
Also about this, in other words
- The Miracle Crop for Dry Soils
Industrial agent R.C. Judson reports that experimental alfalfa strains are thriving in the arid soils of the Walla Walla region.
- Sweetening the Valley: A Wartime Suggestion
With sugar rations looming during the Great War, one local farmer suggests Kennewick turn to home-grown sorghum syrup.
- The Rag, the Belt and the Flywheel: A Laundry Hand's Bad Monday
Ray Strong was wiping an engine belt he had no business touching when the cloth whipped him into a spinning flywheel. He was alive, unconscious at times, and the whole town was counting on his 'strong vitality.'
- The Miracle Crop of Pine Place
A Snohomish County farmer introduces a mysterious, giant grain he claims out-yields every other variety in the region.
- A Dispute Over Laundry and Etiquette
A laundryman and a theatrical man clash in a courtroom, highlighting cultural prejudices of the 1890s.
- The Sewing Machine Revolution Comes to Snohomish
Prominent citizens embrace the modern marvel of the era, bringing high-tech labor-saving to the frontier.
- The Blue-Flowered Bonanza: How Whatcom County Found Flax
A Ferndale doctor's experiments convince the federal government that Puget Sound can out-produce Europe's linen fields — and New York capital starts paying attention.
- The Grandview Corn King
A local farmer turns sagebrush into a record-breaking crop with modern agriculture techniques.