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 |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 3 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1885 | 3 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1889 | 3 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1892 | 3 |
| 1893 | 3 |
| 1894 | 1 |
| 1895 | 4 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 1 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1914 | 2 |
| 1917 | 1 |
32 stories matching creep
- The Sky Turned to Smoke: Forest Fires Choke Puget Sound
Fires across Whatcom, Skagit and the Olympic Mountains destroyed bridges, barns and a shingle mill, derailed a Great Northern train and left Puget Sound under a suffocating haze.
- The Mayor's Midnight Pyre
When smallpox struck an Indigenous chief in 1877, the mayor of a nascent Seattle turned to fire to stop the contagion.
- The Brutal Execution of Chief Kanaskat
A vivid and harrowing account of the 1856 Puyallup conflict and the killing of the Klickitat leader.
- Supreme Court Upholds Chinese Exclusion
The high court rules that Congress has the power to abrogate treaties, effectively ending the entry of Chinese laborers to the United States.
- They Climbed Rainier First—and Slept in a Sulphur-Scented Ice Cave
In 1870, Hazard Stevens and P. B. Van Trump reached Mount Rainier's summit after a brutal 10½-hour climb, then spent a freezing night beside volcanic steam vents.
- The Cheney War Scare
A false alarm regarding an Indigenous uprising sends the town of Cheney into a panicked frenzy.
- Bold Coyotes Haunt Richland Streets
Predators are creeping into town limits at night, forcing residents to arm themselves after a man was bitten in the fields.
- Tragedy on the Tracks: A Night of Horror
A train derailment near Seattle leaves passengers trapped in the wreckage as a fire begins to spread through the cars.
- Canoeing the Queets: Promise and Dispossession on the Olympic Peninsula
An 1892 travelogue celebrates homesteaders in the Queets River valley while arguing that Native hunters should be confined to the reservation.
- A Fourth of July Disaster at the Iron Works
A celebratory cannon salute leaves a local foreman maimed during Seattle's Independence Day festivities.
- The Silent Crisis on Everett's Sidewalks
A local labor leader details the quiet desperation of forty idle carpenters as the city's housing and employment market hits a wall.
- The Town Where Horses Wore Wooden Shoes
La Conner grew slowly on a rocky knoll in the Skagit delta, diked its tidal flats, and shipped out hay by the ton—while its horses clumped through spring mud in wooden moccasins.
- The Pastor, the Circular, and the Hung Jury
For three days a Seattle courtroom heard accusations of adultery, an illegitimate son, and a pastor’s libelous circular. At 12:35 a.m., the jury was still deadlocked.
- The Great Jailbreak Attempt of 1888
A desperate group of prisoners, including a local forger and a pair of Vancouver burglars, came within thirty minutes of freedom before being thwarted by a vigilant guard.
- Factory Fire Narrowly Avoids Catastrophe
A two-hour battle against a lumber kiln fire on Puyallup Avenue threatened to spark a larger blaze in the industrial district.
- The Mystery of the Creeping Rail
A phantom force is physically shifting the interurban line's tracks toward Tacoma, baffling engineers and causing havoc with the electrical system.
- The Shoemaker Who Refused Charity
Charles Lett, a struggling shoemaker, worked at his bench until the very end, leaving behind a legacy of pride that challenged the city’s notions of poverty and 'divine providence.'
- The Fruit-Seller's Wife Who Kept a Loaded Winchester by the Cradle
Left alone half the night with a two-month-old baby, a quiet Seattle housewife twice warned off an intruder — then fired a warning shot past his ear with the cool of a marksman.
- The Artisan Hotel Lost to Flames
A morning blaze leaves a local landmark in ruins, with early-rising travelers suspected of accidental negligence.
- Kennewick's Global Apple Ambitions
Local fruit agent Chas. H. Collins looks beyond the domestic market to South America and the Panama Canal, eyeing new trade routes for the 'Early Fruit Belt' harvest.
- A Minister Takes a Geologist's Hammer to Genesis
Rev. Napoleon Hoagland tells a packed hall that the rocks do not show six days of creation, and that reason — not an infallible book — is the believer's best authority.
- A Close Call for a Pioneer Landmark
A fire in a historic Second Street frame house—once the site of a renowned beer garden—was extinguished just before it could consume the structure.
- A Night of Masks and Revelry
Yakima’s firemen transform the opera house into a glittering masquerade, capturing the spirit of a frontier city at play.
- Seattle’s First Fire Company: A Half-Hearted Start in a City That Needs It
In October 1876, Seattle’s citizens are debating the formation of a volunteer fire engine company. While some jeer at their 'small beginnings,' the paper argues that even a half-hearted effort is better than no defense against the city's greatest fear: fire.
- A Spanking Breeze on the Sound
Six yachts compete in a high-stakes sweepstakes race on Puget Sound that ends in a collision and a thrilling come-from-behind victory.
Also about this, in other words
- The 'Lingerer' and the Moral Purge of Tacoma
A fiery 1885 editorial spat reveals the tension between town boosters and a 'Law and Order' movement intent on policing the morality of the emerging city.
- The Ghost on Pacific Avenue
Tacoma’s hack drivers are convinced a local man is a walking curse after a series of strange carriage wrecks.
- A Scantling Scuffle at the Boom
A simmering dispute over local timber booms erupts in violence at Chenoise Creek.
- The Predator on the Streets of Tacoma
A young woman narrowly escapes an encounter with a persistent street harasser in the South End, fueling police concerns about local safety.
- The Shadow Cabinet of the Tacoma Railway & Power Company
A critical report on corporate influence over municipal government and the 'nose counting' of city officials.
- Terror in the Tunnel: A Ghostly Watchman’s Tale
A railroad trackman, left to guard a suicide victim’s remains in a Seattle tunnel, claims the severed head spoke to him in the dark.
- The Hop-Picker's Smallpox Scare
A panic at the Meeker ranch over a supposed smallpox outbreak threatened to upend the harvest—but the sickness was not what it seemed.
- The Swarm That Stalled the Trains
A plague of army worms in a Washington swamp grew so thick they brought a locomotive to a grinding, slippery halt.