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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1877 | 4 |
| 1883 | 4 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1891 | 3 |
| 1892 | 2 |
| 1893 | 2 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1895 | 5 |
26 stories matching decatur
- The Siege of Seattle: A City Born in Fire
Recalling the 1856 Indian War attack on Seattle, when a handful of settlers held their ground behind a blockhouse against a barrage of fire and shell.
- A Log Raft Turns Deadly Off Decatur Island
Amos Plasket, a San Juan County resident, fell from a log into the water within yards of shore and drowned before he could be recovered.
- Seattle's First Pastor Recalls a Fragile Village
Rev. David E. Blaine returns to the First M.E. Church to recount the harsh early days of Seattle, including the Indian war years.
- The Siege of Seattle: A Memory of 1856
On the Fourth of July, 1892, Seattle reflected on the narrow brush with total destruction during the battle of 1856, guided by those who lived through the smoke of the Decatur's cannons.
- The Unexploded Bomb in the Hillside
A curious fragment of Civil War history turns up on Sixth Street, linking Seattle’s quiet streets to the violent Indian Wars of the past.
- The Night Seattle Held the Line at the Stockade
A 39th-anniversary account of the January 1856 siege: two blockhouses, a howitzer from the USS Decatur, and two settlers killed in the Puget Sound War.
- A Warship’s Cannonball Uncovered on Spring Street
Street graders digging in the heart of Seattle unearthed a 35-pound reminder of the 1856 Indian War.
- The First Wedding in Seattle, Replayed 42 Years Later
David T. Denny and Louisa Denny marked their 42nd anniversary at Decatur Terrace with pioneer friends, a Chinook pow-wow, and a grandson's poem.
- The Last Survivor of the 1856 Siege
Admiral Thomas Stowell Phelps, who helped defend a fragile Seattle from the woods near Yesler's Mill, recounts the terror and strategic maneuvers of the Battle of Seattle.
- A Memory of the Battle of Seattle
An early settler and former U.S. Marshal reflects on the 'battle-scarred' house he occupied during the 1856 Indian attack on Seattle.
- From Wilderness to Metropolis in Thirty Years
A look back at the founding of Seattle, the Indian War of 1856, and the industrial boom that turned a 'pigmy sawmill' into a burgeoning city.
- The Skagit County Courthouse Squabble
Mount Vernon citizens clash over the location of a new county building, fearing fire hazards and rising rents.
- Tales from the First Newspaper on the Sound
Looking back at 1855, when a Steilacoom weekly became the voice of a territory under siege.
- A Covered Wagon Arrival on Main Street
A caravan of twenty-seven resilient immigrants completes an arduous journey from Texas, arriving at Seattle’s First National Bank in a fleet of wagons.
- The Bold Navigator and the Tatoosh Island Light-Keeper
A maritime dispute over a salvaged anchor reveals the shady side-hustles of a government lighthouse official.
- The Doctor Wasn't Who He Said He Was
Found dead along the Northern Pacific tracks near Olympia, Dr. C. S. Smith was unmasked by his own will as S. C. Thompson, an Iowa county treasurer who had fled a defalcation in 1872.
- The Frontier Pulse: Seattle in 1871
A look back at the origins of the city, from the arrival of the first families and the Indian War to the rise of coal, sawmills, and the hope for a transcontinental terminus.
- The Shell That Survived the Fire: A Seattle Man’s Close Call with a Civil War Artifact
An eccentric local resident discovers a live cannonball in his firewood, leading to a terrifying explosion that sends him tumbling down a hillside.
- A Deadly Souvenir of the Battle of Seattle
Twenty-one years after the 1856 Battle of Seattle, a local man struck a hidden relic in a fir tree that could have turned lethal.
- A Desperate End at a Seattle Boarding House
A young traveler from Nebraska succumbs to despair and alcohol, leaving behind a brief note for his kin.
- The Treasurer Who Vanished, Then Wrote Home From Puget Sound
An Iowa county official disappeared in the 1870s. After his death, his family gathered at the Olympia Hotel to settle an estate—and letters revealed a hidden life, a bank failure, and a real-estate boom he hoped would make restitution possible.
- When the Skagit River Swallowed Mount Vernon: The Great Flood of 1894
A sudden heat wave melted mountain snow, sending rivers over their banks and putting whole towns underwater. In Mount Vernon, 300 men fought a losing battle against the rising Skagit.
- The First Wedding in Seattle, Celebrated Forty-Two Years Later
David and Louisa Denny gather four generations of pioneers at their Temperance Street home, where relics of the 1850s—and the certificate from Seattle’s first marriage—turn an anniversary into a founding story.
- The Ox-Yoke Judge Who Kept Olympia the Capital
O. C. Hewitt, Lincoln’s chief justice of Washington Territory and the father of Odd Fellowship in the state, died at 82 in East Tumwater after a frontier life that included burying massacre victims, winning a Supreme Court case, and saving Olympia’s capital status.
- One Street, Eight Names: The Tide-Land Map That Broke Seattle's Addresses
When the tide-land appraisers published their new plat, they named the filled waterfront after the states and the big cities — ignoring every street already on the ground. City Engineer Thomson's renaming scheme collapsed on the spot.