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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1892 | 3 |
| 1893 | 4 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1895 | 2 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1909 | 3 |
20 stories matching des
- The Human Cost of the Des Moines Boom
A tragic suicide in Tacoma exposes the devastating toll of speculative real estate schemes.
- Drugged and Held at Sea for Seven Weeks, an Engineer Reappears in Tacoma
T. A. Cox, part-owner of an Arizona mining company, says he was drugged with a lemonade in San Francisco and held prisoner aboard an unknown ship before being put ashore at Des Moines — then walked to Tacoma without a cent.
- The Mother-Son Counterfeiting Ring
A woman with a criminal past and her son are caught after operating a makeshift mint out of their homes in Des Moines and Tacoma.
- The Counterfeiter of Tacoma
A notorious gang of spurious coin makers is finally apprehended in a remote Tacoma house, ending a long cross-state crime spree.
- The Printer Who Won the Lottery
A local newsman strikes it rich, prompting talk of a career change into banking.
- Tragic Snow-Clearing Death
A 71-year-old man died instantly after slipping on icy pavement while clearing snow in North Tacoma.
- The Road That Would Remake the Des Chutes Shore
Tumwater landowners and boosters want a new beach road to Olympia, promising easier travel, new homes, and higher property values.
- A Case for Divorce
A woman details years of abuse and threats in a petition for divorce against her husband, seeking custody of their five children.
- Three Years Under a Fallen Tree: The Skeleton at Quartermaster Harbor
A Seattle man went to Vashon Island for shingle bolts and vanished. Boys found his bones this week, pinned beneath a trunk — and the coroner may never know whether the tree killed him or simply held him there.
- The Vanishing 'Boy Preacher'
A notorious young grifter keeps up appearances as a 'star boarder' in Newcastle before skipping town.
- The Swindling 'Boy Preacher' of Discovery Bay
A young con artist charms his way into the confidence of local ranchers with promises of land purchases and a wealthy mother, only to vanish without paying a cent.
- A 28-Mile Dream Road Between Seattle and Tacoma
A landowner's 1895 letter urges the legislature to charter a direct highway from South Park through Des Moines to Tacoma, selling it as relief for the unemployed, a check on speculators and the making of the 'Twin Cities of Puget Sound.'
- A Family Feud Erupts at the Train Depot
A lawyer attempts to forcibly reclaim his children from his estranged wife at the train station, sparking a public spectacle.
- The $275,000 Plan to Dredge Olympia Into a Deep-Water Port
In 1892, a federal engineer proposed cutting a 12-foot channel through two miles of tide flats so ocean steamers could reach Fourth Street. The price tag was $275,000—and a bet on Olympia’s future.
- The Half-Hour Squall That Cut Seattle Off From the World
A sudden sixty-five-mile-an-hour squall tears through Seattle, snapping telegraph and telephone wires, shaking buildings and sending steamers and wharves into confusion on Elliott Bay.
- The Miner Who Vanished—and Came Back With a Shanghaied Story
Cox disappeared before Christmas. Then he turned up in Tacoma with a tale of drugging, abduction, and a vessel that would not let him go.
- Three Thousand Miles by Bicycle
A Kentucky man completes an epic cross-country journey, navigating wagon roads, railroad beds, and mountain passes to reach Seattle.
- A Monorail on a 'Bicycle System': The 1892 Plan to Ride One Rail from Seattle to Tacoma
A company promised a thirty-mile elevated railway — cars balanced on a single steel rail, steadied by rubber wheels on an overhead guide — running across the tide flats and reaching Tacoma in forty minutes.
- The Women Who Would Remake Seattle, One Vote at a Time
King County’s temperance unions met in Fremont to report on missions and the White Shield Home — then nearly every woman in the room stood up for equal suffrage.
- The First Poet of Snohomish: A Captain’s Verse and a Hotelier’s Blunder
A retrospective on the town's earliest settlers reveals that E. I. Tucker wasn't just a steamboat engineer—he was also its first literary figure, while his father’s linguistic mishaps provide a glimpse into the colorful social life of the era.