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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 7 |
| 1877 | 8 |
| 1878 | 4 |
| 1880 | 5 |
| 1883 | 7 |
| 1884 | 3 |
| 1885 | 11 |
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| 1889 | 12 |
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306 stories matching desert
- The Deadly Secret of the Giant Street Bridge
A cold-blooded 1887 murder finally finds its motive in a hidden past, revealing a plot involving stolen identities, deserted wives, and a double-dating betrayal.
- The Deserted Wife Who Saved Her Homestead
When a man abandoned his land and his spouse in Olympia, the government tried to invalidate her claim—until a steely legal battle proved her right to stay.
- The Sea-Law Rebellion: How Seattle Sailors Won Their Freedom
Ten seamen who fled the ship Alex Gibson were ordered held by a commissioner, but a sharp legal maneuver centered on maritime labor law secured their release.
- The Capitalist, the Runaway Wife, and the Chicago Sport
A wealthy New Whatcom man won a Seattle divorce after his wife fled to Europe with another man—and his lawyer chose desertion over adultery to spare her.
- Speculation and Contests Arise Over Columbia River Sands
Long-neglected riverbank lands near the Snake River junction are suddenly subject to legal contests as settlers rush to file desert land claims.
- A Young Soldier's Regret
Valentine D. Little, a 21-year-old immigrant juggler, was arrested in Seattle for deserting the U.S. Army after being misled by recruiters about his enlistment age.
- The Divine Healer Who Buried Himself Alive: A Seattle Cult Leader’s Resurrection Claim
Rev. O. M. Schlatte, known as 'Schlatte the Divine Healer,' claims to have risen from a 40-day burial in the desert after fasting and praying for God's guidance. Now back in town, he asserts his authority over the famous 'Healer' of Kansas and prepares to resume his ministry.
- 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 Boy Who Escaped a Shipwreck
A teenage runaway from England found adventure, fire, and a new life in Tacoma after deserting his vessel.
- The Tragedy of George E. Harrison
George E. Harrison, who deserted his wife and children, shot himself in Leeds, voiding his life insurance.
- The Tragic Disappearance of a Deserter
Sailor Frank Lyman deserted the Henry Failing in Tacoma and is believed to have drowned swimming ashore.
- Hurricane-Force Winds Topple Desert House onto Woman
A woman was critically injured near Richmond Ferry when a sudden, violent windstorm collapsed a deserted house she had entered to seek shelter.
- The Shanghai and the Deserter
A soldier stationed at Fort Lawton claims a booze-fueled night in San Francisco ended in a forced voyage to Australia.
- The Brutal Politics of the 1878 Press
A Seattle editor rails against 'poisoned shafts of calumny' after a local newspaper attacks prominent citizen H.G. Struve, labeling the lawyer a 'deserter' and a 'perjurer.'
- The Unawakened Giant: Why Washington Territory Is the Next California
A sweeping editorial in the *Diligent Intelligencer* argues that railroads are about to unlock the 'inland basin' of Eastern Washington, transforming it from a feared desert into an agricultural empire rivaling the Golden State.
- The Hard-Won Lessons of Irrigating the Desert
An editorial reflection on the struggle to transform the arid sagebrush of the Columbia Valley into productive farmland through experimental science.
- Cheers, Hisses and a Canal: The Night Tacoma Cheered the Ditch It Was Told Would Ruin It
At a packed Republican mass-meeting in Germania Hall, speaker after speaker dared the crowd to believe the Lake Washington canal would destroy Tacoma — and the crowd roared back that it would not.
- The Desert Land Grabs of Yakima Valley
A group of fifteen Seattle investors files to transform 7,000 acres of arid Yakima land into a profitable agricultural engine.
- Yakima's Artesian Boom: Turning Desert Into Hop Fields
Attorney Fred Parker told a Tacoma reporter that artesian wells and the big irrigation ditches would reclaim 30,000 acres of desert and draw Sound-country hop growers to Yakima County.
- The Great Reclamation: Opening the Interior
How a 1877 federal law sought to transform the 'Great American Desert' of the Yakima plains into a productive landscape.
- The Unlucky Lothario of Walla Walla
A serial deserter and bigamist finds his romantic escapades lead him from the barracks to the Seattle police station.
- The Land Office Libel Suit
A North Yakima man faces criminal charges after accusing a former land register of orchestrating a fraudulent land claim.
- Desert Land Dreams Turn to Dust
A failed irrigation scheme in Franklin County leaves thousands of acres of claims in limbo after a scathing government report.
- The Strange Disappearance of John Steele
A Seattle man is lured to a Canadian steamer under the pretense of work, only to be held captive and told he is a deserter from the British army.
- The Waterfront War of 1893
Sailors and vessel owners clash as labor unrest cripples Grays Harbor shipping.