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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1893 | 1 |
| 1894 | 4 |
| 1895 | 6 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1909 | 2 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1928 | 1 |
25 stories matching discern
- Skeletons Found in a Cedar Stump
Railway laborers clearing land near the coal mines uncover five human remains tucked inside the hollow of a massive ancient cedar.
- Russell Conwell Urges Tacoma to Find Its Own 'Acres of Diamonds'
The famous orator visits the First Christian Church to challenge Tacoma residents to recognize the latent wealth and potential in their own backyard.
- The Schoolmistress and the Fortune Hunter
A young clerk attempts to choose between his sweetheart and a family inheritance, only to find the choice has already been made for him.
- The Fight for Tacoma’s Public Market
A citizen letter protests the impending removal of market booths, accusing city officials of prioritizing developer interests over public access.
- Mount Rainier Was Smoking, and Olympia Noticed
In January 1895, a correspondent watching through a glass saw great volumes rising from the summit — and wondered whether the mountain had awakened.
- The Great Snohomish River Canoe Disaster: A Tale of Terror, Whales, and Pluck
Four prominent local businessmen nearly lost their lives when a massive whale capsized their boat in the dark, but one man’s calm courage saved them all.
- The Price of 'Independence'
A overheard conversation between union workers and non-union polishers reveals the harsh reality of labor exploitation in 1911 Everett.
- The West Point Forger Who Vanished From Tacoma
A polished stranger with a celebrated military past talked his way into Tacoma's lumber trade—then left a forged check and a trail gone cold.
- A Mother, a Child, and a Cold Shack Off Albert Street
A police officer's dollar leads Superintendent Gilmer to a family with no food, no furniture and no shoes—and to a quiet rescue before the county takes over.
- The Girls Who Couldn't Be Moved
When two sisters refused to budge for a fishing trip, a bizarre and prolonged standoff ensued involving a heavy door and a very frustrated brother.
- The Confidence Man’s Tears: How a Thief Fooled His Victim and the Court
In May 1877, Seattle confidence operator Dowd was granted a change of venue after moving his robbery victim to tears with a sob story about his destitute family. The District Attorney’s lenient stance sparked outrage among citizens who feared the law was too soft on crime.
- The Sea Gives Up a Member of the Ganiard Party
Four months after a storm swallowed a family of musicians bound for a dance, the body of young Wesley Ganiard is recovered near the mouth of the Snohomish River — but his mother is still missing.
- The Governor's White Elephant and a Newspaper Deal
A proposed $2,500 purchase of the Daily Olympian sets off talk of a King County power play, a governor's relief, and a political machine in the making.
- The Sudden Death of the Man Who Ran Seattle’s Newspaper, Bank and Republican Party
George H. Heilbron, banker, Republican kingmaker and editor of the Post-Intelligencer, died without warning. Rival Seattle papers agreed the city had lost one of its most useful citizens.
- The Rose Thief of James Street
A Seattle gardener threatens to deploy a bulldog—or forty—after midnight raids carry off her prize roses, including the star-crossed Baron and Baroness.
- The Cedar River Siege: How a Power Mogul Tried to Steal Seattle’s Water
Seattle Star exposes the Snoqualmie Falls Power Company’s dirty game: using fake environmental panic to block municipal water rights and crush competition.
- The Canal That Was Going to Bring the Farm Into Seattle
In 1895, boosters promised the Lake Washington Ship Canal would cut freight transfers for farmers, float logs from Sammamish, and let Newcastle coal load almost at the pit mouth.
- The Captain, the Dark Dock, and the Cry 'Man Overboard'
A Seattle jury weighs damages in the drowning of Capt. George Hill at Anacortes, where lanterns, liquor and a first officer's memory shape the case.
- The Man Who Couldn't Sleep: A Murderer's Five-Year Nightmare Ends in Seattle
William Devitt, a fugitive from a Pennsylvania railroad murder, surrenders to Seattle police after five years of wandering the South, claiming his conscience has finally caught up with him.
- Seattle's Silver Crusaders Packed the Armory and Demanded a Free-Silver Senator
Populists, Democrats and Republicans found one thing to agree on in 1895: unlimited silver coinage—and a Legislature that would send a silver man to Washington.
- The City That Built Itself: Seattle’s 1876 Bet on Railroads and Real Estate
While Portland urges unity to secure a transcontinental line, Seattle’s council quietly reshapes the city’s physical landscape—lowering street grades and paving sidewalks—betting that infrastructure will drive the boom.
- Smoke So Thick You Could Not See a Block: The August the Sound Went Dark
Forest and peat fires from Lynden to Wilkeson filled Puget Sound with smoke in late August 1894. Seattle's weather observer promised rain within thirty-six hours, and Whatcom County counted its losses.
- Bellingham Bay Burned While Puget Sound Choked on Smoke
Forest fires from the British border to the Olympic Mountains sent a pall over Seattle, slowed steamers and trains, and destroyed homes, a bridge and a thirty-room mansion near Whatcom.
- A Wall of Smoke and Flame Across Puget Sound
Forest fires from Hood Canal to the Nooksack Valley left dozens of families homeless in 1894, while smoke turned steamboat travel blind and daily life in Seattle into a gray haze.
- A Chinese Student's 1929 Speech Named the Racism Washington Tried to Forget
At the University of Washington's Cosmopolitan Club, Wesley Kai Hwa Kwang catalogued a century of anti-Chinese violence — including the 1885 killings in Squak Valley and the burning of Tacoma's Chinatown — and asked a white audience to account for it.