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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 4 |
| 1893 | 2 |
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27 stories matching drastic
- City Marshal Vows to Clear Streets of Unlicensed Dogs
Marshal C. E. Copeland warns Kennewick dog owners that their pets will face the 'bone yard' if license fees aren't paid by July 1.
- Commuter Outrage on the Sound Shore Line
Drastic schedule changes cause massive drop in ridership as commuters are forced to wait hours for trains.
- Labor Council Boycotts New Elks Building
Building trades council declares new Elks lodge unfair and warns union workers to stay off the job.
- The Railway Freight War in the Palouse
Farmers in Eastern Washington celebrate the enforcement of the Anderson Act, which drastically reduces freight costs and promises to revitalize wheat production.
- Solving the 'Ram's Horn' Snarl
A council committee moves to eliminate a crooked railroad right-of-way that has long hindered harbor development on the Seattle waterfront.
- The Struggle for Walla Walla's Main Street
A local newspaper editor warns that the town's fragmented, 'cut-throat' merchant culture is paving the way for corporate monopolies to destroy local livelihoods.
- Aberdeen’s Train and Boat Schedule Disruption
A drastic change in transportation schedules leaves locals stranded and furious over ballooning travel times.
- The Fall of the City Treasurer
Adolph Krug, Seattle’s defaulting city treasurer, returns to the city in custody after a failed flight to the East.
- The Smallpox Mayor of Old Tacoma
When an outbreak of smallpox threatened the young town of New Tacoma in 1881, its first mayor took drastic, solitary action to save the community.
- The Mammoth Toothpicks of Puget Sound
A historic ship is forced to undergo a drastic modification just to accommodate the massive timbers being exported from the Pacific Northwest.
- City Council Targets Saloon Seclusion
Tacoma legislators pass a resolution forcing saloons to remove partitions and high-backed booths to ensure public view.
- Seattle's School System in Financial Crisis
Board member Thomas Prosch reveals a staggering debt that has school warrants trading at a discount.
- Washington Senate Tries to Ban Election Pledges—After Being 'Buncoed' by the Anti-Saloon League
Lawmakers voted 27 to 11 for a 'freak bill' disqualifying legislators who promise support for bills before election, then added a rider against corporation lawyers. Legal scholars called it unconstitutional.
- The Tax Revolt of 1923
Legislators in Olympia face a political firestorm as they struggle to cut state spending while voters demand 'hands off' the schools and roads.
- Fruit Industry Faces Tensions as Labor Organization Mobilizes
Farmers and business leaders urge the governor to curb I.W.W. activity as agricultural workers demand an eight-hour day and higher wages.
- The War Against the Russian Thistle
Walla Walla County officials launch an aggressive campaign to eradicate the invasive Russian Thistle before it chokes local wheat fields.
- The Department Store Revolution in Pioneer Square
Before the mall, there was the 'mercantile establishment'—a 19th-century retail behemoth that promised the modern consumer everything from tailor-made suits to beaded capes under a single Seattle roof.
- The Blight at the Orchard Gate
A silent, ruinous disease is tearing through Kennewick’s orchards, and the local paper is calling for a community-wide mobilization to save the harvest.
- The Crisis in Seattle’s Classrooms
A scathing critique of 1892, where local observers argued that the public school system was a 'machine' failing the working-class children who needed practical skills over academic pretense.
- The Price of a Human Life
A Seattle newspaper critiques the wildly inconsistent sentencing for murder in Washington Territory, highlighting how local bias and venue changes drastically altered justice for accused killers.
- The Legislative Hangover of the Anti-Saloon League
How the obsession with prohibition paralyzed the Tacoma legislature and derailed actual governance.
- The Railway Scheme That Failed
A phantom freight tariff, designed to crush independent grocers, is exposed and vetoed by the railroad manager himself.
- Longshoremen Strike Against Wage Cuts
Striking dockworkers faced off against non-union labor hired by the Pacific Coast Steamship Company to unload cargo at drastically reduced pay.
- The Plague at the Doorstep: Seattle’s Battle Against Smallpox in 1877
As smallpox ravages Port Orchard and Salmon Bay, the city's Health Officer takes drastic quarantine measures against Indigenous communities, highlighting the fragile public health infrastructure of early Seattle.
- The Banker Who Steered Newport Through the Panic of 1907
G. S. Thomas founded Newport's first bank, helped bring the city its water system, and died after guiding the institution through the financial stringency of November 1907.