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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1865 | 1 |
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 16 |
| 1877 | 12 |
| 1878 | 6 |
| 1879 | 2 |
| 1880 | 3 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 13 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 16 |
| 1886 | 15 |
| 1887 | 10 |
| 1888 | 10 |
| 1889 | 24 |
| 1890 | 3 |
| 1891 | 26 |
| 1892 | 65 |
| 1893 | 63 |
| 1894 | 57 |
| 1895 | 13 |
| 1898 | 1 |
| 1899 | 18 |
| 1900 | 2 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 26 |
| 1904 | 33 |
| 1905 | 2 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 19 |
| 1910 | 3 |
| 1912 | 4 |
| 1914 | 4 |
| 1915 | 4 |
| 1916 | 8 |
| 1917 | 7 |
| 1918 | 1 |
| 1919 | 1 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 2 |
| 1924 | 2 |
| 1925 | 1 |
503 stories matching drop
- Thirty-Seven Miners Died 150 Feet From Safety
An 1894 coroner's jury in Franklin, Washington, heard how a small fire in the Oregon Improvement Company's coal mine became a wall of smoke — and why the men who could have escaped stayed to fight it.
- The Prickly Pear That Changed a Life: How a Boy’s Prank in Iowa Sent Him to Seattle
A local resident reveals the bizarre chain of events that led him from an Iowa farm to the Pacific Northwest, starting with a screwdriver and a pair of boots.
- Seattle's 1894 Budget Crisis: $89,787 Short and Cutting the Police
A comptroller's statement exposed a looming deficit, the council created a retrenchment committee, and eight patrolmen were dropped from the force—over the mayor's personal objection.
- A Mother Jumped Into a Well to Save Her Baby
Near Green Lake, a toddler fell sixteen feet into a well. Her mother lowered a too-short ladder, dropped in after her, and revived the child before help arrived.
- The Blind Doctor’s Lethal Prescription
Dr. William Campbell, a blind pioneer and one of Olympia’s oldest residents, was charged with manslaughter after a 14-year-old epileptic girl died under his lobelia-and-capsicum treatment. A justice set bail at $2,000 and sent the case to the January superior court term.
- Police Raid Opium Den; Suspect Leaps from Hotel Window
Alfred Dupre broke his leg and suffered internal injuries after jumping from a second-story window at the Pacific Hotel during a police raid on an alleged opium joint; two women were also arrested.
- The Seattle Police Force Shuffle
Mayor Ronald's 'reform' administration clears house to install political allies with troubled pasts.
- Police Commissioners Address Chinese Community Complaints
After Chinese merchants filed a petition regarding unauthorized police searches, the department claimed all raids were legal.
- The Future of the Grape Carnival
Should Kennewick kill its signature annual festival to save on tent rental costs? The local editor argues for permanent infrastructure instead.
- Local Farmers Watch Market Swings
A sudden dip in hog prices has left area farmers weighing the benefits of early sales as livestock markets struggle with soft demand.
- The Salmon Wars of Grays Harbor: How Indigenous Engineers Built a River-Scale Machine
Long before the white man’s mills choked the harbor, Native communities along the Quinault and Grays Harbor rivers operated sophisticated hydraulic traps that captured thousands of salmon—a feat of engineering described in 1890 as 'thrilling sport' yet vital to survival.
- The Wickersham Scandal: A Judge’s Honor on Trial
In a Tacoma courtroom that captivated the Pacific Northwest, Miss Brantner takes the stand for days, detailing alleged improprieties with Probate Judge Wickersham. The trial exposes a web of land fraud, cocaine use, and social climbing, culminating in a judge’s furious rebuke of a laughing crowd.
- Knockout Drops at the Standard Saloon
A Tacoma man swears he was drugged, fleeced of $210, and knocked toothless—then asks the city to revoke the saloon's license.
- Seattle's Balloon Animal Cruelty Fight
The local Humane Society moves to stop a spectacle involving dogs and monkeys tied to parachutes and dropped from balloons at public parks.
- The 50-Year Marriage That Defied Poverty: A Spokane Woman’s Quest for Work
When a rural Washington couple faced ruin from debt and injury, the wife took a train to Spokane with nothing but her satchel and a fierce determination to earn her keep.
- The Navy Secretary Goes Down Into the Big Hole
Secretary of the Navy Herbert rides the lighthouse tender Manzanita across the Sound to inspect the giant new dry dock at Port Orchard, settles a bitter dispute over how deep to drive the pilings, and dances the night away at the Rainier.
- The Pilot Who Dropped Dead at the Helm
A seasoned navigator suffers a fatal stroke while guiding a British ship through the Golden Gate, only for the crew to be extorted by a tugboat captain who demands an 'exorbitant' fee to save them.
- The Great Political Tickling: How Daniel Bugley Outwitted Seattle’s Beriah Brown
A fiery editorial in the *Snohomish Sun* exposes a political alliance between two rival editors, accusing them of using religious fervor as a cover for partisan maneuvering.
- The Narrow Escape in Whitechapel
After a laborer was robbed and tossed into the frigid tide flats of Seattle's waterfront, an unlikely group of rescuers saved him from a watery grave.
- The Man Who Bought His Own Death
In a Seattle saloon in 1877, a gambler named 'Hilly Hacker' was challenged by a stranger with a shotgun. Hacker’s response? He bet the man $50 that he could buy him 20,000 shares of stock at a higher price before the market opened—proving his nerve was stronger than any weapon.
- Survival in the Flooded Cascades
Two miners emerge from the mountains after fifty-two hours without food, describing a desperate retreat from a flooded mining camp.
- The Floating Fortress at Baker's Wharf
Seattle prepares for the Fourth of July as a heavily armed U.S. Navy monitor arrives to show off its new steel power.
- The Mayor Who Wanted to be an Autocrat
Mayor Ronald’s fascination with authoritarian rule leads to a public firing during a police board meeting.
- When Seattle's Taps Ran Dry, One Citizen Took the City to Task
A resident of the city's eastern heights petitions the Seattle City Council over empty pipes, fire risk, and water bills—with sarcasm aimed at every authority from City Hall to the White House.
- Fourteen Ballots, No Senator: Olympia's Revenge Caucus
The 1895 legislature deadlocks over Washington's U.S. Senate seat — and John L. Wilson's beaten men plot a secret 'blind ballot' to bury Ankeny out of spite.
Also about this, in other words
- The Seven-Foot Drop: A Property Dispute
A Tacoma couple fights back after county street grading leaves their home sitting high above the new road level.
- A Terrifying Drop from a Fir
An infantryman at Vancouver Barracks survives a forty-four-foot fall from a tree while attempting to catch a raccoon, an experience that left him shaken but alive.
- A Dangerous Drop on Madison Street
A lineman for the Western Union Telegraph Company narrowly survives a thirty-foot fall while hoisting poles.
- Suspended by the Wrists: A Perilous Fall in Downtown Seattle
A local painter narrowly avoided tragedy after a ladder slipped and left him dangling from meat hooks.
- Worker Plunges into Spokane Falls
A carpenter at work on the new Post Street bridge loses his footing and is swept to his death before a crowd of witnesses.
- Tragic Fall at the Pomeroy Stock Fair
A novice assistant was dragged into the sky by a tethered balloon, falling fifty feet to the earth in front of a crowd.
- A Sudden Tragedy on the Tide Flats
A dray team loses their footing on a rain-slicked plank road and plunges into the dark water below.
- The Tragic Leap Over the Falls
A man with a prosthetic leg made a final, fatal decision to go over Spokane's Upper Falls.