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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1859 | 2 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1862 | 4 |
| 1876 | 10 |
| 1877 | 10 |
| 1878 | 8 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 9 |
| 1884 | 3 |
| 1885 | 4 |
| 1886 | 2 |
| 1887 | 4 |
| 1888 | 5 |
| 1889 | 9 |
| 1890 | 3 |
| 1891 | 11 |
| 1892 | 15 |
| 1893 | 17 |
| 1894 | 20 |
| 1895 | 29 |
| 1898 | 1 |
| 1899 | 2 |
| 1903 | 12 |
| 1904 | 9 |
| 1905 | 3 |
| 1907 | 1 |
| 1908 | 9 |
| 1909 | 9 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1914 | 6 |
| 1915 | 2 |
| 1916 | 3 |
| 1917 | 1 |
| 1923 | 1 |
| 1924 | 1 |
232 stories matching expend
- The Great Railway Monopoly Struggle of 1877
An editorial from the Seattle Weekly Dispatch reveals the town's early, bitter fight against the Northern Pacific Railroad's land-grabbing tactics.
- The Mine That Wasn’t? A Captain Denies a Half-Million-Dollar Gold Swindle
An English capitalist’s suit against Alaska millionaires turned a Port Townsend sailing into a Pacific Coast sensation, with charges of swapped ore, gold-soaked drill cores, and a forceful denial from Capt. James Carroll.
- The Saloon Was Their Paycheck: Everett Labor’s Fight Against Prohibition
In November 1910, Everett’s union locals — cigar makers, brewery workers, bartenders, cooks and waiters — urged a vote for license, warning that Prohibition would throw hundreds out of work and scatter their families.
- Newport Bets on the Railroad
The Idaho & Washington Northern will break ground on a brick passenger station next week, with a freight depot and $75,000 in yard improvements close behind.
- The $10,000 Bet That Built Seattle’s Front Street
Superintendent Thompson risks a fortune to beat the calendar, while a separate land dispute erupts over tide flats near Grant Street.
- The Battle for the Snoqualmie Road
A fiery exchange in the Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer reveals the tense intersection of local commerce, red tape, and the precarious state of rural King County infrastructure in 1885.
- The Northern Pacific's Tacoma Depot Is a Rat-Infested Shed
While the railroad pours a quarter-million into a new Seattle terminal, Tacoma commuters are left with a miserable shack.
- New Whatcom’s Ledger Had a Credit Side, Too
After a defalcation and the Panic of 1893, New Whatcom’s mayor and a local editor argued over whether the city was broke or merely bruised.
- The Streetcar Franchise Seattle Couldn't Enforce
Alderman J. Eugene Jordan accused the Yesler Avenue Cable Car Company and its City Council allies of dodging a franchise requirement to double-track the line—while the city pleaded poverty and working men waited for jobs.
- Metaline's Mines Are Ready to Roar—If the Railroad Arrives
With the Idaho Washington Northern extending toward Sullivan Creek, Metaline district companies are staffing up, building mills, and betting on a shipping boom.
- The River That Wasn't: Kennewick’s Lonely Fight to Open the Snake
While Portland looked the other way, Kennewick businessmen pooled their own money to dredge rapids and build docks, betting the town's future on a water route that never came.
- The Mud-Locked Road: Seattle’s 1878 Infrastructure Feud
A bitter war of words erupts in the press over the impassable Snoqualmie road and the 'cheek' of local politicians asking for funding they refused to spend.
- The Forgotten Dry Dock: Seattle's Missed Opportunity
In 1887, a committee’s failure to finalize a dry dock project drove local jobs away, forcing the city to reckon with the consequences of industrial stagnation.
- The Senator’s Lament: Puget Sound vs. the Columbia River
In 1892, Senator Watson Squire sparred with his colleagues over federal infrastructure spending, arguing that sinking millions into the Columbia River served only Portland while neglecting the burgeoning commercial potential of Puget Sound.
- The Territory Owns the University. So Why Is Seattle Paying for It?
An exasperated editorial makes the case that the Territorial University — the ancestor of today's UW — belongs to all of Washington, yet the Legislature has adjourned without voting it a dollar, leaving Seattle's private citizens to keep the doors open.
- The Price of a Mile of Road
When a $12,000 road project near Prosser had to be torn up and rebuilt after only four years, Kennewick residents questioned the real cost of 'education' for county road planners.
- A Road to Nowhere on the Wishkah
Thousands of dollars have been spent on a road that remains unpassable, and the city's editorial board wants work restarted to put the unemployed to use.
- The South End's Schoolhouse Fight
A letter to the editor accuses Seattle's school directors of stalling on a promised south-end school block while the north end already got its building.
- The General and the Missing Military Money
A Senate committee says Washington's adjutant general ran the militia like a personal fiefdom, blew through his appropriation and left the state with a military deficiency.
- 'Only Another Name for a Sort of Annual Picnic': Washington's Road-Tax Fight
A good-roads convention hears that farmers resent paying their road tax in cash instead of working it out, that the money vanishes into 'graft or rake-off,' and that Spokane County's section-line roads were laid out so badly they must be rebuilt from scratch.
- The Kaniksu’s 1908 Fire Season: 40 Blazes, $3,569 Spent, and a Warning in the Young Timber
Federal rangers and local crews kept the Kaniksu National Forest from another Alispel-scale conflagration, but the season still burned 700 acres and cost an estimated $15,000 in damaged reproduction.
- The Senator’s Crusade for Public Education
An 1882 Congressional proposal sought to use whiskey tax revenue to fund the nation's public schools, promising tens of thousands of dollars to Washington Territory.
- The Territory’s Muskets Were ‘About as Dangerous at One End as the Other’
A Pierce County taxpayer audits the 1859 Legislature: condemned arms, a new enrolling clerk, and the old habit of hoping Congress will pay.
- Spokane Falls Council Tackles Charter, Cash, and a Dead Horse
In August 1883, the Spokane Falls City Council met to discuss a new city charter, unpaid bills, street assessments, and the problem of a dead horse. The meeting offers a glimpse into the challenges of a growing frontier town.
- The Senate Ratifies the Treaties That Remade the Northwest
Ratified in 1859, the 1855 treaties with tribes across Oregon and Washington promised annuities, schools and mills while ceding millions of acres to settlement.
Also about this, in other words
- The Cashier Who Fled to Canada
A defaulting cashier, retrieved from British Columbia to face seventeen counts of embezzlement, finally enters the city prison.
- The Executor Who Tore Down the House
When a court ordered an executor to account for an estate, he decided to simply remove the buildings from the land entirely to bypass the judge.
- The Cashier’s Downfall
A Seattle Transfer Company employee’s descent from competence to embezzlement begins with a simple, hidden accounting error.
- A Debt Paid in Full
A Kennewick church celebrates financial independence by burning their mortgage document in a ceremonial act.
- A Merchant's Plight: The Cost of Overstocking
A Snohomish businessman faces financial ruin after a bad season leaves his shelves full and his creditors at the door.
- The Price of Staying Fed: A Frontier Eviction Debt
A legal summons from 1878 captures the harsh reality of pioneer life, where unpaid boarding bills for food and lodging resulted in formal court action.
- Former County Clerk Sentenced for Embezzlement
William P. Fenimore receives the minimum sentence after a jury recommends leniency due to his 'exemplary character'.
- Ballard’s Ex-Treasurer Takes the Stand Over a Missing $500
John Keane blames a tax collector who failed to turn over receipts, as the city of Ballard tries to recover an alleged shortage from its former treasurer.