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1. A 21,000-Mile Bicycle Ride, Just to Show He Could

   Buffalo newspaperman Tom M. Winder rolled into Seattle in 1895 midway through a bicycle circuit of the United States—and promptly let local wheelmen talk him out of the Great Northern route.

   May 29, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyStrange But True

2. The Fatal Dance of Washington's Ground Squirrels

   Scientists at the state agricultural college tried to wipe out crop-destroying rodents with bacteria—and found a native plague that sent infected squirrels spinning until they dropped.

   Sep 15, 1898Ranche and RangeWashington State University, Pullman, Whitman CountyStrange But True

3. The Great Cascade: A Pilgrimage to the Roar of Snoqualmie Falls

   In July 1877, three travelers walked the rugged trail from Snohomish to Fall City, documenting the lush farms, the hospitality of settlers, and the awe-inspiring power of the falls—a testament to the beauty and isolation of early Washington Territory.

   Jul 21, 1877The Northern StarSnohomish, Snohomish CountyStrange But True

4. The Battle for the Territory: Judson vs. Jacobs in the 1876 Election

   As the nation grapples with the disputed presidential election of 1876, Washington Territory voters head to the polls to decide their own future, pitting Republican J.P. Judson against Democrat Judge Jacobs in a fierce contest for territorial supremacy.

   Nov 11, 1876Puget Sound DispatchSeattle, King CountyCity Hall

5. The River Wakes Up—and Newport's Steamboats Go Adrift

   After three weeks frozen, Pend Oreille navigation resumes, but a broken boom and an ice floe send the Metaline and Fram downstream and leave the Ruth without a dock.

   Jan 28, 1909The Newport Miner (Newport, WA) 1899-CurrentNewport, Pend Oreille CountyBoom & Bust · Disasters

6. The Rifle War: Knights of Labor vs. Mine Owners in Newcastle

   A bitter feud between rival labor unions in King County erupts into armed conflict, with rifles smuggled from Seattle to support striking miners.

   Jan 22, 1889The Seattle Post-IntelligencerNewcastle, King CountyWork & Pay

7. England Wants Glacier Bay: A Seattle Miner’s Alaska Warning

   Miner W. Bruce tells Seattle that Britain’s boundary claim would seize the Lynn Canal trail and Glacier Bay—and hand the Alaska tourist trade to Canadian Pacific steamers.

   Mar 7, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyFollow the Money · Boom & Bust

8. Trapped by the Tide on the Road to Queets

   In 1892, poet Herbert Bashford joined a camping party for a walk up Washington’s wild Olympic coast—and found the rising tide more dangerous than any highwayman.

   Jul 24, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerQueets, Grays Harbor CountyStrange But True

9. An Engineer Bets Newport Could Rival Spokane

   A Spokane mining engineer reports on the Bead Lake and Conquest claims, arguing that capital, a concentrator and a five-mile rail spur could turn a dormant district into Newport’s future.

   Oct 15, 1908The Newport Miner (Newport, WA) 1899-CurrentNewport, Pend Oreille CountyFollow the Money · Boom & Bust

10. 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.

    Sep 1, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerPuget Sound, Seattle, King CountyDisasters

11. Seattle's Fire Chief Vanished Before His Day in Court

    A.B. Hunt disappeared after telling friends he was off to Tacoma for trial; the city removed him, named Alexander Allen Jr. chief, and left a mystery that only deepened when his father was summoned to prove his birth.

    Feb 19, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall · True Crime · Scandal

12. The Booster Who Sold a Forest by the Lot

    A Tacoma real-estate promoter turned a virgin forest into a one-day $135,000 land rush—then got lost in the woods and stumbled on a surveyor’s stake from his own subdivision.

    Mar 8, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerTacoma, Pierce CountyFollow the Money · Boom & Bust

13. The Pony Express Ends: Lincoln Wins, But the South Sees War

    As the Pony Express delivers the shocking news of Abraham Lincoln’s election to a nervous Sacramento, Olympia residents mark local weddings and watch their market prices hold steady.

    Nov 23, 1860Washington StandardOlympia, Thurston CountyCity Hall

14. The Father Who Stopped a Play to Steal His Daughter

    A wealthy Indianapolis patriarch tracks his romantic daughter to Seattle in 1876, only to find she has eloped with a lawyer and vanished into the West.

    Oct 5, 1876The Daily IntelligencerOthello, Seattle, King CountyScandal

15. A Steamboat Inspector on Trial, and the Men Who Kicked

    A Seattle courtroom hears masters and pilots defend Capt. Bryant against charges of favoritism—and admit that the men who complain are often the incompetent ones.

    Mar 2, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyWork & Pay

16. The Wires That Grew With Seattle

    How the Sunset Telephone and Telegraph Company rode Seattle from a forest village to a 25,000-person city — and, when the Great Fire of 1889 burned its plant out of existence, rebuilt the service in tents within ten days.

    Jan 1, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyFollow the Money · Boom & Bust

17. A Christmas on the Ice King: The Climb That Saw Rainier Smoking

    In 1894, Major Ingraham led six men, seven homing pigeons, and a camera onto Mount Rainier’s glaciers. They came back with frostbite, a story of steam and smoke rising from the crater—and one pigeon missing.

    Jan 6, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

18. The Perilous Journey of the Steamer Mikado

    Crews spent five weeks dragging the steamer Mikado toward Snohomish, then left it at Squire's ranch until winter rains.

    Aug 10, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSnohomish, Snohomish CountyStrange But True

19. The Towns That Were Only on the Map

    A federal engineer surveyed the Okanogan in 1895 and recommended improving the river. What he described was a mining country waiting for a boom that had already gone bust.

    Feb 22, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerOkanogan, Okanogan CountyBoom & Bust · Gone Forever

20. Who Gets to Run Seattle's Streetcars?

    A proposed thirty-year franchise for the Consolidated Street Railway cleared its first reading at city hall, but fights over fares, paving and transfers were far from over.

    Jun 23, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyFollow the Money · Boom & Bust · City Hall

21. King County Democrats Begged for Mercy on the Lake Washington Canal

    At the 1892 state Democratic convention, Seattle's delegates surrendered their instructions and let Pierce County humiliate them over the canal project—a defeat the Post-Intelligencer vowed voters would remember in November.

    Aug 25, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerOlympia, Thurston CountyCity Hall

22. When Seattle Was Coal Country

    A detailed 1895 survey shows King County leading Washington's coal output, with Seattle shipping fuel to California, Oregon, and the Midwest—while labor troubles and spontaneous mine fires shadowed the boom.

    Jan 1, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyWork & Pay · Follow the Money

23. A Ten-Inch Snowstorm Buries Seattle and Stalls the Cars

    The city's streetcars, telegraph wires and outlying districts struggle under a heavy January snowfall as Portland reports three feet and the weather observer warns of more to come.

    Jan 4, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyDisasters

24. The 1893 Plan to Untangle Seattle’s Government

    A powerful city official wanted a stronger mayor, a one-house council, and fewer commissions—arguments Seattle still has today.

    Apr 17, 1893The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall

25. A Senator Looks South and Sees Seattle's Fortune

    Stephen B. Elkins tours the city, praises Puget Sound, and argues that Seattle—not the East—should supply Mexico with rails, shovels and plows.

    Apr 21, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyBoom & Bust

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