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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1877 | 3 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1889 | 3 |
| 1891 | 5 |
| 1892 | 2 |
| 1893 | 2 |
| 1894 | 4 |
| 1895 | 2 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1903 | 3 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1909 | 1 |
| 1916 | 1 |
| 1923 | 1 |
37 stories matching flush
- The Sewer Plan That Imagined a City of 200,000
Engineer J. S. Camp presented Olympia’s council with a tide-powered reservoir and automatic flush tanks, a system meant to grow with the capital city.
- The Ten-Foot Map That Would Sewer Olympia
In 1891, an engineer drew a room-sized map and planned a drainage system for a city of 20,000—if the council could get around the Seventh Street tunnel.
- Taming the Wishkah River
Massive new dams are set to revolutionize the lumber industry in Chehalis County.
- Plumbing Failure Floods State Capitol
A clogged flush tank at the Olympia capitol caused hundreds of dollars in damage to government records.
- The Judge's Warning Against Mob Rule in 1885 Seattle
Facing rising anti-Chinese violence, Chief Justice Greene of Washington Territory warned grand jurors that economic cycles and social grievances do not justify the 'folly of Xerxes'—mob violence.
- The Vigilantes' Ghost: Seattle's Dark Secret in Two Maple Trees
A poem published in the *Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer* reveals the city’s foundational myth: that its current 'peaceable' order was bought with the blood of six men hanged by a secret committee when the law failed to act.
- The Man Who Forgot His Own Murder
Edward Spencer takes the stand in his own murder trial, claiming amnesia and absinthe-induced blackouts to explain why he shot Ella Mundt in Spokane.
- The Telegraph Messenger Who Walked Away
In the wake of a gruesome Portland murder, Seattle police arrest a young messenger boy while his accomplices flee. But one suspect vanishes before the law can catch him.
- The Tragedy Beneath Lake Union
A routine sewer tunneling project turns into a deadly nightmare, leaving one laborer lost beneath six feet of quicksand as his comrades narrowly escape.
- She Sued Him for $10,000—Then Married Him Before Trial
A long-running Woodinville breach-of-promise case collapsed when a minister, a widow and a reluctant bachelor slipped out of the courthouse and came back married.
- Olympia’s Fight for a Deep-Water Harbor
Citizens tell the harbor-line commissioners to claim Budd Inlet’s tide flats for public wharves—not a narrow waterway that would hand the waterfront to private owners.
- The Great Nude Debate: When Seattle’s Church Ladies Tried to Save Their Living Pictures
A fundraising gala at Christ Episcopal Church descended into moral panic when vestrymen declared 'living pictures' (nude art) too scandalous for the pulpit, forcing a cancellation that left donors furious and ladies defiant.
- 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 Child on the Train
A conductor discovers a feverish little girl wandering a train alone with only her doll for comfort.
- The Boom That Busted
Reflecting on the 'mushroom' growth and subsequent economic fallout of 1870s Seattle, a local editor recounts a tale of over-speculation, debt, and the volatile reliance on steamship-driven growth.
- The Wild Life and Vanishing Legacy of Betsy Jones
A century-old property dispute in Bellingham unearths the chaotic, cross-continental saga of a woman whose life defied Victorian conventions.
- The Tacoma Strike, Undone and Redone in a Single Day
Northern Pacific tries to declare victory, but firemen, switchmen and engineers vote to stay out—while Debs wires that the fight is still solid.
- State Regulators Tell Great Northern: Build a Real Depot
After the railroad missed its July deadline, the State Railroad Commission orders a modern Newport depot with running water, electric lights—and a flagman at Union Avenue.
- The City That Forgot to Flush: Seattle’s Shameful Sewer Crisis
As the population surges toward 40,000, an editorial warns that neglecting public health infrastructure is a 'crime' waiting for a deadly summer.
- The Richland Burglary Manhunt
A trio of burglars leads the sheriff on a high-stakes chase through the desert sand before being flushed out of the hills.
- They Struck Gold in the Middle of Tacoma — Or Said They Did
Placer miners claim a patch of state school land inside the city is a rich mining camp. The state is drilling to bed rock to find out who is right.
- Post-Fire Sanitation: The Fight for a Healthy Seattle
Following the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, local physicians and concerned citizens publicly debated the city’s primitive sewer systems, warning that decaying waste in the 'burnt district' threatened a public health crisis.
- The Price of a Victory Cup
A celebratory silver yachting trophy leads to a bureaucratic shakedown at a Port Townsend customs house.
- The School Sanitation Standoff
A looming confrontation between Seattle’s Health Officer and the School Board over dry-closet systems risks the arrest of the school secretary.
- The Seattle Marksman Who Shot Himself Into a Nervous Breakdown
A hardware store's promotional stunt goes horribly wrong when counting shot holes leads to a mental collapse.
Also about this, in other words
- Wash Tubs and Tin Cans: A Hover Serenade
When a group of friends arrived to serenade newlyweds in Horse Heaven, they realized they had forgotten their instruments.
- A Costly Slip: The Sink That Flooded Pioneer Square
A plumber’s oversight at a dry goods shop leads to a deluge that ruins thousands of dollars in stock, exposing the fragility of Seattle’s burgeoning commercial district.
- A Painful Pitcher's Dilemma
A boil on the arm of the star pitcher forces a last-minute scramble to find a replacement for a local amateur baseball game.
- An Exile at the Edge of Home
While the town celebrated the completion of the new irrigation ditch, a man watched from the hills, barred from the home he once built.
- A Domestic Dispute Involving a Flat Iron
A husband and wife near the Walla Walla garrison settle their marital grievances in court after a heated altercation.
- The Coulee City Clean-Up
A judge orders a local man to be forcibly scrubbed after being declared a public nuisance.
- Slapped Down on the Diamond
Tacoma’s baseball team drops to fourth place after a bruising 12-6 loss to the Seattle Siwashes.
- Trapped in the Cascade Whiteout
A harrowing survival story from the brutal winter of 1880, where a Whatcom County Sheriff and his child narrowly escaped a lethal snowstorm.