Research the archive
Narrow 25,688 newspaper stories by words, years, place, newspaper and subject. See when and where they ran, then download what you find.
Put a phrase in quotes ("rent strike") or leave a word out with a minus (strike -baseball). Old scans misspell names, so when little is found, near-spellings are offered.
Refine
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 2 |
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 4 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1872 | 3 |
| 1876 | 15 |
| 1877 | 16 |
| 1878 | 7 |
| 1879 | 2 |
| 1880 | 3 |
| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 14 |
| 1884 | 5 |
| 1885 | 16 |
| 1886 | 10 |
| 1887 | 9 |
| 1888 | 6 |
| 1889 | 15 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 18 |
| 1892 | 28 |
| 1893 | 23 |
| 1894 | 54 |
| 1895 | 69 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 4 |
| 1899 | 8 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 9 |
| 1904 | 9 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1908 | 4 |
| 1909 | 17 |
| 1910 | 3 |
| 1911 | 2 |
| 1912 | 2 |
| 1914 | 7 |
| 1915 | 3 |
| 1916 | 14 |
| 1917 | 4 |
| 1923 | 1 |
| 1925 | 1 |
417 stories matching forth
- The Wharf King’s Victory: Yesler Wins Millions in Land Battle
Judge Lichtenberg rules that the state cannot seize waterfront property without paying just compensation, halting the Harbor Line Commission and protecting H.L. Yesler’s empire.
- Tacoma's 1909 Fight to Own Its Power
On the eve of a city election, advocates urged voters to approve a $2 million municipal light and power plant—and warned the private power trust would lie to stop them.
- The Pastor, the Circular, and the Hung Jury
For three days a Seattle courtroom heard accusations of adultery, an illegitimate son, and a pastor’s libelous circular. At 12:35 a.m., the jury was still deadlocked.
- Seattle's Irish Community Crowns Robert Emmet—and Calls for Home Rule
In 1895, the Irish-American Club packed Ranke's Hall to honor the martyred patriot with speeches, songs, and a ringing demand for an Irish parliament.
- The Normal School Was Cleared. The Unpaid Workers Weren’t.
A legislative committee investigating the Ellensburg Normal School found no corruption among trustees—only changed plans, discounted emergency scrip, and laborers left chasing a contractor.
- Seattle’s 1872 Brothel Controversy and Public Hypocrisy
A scathing October 1872 letter to the editor condemned a Seattle establishment that advertised itself as a restaurant and skating rink while operating as a brothel, exposing the city’s hypocrisy.
- City Hall Showdown: Council and Reformers Clash Over Charter Revision
A heated joint meeting of the city council and civic organizations debates whether to call a special election for a new city charter, with accusations of bullying and claims of wasted taxpayer money.
- Calispel Valley Ranchers Move to Dike Out the Pend Oreille
A petition for a new diking district would protect 11,000 acres from annual floods—and add thousands to Stevens County's tax rolls.
- The Lame-Duck Courthouse Deal That a Judge Had to Stop
Benton County's outgoing commissioners rammed through a courthouse contract and a $9,500 payment in their final hours — and the next morning the state Supreme Court's restraining order landed on the table.
- Twenty Thousand Acres vs. the River: Calispel Valley Takes Its Case to Congress
Farmers around Usk and Cusick organize a diking district and send a committee to Spokane to beg a rivers-and-harbors congressman for a dredge, a dike, and a federal appropriation.
- The Temperance Debate That Rocked Seattle
A fiery, hours-long confrontation at the Woman's Christian Temperance Union convention reveals a deep divide between pragmatists and extremists.
- The Streetcar Decoy Scam
When the local transit company tried to goose ridership by planting actors on the streetcars, Everett's working class saw right through the performance.
- The Hypocrisy of a Congressman
A local editor skewers John L. Wilson for firing a female postmaster purely for political patronage, revealing Wilson’s own history of groveling for Democratic appointments.
- State Supreme Court Upholds Lake Washington Canal Contract, Clearing the Way for Tide-Land Transformation
The Washington Supreme Court rules that the Lake Washington Waterway Company's contract to dig a canal and fill tide lands is constitutional, rejecting a landowner's challenge and affirming the state's power to remake the waterfront.
- Tacoma's $750,000 Railroad Bait—and the Utility Deal That Fell Apart
A hastily passed water-and-light purchase ordinance is dead on arrival, while C. B. Wright dangles another railroad in front of Tacoma taxpayers.
- The Political Fight Over Road Access
Richland voters rally behind a candidate who pledges to defer to local road associations, highlighting the ongoing tension of geographical isolation.
- Fifteen Thousand for Dinner: The Butchers Roast Seattle a Whole Ox
The trade closed the shops, marched from Pioneer Place to the Yesler dock to meet Tacoma, and hauled the whole town out to Madison Park for four solid hours of carving, a ball game against Arlington, a greased pig and a dance under the lanterns.
- The Valley Nobody Surveyed: Pioneers Wait for a Government Pen
A settlers' advocate returns from the surveyor-general with promises and a rapturous account of a hidden valley where poor young farmers are hewing homes out of the forest without so much as a title to their land.
- The Shadow Over Seattle's Waterfront
As the anti-Chinese movement spreads through the Pacific Northwest, agitators in Seattle and Tacoma organize a campaign of expulsion, claiming the city's prosperity is at risk.
- The Town That Was Moved by Rail
When the Northern Pacific Railroad bypassed established Yakima City in favor of its own private land, it didn't just build a station—it forced an entire town to pack up and move.
- The Martial Law Panic of 1886
As armed vigilantes patrolled Seattle, labor leaders turned to the President of the United States to stop a coup by force.
- 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.
- Federal Court Dismisses Claims on Puyallup Shore Lands
A landmark judicial ruling clears the way for industrial development by stripping the Puyallup Tribe of their claims to Tacoma’s valuable tidelands.
- The State Paid the Troops That Faced the Coal Riots
Washington's Supreme Court ruled that militia sent to Gilman, Franklin and Newcastle during the 1891 coal-mine troubles acted in the state's service — and the state, not King County, had to pay.
- The Siege of Seattle's Anti-Chinese Agitators
As a community split over the exclusionary movement, labor activists gathered at the Standard Theater to defend their peers against legal indictment and internal unrest.
Also about this, in other words
- A Landlord, a Seized Trunk, and a Lady Left in Her Shift
After months on the run, a Populist orator is arrested at a poultry show for holding a tenant's only clothes hostage over unpaid rent.
- The Deaf Dodge
A local drunkard tries to outsmart a judge by faking deafness, only to be tripped up by the prospect of a free drink.
- A Community's Gift to a Stricken Laborer
When a worker was left destitute and suffering from inflammatory rheumatism, local merchants and friends in Seattle rallied to set him up in his own business.
- Betrayal in the Alley
A grocery store owner was severely beaten and robbed by a young man he had previously befriended.
- The Fight to Save the Stillaguamish Salmon
Long before environmental regulation was common, Snohomish Councilman Ferguson pushed for a law to curb the destructive use of dynamite in Washington’s rivers.
- The Despair of an Unemployed Laborer
Unable to find work due to a permanent injury, a Scotsman living in Tacoma ends his life.
- The Pulpit vs. The Ring
Dr. S. Alonzo Bright uses a sermon on the 'Demoniac' to launch a stinging public rebuke against corrupt city politicians.
- A Bluff Democrat Tells the State Committee to Hold Its Convention in Hell
Samuel Bass, a Whatcom Democrat, answers a request for advice with a scalding letter about party hacks, shyster judges and tin-horn gamblers.