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 |
|---|---|
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1889 | 3 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 1 |
| 1893 | 1 |
| 1894 | 3 |
| 1895 | 9 |
| 1899 | 1 |
20 stories matching fortif
- The Forgotten Fort Lands of Puget Sound
A Washington congressman fought to open tiny abandoned military reservations at Gig Harbor and Point Roberts to homesteaders. The House shut him down.
- The Plan to Ring Puget Sound With Forts—and Put Big Guns on Magnolia Bluff
A federal fortification scheme would turn Magnolia Bluff, Admiralty Inlet and Marrowstone Point into a defensive ring around the new Port Orchard navy yard—if Congress paid for it.
- The Army Wanted a Fort on Magnolia Bluff
A federal board called most Puget Sound defenses obsolete and urged a permanent post overlooking Seattle.
- The Price of Fortification: Seattle Landowners Win Big Jury Verdict Against Federal Government
A federal jury in Port Orchard has valued land for a new military fort at $185,000—nearly double the government's appraisal. Officials warn the deal may collapse if the price is too steep.
- Seattle Offers a Bluff to Win the Army's Guns
Gen. Otis wants a garrison on Magnolia Bluff to guard Puget Sound — but the land the government thought it already owned has been quietly claimed out from under it, and Fort Townsend is running dry.
- Seattle's Fight to Land the Army Post at Magnolia Bluff
In 1895, the Chamber of Commerce touted a federal garrison as a monthly windfall—if Tacoma did not steal it first.
- The Fresh Water Fortress: Why Seattle Was Built to Save Ships from the Sea
Captain U.H. Hall returns from Washington D.C. with a bold proposal for a Navy Yard in Lake Washington, arguing that fresh water is the only defense against the 'Teredo' worm and foreign invasion.
- The Night Seattle Held the Line at the Stockade
A 39th-anniversary account of the January 1856 siege: two blockhouses, a howitzer from the USS Decatur, and two settlers killed in the Puget Sound War.
- A Clerk’s Error Won Seattle an Army Post
A mix-up in the civil appropriation bill let the Secretary of War skip a site board and choose Magnolia Bluffs—giving Seattle a federal payroll and a decisive win over Tacoma.
- Seattle's Bid to Be the Liverpool of America
In 1895, boosters imagined a Lake Washington ship canal turning Puget Sound into a freshwater harbor for world commerce, coal trade, and naval power.
- Seattle's Silver Crusaders Packed the Armory and Demanded a Free-Silver Senator
Populists, Democrats and Republicans found one thing to agree on in 1895: unlimited silver coinage—and a Legislature that would send a silver man to Washington.
- Seattle to Ottawa: Hands Off Alaska
The Chamber of Commerce refused arbitration over Britain's boundary claims, warning that Canada was trying to take Alaska's harbors and the young city's northern trade.
- The Proclamation That Never Was: How Seattle Almost Became a State in 1889
While Congress debated the fate of Dakota and New Mexico, a radical proposal to admit Washington Territory by presidential decree revealed the deep political fractures over statehood.
- Settlers Fight for Vashon Island Homesteads
Homesteaders on Vashon Island petition the government to open up lands held as military reservations, arguing they are no longer strategically necessary.
- The Empire of the Pacific
Senator Watson C. Squire argues that Puget Sound is a defenseless frontier, vulnerable to the British naval presence at Esquimalt.
- A Senate Candidate Brings Home the Bacon
Congressman John L. Wilson stops at Seattle's Butler Hotel to tout federal money for Washington—and admit he wants the Senate seat.
- The Old Cascades Blockhouse Falls
A historic log fortification dating to the 1856 Indian Wars has collapsed in a windstorm, marking the end of a physical connection to the territory's early conflicts.
- Fortifying the Sound
General Miles urges the federal government to prioritize defensive fortifications for Puget Sound to protect American commercial interests.
- Aberdeen’s Financial Fortification
Local industry titans consolidate control over the newly incorporated Aberdeen Bank with a quarter-million-dollar capital injection.
- The Shadow of the Fortress at Esquimalt
An 1889 editorial argues that the growing military presence across the border in British Columbia demands a rapid response from the U.S. government to fortify Puget Sound.
Also about this, in other words
- A Frontier 'Scraping Match' in Fort Blakely
A rough-and-tumble dispute between two citizens reveals the volatile nature of 1880s Puget Sound life.