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53 stories matching fur
- The Seal Pup Wars: A Local Naturalist vs. The Smithsonian’s ‘Sense-Keeper’
James G. Swan, a long-time Neah Bay resident and customs inspector, challenges Henry W. Elliott’s decades-old claim that newborn fur seal pups sink like stones, offering eyewitness testimony from Captain Elijah McAlmond that they swim.
- The Octopus and the Seal: A Local Captain’s War Against a Washington Monopoly
In 1901, Port Townsend resident James G. Swan published affidavits from experienced hunters to debunk Professor Elliott’s claim that seal pups sink like stones, exposing the Alaska Commercial Company’s stranglehold on federal policy.
- The Furs That Arrived as Nineteen Old Magazines
A Seattle shipper's $1,920 box of furs was rifled in transit and stuffed with back issues of Everybody's — and the state supreme court says the fine print on the freight receipt is all he gets.
- A Railroad Man's Fatal Fall: The Organizer of Newport's First Commercial Club Dies After a Deer Park Train Accident
Great Northern passenger agent Edward Furness, newly widowed and well known across the district, fell beneath a moving freight train near Deer Park and died at Sacred Heart hospital. He had organized Newport's first Commercial Club.
- The High-Stakes Battle Over Fur Seals in the North Pacific
A political storm brews in Washington as the People’s Party challenges the Republican administration over territorial rights and the protection of fur-bearing animals in the Bering Sea.
- The Sealing Monopoly Judge Swan Called a ‘Monumental Humbug’
A federal report from Port Townsend shows Puget Sound sealers thriving while a Smithsonian expert blasts the Alaska Commercial Company’s grip on the Pribilof Islands.
- The Seal-Skin Obsession: Why Seattle Ladies Wear More Fur Than Any Other City
A local furrier reveals that the city's obsession with expensive sealskin sacks is driven by climate, fashion, and a secret supply chain from London.
- A Saloon Fight, a Fine, and a Wage Suit in Old Town
A former musical director at Conquest Saloon sues Jack Furness for back pay, but Furness says he deducted the amount of a fine he paid after the musician's altercation with a customer.
- The Neah Bay Land Grab
A historic Seattle-area editorial exposes how federal officials and a powerful monopoly manipulated reservation boundaries to seize a lucrative trading post from a local merchant.
- The Last Voyage of Ronald McDonald
Son of an Astor Fur Company founder and grandson of Chief Comcomly, Ronald McDonald dies on the Colville Indian Reservation after a life of shipwreck, captivity, and frontier guiding.
- The Night of the War Dance: A Frontier Survival Story
A young fur trader, caught in the crossfire of escalating tensions during the Indian Wars, finds his only salvation in the quick thinking of a woman named E-wan.
- The Great Seal Controversy: Do Pups Swim or Sink?
Local mariners and traders challenge the prevailing scientific 'fables' about seal pup habits to protest federal regulation of North Pacific sealing.
- Nine Good Men Never Came Home From the Seal Grounds
A hurricane off Cape Flattery swallows three canoes full of the strongest seal hunters of the tribe, all in the perilous work of gathering furs.
- The Women of Olympia Furnish a Home Away from Home for Old Soldiers
The Geo. H. Thomas Woman’s Relief Corps outfits a cozy room at the Soldiers’ Home in Orting, down to a rug made from sixteen raccoon skins.
- The Engineer’s Ash-Box Ghost: A Tale of New Year’s Eve Peril
In a column dated October 1870, the Seattle Daily Intelligencer reprints a harrowing tale from an old engineer about surviving a wreck by hiding under his locomotive's ash pan during a blizzard.
- Puget Sound's Fishing Future, Blocked by Ice and Freight
A federal fisheries report praises the region's deep harbors and salmon runs, but explains why deep-sea halibut and cod fishing has failed to pay—and what it will take to change that.
- The Clerk’s Odd Sales Pitch
A farmer learns a strange and aggressive new way to test if his wife is 'sound' while shopping in 1877 Seattle.
- The Cat Who Saved Himself from the Fire
A young Everett boy's pet cat makes a daring escape by leaping into a water tub as the family home burns down.
- The Salmon War: A 19th-Century Plea for Equitable Fishing
A sea captain argues that restrictive fishing regulations are designed to benefit luxury fur traders at the expense of the working class’s food supply.
- Seattle’s City Council Rejects Public Power in Favor of Private Monopoly
In a decisive vote that prioritized corporate interests over municipal control, Seattle leaders refused to condemn the city's water supply, effectively handing power to private developers.
- A 14-Year-Old Vanishes Between School and the Streetcar
Katie Arper disappeared after classes in Seattle, leaving behind a Tacoma orphanage, a devoted matron, and a young man named Hopkins.
- A Mother, a Child, and a Cold Shack Off Albert Street
A police officer's dollar leads Superintendent Gilmer to a family with no food, no furniture and no shoes—and to a quiet rescue before the county takes over.
- The Great Sunday Exodus: Seattle’s Mass Migration to East Lake
In a display of weather defiance and civic pride, thousands of residents abandoned the city center for the shores of Lake Washington, turning Stern & Miller’s new development into an impromptu amusement park.
- The 'Wild Man' of the Snoqualmie Valley
For weeks, settlers between Seattle and Snoqualmie reported sightings of a mysterious, hair-covered creature in the woods, only for the enigma to be solved when a starving immigrant was discovered.
- Passing of Kotiocken, Son of Kamiakin
The death of a Yakima Indian leader highlights the ongoing tensions regarding assimilation and the encroachment of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
Also about this, in other words
- When the Prey Fights Back
A hunter discovers an unusually aggressive colony of rabbits in Whatcom County.
- The Wolf-Dog of the Grande Ronde
A ranger’s loyal pet answers the call of the wild, but gives his life to defend his master against his own pack.
- The Fur Company’s Land Empire Is Declared Public Domain
A letter from Washington City reports that the Hudson’s Bay and Puget Sound Agricultural companies’ territorial claims have been ruled forfeit, opening their Nisqually and Fort Vancouver lands to American survey and settlement.
- The $220 Champion Cow
Governor Louis F. Hart's bargain-bin auction purchase becomes a world-record-holding dairy star, valued now at thousands.
- The Bear That Bit Back: Deputy Collector’s Narrow Escape from Tax-Collecting Felines
In a bizarre twist of frontier justice in Toledo, Washington, two tame bears were unleashed on a deputy revenue collector after their Italian owner refused to pay taxes.
- The Sad End of a Local Pet
A harmless land otter, kept as a mascot, was killed by an erratic local resident in a senseless act of cruelty.
- The Beast on the Bluff: Hunting a Panther in White River
A Seattle neighborhood turns out with dogs to track a predator that decimated a local farmer's livestock.
- The Kennel Club's Howling Success
High-society dog shows in 1891 Seattle were noisy affairs, complete with terrier rat-killing matches and stolen St. Bernards.