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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1863 | 4 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1865 | 1 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1878 | 3 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 2 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 2 |
| 1894 | 1 |
| 1895 | 3 |
| 1898 | 1 |
28 stories matching greenback
- The Looming Financial Chasm of 1877
As Seattle navigates a national economic crisis, editors reflect on the precarious transition from paper 'greenbacks' to gold, revealing the anxieties of a frontier town tethered to a shifting national currency.
- The Battle Over Gold and Greenbacks in Walla Walla
A legal dispute over whether debts must be paid in gold or federal paper money echoes the era's financial uncertainty.
- The Heated Debate Over 'Shaving' Greenbacks
Washington Territorial legislators clashed over a bill aimed at criminalizing the devaluation of federal currency, pitting economic protectionism against constitutional theory.
- The Treasury Dept. Helps a Seattle Woman Recover Buried Riches
After her nephew buried $150 in greenbacks near Gilman five years ago, the money decayed into an unrecognizable mass. Local bankers and federal experts worked together to save her investment.
- The Violent Expulsion of a Black Resident from Olympia
A white resident publicly recounts his role in forcing a Black man out of town, illustrating the overt racism prevalent in the territory during the Civil War era.
- The Struggle for Currency in Wartime Olympia
Merchants in Olympia face criticism for devaluing federal 'greenbacks' at the expense of local laborers.
- The Unsolved Murder of John Smith
A Scottish laborer is found beaten to death on the roadside, his pockets empty and his identity a mystery to the local coroner’s jury.
- Masked Vigilantes Hang a Convicted Murderer in Dayton Jail
James McPherson, convicted of murdering E. H. Cummins at New York Bar, was taken from the Dayton jail by masked men and hanged, despite a governor's reprieve and a new trial order.
- The Soapbox Fury of Pioneer Place
On a shivering evening in 1892, disgruntled citizens and Populist agitators took to the streets of Seattle to decry 'subsidized editors,' crooked bond issues, and the 'damnable state of things.'
- The Midnight Ambush on the Northern Pacific Line
When an informal poker game at a remote sawmill camp turned into a violent robbery, the patrons initially thought it was all just a practical joke.
- One Man Races the Chiefs to Washington to Open the Reservation
James Reuben of Lapwai passes through Spokane bound for the capital, determined to break his own powerful chiefs and see the Nez Perce reservation opened — and the first purchase money paid out to the poor families who need it.
- The Confidence Game on the Kalama-Tacoma Line
A traveler from Missouri lost his life savings to a smooth-talking stranger on a train, proving that 'confidence men' were a perennial threat to those passing through the region.
- The Forgotten Soldiers: A Post-War Reckoning
Decades after the Civil War, Snohomish's local paper draws a bitter parallel between the veterans who fought to 'free the negro' and the rising tide of impoverished, displaced laborers struggling for survival in 1877.
- The Bunko Men, the Norwegian Sisters, and the Saloonkeeper's Revenge
A shell-game gang swindles two Norwegian sisters out of $300 on the Seattle waterfront; Frank Hart is convicted in three minutes, then a saloonkeeper assaults one of his accusers outside court.
- The Counterfeit Gold Dust Panic That Brought Vigilantes to the Valley
A vigilance committee in the Payette Valley smashed a counterfeiters' mill and sent suspects fleeing toward Walla Walla, where fake gold dust began showing up in trade.
- Silver Men Pack the Armory and Demand a Senator Who Won't Waver
Populists, Republicans and Democrats shared a Seattle stage to demand the legislature elect a 'free silver' U.S. senator — then a lawyer stole the show doing an impression of a rival orator.
- The Battle of the Mail Carriers
A postal contractor hits back at critics who accused him of corruption and canoe-based mail delivery in the rough early days of the territory's infrastructure.
- The Prohibition Party's Bold 1892 Platform
King County Prohibitionists convene to nominate candidates, debate financial theories, and demand the restoration of women's suffrage.
- The Laundry Day Mix-up
A young immigrant from Wisconsin makes a frantic dash through Second Street in a desperate attempt to retrieve a $100 bill sewn into his undershirt.
- The Bold Daylight Heist in Squak Valley
A trio of highwaymen, fresh from a lunch break, are captured after a brief pursuit in the rugged wilderness of the Squak Valley.
- The Clergyman and the Con Men
A visiting clergyman outwits a band of Seattle 'bunko steerers' who tried to trap him in a gambling game at a local church-adjacent hideout.
- A Judge Takes Aim at Seattle's Charter Reformers
Judge Orange Jacobs mocks the men who promised a new city charter would cure every municipal ill — and doubts any document can make people honest.
- The Church Fair Grind: A Young Man’s Ordeal with Charity and Cake
In a tale of social pressure and predatory fundraising, one Seattleite recounts his harrowing escape from a church bazaar where 'charity' meant forced purchases, fake fortunes, and extortionate flower prices.
- The Wheat Boom That Carried a Bust in Its Backwash
As six-bit wheat enriched the Palouse, a farm editor warned that debt and one-crop farming were setting up another 1893-style crash.
- Greenbacks Earn Trust in Olympia
Citizens freely exchange Treasury notes for gold at par, signaling local faith in the Union cause.
Also about this, in other words
- The Curse of the Mossback Landowner
An editorial critique of local speculators and property owners blamed for stalling Aberdeen's growth during the post-boom downturn.
- The Green City Kid in the Harvest Field
A young, inexperienced laborer struggles to keep pace with a rough, veteran wheat-harvesting crew in the Big Bend region.
- The Evergreen 'Green Goods' Scam
A classic confidence trick that lures victims with the promise of counterfeit money.
- The Jailbird Strikebreaker
A man serving time in the county jail is identified as a former railroad worker who crossed a picket line.
- A Perilous Rescue on the Duwamish
A father and son were saved by a quick-thinking local man after their skiff capsized in heavy winds, nearly costing them their lives.
- The Railway Expansion That Didn't Happen
Speculation about a new Green River line reveals the frantic, often unfulfilled, infrastructure dreams of 1890s Washington.
- The Steel Leviathan of Everett
A revolutionary whaleback steamer, built in the Evergreen State, promises to transform maritime freight with its unique design.
- The Ghost of the 1873 Crash Still Haunts Seattle
As the Seattle Weekly Dispatch reflects on the long, agonizing economic recovery from the Panic of 1873, the parallels to our modern housing and labor struggles reveal a century-old cycle of debt and instability.