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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 2 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1892 | 2 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1895 | 1 |
| 1898 | 1 |
| 1899 | 2 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1907 | 1 |
| 1908 | 2 |
| 1909 | 4 |
31 stories matching gutter
- The Stinking Gutters of 1876
While Seattle promoters bragged of a salubrious climate, a local newspaper editorial exposed the reality of deadly, stagnant cesspools lining the streets.
- The Price of Neglect: Seattle’s Summer Stench
In 1876, the Duly Intelligencer called out the city for ignoring stagnant, disease-breeding gutters in the business district, warning that the 'healthiest city on the coast' was becoming a hotbed for fever.
- Half-Finished Streets and a Man-Trap on Main: The Tribune Takes the City to Task
On the morning of a council meeting, Olympia's paper catalogues the abandoned plank road, the blocked gutters, the depot sidewalk rotting for two weeks, and a hole in Main Street waiting to cost the city money.
- The Beach Road That Wasn't: Seattle’s First Infrastructure Crisis
In May 1877, the *Seattle Daily Intelligencer* sounded the alarm over the deteriorating condition of the city's primary artery to the waterfront, blaming poor drainage and a lack of gravel for turning the vital thoroughfare into a muddy trough.
- A Jury Called the Franklin Mine Fire Arson. Thirty-Seven Miners Were Already Dead.
A coroner's jury found that someone deliberately set the fire that suffocated 37 workers in the Franklin mine. The only survivor described how one opened door and one stopped fan turned the gangway into a death trap.
- The Great Dayton Fire: A Block of Ashes and a City’s Near Miss
On the night of April 2, 1882, flames consumed three blocks in downtown Dayton, Washington. While the town paid with its buildings, Seattle’s own fire department narrowly escaped disaster thanks to a single force pump.
- The Great Cabbage Scandal
A citizen defends the public market against charges of unsanitary conditions, pointing the finger at local grocers instead.
- The Hypnotic Lothario of Tacoma
A wealthy widow discovers that her 'handy' boarder was a con man who used alleged hypnotic powers to swindle her and charm local women.
- A Packed Council Chamber, a Railroad Franchise, and a Fight Over Public Streets
Newport's city council meeting drew a standing-room crowd as aldermen tangled over an Idaho Washington Northern street-vacation request, a conflict-of-interest accusation, saloon licenses, and an electric-light contract.
- A Panic Year Boom: Newport Built Through Hard Times
Despite a national financial panic, Newport added 87 homes, six concrete business blocks, new depots, churches, and a reshaped downtown—proud evidence of a town betting on itself.
- The Great Population Bluff of 1887
A scathing editorial exposes how local politicians inflated King County’s census data, revealing the long history of 'boosterism' in Seattle's growth.
- They Burned Letters to the Dead on Ayer's Hill
Olympia's Chinese community gathered at a hillside cemetery in 1891 to honor eight departed countrymen with roast pork, red candles, wine and paper messages sent into the next world.
- The Conductor Who Fought Back
A Great Northern conductor uses his fists to fend off two muggers he recognized from his days on the rail lines.
- The Price of a Filthy City
In 1877, Seattle editors warned that stagnant water and neglected gutters were more than just a nuisance—they were a matter of life and death.
- The Rowdy Landlords of Ninth and Elph
A morning disturbance at a Tacoma boarding house reveals a volatile scene when a constable attempts to serve an arrest warrant.
- The Great Tacoma Brick Famine
A supply chain crisis at a Renton monopoly grinds Tacoma’s infrastructure projects to a halt.
- The Saloon Ordinance and the 'Back Door' Scandal
Seattle City Council members clash over zoning laws for liquor licenses, with accusations of bribery and political maneuvering threatening to shut down saloons in key districts.
- A Near-Death Fall at the Mount Si Hotel
While working on a hotel construction project in Snoqualmie, a man miraculously survives a thirty-four-foot plunge after a scaffold gives way.
- The Redemption of a Drunkard
A harrowing night of domestic violence and neglect ends a decade later in an unexpected act of grace.
- A Filthy Milk Trial, a Lenient Judge, and a Convention's Disgust
The state dairy commissioner lost his Tacoma case against two milkmen whose cows were caked in manure — and the delegates wanted to know what kind of milk the judge kept on his own table.
- The End of the Chain Gang in Seattle
City officials move to retire the practice of using prisoners for manual street labor, shifting to rock-breaking in a bid to deter professional tramps.
- The Tramp Economy of Early Seattle
A reporter encounters a 'bummer' among the weeds of Mission Bay, revealing the harsh, transient reality of laborers who roamed the Pacific Coast in the 1870s.
- City Orders Poorly Laid Paving Ripped Up
A commissioner rejects the work of the Barber Asphalt Company for insufficient concrete foundations on North End streets.
- The Political Funeral of Whitman County Populism
Local reformers attempt to bury the Populist party and replace it with a new, direct legislation movement.
- Spiritualism on Trial in Yakima
A witness defends the authenticity of a recent séance, describing illuminated spirits and physical manifestations in a cabinet séance.
Also about this, in other words
- The Squatter in the Two-Story House
A landowner is fighting a legal battle to evict a tenant who allegedly obtained permission to pitch a tent on the property only to move into the main house.
- 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 Heartbreak by the Snohomish River
A lonely local man is caught in a 'melancholy case' of unrequited love, spending his days watering a hitching post in a lovestruck daze.
- Squatter Killed in Massive Railroad Slide
A catastrophic hillside failure near Monroe Street buries part of a shantytown; a local man is missing and presumed dead.
- A Plunge Toward the Waterfront
A teamster survives a terrifying fifty-foot tumble after his wagon loses footing on the steep grades of 1889 Seattle.
- The River Eats the Office: A Snohomish Flood Story
In January 1877, the Snohomish River rose so high that it swallowed the rear of the Northern Star newspaper office, threatening to wash away the town's press along with its ink.
- A Farmyard Tragedy in Hover
An eight-year-old girl is rushed to the hospital after a serious accident with a farm animal.
- The Perils of 'Fantastic' Street Engineering
Complaints emerge regarding city contractors creating basins and trenches that trap water, creating eyesores and potential health hazards.