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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1858 | 4 |
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 5 |
| 1862 | 4 |
| 1863 | 2 |
| 1872 | 7 |
| 1876 | 64 |
| 1877 | 47 |
| 1878 | 33 |
| 1879 | 2 |
| 1880 | 24 |
| 1882 | 9 |
| 1883 | 57 |
| 1884 | 21 |
| 1885 | 48 |
| 1886 | 19 |
| 1887 | 28 |
| 1888 | 20 |
| 1889 | 68 |
| 1890 | 16 |
| 1891 | 52 |
| 1892 | 126 |
| 1893 | 101 |
| 1894 | 153 |
| 1895 | 161 |
| 1897 | 6 |
| 1898 | 15 |
| 1899 | 24 |
| 1900 | 3 |
| 1902 | 3 |
| 1903 | 69 |
| 1904 | 33 |
| 1905 | 7 |
| 1907 | 2 |
| 1908 | 15 |
| 1909 | 46 |
| 1910 | 13 |
| 1911 | 6 |
| 1912 | 6 |
| 1914 | 16 |
| 1915 | 18 |
| 1916 | 26 |
| 1917 | 16 |
| 1918 | 1 |
| 1919 | 1 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 2 |
| 1924 | 1 |
| 1925 | 2 |
| 1928 | 3 |
| 1929 | 1 |
1,409 stories matching hard
- The Day Seattle Shut Down: Sailors, Longshoremen and the First Labor Day
Banks, courts and public offices closed for the first time in the city's history, 2,500 people packed Pioneer Place for a 36-minute tug-of-war, and a labor orator told the crowd that good wages are the engine of everyone's prosperity.
- The Mayor Who Wanted to be an Autocrat
Mayor Ronald’s fascination with authoritarian rule leads to a public firing during a police board meeting.
- The Struggle Over a Mother’s Custody
A local children's bureau official defends the controversial intervention into a family's life in the face of public criticism.
- The Hard Pan Tax Dispute
A small-town legal battle in Anacortes reveals how railroad companies and local governments clashed over the definition of 'rock' to dodge municipal assessments.
- 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.
- The Wooden Revolver That Freed Ten Prisoners
Thomas Blanck held a jailer hostage with a carved fake gun, emptied the King County jail, and vanished into Seattle's streets.
- A Sick Child, an Empty Cupboard, and $22 in the Collection Plate
A Unitarian minister in Tacoma argues that charity is only a bandage, and that a man who works hard and still cannot feed his family is the church's real problem to solve.
- The 'Hard Times' Social in Black Diamond
Coal miners and their families in Black Diamond held a 'Hard Times' social, where the most bedraggled costumes were awarded prizes, offering a brief moment of levity during a period of economic strain.
- A Christmas on the Ice King: The Climb That Saw Rainier Smoking
In 1894, Major Ingraham led six men, seven homing pigeons, and a camera onto Mount Rainier’s glaciers. They came back with frostbite, a story of steam and smoke rising from the crater—and one pigeon missing.
- Seattle Loses by Half a Length—and Wins the Lake
In August 1894, Seattle's first amateur regatta drew crowds to the Madison Street shore of Lake Washington for a four-oared thriller against Portland and Burrard Inlet. The home crew lost by less than half a length, but set a course record and gave the young city a new civic stage.
- The Battle for the City Pound
Newly elected poundmaster E. R. Harding faces a standoff as the incumbent refuses to surrender the keys, sparking a brewing council crisis.
- The Poundmaster Farce
The city council’s chaotic attempts to replace the poundmaster result in a legal stalemate.
- The 'Rich Deed' That Wasn't: Snohomish’s Wild Gold Rush Hoax and the Community’s Reality Check
A sensational tale of a legendary gold mine in Snohomish captivated locals, but the paper quickly pivots to a sobering assessment of the lumber industry's financial struggles and the region's agricultural potential.
- The Great Seattle 'Hard Times' of 1885
As local businesses scrambled to collect debts and residents bartered farm goods for services, Seattle residents looked at the nation’s economic slump and wondered if they could weather the storm.
- The Dug-Eaters of the Yukon: A Philadelphia Man’s Starvation Story
H.C. Reifsnyder arrives in Seattle with a harrowing tale of survival on the Edmonton Trail, where his party subsisted on dog meat and dugouts after losing their provisions to the brutal wilderness.
- The Beggar’s Plea: How an Old Man’s Tears Won a Judge’s Mercy
In a touching scene at the Snohomish County Courthouse, John Burner, a destitute laborer of 73 years, pleaded guilty to grand larceny not for greed, but because his starving family had no other way to eat.
- A Chinese Student's 1929 Speech Named the Racism Washington Tried to Forget
At the University of Washington's Cosmopolitan Club, Wesley Kai Hwa Kwang catalogued a century of anti-Chinese violence — including the 1885 killings in Squak Valley and the burning of Tacoma's Chinatown — and asked a white audience to account for it.
- The Tragic Cost of the Miner's Den
In a remote mining camp, a man’s hard-earned savings and life are lost in a sudden, violent encounter with card sharps.
- A Chinese Merchant Lost His Store. The Judge Said He Still Had Rights.
When hard times turned Chin Chew Coy from shopkeeper to laborer, federal officials moved to deport him. Judge Hanford ruled that his treaty rights—and his Portland property—still protected him.
- How Seattle Raised $50,000 for Its Canal — Bootblacks Included
A San Francisco paper marveled that Seattle's Lake Washington canal fund came in small donations from rich and poor alike, a civic-spirit story with a Puget Sound lesson.
- The River’s Revenge: How a Flood Saved the Jam Company Millions
While laborers toiled for months to clear the Snoqualmie Falls log jam, a sudden freshet swept away their equipment and valuable timber—yet paradoxically cleared the river faster than human hands ever could.
- The Criminalization of Unemployment
A Seattle candy maker, down on his luck during hard times, faces repeated arrest for the 'crime' of being unable to find work.
- The Brown Paper Ball of 1894
When the Panic of 1893 hit Tacoma, the St. Elizabeth Guild defied the mood with a tongue-in-cheek 'Hard Times' dance featuring invitations and programs printed on brown paper.
- A Wall of Flame at Newport's Doorstep
Wind-driven fires jump trenches in the Pend Oreille timber country, threatening Scott's Addition and costing ranchers and mills thousands in cordwood and logs.
- Newport Votes Itself Dry by Sixteen Votes
A local-option election on Sept. 7, 1909, ended licensed liquor sales in Newport, 110 to 94, after challenged voters, an illegal-registration arrest and a hard-fought badge campaign. The saloons were set to close Dec. 6, with a countywide vote still to come.
Also about this, in other words
- The Hard Choice: Keeping the Farm During the Lean Years
Dean Edward C. Johnson of the State College of Washington weighs in on whether young men should abandon agriculture during an era of historic economic struggle for farmers.
- The 'Hard Times' of 1888: A City in Stagnation
As Seattle families struggle with unemployment and the high cost of living, the local press captures a city gripped by a financial slump.
- The Hard Sell at the Church Social
A bashful young man finds himself trapped at a church fair, unable to escape the relentless solicitation of two persistent young women.
- Judge Bell’s Hard Line on City Crime
A Seattle judge hands down stiff prison sentences for robbery to deter the criminal element in the city.
- Domestic Dispute Leads to Arrest in Richland
A man faces jail time after allegedly threatening his wife with a firearm during a domestic dispute.
- The Hard Times Ball
Seattle's elite staged an 'economical' dance party to navigate the financial strain of 1893.
- Hard Labor on the Hill
As the Seattle county jail hits capacity, the sheriff puts inmates to work clearing brush on the city's hills.
- The Hardscrabble Frontier of the Stillaguamish
A detailed 1879 survey of the Stillaguamish River valley reveals a diverse community of pioneers, Prussian soldiers, and dreamers attempting to tame the wilderness of the upper valley.