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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1892 | 5 |
| 1893 | 5 |
| 1894 | 3 |
| 1895 | 1 |
| 1903 | 3 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 1 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1916 | 2 |
24 stories matching jobber
- The battle for control of the Puget Sound cedar trade
Eastern jobbers and railroad interests lock horns with the local shingle trust in a fight over Pacific Northwest cedar.
- The Seattle Produce Squeeze of 1892
Farmers accuse local retailers and wholesalers of a price-fixing boycott that left growers fighting for scraps.
- The Shingle Trust Flexes Its Muscles in Tacoma
Ninety percent of the Pacific Northwest shingle industry convenes to fix prices and freeze out jobbers, signaling a new era of regional corporate dominance.
- The Sugar War of Coulee City
A local merchant fights back against a Spokane jobber’s price-fixing tactics.
- The City’s Cigarette Ban Hits a Snag
A federal judge rules the local anti-cigarette law unconstitutional, leaving shopkeepers in a cloud of confusion.
- The Apple Market Revolution
A local lecturer urges Kennewick fruit growers to bypass traditional middlemen and adopt large-scale auction houses to fix stagnant apple prices.
- Spokane Wins Freight-Rate Fight Against the Railroads
The Interstate Commerce Commission orders cuts from Chicago and St. Paul, a victory that promised cheaper goods and a broader home market for Newport and the Inland Empire.
- Seattle's Meat Market Price War
Local retailers and jobbers are locked in a cutthroat battle over meat prices that threatens to drive shops out of business.
- Seattle Stealing the Wholesale Trade
A local merchant reports that San Francisco wholesalers are losing their grip on the Washington market to Seattle firms.
- Three Thousand Pack the Armory to Cheer Debs and Denounce Pullman
Seattle workingmen and their allies fill Armory Hall to hear the strikers' side of the fight — a night of fiery speeches, white ribbons of peace, and one heckler hustled out the door.
- The Battle for Walla Walla’s Business
A local representative lobbies Seattle’s Chamber of Commerce to shift regional trade away from Portland’s long-standing monopoly.
- Seattle's Gamblers Tried to Oust the Police Chief—and Failed Spectacularly
A behind-the-scenes scheme to replace Chief Jackson unraveled when the mayor and commissioners turned on the acting mayor, leaving gamblers from Tacoma with nothing but regrets.
- Keep Your Money at Home? In Kennewick, the Shoe-Leather Trail Led to Pasco
A letter to the editor takes aim at buy-local boosterism, arguing that Kennewick shoppers already knew the real prices—and often crossed the river to Pasco or sent away for mail-order catalogs.
- A Kitsap County Political Grudge Match
Local residents decry the political renaming of the Sidney post office, arguing it’s a scheme to fire a veteran and confuse the mail.
- The Gold That Wasn't There: How Speculators Tried to Mine Their Way Into a Public School Section
A Tacoma hardware merchant swore a state school tract was rich placer ground. The state bored over a thousand feet of shafting, found less than a cent of gold per yard, and still had to fight to keep its own land.
- One Man Now Holds Both Railroads That Built Seattle and Tacoma
James J. Hill's takeover of the Northern Pacific ends rate competition between the Northwest's two transcontinental lines—and leaves the region wondering what an 'emperor among railroad kings' will do next.
- The Great Heartbreak: A Local Girl’s Secret Wedding to a Seattle Stranger
When Miss Mary Ann Farmer married Mr. J.G. York in Snohomish, the town was left reeling—not just by the news, but by the sudden silence of their local bachelors who had been courting her.
- The Price of Plumbing in 1892
After a hard-fought strike in Seattle, plumbers accepted a pay cut with a promise of restoration by spring—a familiar cycle for the city's labor history.
- The Fight for Walla Walla’s Trade
Seattle and Portland wholesalers clash over freight schedules in a battle to control the lucrative Walla Walla market.
- The Shingle Men's Bitter End
Washington's powerful shingle manufacturers consider dissolving their association after being undercut by 'scalpers' and Eastern jobbers.
- A Second Marriage, a Lawsuit, and a Newport Undertaker's Collapse
Henry A. Miller's furniture and undertaking business is handed to creditors after family troubles and litigation drain a once-profitable trade.
- Seattle Admits It Let Portland Steal Walla Walla's Trade
A visiting Sound trade man says Seattle was too busy with Alaska to notice the Inland Empire — and that Portland salesmen took the cream of it.
- Seattle’s Wholesale District Moves South
New buildings on South Second Street mark a major shift for Seattle's expanding trade economy.
- The Struggle for an Infrastructure of Our Own
An 1876 editorial reflects on the frustration of relying on federal aid to build the Pacific Northwest, urging locals to fund their own railroads and commercial infrastructure instead.
Also about this, in other words
- The City Employment Bureau’s Fight Against Job Scalpers
Tacoma’s municipal employment manager implements a new in-person policy to block local rivals from poaching public job leads.
- The Jailbird Strikebreaker
A man serving time in the county jail is identified as a former railroad worker who crossed a picket line.
- The Midnight Laborer of Seattle’s Waterfront
A rare, intimate portrait of a 19th-century 'night worker' advertising his specialized sanitation services in the growing settlement of Seattle.
- The Parasite Trade: Fighting the Employment Sharks
A scathing report to the State Federation of Labor exposes how corrupt employment agencies trap migratory laborers in a cycle of debt and exploitation.
- City Employment Chief Fired for 'Neglect'
Mayor Fawcett ousts superintendent of city free employment bureau, citing conflicts of interest.
- The Professional Tailoress Wanted in 1891
A job advertisement from a ladies' intelligence bureau signals a high demand for skilled female labor in early Seattle.
- The Hustle for Labor in 1885 Seattle
A local employment agent targets the booming industries of the frontier, promising 'all other classes of labor' on short notice.
- The Vultures of the Job Market
Everett labor organizers expose the predatory practices of private employment agencies that steal from the city's most vulnerable job seekers.