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23 stories matching ladd
- The Ladd Estate Fights to Keep the Tide-Land Mapmakers Off Its Riverfront
A South Seattle landowner sues state appraisers over new plats along the Duwamish, warning that the survey would cloud titles to reclaimed riverfront acres.
- The Last Hurrah for Walla Walla’s Volunteer Firemen
An era of local firefighting comes to a close as the city ships off the historic hand engines and hook-and-ladder trucks that defined the volunteer department for decades.
- The Carrie Ladd Runs Aground
A steamship meets its fate on a rock at Cape Horn, leaving passengers and crew to abandon the sinking vessel on the Washington side of the Columbia River.
- The Secret Railroad Push for Tacoma’s Tideflats
Speculators and insiders track the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad’s massive move to secure Tacoma’s waterfront for a new industrial empire.
- The Ballad of Mrs. Mattie: A Seattle Streetcar Scandal
When a drunken motorman tried to force his way into a woman's streetcar car, the resulting courtroom drama exposed the raw power dynamics of early Seattle transit—and left the defendant claiming he was libelled by the press.
- The Real Estate Tycoon Defends His Bank
A.A. Denny, one of Seattle’s founding fathers, takes to the press to push back against rumors of insolvency and claims that his bank is nothing more than a puppet for Portland interests.
- Vice Raid on Washington and Commercial
Police raid a well-known downtown lodging house, arresting the proprietress and several guests.
- A Judge Halts the Sale of the Elliott Bay Tide Flats
Three days of testimony convince Judge Langley that the marsh the state wanted to sell as 'tide land' had been prairie and pasture — and the owners of the Brawley, Kinnear and Ladd tracts win an injunction that suddenly reaches every reclaimed river mouth on Puget Sound.
- The Swindled Sheep of Whatcom County
A malicious act of agricultural sabotage left 2,000 sheep dead, exposing the brutal desperation of early range life.
- The Vanished Prize
A glass jar filled with cash, intended for a public guessing contest at a downtown shop, was plucked from a storefront window in a clever, late-night heist.
- The Power Consolidation
A multi-state syndicate acquires the light and power plants of Walla Walla and Pendleton, marking a shift toward centralized, eastern-controlled infrastructure.
- The Fight for Clean Bread in Tacoma
Tacoma women mobilize to push a city sanitation ordinance through the council, battling bakers who claim wrapping bread is too expensive and technically impossible.
- The 'Gold Brick' King: How a Master Con Man Sold Copper to a Banker
A too-trusting Aberdeen banker, a man disguised as an Indian, and a forged letter from the San Francisco mint—the Seattle trial of the notorious swindler 'Rebel George' Knowlton.
- Factory Fire Narrowly Avoids Catastrophe
A two-hour battle against a lumber kiln fire on Puyallup Avenue threatened to spark a larger blaze in the industrial district.
- The Rush for the Big Bend
A new gold and grain boom on the Columbia River, driven by railroad expansion, promises to transform the Washington Territory.
- Gate City’s Bridge to Nowhere—and the Heavyweight Who Saw a Future
A missing approach leaves a new Black River bridge unusable, diverting trade to Centralia—but John L. Sullivan thinks the town could host his next fight.
- The Wood Yard That Taught the City How to Care
In the winter of 1892, a group of Seattle residents turned a South Seattle timber tract into a 'work camp' to provide dignity and bread for the unemployed.
- The Little Yellow Bank That Outlasted the Great Seattle Fire
Dexter Horton’s one-story stone office at Commercial and Washington survived the 1889 conflagration—and became the foundation of a downtown banking landmark.
- The $18,784 Express Package That Vanished—and the Sheriff Arrested for It
A grand jury charged a Northern Pacific agent, a Franklin County sheriff and another man in a January 1894 express theft. The sheriff’s Ainsworth neighbors posted his bond—and doubted the charge.
- The Night the Post Building Smoldered
A pre-dawn fire nearly claims the offices of the Post-Intelligencer, revealing the stark difference between fire safety in brick versus wooden structures.
- The Lock and the Bunko Men: How Two Hop Pickers Turned the Tables on a Seattle Con Artist
Richard Sullivan, a bunko man with a Tacoma headquarters, was convicted of petty larceny after swindling two Indian boys on the City dock.
- The Night the Chickens Sang Backup: Spokane’s Poultry Show
Spokane’s annual poultry exhibition drew hundreds of birds, a towering silver trophy, and an orchestra the chickens refused to let finish alone.
- The Pastor, the Missing Husband, and the Seattle Libel Trial
A church feud goes to court as Rev. M. H. Nichols is tried for circulating scandalous charges against Dr. T. B. Ford—whose testimony reveals a broken engagement, a vanished first husband, and a dramatic courtroom kiss.