Research the archive
Narrow 22,457 newspaper stories by words, years, place, newspaper and subject. See when and where they ran, then download what you find.
Put a phrase in quotes ("rent strike") or leave a word out with a minus (strike -baseball). Old scans misspell names, so when little is found, near-spellings are offered.
Refine
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 15 |
| 1858 | 4 |
| 1859 | 8 |
| 1860 | 2 |
| 1861 | 17 |
| 1862 | 18 |
| 1863 | 5 |
| 1865 | 1 |
| 1871 | 2 |
| 1872 | 26 |
| 1876 | 148 |
| 1877 | 141 |
| 1878 | 137 |
| 1879 | 10 |
| 1880 | 23 |
| 1882 | 20 |
| 1883 | 137 |
| 1884 | 118 |
| 1885 | 141 |
| 1886 | 69 |
| 1887 | 76 |
| 1888 | 83 |
| 1889 | 250 |
| 1890 | 58 |
| 1891 | 188 |
| 1892 | 288 |
| 1893 | 279 |
| 1894 | 217 |
| 1895 | 63 |
| 1897 | 7 |
| 1898 | 16 |
| 1899 | 48 |
| 1900 | 9 |
| 1901 | 1 |
| 1902 | 4 |
| 1903 | 124 |
| 1904 | 81 |
| 1905 | 29 |
| 1908 | 3 |
| 1909 | 72 |
| 1910 | 10 |
| 1911 | 5 |
| 1912 | 4 |
| 1914 | 36 |
| 1915 | 41 |
| 1916 | 66 |
| 1917 | 30 |
| 1918 | 10 |
| 1922 | 3 |
| 1923 | 15 |
| 1924 | 11 |
| 1925 | 19 |
3,188 stories matching land
- Three Bickering Land Departments, Millions in Tide Lands, and a Demand for Answers
A state land commissioner admits the tide-land situation is 'chaotic in the extreme' and calls for a no-whitewash legislative probe — warning that divided authority is an open door to corruption.
- The Land Grab That Built Tacoma: How the Northern Pacific Railroad Stole Millions of Acres
A furious editorial in the Seattle Star exposes the Northern Pacific Railroad’s scheme to misappropriate public lands for a private coal line, arguing that the company is using legal loopholes to steal from settlers in King and Snohomish counties.
- The Great Land Grab: Tacoma Citizens Unite Against Northern Pacific’s ‘Squatter’ Tactics
In a packed hall at Reinig’s Hall, leading citizens condemn the railroad’s seizure of public lands and its attempt to claim hundreds of thousands of acres for a coal line that will never be built.
- The Judge Who Warned Seattle Not to Sell Its Waterfront to a Canal Company
In 1894, Judge John J. McGilvra urged Congress to build the Lake Washington Ship Canal and warned that a private company's tideflat scheme would put tolls on the water and enrich speculators at public expense.
- Land Office Cuts Northern Pacific Claims by One-Third
A government intervention restores a third of Northern Pacific's land claims in Washington to the public domain, sparking a bitter feud between settlers and the railroad.
- The End of the Railroad Land Grab
A trio of government decisions finally ends the Northern Pacific's long-standing practice of seizing settler homes in Washington Territory.
- The $3 Million Scheme to Turn Seattle's Tide Flats into Dry Land
A private company plans to dredge the Duwamish and fill Elliott Bay's mudflats — paid not in cash but in land and liens — while St. Louis money waits to see the ground before it bets.
- The Union Veteran Who Sued the Railroad for a Million-Dollar Tacoma
Anthony P. Carr says Northern Pacific agents helped a claim-jumper steal his homestead. More than a thousand Tacoma lots—and the people living on them—depend on what the Supreme Court decides.
- The Homestead Scam That Turned Public Land Into a Speculator’s Prize
An 1883 exposé from Walla Walla describes how doctors, lawyers and merchants faked frontier residency to grab government land—and why the law made perjury easy.
- The Great Land Squeeze of 1885
While the Northern Pacific Railroad publicly promised to 'build up the country,' settlers in King County found their land held hostage for mineral rights and future profits.
- The Forgotten Fort Lands of Puget Sound
A Washington congressman fought to open tiny abandoned military reservations at Gig Harbor and Point Roberts to homesteaders. The House shut him down.
- The Single Tax: A Seattle Paper Takes On Henry George
In 1894 the Post-Intelligencer mounts a full-throated attack on Henry George's land-value tax, warning it would 'rob labor' and hand the ground itself to the rich.
- The State Moved the Line, and the Waterfront Went With It
Tide-land owners at Port Angeles say they filled in the harbor in good faith, paid their money, and then learned the state had redrawn the meander line to swallow the most valuable frontage — and that the attorney general now refuses to issue their deeds.
- The Donation Claim That Ended in Murder—and Took Decades to Settle
A federal land ruling near Sumner untangles decades of inheritance, foreclosure, and a killing tied to a donation claim first filed in 1853.
- Twenty Rounds, No Knockout: Jack Dempsey Outlasts Billy McCarthy in Seattle
A large crowd at the Athletic Club watches the former champion carry a rugged Australian the full distance, splitting a $1,000 purse after twenty punishing rounds.
- The Land Grab That Stalled Seattle’s Growth
A local editorial warns that the Northern Pacific Railroad’s hoarding of millions of acres is strangling settlement and development in Washington Territory.
- The Railroad's Land Grab: How Northern Pacific Hoarded Snohomish’s Future
A local resident exposes the legal loopholes allowing the railroad to retain millions of acres in Western Washington, arguing that this concentrated ownership is strangling settlement and keeping land prices artificially high.
- The Great Western Land Grab
A federal investigation exposes how massive railroad corporations illicitly claimed hundreds of thousands of acres of public land by exploiting loopholes and keeping government clerks in the dark.
- The Great Washington Land Grab
A federal investigation reveals how the Northern Pacific Railroad manipulated land office officials to claim 600,000 acres of prime territory in the Walla Walla Valley.
- State Court Rules Against Land Grabs in Ballard
The Washington Supreme Court finds that the Land Commissioner acted unlawfully when canceling private leases to clear way for the Lake Washington canal.
- Olympia’s Capitol Fight: Donate the Land or Lose the Statehouse
A late-night Senate debate over the new state capitol turned on eleven acres, a $150,000 land scheme and whether Olympia should pay to keep the building—before the bill passed to applause.
- The Railroad That Stole Our Land: How Seattle’s Interests Blocked Snohomish’s Future
A furious letter to the editor exposes how political maneuvering in Washington D.C. and Seattle kept vital federal lands locked up, denying homesteaders their rightful homes while railroad tycoons played games with territory.
- Rockefeller's Land Company Comes to Town—and Everett Smells a Deal
A packed council chamber hears that John D. Rockefeller now controls the Everett Land Company, that the mills may run full, and that the county seat fight is on.
- Timber Syndicates Used Dummy Squatters to Seize Washington’s State Lands
A state land cruiser describes a systematic scheme: Eastern syndicates paid men to squat on the best timber, commute it cheaply, then move on to the next quarter section—land meant to fund schools and public institutions.
- A Homesteader, an Indian Agent and the Land at Lake Chelan
When a federal agent prepared to forcibly remove a homesteader from land newly allotted to Colville Indians, Judge Hanford drew a line: the eviction would have to go through the courts.
Also about this, in other words
- The Land That Wasn't: A Seattle Man’s Bid for Federal Territory
While Congress debates silver pools and election bills in Washington D.C., a local resident named Wilson files an application for public land in the vast, unorganized territory of Washington.
- The Shadow Market for Public Land
A look at the opaque system of land scrip that fueled Washington's early expansion and the brokers who profited from the hustle.
- The $5,400 Handshake
A state land commissioner faces a Supreme Court battle over whether he can bypass a high-dollar bid for school lands in favor of a personal deal.
- The Agricultural Transformation of the Skagit Flats
Decades of diking and draining have turned tide lands into some of the most productive agricultural soil in the world.
- The Fight for the Soil: Washington's Early Constitutional Crisis
An 1870s editorial argues that without strict land ownership caps, Washington Territory faces a future of feudalism and labor exploitation.
- Large-Scale Land Purchase Includes Indigenous Waterfront Territory
A real estate investor secures hundreds of acres of Indian land near the city's growing waterfront.
- The Soil-Killer’s Ledger
An 1878 editorial warns that Pacific Northwest farmers are repeating the mistakes of fallen empires by exhausting their land for short-term profit.
- The Legal Battle Over Land Claims
Judge Hanford rules on a dispute between the Stimson Land Company and individual homesteaders, highlighting the complexities of federal land patent law.