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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 6 |
| 1858 | 5 |
| 1859 | 9 |
| 1860 | 2 |
| 1861 | 13 |
| 1862 | 15 |
| 1863 | 2 |
| 1864 | 2 |
| 1865 | 1 |
| 1871 | 3 |
| 1872 | 24 |
| 1876 | 161 |
| 1877 | 100 |
| 1878 | 77 |
| 1879 | 8 |
| 1880 | 26 |
| 1882 | 21 |
| 1883 | 142 |
| 1884 | 55 |
| 1885 | 117 |
| 1886 | 79 |
| 1887 | 59 |
| 1888 | 79 |
| 1889 | 218 |
| 1890 | 37 |
| 1891 | 178 |
| 1892 | 265 |
| 1893 | 265 |
| 1894 | 295 |
| 1895 | 392 |
| 1896 | 1 |
| 1897 | 14 |
| 1898 | 42 |
| 1899 | 83 |
| 1900 | 9 |
| 1902 | 8 |
| 1903 | 122 |
| 1904 | 107 |
| 1905 | 17 |
| 1907 | 8 |
| 1908 | 60 |
| 1909 | 147 |
| 1910 | 18 |
| 1911 | 12 |
| 1912 | 6 |
| 1914 | 19 |
| 1915 | 38 |
| 1916 | 53 |
| 1917 | 28 |
| 1918 | 4 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 19 |
| 1924 | 12 |
| 1925 | 5 |
| 1929 | 3 |
3,492 stories matching larg
- A Sixty-Mile Ditch and a Railroad Over the Mountains: Seattle Money Goes East
Judge Lewis reports from Yakima: new banks, booming towns, and a plan by Seattle investors to reclaim 350,000 acres of desert with a canal — while 1,000 men push the Northern Pacific's Cascade Branch toward Snoqualmie Pass.
- Seattle's Bid to Be the Liverpool of America
In 1895, boosters imagined a Lake Washington ship canal turning Puget Sound into a freshwater harbor for world commerce, coal trade, and naval power.
- 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.
- Seattle's Bid to Steal the Grain Trade From Tacoma
Boosters want $75,000 in stock to build a North Seattle grain elevator and a 600-foot wharf — and snatch the Asian shipping business from Tacoma.
- A Stage for the Falls: The Push for Spokane's First Great Opera House
With touring companies expected on the Northern Pacific, local boosters propose a 1,000-seat frame hall—and a joint-stock company to build it for $6,000.
- The Town That Grew in Ninety Days—and Then Waited for the Railroad
In 1890, promoters carved Anacortes out of the Fidalgo Island forest, sold lots at galloping prices, and promised a transcontinental rail terminal. Two years later, the trains still stopped short and the company wharf was closed to the public.
- The Judge Who Gambled Away His Office: Soderberg’s Dramatic Resignation
After the grand jury returned five indictments for extortion and malfeasance in office, District Attorney Joseph Soderberg walked into court, tendered his resignation, and declared he would repay every illegal fee to the county treasury.
- Tacoma's 1894: Falling Lumber, Rising Flour, and a New Rolling Mill
The Ledger's year-end review found reasons for optimism in shipping, smelting, meat packing, and new rail connections—even as low prices cut into the lumber trade.
- 1,500 Men and a Steam Shovel: Newport Builds the Metaline Line
The Idaho & Washington Northern extension turns Newport into a construction boomtown, with subcontractor camps, mule trains, dynamite barges and a temporary hospital.
- The Struggle to Clear the Skagit River
Loggers and settlers face a massive, shifting timber jam on the Skagit River, with locals debating the impact of land ownership on the future of the valley.
- Who Really Sets the Price of Meat? A Puget Sound Monopoly Under the Knife
A Tacoma investigation finds that one middleman firm and a handful of Eastern Washington cattle kings hold the whole Sound's beef and mutton trade — and the dealers admit they are all getting rich while customers pay.
- Seattle Picks Up the Hammer: A Kindergarten, a Church and a Dozen New Homes
With confidence returning after the hard times, builders break ground on the Bailey Gatzert free kindergarten at Twelfth and Norman, finish a German church at Tenth and Stewart, and raise modern homes from Queen Anne to the south side.
- The Valley That Grew Rich on Hops
A horseback correspondent rides through the Ahtanum Valley and finds scarce irrigation water, a handful of prosperous growers, and Yakima Indian crews doing the picking.
- The Night a Gilded Age Mansion Lit the Road to Its Own Party
In 1894, Horace and Susan Henry welcomed nearly 200 guests to their new showpiece house above Lake Union—then sent them home by special streetcar under a private line of electric lights.
- The Man Who 'Bled' His Town Dry: The Rise and Ruin of Eldridge Morse
A 1876 traveler’s letter to the Oregon City Enterprise paints a damning portrait of Snohomish’s most energetic citizen, accusing editor Eldridge Morse of draining public funds for private ambition.
- The Day Washington Was Born: A City Holds Its Breath
As the nation celebrates statehood, Seattle gathers in a packed hall to hear speeches on liberty, land fraud, and the future of the 'Queen City.'
- 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.
- The Fortress of Timber: How Mill Barons Bought the Land to Buy the Town
In 1877, a local editorial warned that Port Blakely’s massive timber companies were cornering the market on real estate, creating an economic monopoly that would stifle independent growth and keep workers dependent on their employers.
- Work for a Meal: The Salvation Army’s ‘Elevator’ Opens in Seattle
The Salvation Army opened a combined shelter, soup kitchen and workshop near Third and South Second, offering hundreds of meals and 130 beds—provided able-bodied men earned their keep.
- The Hop Capital's Boom Years
In 1890, Puyallup was a bustling, bank-rich agricultural hub defined by Ezra Meeker’s hop empire and massive infrastructure investments.
- Keeping the Miners Fed When the Coal Market Collapsed
Receiver John H. Bryant asks a judge to spend $500 clearing company land near the Gilman mines so idle miners can grow hay for the company's horses — and keep drawing wages through the slump.
- The First Engine: How One Machinist Built Seattle’s Heart
In April 1877, a local machinist named Mr. Bullene constructed the first engine ever built in Seattle for Stetson & Post’s new lumber mill, marking a pivotal moment in the city's industrial infancy.
- Steaming Through the Puget Sound Boom, Town by Town
A Seattle traveler’s 1883 voyage aboard the Idaho finds crowded wharves, railroad dreams, and real-estate prices high enough to check the very boom they fed.
- The Clay Under Seattle Built a Million-Dollar Industry
King County clay works turned local deposits into firebrick, paving brick, sewer pipe and architectural terra cotta—winning federal tests and employing hundreds of men.
- A Gold Rush Above the Snow Line
A Spokane traveler reports from the new Methow Valley mining camps, where promoters are laying out towns, charging $3.50 a day for trail work, and warning poor men to stay away until the snow melts.