Research the archive
Narrow 25,688 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 |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1877 | 3 |
| 1883 | 3 |
| 1886 | 3 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 3 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 3 |
| 1892 | 1 |
| 1893 | 6 |
| 1894 | 5 |
| 1895 | 4 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1904 | 3 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 1 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1916 | 1 |
| 1917 | 1 |
| 1923 | 1 |
47 stories matching leather
- Seattle's Hidden Leather Industry
A local company makes big moves in the hide and leather trade, aiming for national reach.
- The Shoe That Could Save Seattle: Why We Must Stop Exporting Our Hides to San Francisco
An editorial in the Puget Sound Dispatch argues that Seattle’s economic survival depends on manufacturing its own boots and shoes locally, rather than shipping raw hides south for a 10% premium.
- The Soldier's Flask Returns After Thirty Years
A Civil War veteran finds his lost canteen in a second-hand shop on a Seattle street, decades after it was taken from him in Virginia.
- The Tragedy at the Bryant Place: A Life Cut Short in Whitman County
In November 1888, William McCloud’s death by suicide near Pullman shocked neighbors and sparked a somber inquest, revealing the quiet despair behind the frontier's bustling growth.
- Domestic Abuse in the Care System
A Tacoma widow seeking work finds the woman paid to watch her children was beating them with a leather strap.
- The Coin Toss That Named Portland — and the Man Who Founded Port Townsend
A.M. Pettygrove comes back to the town he laid out in 1851, and the Argus retells how a flipped coin gave Portland its name, how a claim was sold for $5,000 in cash and leather, and how a Puget Sound bluff became a city.
- The Patent-Leather Fugitive
A suspected post-office burglar was tracked from Seattle to the Grays Harbor woods, only to be found asleep in millworker's clothes—and incongruous footwear.
- The Hidden Cost of Shipping Raw Hides
Seattle is exporting its wealth in the form of raw animal skins and buying back expensive leather—an economic cycle the editor calls 'almost criminal.'
- The Hard Road to Fish Lake and the Tall Tales Found There
A traveler recounts the grueling journey from Cle-Elum to Fish Lake, where prospectors and mountain air await—if you can survive the trip.
- The Russian War Scare Hits the Port of Tacoma
Fearful of Russian warships patrolling the coast, San Francisco merchants turn to Tacoma to route their urgent Japanese trade.
- The Coal Creek Massacre: A Coroner’s Inquest into the Battle Between Knights of Labor and Mine Owners
In January 1890, Seattle Sheriff Cochrane deployed militia to Newcastle to suppress a miners' strike. When a riot erupted at Coal Creek, one man was killed and ten arrested. The subsequent coroner's inquest revealed a chaotic scene where union men claimed self-defense against armed mine owners, while the sheriff dismissed the Knights of Labor as 'too excitable.'
- The Brutal Price of Circus Fame
A young acrobat is removed from his performers' care after enduring systemic abuse in the name of show business.
- The Ghost of Sunnydale
A man arrives looking for work, strips off his clothes, and vanishes into the brush—leaving behind only a purse, a poll tax receipt, and a trail of mystery.
- Masked Vigilantes Hang a Convicted Murderer in Dayton Jail
James McPherson, convicted of murdering E. H. Cummins at New York Bar, was taken from the Dayton jail by masked men and hanged, despite a governor's reprieve and a new trial order.
- The Forgotten General in the City Jail
A decorated Civil War veteran and Indian fighter finds himself destitute and seeking shelter in a Seattle prison.
- The Ghost of the Eagle Gorge Landslide
Months after a devastating slide on the Green River, a deputy coroner uncovers the remains of a laborer buried by the earth.
- The Mystery of the Beverly Bridge
A young, well-dressed man is found dead on the Columbia River crossing, leaving behind only a grocery list and haunting questions of foul play.
- Passing of Kotiocken, Son of Kamiakin
The death of a Yakima Indian leader highlights the ongoing tensions regarding assimilation and the encroachment of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
- The Gold Rush Comes to Town: Klondikers Unload Millions in Seattle
As the first steamers of the season dock at Pier 52, miners from Dawson City bring fortunes in gold dust and nuggets, turning Seattle’s waterfront into a temporary vault for the Yukon's wealth.
- The High Cost of Efficiency
Labor leader John Mitchell warns that the drive for corporate efficiency and bonus systems is pushing workers toward mental breakdown.
- The Wreck of the Lily Grace
After surviving a harrowing gale and the total loss of his ship near Cape Flattery, a sea captain washes up in Seattle to recount a battle against the elements.
- Seattle's Church Basketball Rivalry Was Already a 500-Person Spectacle in 1895
St. Mark's Episcopal beat First Baptist 4–2 at the YMCA gym, in a game so physical that a few spectators objected.
- The 'Toe Social' of Tacoma
A mischievous fundraising dance where bachelors bid on mystery partners based solely on a glimpse of their feet.
- A Sawmill Worker’s Leg Was Cut Off. His Boss’s Quick Thinking Saved Him.
At a mill near Auburn, Edward McKeown lost a leg to a circular saw. W. M. Rodgers’s makeshift tourniquet and a hurried call for doctors kept him alive.
- The Broomstick Revolver: How a Seattle Inmate Whitted a Pistol in His Cell
Behind bars in the Seattle city jail, prisoner Henry Blanck carved a convincing revolver from a broom handle, stove wood and tobacco foil — a jailhouse bluff that detectives called a new chapter in the city's criminal history.
Also about this, in other words
- The Snake Oil of Snohomish
A century-old miracle cure for man and beast that promised to heal everything from rheumatism to ‘hollow horn’.
- Seattle Investors Plan a Boot Factory and Tannery
Before tech and aerospace, Seattle’s business elite plotted to stop shipping raw hides to San Francisco and instead build a city of tanneries and shoe factories.
- 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.
- The Dignity of the 'Horny Hand'
In 1878, a Seattle editorial warned against the ‘pauperism’ caused by an overabundance of professional graduates who were too proud to labor.
- The Lawyer's Bloody Glove
A brutal murder in a Seattle office leads to a dramatic investigation, a stolen inheritance, and a tragic end for a young wife.
- The High Price of 'Luxury' Gloves
An editorial in the Tacoma Times calls out Congress for a proposed tariff that would hit poor women's glove purchases harder than the rich.
- The Aristocracy of Skin
An editorial reflection on the prevalence of racial prejudice in the North and the exclusion of Black students and congregants from 'civilized' institutions.
- The 1885 Fight to Protect the Workingman’s Tools and Bedding
A proposed territorial law sought to expand property exemptions from debt, shielding everything from a mechanic's tools to a family's bedding from creditors.