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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 2 |
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1865 | 1 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 15 |
| 1877 | 17 |
| 1878 | 12 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 4 |
| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 10 |
| 1884 | 4 |
| 1885 | 7 |
| 1886 | 7 |
| 1887 | 4 |
| 1888 | 5 |
| 1889 | 11 |
| 1890 | 3 |
| 1891 | 8 |
| 1892 | 20 |
| 1893 | 20 |
| 1894 | 26 |
| 1895 | 5 |
| 1899 | 7 |
| 1903 | 6 |
| 1904 | 8 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 9 |
| 1910 | 2 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1912 | 3 |
| 1916 | 3 |
| 1917 | 2 |
| 1923 | 2 |
| 1924 | 1 |
236 stories matching mechan
- The Midnight Fire at the Mechanics' Mill
A disastrous blaze wipes out the Mechanics' Mill Company in Seattle, leaving laborers and owners alike ruined just before Christmas.
- The Senate Ratifies the Treaties That Remade the Northwest
Ratified in 1859, the 1855 treaties with tribes across Oregon and Washington promised annuities, schools and mills while ceding millions of acres to settlement.
- The Revolver at Front and Cherry
A violent property dispute between a downtown merchant and a local mechanic erupts into a courtroom drama.
- The Unlikely Tale of the 'Pull-Back' Train Stopper
A small-town mechanic's wild invention—a massive rubber cable designed to hook trains that left without their passengers—actually worked.
- A Railroad Decision Kills a Town: Prescott Empties Overnight
When the division center moves to Wallula Junction, the mechanics of Prescott pack their tools, close their shops, and watch town lots collapse from $700 to under $100.
- The Self-Taught Mechanic and the Frictionless Dream
A Seattle man is betting his future on a patented axle design, hoping to trade sawmill work for the life of an inventor.
- The Ghost Gold of the Walla Walla River
After decades of myth and failed searches by mechanics and clairvoyants, a farmer finally unearths a long-lost cache of scout gold.
- The Rule That Told Workingmen to Keep Out of Politics
Everett's Labor Journal goes after Roosevelt's civil service order, arguing that machinists and mechanics in government shops are muzzled while partisan appointees run the machine — and quotes Grover Cleveland back at the administration to prove it.
- The Automatic Suitor-Smacker
A fed-up father builds a booby-trapped gate to drive away his daughters' persistent suitors, turning a domestic headache into a mechanical triumph.
- A Saloon Confrontation
A mechanic is assaulted after being accused of gossiping about a bartender's honesty.
- An Indigenous Woman Left to Die at Seattle’s Mechanic Wharf
When five Indigenous people were rescued from a capsized canoe in Seattle’s harbor, a local resident threw one woman into the mud and left her to die.
- The Great Rebuilding: Seattle’s Post-Fire Lumber Rush
In the wake of the 1889 Great Seattle Fire, the local lumber trade faces an unprecedented surge in demand as thousands rush to rebuild, signaling a massive shift in the city’s economy and labor market.
- 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.
- Metal Workers Strike Against the Eight-Hour Day Opposition
Strikers in the metal trades enter their sixth month of labor action, defying industry leaders like Harrison Gray Otis who seek to suppress the eight-hour workday.
- The Judge's Cruel Calculus
A Seattle widow’s quest for justice in court meets a cold, misogynistic dismissal from the bench.
- The Fire That Starved a City: How a Burning Lime Ship Stalled Seattle’s Building Boom
When the steamer *Yquina* exploded in flames at Pacific Dock, it didn't just destroy $35,000 worth of cargo—it left 600 mechanics without work and halted the construction of a growing metropolis.
- The Mayor Who Bought His Seat with Lottery Money
In Seattle’s first hotly contested municipal election of 1876, the newspaper publisher who ran for mayor lost to Dr. Weed—not because he lacked support from mechanics and laborers, but because his opponent mobilized the city’s notorious lottery gamblers.
- The Birth of Mechanic's Liens in Washington Territory
A landmark 1854 statute established the right for laborers to place liens on buildings and land to ensure they were paid for their work.
- Railroad Union Delegate Denied Pass
A local railway mechanic is denied travel to a national summit, highlighting tensions in the American Railway Union.
- The University’s Wish List: New Departments, New Money
In 1895, UW regents asked King County legislators for laboratories, professors and a geological survey—and argued that the whole state would benefit.
- Yakima Democrats Nominate Full Slate at 1892 County Convention
Party faithful gathered in North Yakima to pick candidates, adopt a platform, and vow to clean up state government.
- The Water Took Her: A Canoe Accident at Seattle's Wharf, 1877
A canoe overturns in the dark beside Mechanics' Wharf. The others make it to shore—but the old woman slips away before anyone can save her.
- 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.
- Seattle Calls a Patent Bluff and Wins
A federal judge rules that John Klein's insulation-pin patent was no invention at all—saving Seattle a payout that Portland and San Francisco had already made.
- The Great Tacoma Auto Heist
A mechanic attempts a high-speed repossession of a Winton touring car, triggering a cross-city chase between Tacoma and Seattle.
Also about this, in other words
- Mining Camp Tragedy Near Carbonado
A target practice outing turns lethal when a accidental discharge claims the life of a 50-year-old miner.
- A Machinist Committed to the Asylum
A perfectly rational machinist is sent to Steilacoom despite his protests, leaving behind a wife and child.
- The Notorious Outlaw of Snohomish County
A local sheriff tracks down a notorious outlaw and forger in a Port Angeles jail, only to find the prisoner remarkably unbothered by his pending trial.