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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 2 |
| 1889 | 18 |
| 1891 | 3 |
| 1892 | 11 |
| 1893 | 2 |
| 1894 | 4 |
| 1899 | 3 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 3 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1909 | 6 |
| 1914 | 1 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1916 | 8 |
| 1917 | 4 |
| 1923 | 3 |
| 1924 | 2 |
| 1925 | 1 |
77 stories matching motor
- Edison's Noiseless Motor and the Race to Put Olympia on Rails
Two Edison men pitch a single-reduction streetcar motor to Olympia's electric company, promising rails by the Fourth of July—if property holders cooperate on subsidies.
- Seattle's First Electric Streetcar Test
An experimental electric motor pulls a coach with thirty passengers up a steep incline in a successful trial run.
- The Motor Line Returns
Aberdeen and Hoquiam leaders revive the intercity motor line project with a new $40,000 investment plan.
- The Electric Well
A routine repair at a Hanford well turns into a brush with death when a frayed electrical cord nearly kills a man deep underground.
- The Rules of the Road Come to Kennewick
As automobiles begin to dominate the streets, City Hall codifies the right of way, speed limits, and the requirement for headlights and mufflers.
- Turning the Desert Green: A Bold Plan to Irrigate the Pasco Sands
A new company, backed by railroad officials and engineering innovators, aims to pump Columbia River water into the Franklin County arid lands.
- Tragedy on the Puyallup Line
A logger named T. J. Sullivan was struck and killed by a motor car while sleeping on the tracks near his camp.
- The Eighteenth Promise of Mr. Savage
Olympia's street railway president vows a coal-oil motor, fifteen-minute service, and an Eastside extension—mostly, the paper suspects, for real estate.
- The Horseless Age Arrives in Seattle
As public interest in motor vehicles sweeps the nation, Seattle’s streets begin to transition from hooves to horsepower.
- The Battle for the Seattle Streets
A fierce legal and corporate rivalry over cable car franchises threatens to tear up Seattle's downtown, while a mysterious entrepreneur promises to modernize the city with electric power.
- The Deadly Hum of the Electric Current
A routine building fire in downtown Seattle turns into a terrifying, lethal brush with the new technology of electricity.
- The Day Tacoma’s Streetcars Stood Still
When the streetcar workers of Tacoma laid down their tools to demand fair pay, a showdown at the rail house sparked a tense labor confrontation.
- The Perpetual Motion Man's New Scheme
After an ill-fated career as an inventor and a brush with the law, Dr. Able Leo Van Mills is hawking a new 'medicated atmosphere' and spiritual healing in the Diller Hotel.
- The Horseless City
Seattle businessmen begin the race to bring the 'new motor machines' to the city's steep streets.
- A Divorce Suit Exposes Brutality—and a Fight Over the House
Mary C. Fisher accused her husband of choking her and tearing her clothes in front of her daughter; she asked the court for a divorce, the house and all the property.
- The Auto Age Arrives: Spokane’s First Bid for Public Motor Transport
Promoter Fred T. Merrill eyes a site to launch the city's first public automobile line, signaling a shift from horse-drawn carriages to the roaring 20th century.
- The Emergency Brake of 1892
A clever new mechanism for Seattle's Woodland Park streetcar line promised to stop a runaway trolley car within its own length.
- Streetcar Tragedy on the Hill
A buggy collision with a freight motor car leads to the death of a horse and the arrest of its driver for public intoxication.
- Tacoma Yacht Club Sets Course for Growth
Members vote to incorporate and lobby Congress against new motor boat regulations as they finish their clubhouse at Brown's Point.
- The Perils of the Road: Early Motorists Lament Terrible Conditions
Vacationing families return to Kennewick with horror stories of busted axles, tire troubles, and roads that are 'the worst on earth.'
- Waitsburg’s Miller Expands Operations
Local business owner A. M. McCoy upgrades his mill with an electric motor to increase production capacity in the face of rising demand.
- The City That Vanished: Seattle’s First Real Estate Bubble and the Ghosts of Terry’s Addition
A look back at January 1890, when Seattle’s land boom was in full swing, prices were soaring, and developers like George Dorffel were selling lots in new subdivisions to speculators eager for a quick profit.
- The Boom on the Bay: How Seattle Suburbs Remade the City
Electric streetcars and new transit lines are transforming Seattle’s geography, pushing the city's identity into the outskirts as the 'slow, old horse-car' becomes a relic of the past.
- The Real Estate Hustle of 1889
Developers were peddling land at the edge of town, promising a 'steam motor' rail line to entice buyers into settling the outskirts of Seattle.
- Telescoped at the Crossing: A Grant Street Horror
When a Northern Pacific freight train plowed into an electric streetcar on May 20, 1909, one man died and dozens were mangled in the icy water below. The crash exposed dangerous speeds and negligent watchmen at a city intersection that remains vital today.