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1. The Blaine Fisherman Who Pulled Seven People Out of the Water and Never Told Anyone

   Hans Nielson is 24 years old, slight of build, and has saved seven lives in ten years — two in Denmark, five around Blaine — and calls each rescue a thing 'only incidental to the life of a water toiler.'

   May 22, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerBlaine, Whatcom CountyStrange But True

2. A Sinking Buggy, a Borrowed Team, and a Reservation About to Open

   In 1892 a newspaperman packed his wife and infant into a rickety buggy to cross the soon-to-open Colville Reservation, fording the Kettle River and leaning on Native families along the way.

   Aug 22, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerOsoyoos Lake, Oroville, Okanogan CountyExclusion & Resistance · Strange But True

3. The Snow That Stole the Gold: Snohomish County’s Mining Boom Hits a Wall

   Arthur Hank, a prominent local investor, returns from Snohomish County with news of rich ore deposits—but warns that an unprecedented winter is halting development just as the region stands on the brink of becoming a major mining center.

   May 16, 1899The Seattle StarSnohomish, Snohomish CountyBoom & Bust

4. The Desperado Who Vanished Into the Brush

   A King County manhunt closes in on escaped murderer Thomas Blanck—until a dark ambush near Black River Junction lets him slip away behind his partner’s raised hands.

   Mar 19, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerBlack River Junction, Tukwila, King CountyTrue Crime

5. The Log Jam That Held Back the Skagit

   Settlers bet their savings on cutting a channel through a massive timber jam—and begged Sound steamboat captains to link the Skagit to Seattle.

   Dec 16, 1876The Northern StarConway, Skagit CountyBoom & Bust · Strange But True

6. Bellingham Bay Burned While Puget Sound Choked on Smoke

   Forest fires from the British border to the Olympic Mountains sent a pall over Seattle, slowed steamers and trains, and destroyed homes, a bridge and a thirty-room mansion near Whatcom.

   Aug 29, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerBellingham, Whatcom CountyDisasters

7. They Would Rather Grow Than Beg: Seattle’s Unemployed Turned Vacant Lots Into Potato Patches

   In the depression year of 1893, nearly 200 Seattle men—most with families—were given free seed, tools and borrowed city lots through the Pingree plan and the Co-operative Industrial Society.

   May 3, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyWork & Pay

8. A Vashon Island Farmer Stumbles on 80 Pounds of Smuggled Opium

   A boy’s shout over a “funny box” on the beach leads customs inspectors to a sloop and an Italian sailor accused of running opium from British Columbia.

   Mar 10, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerVashon, King CountyNightlife

9. Seattle Tried to Garden Its Way Out of Unemployment

   At a Chamber of Commerce meeting, civic leaders pledged vacant land, tools and seed so jobless families could grow vegetables through the winter, borrowing a relief plan from Detroit.

   Apr 10, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyWork & Pay

10. The Daredevil of Seattle: A Near-Fatal Balloon Plunge

    Thousands watched from the waterfront as Professor Van Tassell's aerial exhibition went awry, nearly ending in disaster over the harbor.

    Jan 3, 1889The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyDisasters

11. The Fatal Dance of Washington's Ground Squirrels

    Scientists at the state agricultural college tried to wipe out crop-destroying rodents with bacteria—and found a native plague that sent infected squirrels spinning until they dropped.

    Sep 15, 1898Ranche and RangeWashington State University, Pullman, Whitman CountyStrange But True

12. Seattle’s Temple of Learning Rises Between Two Lakes

    In 1895, contractors raced to finish a $200,000 campus between Union and Washington lakes—complete with copper finials, a gymnasium and a hillside observatory—before the September opening.

    Jun 9, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyBoom & Bust · City Hall

13. A Wooden Gun and a Jailbreak: The Hunt for Thomas Blanck

    Nine prisoners escaped from the King County jail. Only three have been recaptured. The notorious Thomas Blanck is still at large, armed men guard the roads, and a woman's description may be the key.

    Mar 20, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerBlack River Junction, Renton, King CountyTrue Crime

14. Under Fire on the Way to Spokane: Seattle's Militia Rode Into a Rail War

    Col. Joseph Green's detachment returns from Spokane after escorting a mutinied company through burned bridges, ambushes and striker country—and the city turns out to cheer.

    Jul 15, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle Armory, Seattle, King CountyWork & Pay

15. The Night a Streetcar Powerhouse Fire Left Half of Seattle Dark

    A pre-dawn blaze at Fifth and Pine gutted the Consolidated Street Railway plant, destroyed nearly all its cars and dynamos, crippled three lines, and blacked out everything north of Pike Street.

    Jun 20, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyDisasters

16. 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.

    May 29, 1899The Seattle StarSouth Park, Seattle, King CountyDisasters

17. The Engineer Who Found Stevens Pass Drowned in the Columbia

    C.F.B. Haskell, who carved the pass’s name on a tree for his boss, was caught in a whirlpool with W.A. Barton and Mrs. Powell. Wenatchee went into mourning.

    May 22, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerPateros, Okanogan CountyBoom & Bust · Disasters

18. The $31.50 Murder That Broke Open Near Auburn

    A deputy traced three suspects from a Northern Pacific train and secured what officers called a partial confession in the killing of a man known as “Charley.”

    Aug 11, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyTrue Crime

19. The Canal That Would Make Seattle an Island

    In 1883, surveyors proposed locks and canals linking Lake Union and Lake Washington to tidewater—so coal could move by water and Seattle could 'practically stand on an island.'

    Aug 5, 1883Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerLake Union, Seattle, King CountyBoom & Bust

20. The Well That Killed Twice

    A promising new homestead a few miles east of Whatcom became a death trap when a pocket of gas swallowed John Kidwell and the neighbor who tried to save him.

    Aug 26, 1883Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerBellingham, Whatcom CountyWork & Pay · Disasters

21. The Body in the Hen House: An Unidentified Murder Near Eagle Harbor

    A well-dressed stranger was found half-burned in an abandoned Kitsap County farmhouse, with only spectacles, a corkscrew, and a torn newspaper to say who he was.

    Jan 10, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerEagle Harbor, Bainbridge Island, Kitsap CountyTrue Crime

22. A Close Call in the Indian Wars

    A survivor recounts the harrowing 1856 campaign and a near-death encounter along the banks of the Snake River.

    Nov 21, 1889The Yakima HeraldThe Dalles, Pierce CountyExclusion & Resistance

23. Bandits Take the Newport Train and Vanish Into the Night

    A mail car is rifled near Hillyard, a frightened hobo raises the alarm, and a $3,000 reward turns up nothing.

    Dec 10, 1908The Newport Miner (Newport, WA) 1899-CurrentSpokane, Spokane CountyTrue Crime

24. The $10,000 Bet That Built Seattle’s Front Street

    Superintendent Thompson risks a fortune to beat the calendar, while a separate land dispute erupts over tide flats near Grant Street.

    Mar 1, 1889The Seattle Post-IntelligencerFront Street, Seattle, King CountyBoom & Bust · Strange But True

25. The Elevator Man Who Fell Through the Transom

    Joseph Albright had run the elevator in the Seattle National Bank building for barely a month when a half-second's slip crushed him between cage and door — and sent his body through the glass over the ground-floor entrance.

    Mar 17, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyDisasters

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