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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1876 | 8 |
| 1877 | 7 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1883 | 2 |
| 1885 | 6 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 3 |
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| 1890 | 2 |
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| 1892 | 21 |
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205 stories matching net
- The Night Watchman Who Traded His Lantern for a Crab Net
After trading the damp misery of night-shift railroad duty for the docks, a Seattle man explains how he makes a living pulling crab from the bay—and why the job comes with its own set of neighborhood troubles.
- The Cannery Boom: Salmon, Chinamen, and the Gold Rush of the Columbia
A detailed look at the massive industrial scale of the Pacific Northwest's salmon industry in 1877, revealing the harsh labor conditions and the central role of Chinese workers.
- An Indigenous Man Challenges a Broken Contract
A legal dispute over a fishing net reveals the tension between Indigenous property rights and the courts.
- The Books Don't Lie: A County's Debt Fight Comes Down to the Fine Print
A contributed broadside against Stevens County's Democratic commissioners argues that a $14,776 'reduction' in the county debt hides $44,420 in new warrants — and the highest tax take in county history.
- The Salmon Wars of Boundary Bay
Canadian officials move to counter American trap nets with their own, escalating pressure on the Fraser River's dwindling salmon runs.
- The Salmon Wars of Grays Harbor: How Indigenous Engineers Built a River-Scale Machine
Long before the white man’s mills choked the harbor, Native communities along the Quinault and Grays Harbor rivers operated sophisticated hydraulic traps that captured thousands of salmon—a feat of engineering described in 1890 as 'thrilling sport' yet vital to survival.
- The River Would Not Give Seth Catlin Back
After Seth Catlin drowned, his father and a crew of searchers fought an eight-mile-an-hour current with fish nets and telegraph wire.
- The $3 Million Strike: How the Great Northern Railway Bet on Breaking Workers
In the winter of 1893, the railroad’s board calculated that paying workers less was cheaper than losing millions to a strike. They were right—and Seattle paid the price.
- The State Tries to Soften the Panic for Delinquent Taxpayers
The Senate passes a bill remitting penalties and interest on delinquent 1893–94 taxes, citing “great financial stringency” and declaring an emergency.
- The Great Hose Heist: How a Seattle Fire Department Was Almost Scammed by a New York Manufacturer
A peculiar dispute over fire equipment reveals the cutthroat world of late-19th-century municipal procurement, where agents played cities against manufacturers and warrants were used as currency.
- The Cherry Boom: How a Local Cannery Turned Wenatchee’s Orchardists into Millionaires
In July 1905, the Wenatchee Canning Company reported an unexpected surplus of cherries, revealing that local growers were netting $6 per tree—profits impossible to achieve by shipping to Seattle.
- Olympia's Building-Loan Society Built Three Homes and Paid 4½ Percent
A half-year statement from the Olympia Building Loan Association showed 450 shares in force, a net profit of $634.50, and three new houses—then opened a new subscription series.
- The Case for a National Telegraph Service
A scathing editorial argues that the Western Union monopoly overcharges the public and mistreats employees, calling for government intervention.
- Tacoma's Two-Million-Dollar Question: Buy the Water Works, or Fix the Sewers?
On the eve of a bond vote, Tacoma's taxpayers are told they can have the private water and electric plant and new sewers too. The arithmetic says otherwise: after the purchase, $3,707 is left for sewers.
- The True Cost of Breaking a Strike
Financial reports from the Union Pacific reveal the heavy price corporations pay to replace union labor with forced, guarded workers.
- The Laundry Business Dispute
A lawsuit reveals the hidden profits of a Chinese laundry operation on Fourth and Main streets.
- The Water Department War: Seattle’s Ex-Superintendent Says the City Burned $15,000
W. E. Wilson takes his successor to task over pumping-station costs, missing pipe miles, and a board of public works appointment he calls the reward for fiscal failure.
- A Child’s Tragic Afternoon on the Flats
A six-year-old Seattle boy drowns in the harbor while fishing for crabs, exposing the perils of the waterfront mudflats for the city's youth.
- No Safety Net, No Ordinance: A Trapeze Act Falls in Seattle
Two acrobats plunged from a Madison Street trapeze in 1895, exposing a gap in city safety rules and a very lucky escape.
- The Science of Better Farming
Lee M. Lampson’s annual report details how cooperative marketing and disease testing transformed Benton County agriculture in 1916.
- The $2,000 Apple Lesson: A Walk Down Seattle's Produce Row
A farm columnist tours Seattle's commission houses on Western Avenue, where a single packing mistake cost one grower a season's profit — and offers a cautionary tale for every farmer shipping to the city.
- The Taxpayers' League vs. The Railroads: A Battle for Fair Valuation in Columbia County
In May 1903, local citizens and tax experts challenged the massive capitalization of the Oregon Railway Navigation Company, arguing that its true value warranted a higher tax assessment to fund public services.
- The Halibut Bank Misadventure
An ambitious fishing excursion turns into a comedy of errors, leaving local thrill-seekers more acquainted with seasickness than with their quarry.
- The Great Salmon Haul at Hat Island
A record-breaking catch of silver salmon near the mouth of the Snohomish River turns into a frantic struggle as nets break under the weight of the fish.
- A Mountain Ford, a Missing Body, and a Father’s Search
Seth Catlin crossed the Upper Cowlitz to fetch the mail and never came back. Days later, his father was still on the river with nets set for his son.
Also about this, in other words
- The Lake Keeps Its Secret: A Tragedy of Adultery in Wenatchee
A local man and a married woman drown together on the lake; while her body is recovered, he remains lost to the depths, serving as a grim moral lesson for the community.
- The Night Watchman’s Leap: A Seattle Police Officer’s Brutal Fall
William Wyatt, the city's night watchman at the Union Station mail depot, suffered broken ribs and internal injuries after falling from a moving train while chasing a thief.
- The Great Strike Wave of 1894
Across the nation, laborers and coal miners are organizing and striking against wage cuts, prompting a debate in the press about the true state of the economy.
- A Child’s Fall into a City Excavation
A young girl’s tumble into a construction pit sparks a damages lawsuit against an investment firm.
- The Tragedy at Trent: A Deadly Railroad Collision
A passenger train and a freight train collide in a fatal error, killing a brakeman and prompting a rare condemnation of corporate negligence.
- The Human Spider of Occidental Square
A sailor scaled a 135-foot flagpole in downtown Seattle to keep the city’s Fourth of July celebrations on schedule.