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99 stories matching oak
- Patriotic Rivalry at Oak Point
When steamer crewmen beat the local ladies to the punch on a flag-raising ceremony, the women reclaimed the duty themselves.
- The Great Timber Heist: Federal Law Cracks Down on Puget Sound Loggers
In 1872, the U.S. government enforced a strict new law protecting live-oak and red-cedar from unauthorized removal, threatening massive fines and ship seizures for anyone caught logging federal lands without Navy permission.
- The Devil's Own: Oak Harbor's Waggish Protest Against the Preacher
When a reverend tried to post a notice for his Sunday sermon in the Grange Hall, the locals of Oak Harbor responded with a satirical flyer that dared the Devil himself to show up.
- Oak Harbor Farm With Orchard and Good Water for Sale
An 1878 classified advertisement offers a 'mostly prairie' farm for sale near Oak Harbor, detailing a self-sufficient life built from the ground up.
- The Struggle for Steamship Service at Oak Harbor
When the captain refused to land because the water was too shallow, a determined community built their own way to the deep water.
- The Railroad Land Agent Who Pocketed the Payments
A Northern Pacific receiver says a dead Tacoma land agent kept buyers' installments for years, leaving them with receipts but no deeds — and a loss that could reach $250,000.
- Tragedy Strikes Oak Harbor Family
A kerosene explosion in the kitchen of the Gast home claimed the lives of four children.
- The Ghost of the Shannon
Seattle's waterfront welcomes a legendary British warship that fought in the War of 1812.
- The Northern Pacific Railroad Plans Tacoma's Expansion
Railroad executives visit to strategize the massive redevelopment of Tacoma's waterfront and terminal infrastructure.
- The Last of the Pioneer Mariners
Captain Edward Harrington, a self-made man who helped forge early Puget Sound maritime routes, dies at Oak Harbor.
- A Garden Wedding on Lake Steilacoom
Prominent Tacoma socialites Miss Ruby Shera and Mr. Thomas J. Handforth were wed under a canopy of oaks in an elaborate ceremony at the Tyler estate.
- The Northern Pacific's Grand Shake-up
A major administrative shift sees high-level rail managers moving to St. Paul as the transcontinental route nears completion.
- The Mill Owners Set the Price: A Quiet Hotel Meeting to Fix Lumber Rates for the Season
Owners of the Port Gamble, Tacoma and Port Blakely mills met at the Rainier-Grand to agree on a price for lumber — just as orders pour in and California discovers native fir is as good as oak.
- The Railway Party’s Near-Drowning in the Yakima River
A VIP delegation touring irrigation infrastructure narrowly escapes disaster when their wagon team bolts into a deep river slough.
- The Price of a Clerical Error
A contractor’s slip of the pen costs him a major city street grading contract.
- The Tragedy at Oak Lake
A husband confronts his wife's attacker, ending in a violent act that leaves a family broken and a man facing a murder charge.
- Fatal Fall from a Cascade Bridge
A young bridge builder falls thirty feet to his death on the Northern Pacific railroad line, leaving a grieving mother in Oak Harbor.
- A Community Under Siege: The Whidbey Island Diphtheria Outbreak
A harrowing account of how a single family was devastated by diphtheria in Oak Harbor during the summer of 1887.
- A Sunday Journey to Whidbey Island in 1885
A traveler describes the primitive, thriving settlement of Coupeville and the muddy, adventurous trek to Oak Harbor via stage and skiff.
- The Unproven Future of the 'Attractive Townsite'
Northern Pacific President Thomas F. Oakes visits the burgeoning town of Everett in 1892, skeptical of its long-term viability despite the optimism of its East Coast developers.
- The Rising Costs of Second Street
New leases on Seattle property reveal the economic power and strategic displacement tactics used against the Chinese community in 1884.
- Hard Times Are Over, but Striking Railroad Men Need Not Apply
Northern Pacific managers touring the coast said the depression had turned, but they refused to rehire workers who had walked off the job.
- The 1892 Race for Seattle: A City in Construction
As Seattle geared up for the 1892 mayoral election, local candidates debated debt, expansion, and the 'moral' cleanup of the city while the railroad industry reshaped the landscape.
- The High Cost of Keeping Warm in Pioneer Seattle
As Seattle's population climbed toward 45,000 in 1880, local leaders sounded the alarm on the soaring price of firewood and looked to the untapped coal mines of the region for a heating revolution.
- The Sound’s Secret: How Deep Waters and Giant Trees Built a City
A reprinted editorial from New York reveals why Puget Sound is the 'Mediterranean of the West,' detailing its impossible depth, massive timber resources, and the strange phenomenon of forests with only small and giant trees.