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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 2 |
| 1872 | 1 |
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| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 1 |
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| 1889 | 1 |
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33 stories matching obviat
- Coin Toss Settles Club Feud
After years of scheduling conflicts, two prominent fraternities leave their meeting dates to the luck of the draw.
- The Carcass Complaint
A public health warning issued regarding the improper disposal of dead animals in public roads.
- Seattle’s Endless War Against the Hillside
In 1878, city officials scrambled to grade Mill Street to fix dangerous mudslides—a challenge that continues to plague Seattle’s topography today.
- Richland Farmers Fight for Better Rail Access
Local farmers advocate for a new, flatter road to the Leslie Siding, seeking to reduce transport costs and bypass difficult terrain.
- Winterizing Seattle's Water Pipes
City crews scramble to box in exposed water mains after a costly deep freeze the previous year.
- The Segregated Mines of Roslyn
Strikes in the coal fields led to a tense, uneasy truce between white and Black miners, who worked the same pits but remained strictly separated.
- The Fight for Indigenous Names on Territorial Maps
A territorial legislator argues that replacing English place names with Indigenous ones will stop mail from being misdirected and honor the region's history.
- The Search for a Neutral Conductor
Seattle musicians organize a new choral society to perform oratorios, while struggling to escape the shadow of 'jealousy' among local teachers.
- The Train That Ate the School Walk
Northern Pacific freights parked across Howard Street force Spokane children to scramble around cars, and the paper wants City Hall to act.
- The Seattle Invention That Promised to Banish the 'Tremor' of Steamboats
A local citizen trials a double-inclined plane water wheel on Lake Union, aiming to solve the vibration and loss of power plaguing the steam-powered era.
- The Struggle for Deep Water in Old Olympia
Boosterism meets the reality of geography as a local entrepreneur attempts to build a deep-water wharf to secure Olympia's economic future.
- The Price of Virtue in a Growing Boomtown
Mayor George W. Hall rejects 'vicious' municipal profits from sin, grappling with the fiscal reality of a rapidly expanding, fire-scarred Seattle in 1892.
- The Mud-Sunk Streets of Pioneer Square
A local editor slams city officials for leaving commercial thoroughfares in such disrepair that industrial wagons are being swallowed whole by the earth.
- The Struggle to Find Your Way in Early Seattle
Before the city had a standardized grid, navigating its muddy, stump-filled streets was a chaotic task—until one resident proposed a system that still echoes today.
- The River That Ate Seattle: How High Water Threatened the Railroads and Left a Gift of Dirt
In December 1876, the Duwamish River swelled to dangerous levels, threatening the Seattle & Walla Walla Railroad embankments. But as the waters receded, they left behind a rich layer of alluvial soil that would soon feed the region's agricultural boom.
- The Struggle for the Kennewick-Richland Marketing Union
Local growers navigate competing marketing strategies to establish a unified system for fruit distribution.
- Settlers Beat the State to the Best School Lands
Washington's land commissioners say squatters are claiming the best parcels before the state can select them for schools, putting millions at risk.
- The Sabotage of Black Lake
A malicious attempt to breach a dike and flood the Olympia countryside by draining a massive volume of water into the Deschutes River was narrowly averted.
- A One-Man Supreme Court: Olympia Weighs 500 Cases and 16-Hour Reading Days
A legislative investigation hears that Washington’s high court has misstated facts and been crushed by its workload — with one justice sometimes reading an entire case alone.
- The Political Price of a County Seat
When Steilacoom faced a challenge from a rising New Tacoma, citizens weighed civic growth against the hard cost of building a new government center.
- Seattle Wins Its Yesler Avenue Grade Assessment in the State Supreme Court
The state Supreme Court reverses a lower court and holds that a regular assessment roll alone makes the city's case to collect the Yesler Avenue grade assessment — the defense must now prove any defect.
- The Senate Kills the Railroad Rate Bill, and the Party Loses Face
An editorial lashes the state senate for 'slaughtering' the Helm bill regulating railroad freights and fares, despite the Republican platform and Governor McGraw's own demand for fairness to the public.
- The Salvage Ship That Came to Raise Puget Sound’s Sunken Wrecks
A new wrecking schooner arrived in Seattle with a rubber-suited diver, hydraulic jacks and a plan to lift the sunken Mississippi and Warhawk from the Sound.
- The Fire Commission's Knife Fight Over Chief Allen
Three commissioners wanted the fire chief gone; a stand-in mayor forced them to wait for the real one.
- The Plot to Carve a New Territory Out of Eastern Washington and Idaho
As the Coeur d'Alene mines boom, Spokane Falls pushes to become the capital of a breakaway territory—and the railroad towns are fighting back.