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300 stories matching oil
- The Oil Men’s Last Stand: Seattle’s Battle Over Fire Safety and Corporate Power
In March 1889, a proposed ordinance to ban oil storage within city limits sparked a fierce standoff between the Board of Trade and powerful petroleum interests. While the city pushed for safety, the oil dealers argued the rules were discriminatory and economically impossible, setting the stage for a legal battle that would define Seattle’s industrial future.
- The Tinderbox of the Waterfront: Fire Chief Warns of Seattle’s Oil-Fueled Doom
Chief Collins warns that Standard Oil’s wooden warehouses along the waterfront are a 'match away' from destroying the city, while overcrowded lodging houses threaten the poor with similar fates.
- The End of Coal: Tacoma’s Tugboats Eye Oil
Local steamboat captains and major industrial concerns move to replace coal with oil, signaling a shift in the region's energy dependence.
- A Gasser, a Picnic, and a Promise: Kennewick Bets on Oil and Gas
Drillers pause to case off 400 feet of water, 85 people picnic at the well, and a Yakima promoter promises a franchise — and maybe oil — by summer.
- The Octopus Comes to Seattle: Standard Oil Raises the Price of Light
Coal oil and benzine prices jumped in Seattle after Standard Oil was reported to have crushed its last Pacific Coast rival, W. P. Fuller & Co.
- Kennewick's Street Improvement Fiasco
After building roads with dirt and sand over oiled gravel, the City Council calls in an expert to fix the crumbling infrastructure.
- A Gas Boom in Benton County, Complete With a Camp Lit by Its Own Well
Backers of the Benton County gas field planned a December 7 excursion to show off a well that powered engines, lit the driller’s houses, and they hoped would soon fuel a pipeline to Walla Walla.
- Rattlesnake Hills Oil Race Draws New Leases
Speculators and geologists are betting big on the oil and gas potential of the Rattlesnake Hills, hoping to spark an industrial boom in the desert.
- The Cold Creek Oil Rush
After an artesian well drilling project in Cold Creek reveals a strange, oil-like substance, prospectors are scrambling to secure land leases in anticipation of a massive boom.
- The Herring Oil Boom on Puget Sound
A new industry turns Puget Sound's abundant herring and dogfish into a lucrative oil enterprise, promising a 'little fortune' for those early to the trade.
- Kennewick's Oiled Road Is Falling Apart—and the New Commissioner Will Inherit the Mess
A local correspondent warns that emergency warrants, neglected road districts, and a rut a foot deep will greet commissioner-elect R. E. Pratt.
- The Promise of Horse Heaven Oil
After finding significant gas deposits, local boosters and out-of-state experts bet on striking it rich in the hills.
- The Dogfish Gold Rush on San Juan Island
Before tourism, local entrepreneurs on San Juan Island sought their fortune in the 'stinking' but profitable trade of extracting oil from thousands of dogfish caught in the sound.
- The Oil Trap: How Seattle’s Greed Endangered Its Own Waterfront
A recent fire at a lodging house reveals a city-wide crisis: warehouses and homes alike are storing thousands of gallons of volatile oil, defying insurance limits and risking total destruction.
- Arson Attempt at Bellingham Bay Sun
A suspicious candle-in-oil setup is discovered in a Fairhaven newspaper office, raising questions about insurance fraud.
- A Lamp Explodes and Firemen Are Trapped in a Third Avenue Blaze
An oil lamp exploded in a picture-frame shop at 1908 Third Street, burning its owner and trapping firefighters in a re-ignited wall of flame.
- The Sheep Herders Who Burned a Half-Million Dollars to Scare Coyotes
For eighteen months a Rattlesnake Hills gas well blazed away at a herders' camp — until experts did the math and a three-cornered oil race began.
- Kennewick Writer Questions Rattlesnake Hills Oil and Gas Claims
A skeptical resident questions the feverish speculation surrounding potential oil and gas discoveries in the Kennewick area.
- The Dogfish Oil Smuggling Ring
Federal authorities launch a crackdown on an illicit trade network that attempted to pass foreign-sourced dogfish oil as local Washington production.
- The Great Kennewick Oil Rush
Speculators and geologists descend on the valley as local officials dream of transforming the region into a major manufacturing center.
- The Drunken Sea Lion of Olympia
An intoxicated 800-pound sea lion is captured after a bender on crude oil.
- The Standard Oil Monopoly Comes to Tacoma
A secret land grab on the tide-flats marks the arrival of a massive industrial alliance between the Standard Oil company and transcontinental railroads.
- The Miners at Newcastle Demand Fair Time
Workers at the Newcastle coal mine initiate a strike over wage-deduction schemes and travel time between the town and the pit.
- The Double Standard of the Law
A commentary on how the courts punish labor organizers while letting corporate titans walk free.
- The Tacoma Oil Rush
A secret discovery in the heart of the city sparks a high-stakes land deal.
Also about this, in other words
- The King of Oil Comes to Call: Standard’s Rockefeller Eyes Seattle's Future
John D. Rockefeller arrives in the Pacific Northwest, promising to train local workers for his new refinery and dominate the regional fuel market.
- The Great Oil Puzzle: How Three Men Solved an Impossible Measure
A local grocer and two farmers spent a long afternoon cracking a mathematical riddle to split eight gallons of oil evenly using only three uneven containers.
- The Motor Age Arrives in Kennewick
Gasoline and oil sales skyrocket as the local automobile population explodes, revealing a town transforming around the car.
- The Oil That Could Burn the City: Seattle’s First Major Fire Safety Law
In a move to prevent catastrophic blazes, the Common Council passes strict new rules for storing gasoline and kerosene, forcing merchants to build brick vaults or face heavy fines.
- The Oil That Bought a Port: How New York Tycoons Turned Aberdeen into a Petroleum Hub
While the town buzzes with lumber and politics, a quiet deal is reshaping Grays Harbor’s economy. Ex-Mayor Grace of New York has secured exclusive rights to ship timber from Aberdeen to his oil fields in Peru, proving that local resources are now tied to global capital.
- The Snake Oil of Snohomish
A century-old miracle cure for man and beast that promised to heal everything from rheumatism to ‘hollow horn’.
- The Seattle Soap Factory's Industrial Ambition
A local manufacturer touts a 'better than oil' solution for the region's logging industry in 1877.
- The Failed Promise of Nooksack Oil
A local oil drilling venture stalls as mismanagement and a 'crooked hole' lead to worker layoffs and deep investor suspicion.