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125 stories matching oldest
- The Last Stand of Denny’s Old Home: A Seattle Landmark Consumed by Fire
One of the city's oldest structures, a cedar-built house on Second Avenue, was reduced to ashes early this morning. The blaze, sparked by a fallen lamp in the room of a shoe company employee, claimed the home of Mrs. Kali Palmer and her children, who barely escaped through the roof.
- The Sound's Long Memory for Rain
While storms rattle the nerves of new arrivals, an old-timer’s meticulous forty-year record shows the 1894 weather is nothing compared to the '63 deluge.
- The Iron Fist of Labor: Seattle’s Unions Unite to Control the City
A comprehensive look at the Western Central Labor Union and its affiliated trades—bricklayers, carpenters, and iron workers—who have effectively monopolized construction in Seattle.
- Thirty-Seven Miners Died 150 Feet From Safety
An 1894 coroner's jury in Franklin, Washington, heard how a small fire in the Oregon Improvement Company's coal mine became a wall of smoke — and why the men who could have escaped stayed to fight it.
- The Battle for Steilacoom Lake
A landmark lawsuit reveals the vanished history of Washington's oldest grist mill and the early water wars of Pierce County.
- The Last Pioneer: Seattle’s Oldest Woman Faces the Poorhouse
Mrs. P.D. Maynard, a widow of the city's founding era, has been evicted from her rooming house and is now wandering the streets at age 73. With no family and dwindling resources, the community must decide whether to let one of Seattle’s earliest residents die in poverty or build her a home.
- The Coffin Captain: A Father, a Son, and the Wreck of the Lily and Maud
Ship carpenters warned Captain Robert Jack he was building his own coffin. Last Sunday night the frail schooner capsized in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the captain and his 23-year-old son went down with her.
- The Blind Doctor’s Lethal Prescription
Dr. William Campbell, a blind pioneer and one of Olympia’s oldest residents, was charged with manslaughter after a 14-year-old epileptic girl died under his lobelia-and-capsicum treatment. A justice set bail at $2,000 and sent the case to the January superior court term.
- The Pioneer Who Never Gave Another Speech After Mt. Baker Erupted
N. V. Sheffer, Whatcom County’s oldest living pioneer, brought his donkey cart to Ferndale’s old-settlers’ reunion—and told why he stopped speaking in public in 1854.
- The Oldest Settler in Washington Dies—and He Left a Peace Between Two Worlds
Thomas Stensgar came with the Hudson Bay Company, married into Chief Tomcomly’s family, and was called on to mediate between settlers and Indians.
- The Final Edition in Loomis
After twelve years of service, the oldest newspaper in the county suspends publication due to a lack of local support.
- A Hard Day at the Coal Depot Ends in Paralysis for One of Olympia's Oldest Citizens
A prominent Olympian collapses after a day of heavy work in the rain; doctors prescribe quiet as visitors crowd St. Peter's Hospital.
- The County Printing War: Seattle's Oldest Paper Claims Moral High Ground in Bid for Public Contracts
In May 1877, the publisher of Seattle’s leading newspaper defends his bid for county printing contracts against rivals who accused him of greed, arguing that 'the laborer is worthy of his hire' and that public money should support a responsible local press.
- The Man Who Wanted to Insure the Sound: London’s Lloyd’s Agent Eyes Seattle
A representative from the world's oldest marine insurance firm arrives in Seattle, arguing that Puget Sound is safer than British waters and ready for a new branch.
- The Closing of a Pioneer Era
After thirty-seven years on the land, one of Chehalis County's earliest settlers sells his river-bottom ranch for a small fortune.
- The Inn-Wide Hotel: A Foreclosure in Disguise
W. Tirtlot offers the town's oldest hotel for sale on terms that guarantee his income for four years—revealing the precarious financial state of local commerce in 1876.
- The Columbia River in Upheaval
Unprecedented flooding devastates communities along the Columbia River, washing away homes, bridges, and livelihoods.
- A Mountain of Coffins: Franklin Buries Its Miners
After a mine fire killed 37 men, the coal town of Franklin held a day of funerals—five graves at Black Diamond, three Italian miners on a hillside, and widows whose grief doctors feared would kill them.
- 1892 Storm Washes Out Northern Pacific Rail Lines
A catastrophic deluge wrecks infrastructure and bridges across the Cascades, isolating Yakima as the Yakima River rises three feet in a day.
- The Effigy in the Pine Tree
Charles Gloystein crossed Spokane County's Populists and woke to find himself hanged in straw. Then he vanished.
- The Boom That Built Bellingham: How Four Towns Merged Into One City
In the spring of 1904, the bustling communities of Sehome, Whatcom, Fairhaven, and Bellingham were rapidly converging. With housing prices soaring and carpenters working day and night, this historic merger created the city we know today.
- Ice Breaks: Two Young Men Drown in Snohomish River Tragedy
Horace Low and Arthur Butt, employees of the local newspaper office, lost their lives after ice gave way beneath them while skating on the river.
- The Scandal at St. Mary’s
A Seattle Episcopal rector faces a congregation-led revolt after rumors of 'immoral practices' turn an ordinary service into a chaotic public showdown.
- The Great River Flood of 1876
As heavy rains inundate the Duwamish Valley, Seattle settlers and livestock struggle to survive the rising waters.
- Railroad Boom Built Spokane's Brick-and-Stone Downtown
A pioneer revisits Eastern Washington's boomtown and marvels at its rapid transformation from a frontier hamlet to a bustling metropolis powered by the falls.
Also about this, in other words
- The Circus Elephants Take a Dip in Lake Washington
Thousands gathered at the lake to watch the performers of John Robinson's show take an afternoon bath.
- The Logging Camp’s Oldest Hand
At 72, Richard Burnham remains one of the toughest laborers in the logging camps, defying the assumption that youth is a requirement for heavy work.
- The Disappearing Pioneer
A 99-year-old man, confused by his move to a new neighborhood, wanders the city streets all night.
- The Man Who Claimed to Be 1,000 Years Old
A local worker stumped the city registrar by claiming a millennium of life experience, citing the doctrine of reincarnation.
- The Miner's Strange Discovery
A miner in Carbonado taps into a prehistoric oven formed by a subterranean fire and ancient trees.
- Seattle's First Pastor Recalls a Fragile Village
Rev. David E. Blaine returns to the First M.E. Church to recount the harsh early days of Seattle, including the Indian war years.
- The Passing of Chief Tacanum
A venerable Puyallup leader dies, prompting a debate between his modest final wishes and the elaborate plans of his community.
- The Chinook Chief's Grandson Who Was Shipwrecked in Japan
Ranald McDonald — son of a Hudson's Bay trader and Chief Comcomly's daughter — died on the Colville reservation after a life that carried him from Astoria to a Japanese prison and back to the mouth of the Columbia.