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|---|---|
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| 1877 | 20 |
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414 stories matching ought
- A Creameryman Confesses: 'Our Business Conditions Are Rotten'
In an unusually candid letter to The Ranch, the manager of the Rockwood Creamery Co. says reckless price-cutting and smooth-talking rivals are cheating Washington dairy farmers and quietly ruining the state's butter.
- Seattle’s Ladies Plan a Royal Welcome for the Boys of Manila
As the First Washington Volunteers prepare to return from the Philippines, prominent women and Mayor Humes unite to organize a massive civic celebration, turning grief into gratitude.
- The Wagon King Tells Seattle to Build Roads and Put Idle Men to Work
Clem Studebaker, visiting from South Bend, says Puget Sound is beautiful but backward: good roads, an army-built highway system, and the Nicaragua canal would cure unemployment.
- Hop Growers Pledge Their 'Word and Honor' to Pay Pickers Less
With the hop market collapsing in the summer of 1894, growers from ten Puget Sound counties met at Puyallup and fixed a single price for picking — 65 to 75 cents a box, down from the dollar they had promised. Ezra Meeker, the valley's biggest grower, said out loud what the resolution implied: the pickers had no seat at the table.
- Two Red Boxes on Wheels: Olympia's Sorry Excuse for a Streetcar Line
The street railway's president has told the council he can keep the city tied up in court for two years. The Tribune suggests the new council simply take his franchise away.
- The Forgotten Fort Lands of Puget Sound
A Washington congressman fought to open tiny abandoned military reservations at Gig Harbor and Point Roberts to homesteaders. The House shut him down.
- The Uncontested Bid for School Director
Aberdeen’s local newspaper urges a unanimous vote to keep the current school board intact during the upcoming election.
- Justice at a Standstill in Seattle
A woman accused of murder walks free while witnesses vanish, exposing a failure of the local court system.
- The Navy Secretary Goes Down Into the Big Hole
Secretary of the Navy Herbert rides the lighthouse tender Manzanita across the Sound to inspect the giant new dry dock at Port Orchard, settles a bitter dispute over how deep to drive the pilings, and dances the night away at the Rainier.
- The Gambler’s Shield: How Seattle Saloon Keepers Dodged Mayor Moras’ Purge
When Chief Justice Burke urged the city to revoke liquor licenses from gambling dens, the Common Council refused—citing legal technicalities and protecting the very establishments the mayor wanted shut down.
- The Schoolhouse That Wasn't: Seattle’s Bureaucratic Battle Over Public Education
In 1877, a local dispute over the construction of a new school in Helltown reveals the early struggles of civic infrastructure and the tension between taxpayer demands and administrative delay.
- A Seattle Sermon Asks Capital and Labor to Read Scripture Together
At St. Mark's Church, Rev. D. C. Garrett blames class friction on a Christianity forgotten by rich and poor alike—and imagines employers and grievance committees studying Paul side by side.
- Who Should Keep Olympia's Money?
On the eve of the 1891 municipal election, a dozen anonymous Olympians argued over the city treasurer's race, a regular nominee, a new brick block, and a saloonkeeper's ten-dollar joke.
- Four Wooden Buildings to a Quarter-Million: Whitman College Counts Its Decade of Growth
President Penrose's tenth-year report to the trustees charts enrollment rising from 93 to more than 320, an endowment grown from $4,500 to $236,652.92 — and a debt that prompts a demand for half a million dollars and a new academy building.
- The Ghost in the Machine: How a 'Practical Little Woman' Tamed the Steamboat Turbulent Sea
In the chaotic early days of Puget Sound steam navigation, one female cook didn't just serve meals—she served stability, calming a terrified crew with her own brand of turbulence.
- The Dairy Dilemma of 1876
Before high-tech factory farming, Seattle's early settlers navigated the delicate, labor-intensive art of managing livestock health by hand.
- The Captain’s Silence: A Seattle Court Rules on Brutality at Sea
In a landmark Admiralty case heard in Seattle in 1872, Judge Jacobs holds ship owner E.A. Nickels liable for the brutal beating of sailor Frank Griffin, establishing that a captain's failure to stop abuse is an endorsement of it.
- The Soldier Who Missed: Why Seattle Is Rooting for a Court-Martialed Hero
Sergeant Mason’s attempt to assassinate the man who killed Garfield has turned him from a mutineer into a martyr, sparking petitions and subscriptions across the Pacific Northwest.
- Thirty Grains of Morphine and a Baker’s Plea to Be Let Go
Christian F. Gutheil, a Seattle bakery owner, survived an overdose after a long spree—then told a reporter he wished the doctors had not interfered.
- King County Commissioners Billed Taxpayers for 25,943 Miles—More Than the Earth's Circumference
A letter to the editor by F. F. Ames accuses the King County board of padding mileage, charging for trips to Olympia, and paying an unauthorized colleague from county funds—violating state law.
- A 'Close Combination' at the Courthouse: Surveyor Accuses King County's Ring of Self-Dealing
King County's surveyor says commissioners paid the prosecuting attorney's rent to their own chairman's Union Block while refusing to cover his office — and he names the men he says run the courthouse for themselves.
- The Bread Wrapping War: Tacoma Women Take On City Hall
With 1,500 club members, city doctors and a health inspector behind them, Tacoma women demand that bakery bread be wrapped—and that dogs be barred from groceries.
- The Governor and the Ghost Democrats
When Territorial Governor Elisha Ferry was accused of lying to win a seat at a convention, his refusal to name thirty phantom 'Democrats' sparked a fierce political scandal in Seattle.
- Tacoma Councilmen Accused of Extorting Bank Loans in City Funds Scandal
An explosive card from two finance committee members denying kickbacks backfires as the Tacoma Ledger calls for a grand jury to investigate allegations of extortion involving city deposits.
- Defending the New Workers' Compensation Act
Everett labor leaders push back against corporate attempts to undermine the state's landmark compensation law.
Also about this, in other words
- The Weight of Responsibility: A Victorian Lesson for Snohomish Parents
In an 1877 editorial, a Snohomish observer argued that character was a hereditary and domestic inheritance, placing the burden of societal progress squarely on the shoulders of the home.
- A Crew Called the Iona Unseaworthy. The Cutter Called It Mutiny.
Before the Italian bark Iona could leave Port Townsend, its sailors refused to sail. A survey said the ship was sound; a revenue cutter's officer put the men in irons and warned them of a mutiny trial.
- The Unreasonable Burden of Moral Regeneration
A bold editorial argument for women's suffrage, dismissing the 'degradation' objection and the notion that men need women to save them from their own vices.
- Vigilantism in Wiser
A deputy sheriff takes three men into custody for the targeting of Chinese laborers.
- The Great Table Etiquette Debate
An editorial scrap between the Intelligencer and the Post-Intelligencer over whether eating with a knife is a sign of 'vulgar' breeding.
- The Wealthy Landowner and the Guardianship Fight
A judge rules that being a 'habitual drunkard' is not sufficient legal grounds to seize control of a man's assets, thwarting his children's attempt to secure their inheritance.
- A Wartime Call to Conscience
A fiery editorial urges Kennewick residents to stop making excuses and contribute to the Red Cross war fund, arguing that personal sacrifice is a duty of citizenship.
- The Council's Saloon Charity
Aberdeen’s city fathers are accused of legal gymnastics by granting a liquor license under the guise of helping a struggling mother.