Research the archive
Narrow 25,688 newspaper stories by words, years, place, newspaper and subject. See when and where they ran, then download what you find.
Put a phrase in quotes ("rent strike") or leave a word out with a minus (strike -baseball). Old scans misspell names, so when little is found, near-spellings are offered.
Refine
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 2 |
| 1858 | 6 |
| 1859 | 10 |
| 1860 | 2 |
| 1861 | 5 |
| 1862 | 14 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1864 | 4 |
| 1865 | 1 |
| 1871 | 2 |
| 1872 | 12 |
| 1876 | 130 |
| 1877 | 97 |
| 1878 | 44 |
| 1879 | 6 |
| 1880 | 19 |
| 1882 | 19 |
| 1883 | 100 |
| 1884 | 41 |
| 1885 | 113 |
| 1886 | 42 |
| 1887 | 50 |
| 1888 | 50 |
| 1889 | 167 |
| 1890 | 19 |
| 1891 | 124 |
| 1892 | 236 |
| 1893 | 248 |
| 1894 | 247 |
| 1895 | 354 |
| 1896 | 1 |
| 1897 | 6 |
| 1898 | 29 |
| 1899 | 75 |
| 1900 | 3 |
| 1902 | 6 |
| 1903 | 120 |
| 1904 | 93 |
| 1905 | 10 |
| 1907 | 8 |
| 1908 | 53 |
| 1909 | 127 |
| 1910 | 29 |
| 1911 | 16 |
| 1912 | 3 |
| 1914 | 30 |
| 1915 | 30 |
| 1916 | 56 |
| 1917 | 32 |
| 1918 | 3 |
| 1920 | 1 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 17 |
| 1924 | 11 |
| 1925 | 4 |
| 1928 | 4 |
| 1929 | 3 |
2,936 stories matching part
- State Supreme Court Upholds Lake Washington Canal Contract, Clearing the Way for Tide-Land Transformation
The Washington Supreme Court rules that the Lake Washington Waterway Company's contract to dig a canal and fill tide lands is constitutional, rejecting a landowner's challenge and affirming the state's power to remake the waterfront.
- The Mine That Wasn’t? A Captain Denies a Half-Million-Dollar Gold Swindle
An English capitalist’s suit against Alaska millionaires turned a Port Townsend sailing into a Pacific Coast sensation, with charges of swapped ore, gold-soaked drill cores, and a forceful denial from Capt. James Carroll.
- The Great Seattle Carting Crisis
When the city moved to clear the streets of horse-drawn carriages, teamsters organized, setting a precedent for Seattle’s long-standing tug-of-war over public space.
- A State Board Told Dentists to Sign Away Their Ads — One Seattle Man Refused
At the 1903 licensing exams in Tacoma, Washington's dental examiners demanded applicants sign a code-of-ethics contract before they could sit down. Edwin J. Brown of Seattle said no — and the whole profession waited to see whether he'd be barred from practice.
- The Railroad's Land Grab: How Northern Pacific Hoarded Snohomish’s Future
A local resident exposes the legal loopholes allowing the railroad to retain millions of acres in Western Washington, arguing that this concentrated ownership is strangling settlement and keeping land prices artificially high.
- The Professor, the President, and the Champagne College Deal
A legislative investigation at Pullman exposes secret opposition, abandoned building plans, and site-selection hospitality that included brass bands and champagne.
- Seattle’s Temple of Learning Rises Between Two Lakes
In 1895, contractors raced to finish a $200,000 campus between Union and Washington lakes—complete with copper finials, a gymnasium and a hillside observatory—before the September opening.
- Olympia’s Booster Year: Brick, Bridges and a 50,000-Person Promise
As 1891 closed, the capital city counted $3 million in new buildings, a record bridge, electric lights and new rail lines — and predicted 50,000 residents within a decade.
- The Spokane Racket Over Male Attire
When an amateur actress faced a local scandal for wearing pants on stage, the press stepped in to defend the choice as both traditional and modest.
- The Preacher, the Actress, and the Seattle Theatre Feud
Mrs. Potter and Kyrle Bellew packed the Seattle Theater—then found themselves denounced from a Portland pulpit by a preacher they insisted they had never gone to hear.
- The General and the Missing Military Money
A Senate committee says Washington's adjutant general ran the militia like a personal fiefdom, blew through his appropriation and left the state with a military deficiency.
- The Rule That Told Workingmen to Keep Out of Politics
Everett's Labor Journal goes after Roosevelt's civil service order, arguing that machinists and mechanics in government shops are muzzled while partisan appointees run the machine — and quotes Grover Cleveland back at the administration to prove it.
- The Dairy Commissioner’s War on Adulterated Food
A Washington dairy official warns that fake honey, poisoned candy, oleomargarine and brewers’ grain are cheating farmers — and demands stronger pure-food laws.
- The Tumbleweed That Threatened Washington's Wheat
In 1898, a state agricultural professor traced an invasive Russian thistle to railway yards and warned that Yakima County was already infested.
- Seattle Admits It Let Portland Steal Walla Walla's Trade
A visiting Sound trade man says Seattle was too busy with Alaska to notice the Inland Empire — and that Portland salesmen took the cream of it.
- The Night a Streetcar Powerhouse Fire Left Half of Seattle Dark
A pre-dawn blaze at Fifth and Pine gutted the Consolidated Street Railway plant, destroyed nearly all its cars and dynamos, crippled three lines, and blacked out everything north of Pike Street.
- The Coal Creek Massacre: A Coroner’s Inquest into the Battle Between Knights of Labor and Mine Owners
In January 1890, Seattle Sheriff Cochrane deployed militia to Newcastle to suppress a miners' strike. When a riot erupted at Coal Creek, one man was killed and ten arrested. The subsequent coroner's inquest revealed a chaotic scene where union men claimed self-defense against armed mine owners, while the sheriff dismissed the Knights of Labor as 'too excitable.'
- Four Sections Burn Along the Pend Oreille
A week-long blaze near Ruby Creek is finally checked, leaving ranchers, timber and a county bridge in ashes—and one firefighter carried ten miles to safety.
- The Murder in the Bunkhouse North of Auburn
A young Japanese labor contractor was beaten and killed as he slept in a cabin on J.W. Nails's farm; a roommate was jailed while blood trails, a loaded musket and an opium pipe deepened the mystery.
- 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 Narrow Escape of Aberdeen
A pre-dawn fire in a downtown barber shop threatened to raze the young city, but a swift response from the local hose company stopped the flames before they reached the business district.
- The Struggle for Seattle's Water System
City leaders push for public control of the water works following a devastating fire and urban expansion.
- The Ship That Smuggled Opium: How a Legal Loophole Freed a Vessel and $13,000 in Penalties
Judge Hanford rules that the steamer *Walla Walla* is not liable for contraband found in its cargo because the master lacked knowledge of the smuggling, setting a precedent for common carriers.
- The Saloon That Wouldn't Leave
A legal war erupts over a property lease, testing whether a landlord is responsible for ousting a tenant after selling the building.
- A Wife's Testimony Was Enough: Supreme Court Reverses Divorce Denial
The Washington Supreme Court ruled that a wife's own account of cruelty and habitual drunkenness could justify a divorce, reversing a lower court that had dismissed Nellie Lee's case.
Also about this, in other words
- The Phantom Section Hands of the Northern Pacific
A roadmaster at Cle Elum is arrested for padding six railroad crews with fictitious workers—until a foreman’s conscience, and the auditors, caught up with him.
- The Ghost of a Bullet
A Civil War veteran finds a long-forgotten piece of shrapnel finally working its way out of his body twenty years after the battle.
- The Section House Shootout
Fed up with a string of thefts, a railway foreman takes the law into his own hands and shoots a intruder on the tracks.
- The Empathetic Pup of Idol Hill
A local carpenter finds comfort in a loyal companion who mirrors his own physical struggle.
- The Whole Thing
A heated clash between a city councilman and the acting mayor erupts over procedural power struggles.
- The Shadow Over Section Five
A contested land parcel near the city has become the center of a legal standoff, as heirs of the late J. M. Hopkins complicate the Northern Pacific Railroad's claims.
- A Mangled Dynamo, A Crippled Provider
A young Tacoma motorman loses his arm while performing a dangerous maintenance task on a moving streetcar.
- The City Hall Tug-of-War Over Power
A legal opinion opens the door for a private utility to power a public school, sparking a heated debate over city charter boundaries.