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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1876 | 3 |
| 1877 | 3 |
| 1883 | 6 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 2 |
| 1893 | 2 |
| 1894 | 1 |
| 1895 | 3 |
| 1908 | 1 |
26 stories matching passabl
- The Struggle for a Passable Road
A survey of the Humptulips road reveals treacherous conditions, sparking a debate over the best way to connect the county.
- The Pioneer Road Builders of Lake Washington
A correspondent reports on the impressive transformation of a rugged trail into a county-grade road, achieved entirely through the voluntary labor of local settlers.
- The Struggle for Sidewalk Accessibility in 1877 Seattle
An early editorial plea highlights the difficulty of navigating the city’s unpaved streets where cows, not just people, claimed the right-of-way.
- Labor Committee Investigates County Hospital
A union committee tasked with inspecting the workmanship of a new county hospital finds the quality passable but critiques the use of the contract system.
- A Wood Wagon Sank in the Mud Outside Good Templars' Hall
A Port Townsend editor told the new town trustees to fix existing roads before launching grand new ones—after neighbors had to unload Peter Smith's wagon to free it.
- The Region Rallies to Welcome Henry Villard
Seattle and Puget Sound towns prepare a unified celebration for the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad's president.
- The Price of Crossing the Cascades
A legislative proposal seeks $10,000 to bridge the Snoqualmie Pass, promising a new lifeline between Seattle and the inland valleys.
- Crossing the Cascades on a Shoestring
A state commission pivots from building a failed mountain road to creating a simple pack-animal trail.
- A Road to Nowhere on the Wishkah
Thousands of dollars have been spent on a road that remains unpassable, and the city's editorial board wants work restarted to put the unemployed to use.
- The City’s Refusal to Put Prisoners to Work
An 1877 editorial slams Seattle’s leadership for failing to use jail inmates to clear public road obstructions, citing the 'delicate hands' of the prisoners.
- The Great County Road Grift
A skeptical resident argues that the proposed county road bond is a pork-barrel scheme that ignores the actual needs of the region's infrastructure.
- Forging a Path Through Snoqualmie Pass
Driven by the hardships of shipping livestock down the Columbia River, local ranchers have hacked a new cattle trail over the Cascades.
- Taming the Snohomish River
After six years of washed-out roads and frantic land acquisition, Snohomish County finally takes a permanent stand against the river's erosion.
- The Great Tax Assessment Mess of 1887
Seattle and King County property owners find their tax rolls hopelessly entangled in errors, leaving public officials to question if the entire assessment should be scrapped.
- The Struggle for an Inland Route
Olympia’s leadership frets that without a wagon road over the Cascades, the capital city risks losing its status to the burgeoning trade of the Upper Columbia.
- The Great Mountain Road Debate of 1877
As Seattle dreamed of a transcontinental railroad, settlers in the Kittitas Valley argued that a simple wagon road was the true key to their economic survival.
- The Muddy Arteries of Early Seattle
Decades before modern paving, Seattle’s civic leaders struggled to build a passable road to the Renton coal mines, leaving thousands of settlers and farmers stranded in the mire.
- Two Neighbors Decide to Build Their Own Road to Town
Farmers of the Calispel valley and two men along the route plan a new road that skips the Bobier hill grade and shaves two miles off the haul to Newport — if the town will chip in.
- The Struggle to Keep Seattle Clean in 1888
As Seattle prepared for a massive influx of tourists for a summer celebration, one citizen publicly shamed the city's leadership for allowing its streets to remain a cluttered, hazardous mess of construction debris.
- The Slate Creek Boom Shrinks to 500 Miners
Two Fairhaven men return from the North Cascades with word that the stampede to Slate Creek was far smaller than reported — and that snow, unpaid bonds, and a half-built trail are cooling the rush.
- Murphy Must Face a Second Jury for the Copper Chief Saloon Killing
A double-jeopardy plea fails in Seattle, and jury selection opens in the 1892 murder of barkeeper Phil Dawes over a bottle of whisky bought on credit.
- The Road Less Traveled: Seattle’s Shameful Contrast with Victoria’s Fine Highways
In 1876, the local press lambasted King County’s broken road system, praising British Columbia’s turnpikes as a model for Seattle’s own stagnant development.
- The Case for a Wagon Road Over Stevens Pass
A Skykomish correspondent pitches a $40,000 public road from Seattle to Tolt and over the old Great Northern tote road, so farmers needn't pay the railroad to cross one hill.
- Trail Wars: Spokane Fights for the Road to the Coeur d'Alene Gold
As prospectors rush the new Coeur d'Alene diggings, Spokane boosters battle a Portland paper over which trail is passable — and who gets to outfit the stampede.
- A Sixty-Mile Ditch and a Railroad Over the Mountains: Seattle Money Goes East
Judge Lewis reports from Yakima: new banks, booming towns, and a plan by Seattle investors to reclaim 350,000 acres of desert with a canal — while 1,000 men push the Northern Pacific's Cascade Branch toward Snoqualmie Pass.