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 | 1 |
| 1859 | 2 |
| 1860 | 2 |
| 1861 | 14 |
| 1862 | 9 |
| 1863 | 5 |
| 1864 | 3 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 12 |
| 1876 | 78 |
| 1877 | 70 |
| 1878 | 55 |
| 1879 | 5 |
| 1880 | 20 |
| 1882 | 16 |
| 1883 | 88 |
| 1884 | 42 |
| 1885 | 88 |
| 1886 | 47 |
| 1887 | 50 |
| 1888 | 46 |
| 1889 | 99 |
| 1890 | 32 |
| 1891 | 99 |
| 1892 | 242 |
| 1893 | 217 |
| 1894 | 266 |
| 1895 | 286 |
| 1897 | 8 |
| 1898 | 24 |
| 1899 | 40 |
| 1900 | 11 |
| 1902 | 11 |
| 1903 | 137 |
| 1904 | 131 |
| 1905 | 5 |
| 1907 | 4 |
| 1908 | 34 |
| 1909 | 137 |
| 1910 | 29 |
| 1911 | 13 |
| 1912 | 13 |
| 1914 | 31 |
| 1915 | 17 |
| 1916 | 59 |
| 1917 | 21 |
| 1918 | 2 |
| 1920 | 1 |
| 1922 | 2 |
| 1923 | 11 |
| 1924 | 6 |
| 1925 | 2 |
| 1928 | 2 |
2,646 stories matching paye
- The Judge Who Gambled Away His Office: Soderberg’s Dramatic Resignation
After the grand jury returned five indictments for extortion and malfeasance in office, District Attorney Joseph Soderberg walked into court, tendered his resignation, and declared he would repay every illegal fee to the county treasury.
- 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.
- The $37,500 Handshake: How Benton County's Tax Crusaders Blessed a Courthouse Deal
Prosser's anti-tax league swore it would guard the public purse to the last janitor's salary. Then its own man changed his mind on Monday, and the Kennewick editor noticed where the $37,500 went.
- 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.
- The People’s Franchise: Seattle Votes Down Municipal Ownership of Streetcars
In a pivotal moment for the city's infrastructure, voters reject the Navin resolution to take control of street railways, cementing private corporate dominance over public transit.
- The Customs Collector and the Straw Men of Puget Sound
A Tacoma official accuses Collector J. C. Saunders of padding the customs payroll with political workers—including a no-show inspector—for work never done at the Interstate Fair.
- Who Pays for the Streets That Boost Land Values?
A taxpayer objects as Olympia considers borrowing from the general fund to cover private street-grading debts in distant additions.
- The Shoe That Could Save Seattle: Why We Must Stop Exporting Our Hides to San Francisco
An editorial in the Puget Sound Dispatch argues that Seattle’s economic survival depends on manufacturing its own boots and shoes locally, rather than shipping raw hides south for a 10% premium.
- The North End's Water Works Fairness Fight
Tacoma’s City Council faces accusations of unequal treatment regarding public infrastructure costs for water hydrants.
- The Single Tax: A Seattle Paper Takes On Henry George
In 1894 the Post-Intelligencer mounts a full-throated attack on Henry George's land-value tax, warning it would 'rob labor' and hand the ground itself to the rich.
- The Receiver Cut Their Pay 2 Cents an Hour. A Judge Made Him Put It Back.
When the Rainier Avenue Electric Railway's court-appointed receiver trimmed motormen's wages from 20 cents to 18 cents an hour, the crews — months behind on pay, with houses in Columbia City bought out of their own wages — took him to court and won.
- Every Hospital Turned Him Away, So the Health Officer Decided to Open One Himself
A contagious patient with nowhere to go, a council that won't pay its bills, and a health commissioner who dug up a forgotten ordinance and stopped asking permission.
- A Receivership Tells Issaquah's Miners There Is No Money for the Old Wages
Seattle Coal and Iron's receiver answers his own employees in superior court: the mine is insolvent, the market is gone, and the pay cut stays.
- Who Should Pay for the Fireboat?
The Tacoma City Council debates whether taxpayers should fund fire protection for industrial waterfront property that pays no local taxes.
- A Michigan Orator Packs the Armory and Rides Down the Populists
Roswell G. Horr brings the Republican gospel of protection and sound money to a standing-room crowd in Seattle — and turns the free-silver men in the hall into the evening's comedy act.
- A County Treasurer Refuses to Pay a Single Warrant
Whatcom County's Populist commissioners ordered old bills paid out of the new year's taxes. The treasurer said no—and the whole county's finances ground to a halt.
- The Boom's Bill Comes Due: Chehalis County Taxpayers Foot the Cost
An Aberdeen editor tallies a quarter-million-dollar tax burden and blames real-estate speculators who promoted 'fool improvements' during the boom, then slipped out of paying.
- City Launches Crackdown on Unpaid Utilities
Tacoma utility officials are enforcing new liens on real estate and securing legal judgments to collect delinquent light and water bills.
- The Lease a Husband Had No Right to Sign
A Tacoma mercantile firm stopped paying $500-a-month rent, arguing the leased property was community property and the wives had never signed. Washington’s Supreme Court said the lease was not absolutely void—but the tenants had rights too.
- Stevens County Weighs a Bond to Retire $25,000 in Warrants
Commissioners ask taxpayers whether to bond the county's outstanding warrants and cut the interest rate from 7 percent to under 4.
- Coroner Threatens to Sue County Over Unpaid Bills
Coroner Askam argues that the county commissioners are unfairly denying him pay for investigating accidental deaths.
- The Man Who Insisted on Paying His Fare
A Swedish immigrant creates a scene at the Northern Pacific depot by trying to pay back a debt to a railroad that didn't even want his money.
- The Lumber Town That Held Worker's Luggage Hostage
A Grays Harbor mill company is exposed for a predatory scheme that left hundreds of laborers stranded without their personal belongings.
- Tacoma's Two-Million-Dollar Question: Buy the Water Works, or Fix the Sewers?
On the eve of a bond vote, Tacoma's taxpayers are told they can have the private water and electric plant and new sewers too. The arithmetic says otherwise: after the purchase, $3,707 is left for sewers.
- A Judge Refuses to Seat Jurors Because Tacoma Has No Money to Pay Them
Judge John Stallcup's one-man budget protest shut down his Tacoma courtroom—and exposed a broken system of delinquent taxes and unpaid jurors.
Also about this, in other words
- Mrs. Dine, Aging Teacher, Needs Community Support
An aging Seattle resident, who once helped build the foundations of the city, now struggles in penury—prompting a call for civic support.
- The Hustle of the Territorial Frontier
A glimpse into the 19th-century mail-order economy, where ambitious merchants sought to capitalize on the labor and curiosity of working-class families across the Pacific Northwest.
- The 'Chisel' Game: How Seattle's Working Class Fought Labor Exploitation
A scathing report from 1887 reveals the corrupt 'ticket' system that allowed middlemen to siphon wages from laborers—a century-old echo of modern gig-economy wage theft.
- The Prosecutor’s Payday Ends
A landmark court ruling forces county attorneys to surrender private legal fees back to the public treasury.
- The Tragedy at the Arcade Saloon
A well-known Seattle boarding house keeper ends his life, leaving behind a young daughter and a legacy of property, marking a grim moment in the city's growth.
- The Tragedy of a Young Belgian Immigrant
After four years building a life in Kennewick, a local slaughterhouse foreman dies of typhoid, leaving behind a young family.