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 |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 5 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1891 | 5 |
| 1892 | 1 |
| 1893 | 2 |
| 1894 | 1 |
| 1895 | 2 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1916 | 1 |
32 stories matching phenomenon
- The Tides That Move the Wells of Ocosta
Early settlers discover a natural phenomenon where groundwater levels mimic the Pacific tides.
- The Strange Religious 'Shaking' Phenomenon on the Sound
A new and puzzling religious movement among Indigenous communities on the Skokomish Reservation draws warnings from the government.
- Six Men Climbed a Smoking Rainier in Midwinter
When Mount Rainier seemed to erupt in 1894, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer sent Maj. E. S. Ingraham and five companions up the Carbon River in deep winter to find out what was really happening.
- The Great Migration of Seattle’s Buildings
A peculiar phenomenon hits Pacific Avenue as wooden structures vacate their lots to make way for the city's new brick ambitions.
- The Tailor Who Floated
A tailor discovered dead in Lake Washington defied the depths thanks to a gruesome phenomenon of physics.
- The Chinese Exclusion Crisis: Seattle’s Marshal Refuses to Free Detainees
District Attorney White and Judge Walsh clash over the legality of holding forty Chinese residents under federal exclusion laws, revealing a deep rift between local enforcement and constitutional rights.
- The Cigar Drunkards of Seattle
In 1877, police were baffled by a new phenomenon: Native Americans getting intoxicated not from liquor, but from smoking cigars. As the city grappled with enforcement of temperance laws, this bizarre loophole left officers scratching their heads and citizens demanding new legislation.
- Mount Baker Wakes: Smoke, a New Rent, and an Earthquake at Dawn
Smoke rises a thousand feet from the Twin Sisters and Mount Baker, a fresh quarter-mile crack opens in the mountain, and a predawn shock rattles Whatcom County residents.
- The Great Herring Flood: When the Duwamish River Turned White
May 1877: A bizarre natural phenomenon turns Seattle’s waterways into a slippery, smelly carpet of dead fish, while loggers race to beat an early spring flood.
- The Engineer Who Tamed the Tides: Col. Wilson’s Blueprint for Snohomish’s Future
A master engineer presents a radical plan to dredge the Columbia and Willamette rivers, promising to unlock Seattle's potential by reshaping the very geography of the Pacific Northwest.
- The Myth of the Rain-Soaked Seattle Winter
An 1886 editorial blasts federal meteorologists for misrepresenting Puget Sound weather to the rest of the nation.
- The Mystery of the Creeping Rail
A phantom force is physically shifting the interurban line's tracks toward Tacoma, baffling engineers and causing havoc with the electrical system.
- The Man Who Believed Time Was Racing
A railroad laborer in a remote mountain camp suffers a psychological break after a near-fatal cave-in, convinced he is living at an accelerated pace.
- Strange Earth Upheaval Floods Queets River Basin
A geological mystery near the mouth of the Queets River has flooded valuable land, baffling local observers.
- Two Miles Perched on the Lower Circle of a Rainbow
A Shelton legislator's private letter describing a steamer passage up Hammersley's Inlet becomes the best prose in the paper — a circle of prismatic color, starfish, glaciers and one awestruck captain.
- A Bolt Out of a Clear Sky Passes Inches From a Sleeping Man
Lightning hits the flagpole of the Walla Walla Athletic Club on West Alder at seven in the morning, tears a hole in the roof, rips an American flag down through the building — and leaves manager S. S. Bettman untouched in his bed.
- The Haunted Spring Mystery
A lonely Lake Washington homesteader risks his life to find the source of an uncanny, mournful wailing in the woods, only to discover a bizarre piece of litter at the center of the phenomenon.
- An Ethereal Display Over the Pacific Northwest
A witness reports a strange, luminous phenomenon over the Washington plains that left onlookers spellbound.
- The First White Family: A Pioneer’s Log-Cabin Legacy
An excerpt from the diary of a local historian recounts the arrival of Mr. Thompson in Snohomish in 1864, detailing the rugged journey up the river and the humble beginnings of what is now a thriving town.
- Camp Kelpie: A Seattle Hunting Party in the Last Great Bear Country
In 1895, Seattle sportsmen pitched camp on Hood Canal between the Duckabush and Hamma Hamma rivers and found a wilderness thick with black bear, salmon, and one very unlucky tenderfoot.
- The Ice That Wasn't: A Steamship Captain’s Tale of Frozen Lake Chelan
In the mild winter of 1907, a steamboat captain on Lake Chelan reported sailing through sheets of ice that shouldn't have existed. His account, initially met with skepticism, offers a rare glimpse into the unpredictable microclimates of the Washington interior.
- The Grasshopper Exodus: How a Plague in Nebraska is Filling Seattle's Streets
As locusts devour the Midwest, desperate farmers look to Washington Territory for salvation—and the *Intelligencer* sees an opportunity to boost settlement.
- Prehistoric Forest Unearthed Beneath Seattle Streets
Construction on the south sewer tunnel reveals evidence of a buried forest floor deep beneath the city's surface.
- A Rare Celestial Display Over the Highlands
The aurora borealis put on its most vivid show in memory last Saturday, capturing the attention of Kennewick residents.
- The Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay Interview
A rare glimpse into the life of the sensational English stage star Lottie Collins, who candidly discusses the exhausting reality of performing the world's most popular song.
Also about this, in other words
- The Invisible Army Under the Microscope
A scientific lecture delivered in Snohomish contemplates the origins of life, the invisible world of bacteria, and the processes of decay.
- The Invisible Milky Way in a Glass of Wine
A scientific lecture from 1878 explores the 'vital ether' and the microscopic life forces that drive fermentation.
- The Science of 'Degeneracy' in the Courtroom
Tacoma experts describe the dubious medical pseudoscience used to argue insanity and 'degeneracy' in high-stakes murder trials.
- The Doctor Who Walked Among Us: A Case of Acute Alcoholism
In a rare moment of public health transparency, the Snohomish Star details the physiological dangers of heavy drinking, warning that moderate consumption can turn a man into a 'walking dynamite' ready to explode at the sight of a candle.
- Sensationalism Pursues a Former New York Educator
A cruel smear campaign against a Seattle man proves the devastating power of yellow journalism in the young state of Washington.
- The Cosmic Illusion at the Seattle Theatre
A scientific lecture turned spectacular, the 'Urania' show brings the moon and the stars to downtown Seattle through the magic of electricity and stagecraft.
- The Sermon of Science in Snohomish
A local lecture series bridges the gap between theology and natural history, framing evolution not as a conflict with the divine, but as the 'eternal reign of law.'
- Annie Besant and the Science of the Astral
A prominent Theosophist lecturer brings mystical discourse to the Seattle Theater, claiming that science confirms the existence of the 'astral body.'