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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1884 | 2 |
| 1889 | 2 |
| 1891 | 3 |
| 1892 | 5 |
| 1893 | 6 |
| 1894 | 7 |
| 1895 | 6 |
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| 1914 | 2 |
40 stories matching placer
- Monte Cristo’s Residents vs. the Placer Claim
A federal commissioner orders a new hearing in the fight over whether a mining claim swallowed a Snohomish County townsite.
- They Struck Gold in the Middle of Tacoma — Or Said They Did
Placer miners claim a patch of state school land inside the city is a rich mining camp. The state is drilling to bed rock to find out who is right.
- The Gold That Wasn't There: How Speculators Tried to Mine Their Way Into a Public School Section
A Tacoma hardware merchant swore a state school tract was rich placer ground. The state bored over a thousand feet of shafting, found less than a cent of gold per yard, and still had to fight to keep its own land.
- The Gold in Swauk Creek — and the Railroad That Wanted the Ground Under It
Miners in Kittitas County had quietly pulled a fortune in placer gold from Swauk Creek for over a decade. When the Northern Pacific moved to patent the land, they finally went public with the numbers.
- The Homesteader Who Outlasted a Mining Town
A long land fight at Loomis ends with Napoleon Sabourin keeping his homestead against Samuel Silverman's placer claims and the townsite of Loomiston.
- The Trial That Nearly Triggered a Lynching
A Whatcom jury's acquittal of George Bwiloos for a brutal murder left the town in an uproar, sparking a desperate, failed manhunt by local citizens.
- Seven Hundred Miles on Horseback: Two Seattle Men Ride the Raw Edge of Eastern Washington
C. W. Loomis and E. D. Manning return from a month in the saddle — snow-choked passes, waterless deserts, blasting on the Great Northern grade, a mining camp on edge after a killing, and a Colville reservation not yet legally open to whites.
- The Gold Bonanza Beneath the Palouse
On the headwaters of the North Palouse, two Farmington brothers struck a quartz ledge they say assays at more than $6,000 a ton — and they swear not one inch of it is for sale.
- Chasing the Mother Lode in the Cascades
A prospector shares his frustrated search for the source of placer gold in the northern Cascades.
- The Tacoma Gold Rush That Was Salted With Quicksilver
A mining journal exposes how placer claims on Tacoma school land turned a public trust into a speculative jackpot—complete with imported gold, alleged bribery, and a land office that kept saying yes.
- Blood Shed Over a Mining Claim
A dispute over a placer mining claim in the Chewelah district turned violent, leaving three men fatally shot.
- The Man Who Found Gold on the McMillan
C.P. Osborne returns from the Yukon with tales of rich placer deposits and starving travelers, predicting a new gold rush rivaling Klondike.
- Salted Gold and a School Section: Tacoma's Land Fight Heads to Hearing
State officials say a notorious South Tacoma placer claim was salted with gold colors, while the attorney general and ex-Governor Swineford trade charges over the investigation.
- A Miner's Pockets Full of Gold Nuggets — and a Placer Strike 40 Miles From Town
A Spokane Falls businessman bound for the Cœur d'Alene mines never got there, but came back with nuggets and gold-crusted quartz from a richer claim far nearer home.
- A Massive Gold Find in the Swauk Placer Mines
A prospector recovers a fourteen-ounce gold nugget from the Swauk district, highlighting the region's enduring mineral wealth.
- The Rush to Salmon River
A syndicate of California capitalists plans to bring heavy mining machinery to the Yukon region, signaling the looming industrialization of the North.
- Wild Goose Bill Dies in the Doorway of the Hollis King Ranch
The squatter who founded the town of Wilbur came to the King ranch with a six-shooter, shot the woman who had left him, and was killed by the dying man who shot back.
- The Town That Owned Nothing: Metaline's Squatters Fight Two Companies for Their Own Ground
Fifty residents of an unsurveyed Pend Oreille River mining camp petition the Spokane land office for a federal townsite — after a silver-lead company and a cement-clay claimant both tried to patent the ground out from under their homes.
- The Gold Rush That Never Was
A Tacoma land speculator attempted to claim school property as a 'placer mine,' sparking a massive legal battle and accusations of salted soil.
- The Rancher and the Land-Grabbers
A San Juan Island homesteader faces trial for fighting off a crew of surveyors intent on jumping his claim.
- Trapped in the Snowy Labyrinth of the North Cascades
A Seattle prospecting party seeking a Skagit River mine nearly perishes in a brutal trek through Whatcom County’s mountain wilderness.
- The Rattlesnake Oil Fever
A speculative frenzy grips the region as residents flock to file claims in hopes of striking it rich.
- The Ghost of the Columbia
Decades after a brutal murder on the Columbia River, local lore claims a restless spirit still haunts the site.
- Seattle to Ottawa: Hands Off Alaska
The Chamber of Commerce refused arbitration over Britain's boundary claims, warning that Canada was trying to take Alaska's harbors and the young city's northern trade.
- Steamboats and Gold Dreams on the Skagit
A traveler recounts the frantic race of riverboats up the Skagit and the sudden discovery of gold nuggets high above the river, fueling hopes for a new frontier.
Also about this, in other words
- The Automatic Suitor-Smacker
A fed-up father builds a booby-trapped gate to drive away his daughters' persistent suitors, turning a domestic headache into a mechanical triumph.
- The Landlady of Cherry Street
A Seattle lodging house keeper is hauled into court after an altercation with a troublesome tenant—a minor dispute that reveals the grit of a changing city.
- The Street Grader’s Injunction
Prominent real estate developer H.L. Yesler halts work on Third Street with a temporary restraining order against local contractors.
- A Farmyard Tragedy in Hover
An eight-year-old girl is rushed to the hospital after a serious accident with a farm animal.
- A Musical Interruption in Hover
An account of a brief performance by two Black entertainers at a local schoolhouse, filtered through the era's jarring racial language.
- The Midnight Laborer of Seattle’s Waterfront
A rare, intimate portrait of a 19th-century 'night worker' advertising his specialized sanitation services in the growing settlement of Seattle.
- An Expensive Dip in the Sound
A purser's accidental plunge into the harbor leads to a secret payoff to hush a blunder.
- A Lawyer Outwits the Law
After sitting in jail for sixty days without a trial, an enterprising young attorney secures his own release by quoting the state code.