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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 16 |
| 1877 | 14 |
| 1878 | 5 |
| 1880 | 4 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 7 |
| 1884 | 3 |
| 1885 | 6 |
| 1886 | 4 |
| 1887 | 10 |
| 1888 | 15 |
| 1889 | 33 |
| 1890 | 7 |
| 1891 | 34 |
| 1892 | 56 |
| 1893 | 67 |
| 1894 | 50 |
| 1895 | 90 |
| 1897 | 7 |
| 1898 | 25 |
| 1899 | 15 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1902 | 4 |
| 1903 | 51 |
| 1904 | 38 |
| 1905 | 6 |
| 1907 | 3 |
| 1908 | 28 |
| 1909 | 79 |
| 1910 | 23 |
| 1911 | 7 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 16 |
| 1915 | 18 |
| 1916 | 32 |
| 1917 | 17 |
| 1918 | 6 |
| 1923 | 12 |
| 1924 | 15 |
| 1925 | 2 |
831 stories matching plant
- 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.
- Eastern Capital Bets on Newport's Electric Future
Flynn Bros. plan a 600-horsepower plant four times the current size, promising day-and-night power and a magnet for manufacturers.
- Ballard Wins a Round in Its Water War—But the Fight Isn't Over
A judge refused to permanently stop Ballard's council from buying the West Coast Improvement Company's waterworks, finding the city could use the pipe in its new plant. Inspector Shields immediately appealed.
- The $80,000 Cranberry Bog Behind the Ilwaco Beach
A state commissioner tours Pacific County's cranberry marsh — 1,600 acres, 7,280 bushels shipped to San Francisco, 200 pickers at fifty cents a bushel, and a company openly hoping to replace its Chinese crew with white labor.
- Three Light Plants Become One, With a Promise of Cheap Electricity
The Union Electric Company and the Seattle Gas & Electric Light Company have merged into the Union Illumination Company. Boilers are being hauled to the Grant Street bridge powerhouse, and the new manager says rate cuts are two weeks away.
- Seattle's $3 Million Steel Dream on Salmon Bay
A new blast furnace and steel works promised thousands of jobs, a freight-car plant, and 23,000 new residents—if the boosters were to be believed.
- Buy Our Waterworks, or We'll Sell You to a Syndicate
Tacoma's Light and Water Company files its inventory for a $1.75 million city buyout — and a critic notes that the company has always known how to win a Tacoma election.
- Tacoma's 1909 Fight to Own Its Power
On the eve of a city election, advocates urged voters to approve a $2 million municipal light and power plant—and warned the private power trust would lie to stop them.
- Tacoma's Water Chief Accused—and the City Hall Feud Behind It
Mayor Orr's appointment of George H. Hollidge to run Tacoma's water and light plants blew up into a public corruption fight, with secret affidavits, anonymous postal cards and a grand jury waiting.
- A River Harnessed: Metaline's $350,000 Power Plant
Sylvester Engineering wins the contract for a 10,000-horsepower development on Sullivan Creek, with surplus electricity promised to the Metaline mines.
- The Taxpayer Who Sued to Stop Ballard’s Water Deal
A $1,800 purchase of pipe and tools from a private water company sparked a court fight over public money and municipal ownership in Ballard.
- Seattle's 1895 Warning: Secure Cedar River Water Before Private Speculators Do
City Engineer R. H. Thomson says Seattle's overworked pumps cannot survive another summer and urges the city to buy the Cedar River watershed, dams and reservoir sites while it still can.
- Seattle’s Iron Dream: The $3 Million Plant That Promised to Remake Puget Sound
In the wake of a depression, boosters announced a blast-furnace and steel-works complex on Salmon Bay — plus a freight-car factory — predicting thousands of jobs and 25,000 new residents.
- Tacoma Votes to Take the Power Back
Mayor Linck urges a city-owned plant as Tacoma goes to the polls against the private power monopoly.
- City Council Mulls Municipal Asphalt Plant
Proponents argue that a city-run paving operation could cut costs by 10 percent, potentially paying for its own installation in just two jobs.
- Three Small Breweries, Thirty Acres, and a Thirsty Pacific
Seven years after two men opened a shed-sized brewery in South Seattle, the consolidated Seattle Brewing and Malting Company was shipping lager to Honolulu, Australia and Japan — and boasting that it had made the city the brewing capital of the Northwest.
- The Great Tree Planting Contest: Who Knows How to Grow a Forest in Seattle?
A local committee has rejected the first round of submissions for a $150 prize on orchard design, declaring them insufficient. Now, they are asking the public to try again with a more rigorous plan for planting 30 acres of fruit trees.
- The City Says 'No' to the Power Barons: Wenatchee Rejects Electric Company Buyout
In a bold move for municipal independence, the Wenatchee City Council rejects a $100,000 offer to buy the local electric plant, citing exorbitant prices and inadequate infrastructure.
- The Milk That Made Kent Grow
Kent's condenseries turn White River Valley milk into Carnation and baby food, and a struggling village becomes a dairy boomtown.
- The Green Gold Rush: How Kennewick’s Asparagus Boom Became a Local Gold Mine
Local growers are realizing that with the right fertilizer and strict quality control, their valley's asparagus is commanding top prices and opening doors to eastern markets.
- A Steel Mill for Tacoma
Investors finalize plans to bring a large-scale steel fabricating plant to Tacoma, promising new industry and jobs.
- A Battery Factory in the Pines: Newport Bets Its Future on Dry Cells
One of only two dry-cell battery plants west of the Mississippi opens in Newport, promising 25 jobs by September and a thousand cells a day by fall.
- Milk Prices Jump as Condensed Milk Company Shakes Up Dairy Market
A new condensed milk plant has driven milk prices to their highest in years, delighting farmers in the White River Valley—but the company needs more milk before it can move to Kent.
- The Man Who Sold Yakima Valley a New Miracle Crop Every Week
A Seattle farm journal accuses the Post-Intelligencer of letting Joel Shomaker tout Russian brome grass, teosinte, ginseng and squabs as the valley's next sure fortune.
- The Power Struggle for Seattle’s Future
As the city council investigates the Cedar River water rights dispute, a fierce corporate war erupts between the Snoqualmie Falls Power Company and the Union Electric Company, threatening to monopolize the region's energy supply.
Also about this, in other words
- The 'Plant Scurvy' Plague
A state official claims a revolutionary cure for orchard blights, blaming soil chemistry rather than disease.
- The Unseen Labor of a Garden Hand
A day-laborer finds beauty and respite in the shadow of a forsythia bush while waiting for the train to bring the town’s elite back from their business.
- A Botanical Surprise in Colville Valley
A local entrepreneur discovers that tobacco can thrive in the limestone soils of the far North, challenging previous assumptions about regional agriculture.
- The Weed That Beat Wheat Hay
A Cheney-area farmer's experiment with prickly lettuce convinced him the despised weed was better cattle feed than his best wheat and oat hay.
- The Fight for the Nitrate Plant
Federal engineers scour Priest Rapids, scouting a location for a massive $20 million government facility.
- Betting on the Valley's Harvest
Local farmers and 'soldier settlers' unite to experiment with commercial vegetable production, aiming for a cooperative future.
- 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.'
- Power Struggle: Rebuilding the City's Light
Following a devastating fire, the city's electric light plant scrambles to rebuild its capacity while equipment remains delayed in transit.