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 | 3 |
| 1858 | 4 |
| 1859 | 2 |
| 1860 | 5 |
| 1861 | 9 |
| 1862 | 10 |
| 1863 | 7 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 10 |
| 1876 | 107 |
| 1877 | 79 |
| 1878 | 20 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 14 |
| 1882 | 11 |
| 1883 | 58 |
| 1884 | 18 |
| 1885 | 65 |
| 1886 | 36 |
| 1887 | 28 |
| 1888 | 46 |
| 1889 | 82 |
| 1890 | 11 |
| 1891 | 70 |
| 1892 | 154 |
| 1893 | 165 |
| 1894 | 122 |
| 1895 | 158 |
| 1897 | 2 |
| 1898 | 7 |
| 1899 | 32 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 5 |
| 1904 | 37 |
| 1907 | 1 |
| 1908 | 3 |
| 1909 | 15 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1912 | 2 |
| 1914 | 5 |
| 1915 | 16 |
| 1916 | 14 |
| 1917 | 4 |
| 1924 | 1 |
1,442 stories matching port
- The Hoodooed Ship That Left Three Dead
At Port Townsend, sailors call the Linlithgowshire cursed after a third officer is killed—and the ship’s recent history makes the word stick.
- Fifty Dollars for a Clean Bill of Health
A quarantine officer charged a sealing schooner $50 to steam over and inspect her — and shipping men say the fee was less public health than protection money.
- A $100 Warrant and a City's Credit: Port Angeles Officials Push Back
The mayor and clerk deny a Taxpayers' Union charge, defend a hurried trip to Seattle to pay bond interest, and produce an affidavit against a fellow councilman.
- Norwegian Ship Enters Seattle, Sparking Consular Dispute
A Norwegian ship’s docking in Port Blakeley triggers a jurisdictional tug-of-war between competing consuls and the race to capture maritime trade.
- The Steamship That Got Lost in Plain Sight
A maritime mystery in the Puget Sound ends when a confused mate mistakes the entrance to Port Madison, leading to a grounding and a desperate, multi-vessel search.
- The Plague at the Doorstep: Seattle’s Battle Against Smallpox in 1877
As smallpox ravages Port Orchard and Salmon Bay, the city's Health Officer takes drastic quarantine measures against Indigenous communities, highlighting the fragile public health infrastructure of early Seattle.
- The Natchez of Puget Sound: A Commercial Hub Rising from the Mist
A dispatch from Port Townsend reveals a bustling port city defined by its Customs House and steamship trade, sharply contrasting with Seattle's own rapid development.
- The Card Sharps Who Picked the Wrong Captain—and Sailed to Peru
Two Seattle gamblers went to Port Townsend to fleece the master of the British ship Dimsdale. He found out, shanghaied them both, and set sail for Callao.
- The Strategic Move of a Custom House
Congress orders the transfer of the Port of Entry for Puget Sound from Port Townsend to Port Angeles, sparking local political controversy.
- The Paper War: Port Townsend vs. Seattle
In 1876, a small rival town accused Seattle of economic sabotage over who printed their business cards.
- The Plan to Ring Puget Sound With Forts—and Put Big Guns on Magnolia Bluff
A federal fortification scheme would turn Magnolia Bluff, Admiralty Inlet and Marrowstone Point into a defensive ring around the new Port Orchard navy yard—if Congress paid for it.
- The Shingle That Carried Washington Through the Panic of 1893
A year-end accounting of the state's sawmills and shingle mills shows a timber empire reaching twenty-two foreign countries — and a rail trade down 25 percent as the national depression bites.
- The Lumber Trust Strikes: 1,400 Men Cast Adrift in the Pacific Northwest
In a coordinated move across Puget Sound, the 'lumber trust' shuts down mills from Port Gamble to Port Madison, citing Southern California market weakness and throwing over a thousand workers into unemployment.
- The Judge Who Played Faro: Port Townsend’s Bar Association Moves to Impeach Morris Sachs
In a stunning display of civic outrage, local attorneys and property owners present sworn affidavits to the state legislature alleging that Superior Court Judge Morris B. Sachs regularly gambled on illegal faro games and prejudged cases before hearing them.
- The Day the Sloop Fired on a Federal Cutter
In 1860, twenty-four Port Townsend citizens chartered a sloop to save $5 on fares to Olympia. When intercepted by a revenue cutter, their captain opened fire with a brass howitzer—only to discover he’d just threatened the U.S. government.
- The Broken Promise of the University
A bitter civic dispute over why the territorial university moved from Port Townsend to Seattle, revealing 19th-century political maneuvering and broken handshakes.
- The Port of Tacoma's Race for Global Trade
James J. Hill’s new steamship fleet creates a fierce rivalry between Tacoma and Seattle to secure the role of primary Pacific Northwest shipping hub.
- The Fight for a Port Townsend Customs House
A Congressman makes a spirited plea to Washington D.C. for funds to house the booming commerce of the Puget Sound district.
- The Customs Wars at the Port of Townsend
A power struggle over maritime jurisdiction leaves a British ship detained and the business community in an uproar.
- Kennewick to Vote on Forming Port District in 1916
Voters face a pivotal election to establish the Port of Kennewick and authorize the purchase of a dock and the dredging of the Columbia River.
- The Man Who Thought He Owned Seattle Died Chasing a Ghost Fortune
Henry Zechow spent nine years and a small army of lawyers trying to claim an uncle's imaginary empire—including a block of downtown Seattle—before his body turned up in the Fraser River.
- The Tax War That Almost Killed Seattle's Economy
In 1877, a federal order threatened to strip Seattle of its tax base by forcing steamships to register their 'home port' in Port Townsend. The local press warned that without this revenue, the county would collapse.
- The Navy Was Coaling in British Ports, Ignoring Seattle's Mines
When local business leaders discovered U.S. warships were bypassing Puget Sound coal for Canadian supplies, they triggered a federal investigation and a new policy.
- The Ghost Ship of Port Townsend
A British bark vanishes in the fog off Washington’s coast; a court of inquiry clears the crew, but not before two men drown and the master walks away with nothing.
- The Midnight Elopement on the Sound
When parents blocked a teenage romance in Port Gamble, a sympathetic reverend and a fast steamer turned a family feud into a dramatic escape across the border.
Also about this, in other words
- The Strategic Choice of Port Orchard
A government commission selects Sinclair Harbor as the ideal location for the Pacific Navy Yard, citing its natural defenses and proximity to Seattle and Tacoma.
- The Price of Industrial Progress: A Port Madison Tragedy
A dockside worker is crushed while maneuvering heavy machinery, highlighting the precarious nature of labor in the Puget Sound timber industry.
- Vancouver’s 1792 Exploration of Port Orchard
A historic excerpt from Captain George Vancouver’s 1792 journals describing the discovery and naming of the harbor we know today as Port Orchard.
- Voters Approve Port of Kennewick District
A three-to-one victory secures public control of the riverfront, marking a new era for local infrastructure and development.
- The Battle for Port Orchard's Dry Dock
Local residents petition the Navy to investigate alleged contractor favoritism in the growth of Charleston.
- A Steam-Powered Saturday at the Ballgame
In 1877, a merry crew boarded the steamer 'Nellie' for a day of baseball and feasting at Port Gamble, capturing a rare moment of community harmony on the Sound.
- Life at the Port Discovery Mill
A dispatch from the bustling lumber town of Port Discovery, where 200 men—including Chinese and Indigenous laborers—keep one of the Pacific Coast's largest mills running day and night.
- The Boss’s Iron Rule at Port Madison
At the isolated timber colony of Port Madison, the mill owner maintains total control over his workers' lives—and is preparing to banish any employee who dares frequent a new saloon.