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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 3 |
| 1877 | 3 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1880 | 3 |
| 1883 | 3 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1887 | 2 |
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| 1893 | 4 |
| 1894 | 6 |
| 1895 | 3 |
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| 1919 | 1 |
40 stories matching portag
- The Canal That Never Was: How Island Residents Tried to Cut Through the Sound
In 1892, residents of Vashon and Maury Islands held a rally to propose digging a canal through the portage between their islands, aiming to shorten travel times to Seattle and Tacoma.
- 7,000 Miners Head for the Skagit, But High Water Halts the Diggings
Spring freshets wash out the wingdams on Ruby Creek while hundreds of men wait at the Portage for a trail and pack animals — and California newspapers predict a stampede of thousands.
- The Judge Who Warned Seattle Not to Sell Its Waterfront to a Canal Company
In 1894, Judge John J. McGilvra urged Congress to build the Lake Washington Ship Canal and warned that a private company's tideflat scheme would put tolls on the water and enrich speculators at public expense.
- Tragedy at the Portage: The Frozen Waters of Lake Union
A young immigrant worker drowns in the icy canal connecting Seattle's lakes, leaving his brother to mourn in a community built on the promise of infrastructure development.
- Down the Dark Drift: A Tour of Seattle’s Coal Mines
In December 1876, a reporter takes readers on an arduous journey from Lake Union to Newcastle to witness the grueling labor and industrial scale of Puget Sound's most vital industry.
- The Unfinished Ditch That Could Have Remade Seattle
An 1877 proposal to carve a channel between Lake Washington and the Sound highlights the ambitious—and forgotten—infrastructure dreams that once defined the city’s early development.
- Seattle Wined and Dined the Legislature to Sell the Ship Canal
In February 1893, city leaders invited every state lawmaker to Seattle at city expense—then walked them to the Lake Washington portage to argue for county bonds and a canal.
- Tragedy on the Skagit: Six Miners Lost in River Crossing
A supply-laden canoe capsized near the Portage, ending the lives of six men seeking their fortune in the gold-rich mountains.
- Tragic Logging Accident at Lake Union
A woodchopper is killed instantly by a falling limb while working near the Lake Union portage.
- The Secretary of the Navy Rides a Streetcar and Sees Seattle's Future
Secretary of the Navy Herbert spends a rainy Sabbath touring the proposed Lake Washington ship canal, is dazzled by the view from Broadway, and declares the waterway not only certain but a naval refuge in wartime.
- The Murder on Lummi Island: A Headless Corpse Found by the Trail
W. J. Bailey stumbles upon a decomposed body opposite the portage, sparking fears of violence in the quiet waters of Puget Sound.
- The River Highway Opens
A new transportation link connects the Inland Empire to Portland, promising a surge in regional trade.
- Gold Fever Reaches Steilacoom by Schooner
A Saturday arrival brings word of gold at Fort Yale, a turn-by-turn route up the Fraser River, and a miner's warning that provisions are very high.
- The Struggle for the Panama Portage
A power struggle between railroad titans over a critical transit monopoly leaves the Pacific Mail Steamship Company reeling.
- Digging the Portage Canal
A progress report on the ambitious project to connect Lake Washington and Lake Union by a man-made waterway.
- The Gateway to the Skagit Gold Fields
Developers race to establish a supply town at the head of navigation as miners push into the remote wilderness of the Skagit River.
- The Great Land Grab of 1878: A Territorial Tug-of-War
While D.C. legislators bickered over the Northern Pacific Railroad's land grants and portage routes, Washington Territory settlers fought to secure their homestead rights against corporate expansion.
- The Dream of a Lake Washington Canal Takes Root
Prominent businessmen incorporate the Washington Improvement Company to link the lakes, eyeing a future of farm-rich expansion and city growth.
- Seattle's Bid to Be the Liverpool of America
In 1895, boosters imagined a Lake Washington ship canal turning Puget Sound into a freshwater harbor for world commerce, coal trade, and naval power.
- Farmers Take Flood Control Into Their Own Hands
Facing constant inundation and corporate inaction, local valley farmers plan to bypass the existing canal system.
- The Great Northern's Secret Path Through Seattle
A quiet scheme to carve a tunnel through Beacon Hill and reshape the city's rail infrastructure.
- Surveyors Map a Path for the Lake Washington Ship Canal
A mysterious but well-funded crew begins the long, arduous work of designing a canal to connect the Sound to Lake Washington.
- Farmers Petition to Reshape the Duwamish Basin
Facing constant flooding and ruin, regional farmers unite to demand a massive engineering project to redirect the Cedar River and deepen the waterways of Seattle.
- The Day Seattle Rode the Rails to Lake Union
In 1872, the completion of the Seattle Coal Company’s railway from the waterfront to the lake offered a thrilling, soot-stained excursion for a city eager to join the industrial age.
- The Buried Wealth of King County: Seattle’s Industrial Rise
How a series of accidental discoveries and ambitious railway projects transformed the coal industry around Seattle, turning the region into an industrial powerhouse of the Pacific Northwest.
Also about this, in other words
- Tragedy in the Bay: A Fatal Scuffle at Port Townsend
A playful afternoon turned fatal when a young sailor fell from his boat and vanished into the waters of Port Townsend Bay.
- Industrial Explosion at Port Gamble Mill
A boiler rupture at the Kitsap County lumber mill leaves an engineer severely scalded, highlighting the physical dangers of the region's dominant timber industry.
- The Flat-Iron, the Umbrella, and the Inkstand: A Port Townsend Divorce Suit
J. K. Meyer's divorce petition turns a respectable Port Townsend marriage into a catalogue of thrown household goods, alleged affairs, and very public embarrassment.
- The Town That Lost Its Custom House
An observant traveler visits Port Townsend and finds a community reeling from political retaliation and questionable pulpit interpretations.
- A Tragic Labor Tragedy at the Port Gamble Mill
A young laborer, driven by economic necessity to work beyond his experience, loses his life in a mill accident.
- Riot in Port Townsend: Citizens vs. Sailors on the Verge of Violence
A tense standoff erupts as local citizens arm themselves to prevent Coast Seamen's Union members from boarding the steamer Sumatra, leading to arrests and imminent bloodshed.
- 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 Battle for Port Orchard's Dry Dock
Local residents petition the Navy to investigate alleged contractor favoritism in the growth of Charleston.