Research the archive
Narrow 22,457 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 |
|---|---|
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 11 |
| 1877 | 7 |
| 1878 | 4 |
| 1880 | 2 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 6 |
| 1885 | 3 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1889 | 5 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 6 |
| 1892 | 6 |
| 1893 | 11 |
| 1894 | 17 |
| 1895 | 4 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 2 |
| 1903 | 8 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 1 |
| 1914 | 4 |
| 1915 | 4 |
| 1916 | 12 |
| 1917 | 8 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 1 |
| 1924 | 2 |
| 1925 | 1 |
138 stories matching potato
- Frost Takes Half the Potato Crop: Kennewick Growers Face Lean Season
A cold spring and killing frosts cut the early potato yield nearly in half, leaving growers with only 20 cars instead of the usual 40—but prices remain strong.
- The Potato Famine That Never Left the Sound
A century and a half ago, Seattle farmers lamented the mysterious collapse of the Puget Sound potato trade, marking the end of a boom that once promised regional prosperity.
- The Great Potato Swindle on the Wishkah
A logger attempts to pull a fast one on a local rancher, leading to a heated riverboat confrontation over the weight of seven sacks of spuds.
- A Crate of Sweet Potatoes to Sell the Desert
Land agents pack up the valley's finest produce — mammoth sugar beets, honeydew casabas, and one 250-pound potato crop — and ship it to Chicago to convince Eastern buyers that this sagebrush country is a garden.
- The Great Puyallup Potato Feud
A minor dispute over five trespassing pigs and a potato patch escalates from a neighborhood grievance to the Pierce County Superior Court.
- The Potato Market Slump
Despite a government quarantine on foreign imports, local potato growers are left wondering why prices remain in the dirt.
- The Year the Potatoes Took Over
Gardeners in Whatcom County find themselves waging a green war against 'volunteer' potato plants that have turned lawns and flowerbeds into unplanned farms.
- The Great Tacoma Potato Fiasco
When a local farmer tried to break into the Tacoma market with a wagonload of produce, he found that the city’s much-vaunted commercial prosperity was, quite literally, not worth a hill of beans—or potatoes.
- Potato Showdown: Son Outperforms Father in Thurston County
A local potato competition turns into a generational victory for Roy Taylor, who outclassed his father in four out of six categories.
- The Unwitting Accomplice in the Potato Heist
A waterfront yarn about a man tricked into 'stealing' two sacks of potatoes to thwart a pair of actual thieves.
- The Colorado Beetle Arrives in Benton County
A district horticultural inspector warns local potato growers that a destructive new pest has been identified near Sunnyside.
- A Spud Surplus Warning
Government officials warn local growers of a glut in the potato market that threatens to make the coming season a losing venture.
- Counterfeit Yakima Potatoes on the Sound
A Tacoma paint dealer tells the valley's paper that Puget Sound merchants were passing off second-grade Western Washington spuds as Yakima's prized crop — and that in a full year he got the genuine article only three times.
- Potato Market Crashes in Walla Walla Valley
Local farmers face a grim season as market demand collapses and crops suffer from rot and pests.
- Richland Farmers Organize to Set Their Own Potato Prices
A packed meeting at Amon Hall backs a growers’ union, and organizers head to Kennewick to bring neighboring farmers into the cooperative before the 1916 crop.
- The Potato Boom Grips the Yakima Valley
High demand from the East pushes potato and alfalfa prices to record levels, prompting local growers to organize for better market share.
- The War on Rotting Spuds
A state agricultural expert warns farmers that the 1914 potato blight is more destructive than ever.
- Potato Showdown in Thurston County
A father and son compete at the county potato show, highlighting the success of youth agricultural clubs.
- The White Bluffs Sweet Potato Bonanza
After local reports of a massive 27-ton-per-acre sweet potato yield went viral, a farmer finds himself fielding inquiries from skeptics and hopeful growers across the country.
- Cheaper to Ship Wheat to Liverpool Than to Seattle: An Inland Empire Farmer's Case Against the Railroads
A Whitman County grower tells the Post-Intelligencer that Palouse wheat can be raised for about 30 cents a bushel — and sent 16,000 miles to England for less than the railroad charges to haul it 400 miles to the Sound.
- The War Over 'Tubermoth' Potatoes
A Seattle judge rules on a heated legal clash between California berry growers and Washington state horticultural inspectors over tainted crops.
- The White River Potato Swindle
A Tacoma produce buyer exploits a legal loophole to walk free after tricking local farmers out of their harvest.
- The Risks of Expansion for the Local Marketing Union
As the Kennewick-Richland Marketing Union debates entering the tree fruit market, local leaders warn against overextending their influence.
- Washington Farmers Petition Hoover to Stabilize Potato Prices
Facing a massive surplus in the 1917 crop, state agriculture officials scramble to prevent a market collapse.
- Potato Prices Plummet as San Francisco Shipments Arrive
Local farmers see prices drop by two dollars a ton as West Street merchants shift to cheaper California imports.
Also about this, in other words
- The Potato Crisis of 1877
As Puget Sound farmers face crop failure from decades of neglect, editors call for a shift to the 'fine art' of fruit cultivation.
- The Great Potato Bust of 1894
Farmers hold out for higher prices, only to watch the market collapse as California shipments flood in.
- The Irrigation Skeptics Proven Wrong
A local farmer fights regional agricultural myths with thirty tons of seed potatoes.
- The Sweet Potato Boom in the Priest Rapids Valley
A local farmer turns a massive yield of 'red yams' into a commercial success story, challenging the belief that the crop belongs only to the South.
- Produce Bottleneck Hits Local Growers
A regional shortage of rail cars leaves potato and vegetable shipments languishing in Walla Walla warehouses.