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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 3 |
| 1877 | 3 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 6 |
| 1889 | 2 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1892 | 5 |
| 1893 | 4 |
| 1895 | 5 |
| 1898 | 1 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1916 | 1 |
| 1923 | 1 |
40 stories matching propel
- Lockwood Hansen, 18, Faces Amputation After Launch Propeller Accident
A young worker faces the loss of his limb after a horrific accident involving a naphtha launch propeller.
- A Twelve-Ton Locomotive Rolled Down the Street to the Water
Seattle's Washington Iron Works spent months building a geared logging engine. When it was finished it drove itself through town on temporary track to the foot of Washington Street, to be lashed to a scow and floated north to the woods.
- The Goldendale Airship Nobody Saw Coming
A secretive inventor reports a successful flight in an aluminum airship—eight years before Kitty Hawk.
- The Resurrection of an Olympia Hull
A two-year-old abandoned boat hull finds new life as a wrecking steamer in North Seattle.
- The Morning a Tow Rope Nearly Cost Appel Bros. a $600 Raft
A launch propeller seized, the boom was waiting, and a raft of poles was suddenly drifting toward disaster on the Pend Oreille.
- The Seattle Invention That Promised to Banish the 'Tremor' of Steamboats
A local citizen trials a double-inclined plane water wheel on Lake Union, aiming to solve the vibration and loss of power plaguing the steam-powered era.
- Thrown Into a Saw at Colman's Mill — and the Law Looked the Other Way
When Peter Feeney attacked a Chinese coworker in a Seattle sawmill, the man's foot was mangled beyond repair. The justice of the peace declined to hold Feeney, the prosecutor dismissed the case, and the town's paper argued the injury was just an accident.
- The Fortress of Timber: How Mill Barons Bought the Land to Buy the Town
In 1877, a local editorial warned that Port Blakely’s massive timber companies were cornering the market on real estate, creating an economic monopoly that would stifle independent growth and keep workers dependent on their employers.
- The Electric Charge Sweeping Seattle
Horse cars are officially a relic of the past as the city embraces the new-fangled Thompson-Houston electric system to conquer Seattle's steep hills.
- The One-Ton Ring That Bore Three Tons—and Left a Worker Paralyzed
Thomas O’Leary was repairing the City of Kingston when a bad iron ring gave way. He sued for $2,500, bedridden from the chest down, as doctors called him a cripple for life.
- The Boat That Built Itself Twice: How a Portland Captain Saved His Alaska Dream
Captain Spencer didn't just buy a wrecked sternwheeler; he bought the parts of two lost ships and assembled them into a new vessel, proving that in the age of steam, ingenuity could outpace disaster.
- The 'Two Percent' Mayoralty: How Tacoma's Populist Boss Won the Ticket
When Alexander Parker, a wealthy lender known for 'only' charging two percent interest, vied for the mayor's office, he didn't just run a campaign—he staged a spectacle of political maneuvering and local theater at Germania Hall.
- Tragedy at the wharf: The lonely death of Harvey Burrell
A former county clerk meets a grim end in the Seattle harbor after wandering down to the docks at night.
- Coastal Tempest Strands the Falcon on the Flats
A ferocious south-wester wreaks havoc on shipping, forcing rescues and leaving a merchant vessel stranded in the mud.
- The End of the Horse-Drawn Era?
As inventors race to perfect the motor carriage, the city of the future promises cleaner streets and the eventual extinction of the horse as a daily utility.
- The Haunted Steamer: A Maritime Labor Standoff
When the steamer Premier broke a propeller blade, her superstitious crew blamed a 'hoodoo' fireman—sparking a strike and an emergency standoff on the Puget Sound.
- The Blame Game on the Sound
A schooner and a steamer collided in the dark of Puget Sound; the court’s decision offers a rare look at the chaos of maritime navigation in 1893.
- A Mill Worker's Narrow Escape
A standard day at the Port Blakeley mill turned catastrophic when a falling door triggered the log carriage, pinning a worker against the machinery.
- A Streetcar Franchise on the Line Over Naphtha Power
A citizen charges the Olympia street railway is violating its charter with an unsafe naphtha motor and neglected trackwork at Fifth and Main.
- The Clay Under Seattle Built a Million-Dollar Industry
King County clay works turned local deposits into firebrick, paving brick, sewer pipe and architectural terra cotta—winning federal tests and employing hundreds of men.
- Sunken Piles Turning the Waterfront into a Minefield
Steamboat captains demand action against loose, spiked pilings clogging the Seattle harbor and threatening the hulls of local vessels.
- Forty-Five Days From Hongkong: Seattle's New Orient Steamer Docks With Sugar, Rice and Bananas
The steel freighter Palmas, first ship on the Union Pacific's new Puget Sound–Orient run, fills Yesler's wharf with Chinese and Japanese goods and Hawaiian fruit — after her captain carries two mutinous sailors in irons halfway across the Pacific to face a court held on a Victoria wharf.
- The 10-Cent Ferry That Tried to Shrink Lake Washington
Before the bridges, a new company promised 20-minute crossings between Madison Street and Kirkland, cheaper farm freight, and a direct market route for eastside farmers.
- A Dangerous Steam Explosion at the Columbia River
A local woman narrowly avoids tragedy while camping near Timmerman's Ferry.
- A Rough Arrival from Yokohama
The steamer Crown of England arrives in Puget Sound after a harrowing 23-day voyage marked by mechanical failures and a violent 26-hour gale.
Also about this, in other words
- The Patent Steam Dryer at Yesler’s Wharf
A new industrial appliance for families arrives in late 19th-century Seattle, promising to modernize the household chore of food preservation.
- The Fire Commissioner, the Cockfight, and the Deed to His Mother
Seattle’s joint council weighs whether George T. Masel was a freeholder or merely a meddler—while a West Seattle cockfight and a suspiciously late property transfer steal the show.
- A Close Call on Yesler Avenue
A fire sparked by a porter's clumsy accident in a saloon basement is extinguished by a quick-thinking fire commissioner before it could threaten the neighborhood.
- Tragedy at the Monte Cristo Road
A powder explosion near the Getchell supply depot has reportedly left three men dead, prompting an urgent request for coffins from Snohomish.
- The New Jewel of the Seattle Skyline
A descriptive look at the newly completed Yesler-Leary block, a state-of-the-art brick edifice at the corner of Mill and Front streets.
- The Hotel Proprietress and the Revolver
A hotel owner at Bryant shoots a man after a tense confrontation over rumors.
- The Pythian Revels: A Dry Town's Mock Rebellion
While Washington navigates its new prohibition laws, a local fraternal order plans a satirical 'Red Letter' parade to mock the state's dry mandate.
- The Carrie Ladd Runs Aground
A steamship meets its fate on a rock at Cape Horn, leaving passengers and crew to abandon the sinking vessel on the Washington side of the Columbia River.