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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1889 | 2 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 4 |
| 1893 | 2 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1895 | 3 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1916 | 1 |
| 1917 | 1 |
23 stories matching rata
- Seattle's Money for the Roslyn Widows and Orphans
A citizens' committee reports nearly $3,000 raised for families of the Roslyn mine explosion, places five Catholic children in the House of the Good Shepherd, and sends the final check to Roslyn.
- Hanford Settlers Win Fight for Cheaper Water
After a hard-fought battle, the state Public Service Commission slashes irrigation rates for Hanford farmers, promising a new era of development.
- The Seattle Mill Owners’ Secret Cartel
How local timber barons in 1886 fixed prices and controlled production to squeeze profits from the West Coast lumber trade.
- The Bond Buyer Likes Seattle’s Credit—and Its Empty Storefronts
W. H. Harris tells the Rainier Club that the West is recovering from the panic and that Seattle has fewer vacant buildings, pro rata, than Chicago or St. Paul.
- Mob terrorizes Chinese store on Washington Street
A group of men and boys pelted a Chinese-owned store with snowballs, forcing their way inside and destroying property until the police intervened.
- The Color Line at the Oberon: Seattle’s First Civil Rights Test
When a prominent Black minister is ejected from a local music hall for his race, he threatens legal action under state law, sparking a public debate on discrimination in early 20th-century Seattle.
- The City Wharf as a Stone Yard: Seattle's Plan to Put Its Idle Men to Work
A petition signed by dozens of prominent Seattle businessmen asks the city council to turn the waterfront into a public stone yard, trading honest labor for meals and lodging — and to run the beggars out of town.
- Prosser Pump Owners Seek Irrigation District Exclusion
Prosser commissioners rule that landowners cannot dodge the irrigation district while holding onto private water rights.
- Aftermath of the Roslyn Mining Disaster
Community relief efforts distribute aid to the families of miners killed in a recent disaster at the Roslyn coal mines.
- The Taxation Trap: How Seattle’s Liquor Licenses Were Feeding the County, Not the City
In 1876, a territorial newspaper railed against a fiscal injustice: Seattle taxpayers were footing the bill for policing and street maintenance, while the county kept the revenue from liquor licenses sold within city limits.
- The $12,000 Gamble: Seattle’s Plan to Woo the East with a Car Full of Dirt and Fruit
In 1889, local booster George Storrs proposed a radical marketing stunt: load a railroad car with Puget Sound’s minerals and produce, tour the Eastern U.S. for six months, and pay for it by charging every resident $0.10.
- The Day Tacoma’s Streetcars Stood Still
When the streetcar workers of Tacoma laid down their tools to demand fair pay, a showdown at the rail house sparked a tense labor confrontation.
- A Widow Paid Her Dues. The Society Had $30 Left.
A Seattle-based benefit order collapsed after a member died in North Yakima, leaving his widow to chase $1,000 through a vanished organizer and an empty treasury.
- The Fight Over Corporate Liability
Prominent businessmen gather at the courthouse to debate if shareholders should be personally liable for corporate debts.
- The Collapse of a Ballard Mill Experiment
A Ballard shingle mill abandons its profit-sharing model, citing employee friction and union wage pressures.
- Water on Mortgage: A Seattle Man Offers to Irrigate Kittitas — If the Farmers Sign Away Ten Years
J. W. Wells proposes a ditch across the east end of the Kittitas valley at $1 to $1.25 an acre a year. At the mass meeting only 6,500 acres sign on, and the deal is left to W. H. Peterson to sell.
- A Receivership Sale Rewires Seattle's Street Railway
Bondholders sign a deal to merge the troubled Rainier Power and Railway Co. into a new Third Street Suburban Railway Company, with the Denny family’s claims still shaping the terms.
- A Bequest for Orphans Caught in Legal Limbo
Local community leaders push to settle a will contest that threatens the establishment of the Stubblefield home for indigent widows and orphans.
- The Senator’s Crusade for Public Education
An 1882 Congressional proposal sought to use whiskey tax revenue to fund the nation's public schools, promising tens of thousands of dollars to Washington Territory.
- Will Aberdeen Get a Grand Hotel or Just More Offices?
Prominent developers W. P. Book and Samuel Benn are ready to construct a massive, fireproof building on Heron Street, but the ultimate purpose of the structure remains a local question.
- Seattle's Fire Chief Accused as the Council Wrestles a Telephone Franchise and a Paving Bill
Both houses of the city council meet late into the night: charges that Chief Hunt holds office under false pretenses, a twenty-five-year franchise for the Seattle Home Telephone Company, and a fight over who pays for the sick and injured.
- Two Railroads Cut a Deal Through Ballard
The Ballard council ratified a track-swap agreement between the Seattle & Montana and the Lake Shore & Eastern, settling access to Shilshole Avenue and the mills.
- Spokane Falls Council Tackles Charter, Cash, and a Dead Horse
In August 1883, the Spokane Falls City Council met to discuss a new city charter, unpaid bills, street assessments, and the problem of a dead horse. The meeting offers a glimpse into the challenges of a growing frontier town.
Also about this, in other words
- The Bustle Bandit of Front Street
A routine shopping trip in Seattle took a chaotic turn when a startled store rat sought refuge in the most unlikely place imaginable.
- The Rat in the Wardrobe
A lady’s attempt to light a dark closet leads to a terrifying, fire-starting encounter with a persistent rodent.
- The 'Rat' Printers of Seattle
When an 1877 newspaper attempted to cut costs by firing union compositors, the resulting strike sparked a fierce, public feud between rival publications.
- The Unlikely Peace of the Port Townsend Wharf
A cat known for its hunting prowess inexplicably raises an enormous rat alongside her own litter of kittens.
- The Nurse Girl and the Rat Poison
A thirteen-year-old girl stands trial for the poisoning of an infant in a case shrouded in domestic mystery.
- The Rat That Didn't Die: A Seattle Street Performer’s Electric Shock Gambit
In a desperate bid to steal customers from a rival vendor on Commercial Street, an electricity salesman rigged a dead rat to a copper plate—only for the rodent to remain stubbornly lifeless.
- The Underground Prison Ring
Warden Catron uncovers a secret society of convicts at the Walla Walla prison, suspected of plotting to smuggle in opium.