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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 2 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1863 | 2 |
| 1872 | 9 |
| 1876 | 42 |
| 1877 | 30 |
| 1878 | 55 |
| 1879 | 4 |
| 1880 | 3 |
| 1882 | 4 |
| 1883 | 35 |
| 1884 | 17 |
| 1885 | 27 |
| 1886 | 19 |
| 1887 | 23 |
| 1888 | 25 |
| 1889 | 54 |
| 1890 | 13 |
| 1891 | 45 |
| 1892 | 71 |
| 1893 | 78 |
| 1894 | 65 |
| 1895 | 107 |
| 1897 | 3 |
| 1898 | 10 |
| 1899 | 23 |
| 1900 | 5 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 38 |
| 1904 | 51 |
| 1905 | 2 |
| 1907 | 4 |
| 1908 | 15 |
| 1909 | 47 |
| 1910 | 7 |
| 1911 | 7 |
| 1912 | 5 |
| 1914 | 13 |
| 1915 | 14 |
| 1916 | 35 |
| 1917 | 12 |
| 1918 | 4 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 8 |
| 1924 | 6 |
| 1925 | 1 |
1,045 stories matching rate
- Farmers vs. the Railroads: The $3-a-Ton Fight in Olympia
At a legislative hearing, Washington's grain growers demand a cap on wheat freight rates — while Northern Pacific warns the bill will come straight out of its working men's wages.
- Spokane Merchants Take the Railroad Monopoly Back to Court
Thirty-five Spokane merchants ask a federal judge to force the Northern Pacific and Union Pacific to obey an 1891 Interstate Commerce Commission order that found the roads were gouging the inland city.
- King County Lawmakers Want to Cut the Budget—and Railroad Rates
Ahead of the 1901 legislative session, King County’s representatives outline a shared agenda: slash state expenses, abolish useless commissions, lower railroad freight and passenger rates, and create a state grain inspector to protect farmers from brokers.
- The $12.50 Gold Rush: How a Railroad Rate War Flooded Seattle with Hope and Skepticism
As Canadian Pacific slashes fares to half the price of American lines, local merchants debate whether the coming wave of homeseekers will build the city or break it.
- Newport Council Digs In Against Electric Company's Meter Rates
A 25-year steam-heating franchise request collides with a fight over streetlight bills and what the town can afford.
- The Receiver Cut Their Pay 2 Cents an Hour. A Judge Made Him Put It Back.
When the Rainier Avenue Electric Railway's court-appointed receiver trimmed motormen's wages from 20 cents to 18 cents an hour, the crews — months behind on pay, with houses in Columbia City bought out of their own wages — took him to court and won.
- Tacoma’s Electric Light War
A private power company accuses the city of selling light below cost to drive it out of business—and of a local editor gagging the story because he runs his own hotel plant.
- A Railroad Rate Cut Redrew the Northwest's Trade Map
The Northern Pacific's new freight tariff aimed to make Puget Sound the gateway for Eastern Washington and Idaho—shutting out St. Paul and San Francisco.
- Telescoped at the Crossing: A Grant Street Horror
When a Northern Pacific freight train plowed into an electric streetcar on May 20, 1909, one man died and dozens were mangled in the icy water below. The crash exposed dangerous speeds and negligent watchmen at a city intersection that remains vital today.
- The Railway Monopoly’s Grip Loosens
A local rail executive challenges a restrictive traffic contract, opening competitive freight rates for the region.
- Eastern Washington Lawmakers Want Cheaper Freight and a Break on Taxes
Fresh from wheat country, representative-elect Moses Bull and Senator J. L. Roberts laid out their Olympia agenda: grain inspection, lower railroad rates, softer tax penalties, and leaner county government.
- The Orchardist's Revolt: Wawawai Grower Accuses Yakima Commission Firm of Withholding $1,100
J.W. Offield says Thompson Kain refused to pay for his peach and pear crop; the firm counters that he misrepresented varieties and freight rates.
- The Great Sleeping Car Price Drop: Seattle Gets a Cheaper Ride from the East
Railroad executives confirm that first-class sleeping car fares from St. Paul to the Pacific Northwest will plummet from $13 to $10 starting April 10, signaling a broader trend of reduced travel costs for settlers and tourists alike.
- Fireboat or No Fireboat: Insurers Threaten a 25% Rate Hike
Underwriters tell the city to staff its fireboat properly or watch waterfront insurance premiums jump a quarter.
- The Tax Swindle: How Seattle’s Printer Defrauded His Neighbors
In 1872, the publisher of the *Puget Sound Dispatch* exposed a collusive scheme between local tax collectors and a rival newspaper to overcharge delinquent taxpayers for legal notices, sparking a bitter war of words in the territorial press.
- The Railroads Beat the Farmers in Olympia
A bill to cut freight and passenger rates across Washington goes down in the state Senate after a bruising fight, handing the railroads their biggest Northwest victory yet.
- The Telephone Monopoly to Seattle: Don’t Print This
Seattle’s phone company keeps billing the old rates after the city council orders a cut, and its manager asks the press to keep quiet about it.
- The Price of Living in the Desert
A scathing editorial calls out the discriminatory rail rates that forced Columbia Basin farmers to subsidize Puget Sound middlemen.
- Northern Pacific Slashes Freight Rates in a Coast-to-Coast War
Seattle shippers get word that commodity rates from Chicago and the river cities will drop to match the Southern Pacific’s Sunset route.
- The Price of Power in the Valley
A utility company disputes the state commission’s push to lower energy rates, citing shrinking returns.
- The Fight Against Railroad Extortion
Business owners in Walla Walla face broken promises from rail monopolies, but the editor argues that federal and state regulation—not empty lobbying—is the only way to break the gridlock.
- Eastern Washington Farmers Question Canal Freight Claims
A local farmer challenges the Post-Intelligencer’s claim that a canal will lower freight rates, sparking a heated editorial defense on the economic future of the region.
- 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 Price of Power: Citizens Take on the Electric Monopoly
Dr. J. F. Cropp leads a crusade against the Northwestern Gas and Electric company, armed with petitions and a list of rates from 27 other cities.
- The Railroad That Would Make Seattle
A Northern Pacific agent promises the through line from the East will reach Seattle by September 1, bringing freight, passengers, and a flood of settlers to Puget Sound.
Also about this, in other words
- The Northern Pacific Bows to Regulation
After fighting state intervention, the Northern Pacific Railroad decides to comply with the Anderson Rate Bill to appease local farmers.
- The Great Western Rate War
A former railroad commissioner warns that a price-cutting war between transcontinental rail lines is hemorrhaging millions in revenue and paralyzing local shipping.
- State Commission Slashes Electricity Rates
Public Service Commission mandates 16 to 30 percent cut for residential users and reforms irrigation power billing in Kennewick.
- Assessors Defy Convention to Raise Railroad Taxes
Washington state assessors vote to increase tax rates on first-class railway lines despite a lack of consensus in the main convention.
- Railroad Rates Forced Down
Tacoma citizens win a victory against high railroad excursion rates ahead of the Fourth of July celebration.
- The Senatorial Tug-of-War Over Freight Rates
Legislators grapple with railroad lobbying as the public pushes for rate reductions on critical state transport.
- Cutting the Cost of Keeping Warm
A sweeping new public service commission order promises to slash freight rates for coal from the Roslyn mines, potentially saving state residents $50,000 annually.
- A Laborer's Grievance Over Skimpy Wages
A worker on the Madison Street grade reports that his contractor is withholding pay, sparking a debate on fairness and city debt.