Research the archive
Narrow 25,724 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 |
|---|---|
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 6 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1887 | 2 |
| 1888 | 2 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1891 | 5 |
| 1892 | 3 |
| 1893 | 9 |
| 1894 | 11 |
| 1895 | 6 |
| 1899 | 2 |
| 1902 | 2 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1904 | 5 |
| 1909 | 1 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1916 | 2 |
| 1925 | 1 |
68 stories matching rotten
- The Only Safe Trust: Chauncy M. Depew’s Warning to Seattle Investors
Railroad magnate and former Senator Chauncy Depew tells a Seattle audience that the government must regulate trusts, predicting that 'rotten' companies will fail while others are placed on a proper basis.
- Seattle’s Rotten Sewer System Needs Replacement
City Engineer R.H. Thomson warns that downtown’s decade-old wooden sewers are a 'menace to the roadway' and proposes a major overhaul.
- Spokane Was Ready to Rotten-Egg Jim Hill
The Great Northern's freight rates left Spokane merchants bitter enough to organize, sue, and threaten the railroad baron with produce.
- A Deadly Hole on Pioneer Place
A routine street crossing turns fatal when rotten wooden planks give way under a carriage horse.
- The Fight Against the Rotten Boroughs
Legislative critics blast Washington State's failure to reapportion seats, arguing that rural 'cow counties' have kept power by ignoring population shifts.
- The Collapse of a 'Rotten' Bank
A post-mortem of a defunct banking institution reveals a web of insider lending, conflicts of interest, and empty promises that devastated local depositors.
- The Great Stink of 1882
When Makah schoolgirls in Neah Bay proved to their matron that rotting whale blubber smelled better than imported Limburger cheese.
- The Territory That Demanded Its Right to Grow
When Washington was treated like a 'rotten borough' in Washington D.C., the local press fired back to prove the territory was ready for statehood.
- Two Hundred Lives, One Closed Door: The Pacific Inquiry
Witnesses swore in Port Townsend that the steamer Pacific was rotten when she sailed. Now the very inspectors who certified her seaworthy are investigating her loss — in secret.
- Seattle’s Rotten Garbage Problem
A health official warns that the city's sewage scow is falling apart, proposing a permanent incinerator.
- The Daily Parade of Moral Rottenness
A fed-up Seattle resident petitions City Hall to end the brazen practice of parading sex workers through the city's main streets by carriage and brass band.
- Wage Theft on the Rails
Great Northern laborers quit and waited days for owed pay; Prosecutor Bell's push brought only calls for haste.
- The Sinking of the May Parker: A Maritime Fraud Trial
Accusations of insurance fraud and a conspiracy to sink a schooner in the Straits of Fuca lead to a complex trial featuring claims of insanity and corruption.
- The City’s Crumbling Infrastructure
Walla Walla's decaying water main system is thwarting local efforts to lower insurance costs.
- The Mobbing of the Moralizers
When four prominent temperance leaders and a local businessman tried to close down a suspected illegal saloon, they were met on the street and pelted with rotten eggs.
- The Hidden Hazard of the Woods
A toddler suffers horrific burns after falling into a camouflaged pit of smoldering rot.
- The Birth of the Benton County Creamery
A government agriculturalist steps into a chaotic market to turn local dairy production around.
- The Perils of the Seattle Tideflats
A mother survives a terrifying fall through a rotten wooden sidewalk into the mud-filled depths of the Seattle tideflats, exposing the dangerous state of the city's infrastructure.
- A Warhorse Against the Political Machine
A frustrated Democratic candidate exposes a 'mutual admiration society' in Whatcom County politics, alleging corruption in the appointment of local postmasters.
- The War on Lice in the Hop Fields
A local hop merchant reveals the specific, labor-intensive chemical formula needed to save the crop from blight.
- Seattle’s Crumbling Infrastructure Crisis
City Engineer R.H. Thomson warns that the city’s aging wooden box sewers are on the verge of collapse, threatening the streets above.
- The Cable Car King vs. The Free Press
A transit monopoly manager attempts to bully a newspaper into silence by pulling advertisements after they report on poor service.
- Seattle's Sewer Scandal Exposed
Newly unearthed records reveal massive overspending and corruption in the city’s sewer construction projects.
- The Waldron Block Inferno
A landmark four-story brick building in Fairhaven is destroyed by fire, leaving the community reeling after a disastrous attempt to control the blaze with faulty equipment.
- A Cold Reception for a Community Booster
While Kennewick gained prestige from 'Strawberry Day,' local residents embarrassed the town by ignoring a guest speaker who traveled from Seattle to address them.