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| Year | Stories |
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| 1877 | 3 |
| 1878 | 2 |
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| 1892 | 5 |
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38 stories matching ruinous
- Northern Pacific Takes Its Rate Fight to Federal Court
The railroad will challenge Washington's sweeping grain-rate cut as unconstitutional, warning the reduction is ruinous and confiscatory.
- The Great Cookie Trust: How Seattle's Cracker Kings Tried to Control the Market
Facing 'ruinous competition' and rising flour prices, local baking giants planned a monopoly to stabilize profits—and wages.
- Queen Anne Parents Freeze the School Fund
Residents obtain an injunction to stop the school board from spending building money on other warrants, charging that children are stuck in a ruinous board structure.
- Ezra Meeker’s Golden Rules for Hop Success
The legendary pioneer shares his controversial methods for baling hops hot to secure the crucial foreign market.
- The Battle for the Black Diamond Saloon
Mine workers and company interests clash over a controversial saloon license located near the cemetery.
- The 1878 Housing Squeeze
Before the skyline, Seattleites were already scrambling to find affordable bedding and basic household furnishings to survive the cold.
- A Kingdom Waiting for Rails
In 1878, Eastern Washington farmers were literally building homes out of willow poles because the cost of shipping lumber across the Cascades was ruinous.
- The Beer Trust Comes to Seattle
Three major local breweries have consolidated into the 'Seattle Brewing and Malting Company' to eliminate cutthroat competition.
- A Ruinous Gale Sweeps the Valley
A severe windstorm lays waste to orchards and hay crops in Finley, leaving farmers to survey the wreckage.
- The Neighborhood Chicken Killer
A mysterious dog leaves a trail of devastation across North Yakima, slaughtering prized poultry and angering local residents.
- The Second-Hand Sleep Economy
Before the age of big-box furniture, T.P. Freeman’s 'Variety Store' turned reclaimed bedding into a thriving trade in 1870s Seattle.
- Anti-Chinese Rally Held at Pioneer Square
Local populist orators gather to denounce the Geary Act's suspension and demand the expulsion of Chinese laborers.
- The House That Slid Down the Street
A Seattle homeowner sues the city for ruinous damage after a street grading project leaves his property tumbling toward the thoroughfare.
- Protecting the Timber Frontier
Seattle business leaders lobby to maintain trade protections against foreign competition.
- The Price of 'Progress' on Madison Street
Property owners spar with City Council over the ruinous costs and assessments of the aggressive new street grading project.
- A Law to Protect Debtors — or Scare Off Every Lender?
Washington's legislature passed the 'judgment deficiency bill' to shield mortgage debtors from ruinous foreclosures. The Portland Oregonian read it as a recipe for a credit freeze, and begged the governor to veto it.
- The Struggle for a State University
Professor M.W. Taylor defends the University of Washington against critics who claim the school is too low-standard to serve the state.
- The Annual Invasion of the Horse Heaven Marauders
Valley farmers reach a breaking point as wandering horses from the Horse Heaven Hills ravage local gardens and orchards with impunity.
- The Collapse of the Merchants' National Bank
Tacoma’s banking elite face a ruinous assessment as the city’s failed financial institutions attempt to settle their debts.
- The Ghost City of Ainslie
A grand promise of an industrial metropolis in Lewis County ended in a ruinous collapse for investors and creditors alike.
- The Price of Water: Farmers Challenge Irrigation Monopoly
Water users take their case to the state commission, alleging that high salaries and massive advertising campaigns have left the local irrigation canal in a state of ruinous neglect.
- Bricklayers Refuse to Take a Pay Cut
Workers hold a tense meeting with the City Council, arguing that cutting wages during a depression will only lead to poorer infrastructure and personal poverty.
- The Blight at the Orchard Gate
A silent, ruinous disease is tearing through Kennewick’s orchards, and the local paper is calling for a community-wide mobilization to save the harvest.
- The Northwest Flour Trust Proposal
A representative from Boston attempts to organize local millers into a regional trust to control prices for the Oriental market.
- The Rent Crisis of 1891: Tacoma Merchants at a Breaking Point
As local business owners faced a contracting economy and 'money stringency,' the Chamber of Commerce debated whether high commercial rents and utility costs were driving them toward insolvency.