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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 3 |
| 1893 | 5 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1895 | 6 |
21 stories matching sammamish
- Cutting Miles Off the Commute
New county infrastructure aims to connect Mercer Slough to Lake Sammamish via ferry, slashing the travel distance to Seattle from thirty-eight miles to just ten.
- The Wild Fertility of the Sammamish Valley
A local settler reports on the rapid agricultural development and the urgent need for river navigation to bring produce to market.
- Masterminding the Sammamish Valley
Property owners petitioned county commissioners to form a drainage district, hoping to transform miles of 'sluggish' swamp into productive farmland.
- The 1895 Plan to Straighten the Sammamish River
A petition from H. K. Kelsey and forty others asked King County to drain, deepen and straighten Squak Slough, reclaiming 3,000 acres of overflowed land.
- Suspicious Blaze Destroys Inglewood Schoolhouse
A rural schoolhouse on the east side of Lake Sammamish is lost to a fire that trustees suspect was deliberately set.
- The Child Left at Lake Sammamish
An 1895 letter to the editor describes a 12-year-old girl given to an Indigenous couple near Lake Sammamish, and the neighbors who wanted county officials to remove her.
- Tragedy on the Sammamish Slough
A mother survives a boat accident that claimed the life of her four-year-old son near a logging camp.
- The Great Drain Struggle
Farmers from the Duwamish and Sammamish valleys rally to demand an expanded canal to solve recurring, devastating floods.
- Tragic Hunting Accident Leaves Lake Captain Near Death
While loading his shotgun on Lake Sammamish, a local steamboat captain suffered a devastating injury that threatens his life.
- Homesteading on the Edge of the Forest
An 1878 dispatch from a settler near Lake Washington offers advice to 'respectable' newcomers looking to carve a life out of the untamed timberland.
- The Unbuilt Dream: Engineering Seattle’s Ship Canal
In 1891, engineers surveyed the feasibility of connecting Puget Sound to Lake Washington, wrestling with the same geographical challenges and environmental trade-offs that define the city's infrastructure today.
- The Canal That Was Going to Bring the Farm Into Seattle
In 1895, boosters promised the Lake Washington Ship Canal would cut freight transfers for farmers, float logs from Sammamish, and let Newcastle coal load almost at the pit mouth.
- The Brutal Winter of 1893
A historic freeze and heavy snows devastate livestock across the region, while Seattle's own marginalized residents struggle to survive the record-breaking cold.
- The Battle for Snoqualmie Falls
A high-stakes legal and land-grab feud erupts over plans to harness the falls for Seattle’s future electrical grid.
- The Great Debate: Where Should Seattle's Ship Canal Go?
In 1892, federal engineers weighed the massive engineering feat of connecting Lake Washington to Puget Sound, deliberating whether to carve the path through Salmon Bay or Smith Cove.
- Farmers Take Flood Control Into Their Own Hands
Facing constant inundation and corporate inaction, local valley farmers plan to bypass the existing canal system.
- Seattle's Half-Million-Dollar Gamble to Dig a Canal to the Sea
Boosters promised a transformed city: a Lake Washington ship canal, reclaimed Squak Slough farmland, filled tide lands and Seattle as the 'Liverpool of the Coast.'
- The Canal Came With a Catch: Seattle Had to Secure the Land
Congress had finally committed to a Lake Washington ship canal, but the money came with a condition: Seattle had to secure a free right-of-way from property owners. In 1894, civic leaders began the campaign that would decide whether the project moved forward.
- The 17,000-Horsepower Plan to Electrify Seattle
Engineers proposed an 800-foot steel pipe, a tunnel through basalt, and a 23-mile copper line to turn Snoqualmie Falls into the city’s power source.
- The Pony Express Ends: Lincoln Wins, But the South Sees War
As the Pony Express delivers the shocking news of Abraham Lincoln’s election to a nervous Sacramento, Olympia residents mark local weddings and watch their market prices hold steady.
- Seattle's Bid to Be the Liverpool of America
In 1895, boosters imagined a Lake Washington ship canal turning Puget Sound into a freshwater harbor for world commerce, coal trade, and naval power.