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70 stories matching scow
- The $12,000 Garbage Scow: How Seattle’s City Council Tried to Buy a Trash Boat for Less Than a House
When the lowest bid for a municipal garbage scow came in at nearly $13,000—more than double the estimate—the city council was forced to slash specifications, revealing the tight financial straits of early 20th-century Seattle.
- The Marsh That Could Feed a City: Snohomish’s Hidden Goldmine
A detailed survey of the vast wetlands between Snohomish and the Skykomish River reveals thousands of acres of fertile land, drained by new ditches and accessible by scow, waiting for developers to turn swamp into wealth.
- Old Town Waterfront Sabotaged
A new stevedoring scow is destroyed in a midnight explosion as labor tensions simmer on the Tacoma docks.
- The Great Garbage Debate: Seattle’s Early Fight for Sanitation
While the city council opted for a cheap, pollutive scow system to dump waste into the Sound, local doctors warned that the tides would only bring the filth right back to Seattle’s doorsteps.
- The Great Seattle Brick Heist
A local contractor chartered a tugboat to chase down a steamboat captain who allegedly stole a scow full of brick over a payment dispute.
- Sabotage Strikes the Waterfront
A local stevedore firm investigates the malicious destruction of property following a series of mysterious explosions on their scows.
- Forty Tons of Seattle Iron: Moran Brothers' Giant Pumps Head for the Dry Dock
The biggest centrifugal pumps ever cast on the Pacific Coast leave Moran Brothers' foundry for the government dry dock, three machines able to empty it in two hours.
- Three Drowned in the Columbia's Whirlpool
A Seattle official watched a small boat capsize near the mouth of the Methow, drowning two men and a woman in the roiling current.
- Icy Rescue on the Columbia River
Two men survived a harrowing five-hour drift in freezing temperatures after their scow broke loose near Stevenson.
- A Fishing Scow Left High and Dry
A local fishing expedition turns into a salvage nightmare after a grounding in the Gulf of Georgia.
- The Mysterious Burning of the Scow Bleecker
A steam scow used to haul bricks from Fog Island is destroyed by fire, fueling local rumors of arson.
- The Scow That Swallowed a Hundred Tons of Coal
A massive coal barge capsized on the Seattle waterfront this afternoon, spilling its entire cargo into the bay. Miraculously, no lives were lost—thanks to perfect timing.
- Seattle’s Rotten Garbage Problem
A health official warns that the city's sewage scow is falling apart, proposing a permanent incinerator.
- A Dangerous Walk to the Charleston
A Seattle woman sues for $6,000 after a ferry collision caused her to plummet from a gangplank.
- A Workplace Tragedy at the Docks
A yard hand files a lawsuit against the Stetson-Post Mill Company after a logging accident on a dangerous, chute-less dock left him permanently injured.
- Diver Paralyzed After Deep-Sea Shift
A professional diver working to clear the Seattle harbor is left paralyzed from the shoulders down after repeated descents.
- The Day Seattle Rode the Rails to Lake Union
In 1872, the completion of the Seattle Coal Company’s railway from the waterfront to the lake offered a thrilling, soot-stained excursion for a city eager to join the industrial age.
- A Twelve-Ton Locomotive Rolled Down the Street to the Water
Seattle's Washington Iron Works spent months building a geared logging engine. When it was finished it drove itself through town on temporary track to the foot of Washington Street, to be lashed to a scow and floated north to the woods.
- Aberdeen Builds Its Own Railroad to Escape the Steamboats
Fed up with ferry transfers and scow shipments, Aberdeen's citizens offer to grade and lay track for free if the Northern Pacific will just run a train — and the company says yes.
- The Ghost Ship of Port Madison
A mysterious, unmanned scow drifts into the bay, sparking speculation about the missing crew.
- Steamer Minnie M. Lost in Bellingham Gale
A stern-wheeler carrying local supplies to Lummi Island is claimed by the rough waters of Bellingham Bay.
- The Vashon Machinery Heist
Two men receive three-year sentences for stealing a scow-load of machinery from a Vashon Island brickyard.
- The Sovereign Grand Commander Comes to Port Townsend
General Albert Pike arrives by steamer to inspect the local lodges, lectures to the brethren, and is feted with a banquet and a Scow Bay clambake.
- The Seattle Fireboat is Not a Tugboat
Insurance underwriters warn that if the city uses the fireboat 'Snoqualmie' to tow garbage scows, property insurance rates will rise, sparking a debate over city efficiency and political patronage.
- Drifters on the Columbia
Three adventurers arrive in Kennewick via a 300-mile journey on a homemade scow from Kettle Falls.
Also about this, in other words
- The Social Death of a Scab
Everett’s labor press publishes a 'rogue's gallery' portrait to publicly shame a former union man for crossing a picket line in Bellingham.
- The Logging Revolution on Skookum Chuck
Innovation in Snohomish: How timber barons traded oxen for steam-era ingenuity to keep the mills running.
- The Valley's New Prize Pig
A local farmer bets on data-driven agriculture to master the hog market.
- The 'Plant Scurvy' Plague
A state official claims a revolutionary cure for orchard blights, blaming soil chemistry rather than disease.
- A New Park Emerges from the Logging Woods
The Schater Brothers Logging Company gifts land to the state for a new park in Mason County, complete with a dance pavilion.
- Tallow Fire Destroys Slaughterhouse
A kitchen accident at a tallow rendering plant ruins the Dircksen slaughterhouse; bucket brigade saves nearby property.
- One Can of Prunes, Five Carloads of Orders
A journalist-turned-farmer with ten acres of unsellable strawberries builds a canning business in Olympia — and discovers that a pretty label sells middle America on Puget Sound fruit.
- The Price of a Snooze in the Big Dipper
A shingles weaver lost his life savings after falling asleep in a Seattle saloon—a grim reminder of the risks in the city's rough-and-tumble entertainment district.