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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1880 | 1 |
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28 stories matching seam
- Washington's Thick Coal Seams Promise Industrial Growth
A geological survey of the region's vast coal reserves reveals a rugged, difficult landscape that promises to drive the Pacific Northwest's future industrial independence.
- When Seattle Was Coal Country
A detailed 1895 survey shows King County leading Washington's coal output, with Seattle shipping fuel to California, Oregon, and the Midwest—while labor troubles and spontaneous mine fires shadowed the boom.
- The Buried Wealth of the Green River Basin
A survey of King County’s coal fields highlights the struggle to extract bituminous coal from the treacherous, broken strata of the Cascade foothills.
- Expert Safe-Cracker Cleans Out Local Dry Goods Store
A thief bypassed heavy security and locks without force, leaving police baffled.
- The Promised Land of the Skagit Valley
A booster’s vision of Fairhaven as the essential gateway for the vast mineral and agricultural wealth of the Skagit Valley.
- The Ghost Ship Majestic
A vessel sailing from Seattle with a load of coal vanishes, leaving behind a crew of eleven and a city of worried families.
- The Long Road to the Coal Seam
After seventeen years of court battles, a prospector finally secures title to a coal-rich property.
- Vast Coal Seams Found Beneath South Tacoma
Drilling for water reveals a significant, potentially commercial coal deposit within city limits.
- Seattle Schools Bursting at the Seams
Superintendent Barnard struggles to accommodate a massive influx of new students while the Board of Education refuses to hire additional teachers.
- A Massive Coal Seam Found Near the Wishkah
Prospectors uncovered a 140-foot wide vein of coal just two miles from Aberdeen, potentially changing the industrial future of Grays Harbor.
- The Sliding Main Street Hillside
A recently completed street project on Main Street is already being reclaimed by the earth as the steep, clay-rich hillside slides into town.
- An Eight-Foot Seam of Coal Turns Up on a Pend Oreille County Ranch
The 'coal strike' on the Dieder place near Dalkena is bigger than first reported — eight feet wide instead of three — and Newport is already dreaming of a mine, a spur, cheaper fuel and a new town tributary to its own.
- Safecrackers Blow Kapowsin's Only Safe and Ride the Rails Out
A nitroglycerine charge, a stolen handcar and a $1,200 haul: Pierce County's small-town robbery baffles the sheriff.
- A Frontier Reckoning
A chance meeting at a wilderness camp forces a man to confront the guard who once brutalized him in a French prison.
- The Great Room Shortage: Port Townsend’s Hotels Burst at the Seams
As Portland investors pour money into the Puget Sound city, locals warn that seven hotels aren't enough—residents are begging for permanent housing before the next boom hits.
- The Three-Way War: How Seattle’s Builders Are Trying to Stop the Bleeding
A national convention in New York reveals a desperate push for arbitration between owners, architects, and contractors—a conflict that is already tearing at the seams of Seattle’s construction industry.
- The Arctic Ghost Ships Found in a Seattle Paper
A haunting inventory of the lost Franklin Expedition, recovered by Lieutenant Schwatka, offers a somber look at the items that survived a generation in the ice.
- The Ghost Ship of Seattle’s Waterfront
A derelict bark ship, once a billboard for local businesses, is buried in sawdust and slabs to become the foundation of a new shoreline.
- One Pump Between the Crew and the Bottom of the Sea
The bark Nona Jitum survived a two-day gale off the Columbia River only by keeping one pump running—then limped into Seattle with a ruined cargo and no insurance.
- Newport's Schools Burst at the Seams as the Town Booms
Enrollment growth pushes School District No. 115 past capacity, forcing directors to weigh new bonds and a second building.
- The Iron-Molded Suit: When Tailors Pressed Clothes Onto Your Body
A bizarre new fashion trend in Seattle has women wrapping themselves in hot irons to 'mold' their suits into shape.
- A Revolver at the Polls: Seattle’s Republican Primary Erupts
Seattle’s Republican primaries collapsed into shouting, challenged voters, fake tickets and a police chief drawing his revolver to declare the polls open.
- A Boomtown School Bursting at the Seams
With 500 pupils enrolled, $24,000 in debt and another classroom already needed, Newport's school board weighs a new building — while the Commercial Club prints 3,000 leaflets to lure the East.
- The Day Seattle Swallowed 10,000 Strangers: The Great Fourth of July Flood
In 1888, the Territory of Washington threw its biggest-ever Independence Day celebration. Steamers arrived loaded with visitors until the streets were so packed that police could barely move. Here is how Seattle hosted a crowd that nearly burst its seams.
- The Dolly Varden Ticket: Seattle's 1894 Scheme to Stitch Together a Political Frankenstein
Disgruntled Republicans and Democrats met in downtown Seattle to plan a hybrid 'taxpayers' ticket aimed at beating the regular Republican slate—if they could keep the seams from splitting.