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72 stories matching shorter
- A Train Derails in the Smoky Woods
A Satsop Railroad locomotive plunges off the tracks after hitting a fallen tree in the fire-choked timberlands near Shelton.
- The True Cost of the Eight-Hour Day
As 1886 labor strikes roil the nation, local analysis weighs the temporary gains of the eight-hour movement against the looming threat of business closures and a housing market in decline.
- The Long Siege for the Eight-Hour Day
For over a year, Everett's machinists have held the line against Pacific Coast manufacturing giants in a battle for shorter hours.
- The Ten-Hour Day That Split Seattle’s Streetcar Men
A new state law barred Seattle’s streetcar companies from forcing motormen and conductors to work more than ten hours a day. But some workers petitioned to keep the old schedules, because they were paid by the hour.
- Shingle Weavers Push for an Eight-Hour Day
At their annual convention in Marysville, Washington, labor delegates debate the future of the industry and the path to a shorter workday.
- A New Transcontinental Rail Route Surveyed Through Yakima
Engineers claim a new route from the Midwest to Puget Sound is shorter and more economical than the Northern Pacific line.
- Coxey’s Army Prisoners Sent to Prison
Striking laborers and supporters of the 'Commonweal of Labor' are marched under guard to the Seattle docks to begin their sentences.
- The Strange Devotion of Mrs. Boyd
Fresh from an acquittal on criminal charges, Mrs. Boyd navigates her complicated reputation, legal letters, and a future dictated by newfound public scrutiny.
- The Great Northern Railway Arrives in Spokane
After years of construction, the final spike connects Spokane to the Great Northern line, linking the city to the East.
- The First Train Into Newport Changed Everything
On November 25, 1907, the Idaho Washington Northern inaugurated passenger and daily freight service, bringing railroad executives, Spokane promoters and a promise of growth to Newport.
- The Forty-Year Stranglehold: Seattle’s Streetcar Franchise Fight
As promoters push for a massive consolidation of the city's transit lines under a 40-year franchise, local editors warn that handing over public infrastructure to private syndicates is a dangerous gamble for a rapidly growing metropolis.
- The Nine-Hour Day: Seattle Carpenters Win Shorter Hours and Wage Hike
After months of negotiation, the city's carpenters have secured a landmark agreement reducing the workday from ten to nine hours while maintaining pay rates, signaling a shift in labor power during Seattle’s boom years.
- The Tide Lands Plat: A Waterfront Laid Out for Sale
State appraisers file the plat for the Tacoma tide lands, opening 600 acres of shore and mud flats to sale—unless upland owners claim them first.
- The Switchmen's Dilemma: A Fight for the Eight-Hour Day
Mayor D.W. Lawler details why railroad workers are rejecting mandatory arbitration under the Erdman Act, arguing it strips them of their power to strike while leaving them trapped in unfair conditions.
- Everett Machinists Strike for the Eight-Hour Day
As local metal workers walk off the job, the Chamber of Commerce hides behind 'open shop' rhetoric to suppress the growing union movement.
- The Price of Freight Discrimination
Spokane mill owners testify that predatory railroad rates make it impossible to raise workers' wages, sparking a call for state regulation.
- The Cabin Shootout: A Violent Encounter in the Woods
A standoff between a local traveler, a 10-year-old boy, and law enforcement leaves one man dead and another wounded in a remote cabin near Puyallup.
- Sewer Workers Strike for Eight-Hour Day
Laborers on a Twenty-ninth Avenue sewer project successfully force a return to the eight-hour workday against contractor pressure.
- The Proposal to Reshape Seattle's Waterways
A civil engineer proposes cutting a new channel between Lake Washington and Lake Union to prevent devastating floods in the Duwamish and White River valleys.
- The Beating of Henry Brown: A Runaway Elevator Boy and a Family's Violent Secret
A 14-year-old black elevator operator flees his home after a savage whipping by his father, revealing a tangled story of poverty, pride, and punishment in 1894 Seattle.
- Employers Fight Washington's Eight-Hour Law for Women
Employers traveled to Olympia by special train to argue that women workers didn't want shorter hours, sparking a legislative firestorm.
- Organizing Women in the Industrial Workforce
Labor organizers discuss the rising number of women in the workforce and the urgent need for unionization to secure basic dignity and safety.
- A Labor Solidarity Pact in 1887 Seattle
When local shopkeepers were pressured by long hours and the threat of boycotts, the trades unionists of Seattle stepped in with a formal resolution to end their shopping by 6:00 p.m.
- The Global Hop Crisis of 1893
An Auburn grower reports that 'red spiders' and extreme heat are devastating hop crops from Washington to England, threatening massive yield shortages.
- The Eight-Hour Day as a Moral Mandate
A fiery editorial argues that the eight-hour movement is the most significant moral and social reform of the age, transcending the 'superior intelligence' of lawyers and editors.
Also about this, in other words
- The Shortest Divorce Case on Record
Following a tragic loss in the family, a quarreling couple returns to court to finalize their separation with surprising speed.
- The Logging Industry Adjusts to New Standardization
Loggers and millmen debate the shift toward standardized 16-foot log lengths to meet Eastern market demands.
- The Shadow Over Section Five
A contested land parcel near the city has become the center of a legal standoff, as heirs of the late J. M. Hopkins complicate the Northern Pacific Railroad's claims.
- The Man Who Stopped the Train
A landowner takes matters into his own hands by tearing up railroad tracks after failing to receive payment for his property.
- A Premature Blast Tore Apart 'Lead' Long's Face Near Metaline
A miner known across the district was badly hurt at the Wake Up Jim prospect when a blast went off early, and details were slow to reach Newport.
- The Narrow Escape of John Long
A young man is nearly killed after being dragged fifty feet by a train at the Chehalis depot.
- The Great Bed-Sheet Debate
Legislators in Olympia waste the public's time by bickering over the legal length of hotel linens.
- A Close Call on the Road to Town
A passing train frightens a horse, leaving a local woman injured after a harrowing fall into a rock pile.