Research the archive
Narrow 25,688 newspaper stories by words, years, place, newspaper and subject. See when and where they ran, then download what you find.
Put a phrase in quotes ("rent strike") or leave a word out with a minus (strike -baseball). Old scans misspell names, so when little is found, near-spellings are offered.
Refine
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 27 |
| 1877 | 18 |
| 1878 | 10 |
| 1879 | 5 |
| 1880 | 17 |
| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 15 |
| 1884 | 8 |
| 1885 | 9 |
| 1886 | 4 |
| 1887 | 4 |
| 1888 | 5 |
| 1889 | 10 |
| 1890 | 4 |
| 1891 | 12 |
| 1892 | 33 |
| 1893 | 24 |
| 1894 | 29 |
| 1895 | 32 |
| 1898 | 1 |
| 1899 | 3 |
| 1903 | 4 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1908 | 2 |
| 1909 | 4 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1923 | 2 |
| 1924 | 4 |
295 stories matching skagit
- The Log Jam That Held Back the Skagit
Settlers bet their savings on cutting a channel through a massive timber jam—and begged Sound steamboat captains to link the Skagit to Seattle.
- The Great Skagit Jam: How Local Men Tried to Unplug the River
In 1876, a massive logjam blocked the Skagit River for miles. While officials debated expensive dredging projects, local loggers took matters into their own hands with picks and dynamite.
- The Long Walk Home: A Traveler’s Ordeal on the Skagit River
In April 1876, a visitor to Snohomish County recounts a grueling journey through mud, tides, and broken steamers, highlighting the isolation of early Washington settlements.
- The Land Grab That Built Tacoma: How the Northern Pacific Railroad Stole Millions of Acres
A furious editorial in the Seattle Star exposes the Northern Pacific Railroad’s scheme to misappropriate public lands for a private coal line, arguing that the company is using legal loopholes to steal from settlers in King and Snohomish counties.
- The Skagit's Buried Treasure
A survey of the booming coal prospects near the Skagit River, and the physical toll extracted from the pioneers who first uncovered them.
- The Skagit Gold Rush Mirage
When the promise of easy riches on the Skagit River sparked a frantic, ill-fated mining boom, Seattle’s local press faced accusations of peddling a dangerous myth.
- The Town Where Horses Wore Wooden Shoes
La Conner grew slowly on a rocky knoll in the Skagit delta, diked its tidal flats, and shipped out hay by the ton—while its horses clumped through spring mud in wooden moccasins.
- The Iron Leviathan Meets the Excursionists: A Day on Puget Sound
When the USS Iowa arrived in Port Orchard, local dignitaries and chamber of commerce members boarded a steamer to greet the battleship, leading to a dramatic encounter in the fog and a cordial invitation to a banquet.
- The Skagit Jam: A War Against Nature for the Sake of Steam
Seattle businessmen and territorial officials unite to clear a massive logjam on the Skagit River, betting that removing the obstruction will unlock fertile farmland and restore vital steamboat navigation to the region.
- When the Skagit River Swallowed Mount Vernon: The Great Flood of 1894
A sudden heat wave melted mountain snow, sending rivers over their banks and putting whole towns underwater. In Mount Vernon, 300 men fought a losing battle against the rising Skagit.
- The Sausage Maker’s Long Walk for Justice
After his Skagit County homestead was ransacked, a local sausage vendor spent two weeks trudging through mud to find an officer who would actually serve a warrant, only to be met with a revolver in the woods.
- 7,000 Miners Head for the Skagit, But High Water Halts the Diggings
Spring freshets wash out the wingdams on Ruby Creek while hundreds of men wait at the Portage for a trail and pack animals — and California newspapers predict a stampede of thousands.
- The Road to Nowhere: State Engineers Concede There Is No Pass North of Mount Baker
After burning $6,000 on twenty miles of trail, state road commissioners admit the Hannegan and Austin passes are impassable—and the legislature must decide what comes next.
- Taming the Skagit Tide Lands
Early farmers in the Skagit Valley share sworn affidavits proving the extreme fertility of reclaimed tide lands, boasting of massive grain harvests.
- The Gold Rush Trail to the Skagit
As prospectors flock to the Skagit River, old-timers debate the best route through the wilderness to reach the promised riches.
- The Town That Grew in Ninety Days—and Then Waited for the Railroad
In 1890, promoters carved Anacortes out of the Fidalgo Island forest, sold lots at galloping prices, and promised a transcontinental rail terminal. Two years later, the trains still stopped short and the company wharf was closed to the public.
- The Skagit Stand-off: A Survey Interrupted
When federal surveyors moved onto Skagit lands without a treaty, they were met by 150 armed warriors ready to defend their sovereignty.
- The Skagit Land Rush: A Morning of Chaos and Cleverness
When the federal land office in Seattle opened to accept claims for the Upper Skagit river, a line of hundreds descended into a power struggle defined by military-style organization, gender politics, and shifting rules.
- The Great Diking Effort of Swinomish
Farmers on the Skagit and Swinomish are transforming thousands of acres of marshland into fertile fields through a massive, coordinated engineering effort.
- The Great Jam: Seattle’s Gamble on Clearing the Skagit River
As a massive log jam threatens to stall trade in the fertile Skagit Valley, enterprising locals are betting their fortunes on a dangerous engineering feat to open the river for commerce.
- Defying the 'Sassy' Indians on the Skagit
A party of explorers ventures deep into Snohomish's wild interior, clashing with local tribes and staking claims on land 'no white women live above.'
- The Wild Goose Trail: How $25,000 Chased a Mountain Pass That Wasn't There
A state commission, an over-imaginative mountaineer and a sober engineer collide over a wagon road across the Cascades — and the taxpayers pick up the bill.
- The Skagit's First Steam Logging Railroad
A new industrial era for the Upper Skagit river as local logging ramps up production with a custom-built iron engine.
- Mining in the Skagit Wilderness
Prospector J. C. Rouse details the rugged reality of life at the headwaters of the Skagit, where miners hope for a railroad to unlock hidden silver.
- The Skagit Gold Rush of 1880
A winter of record-breaking snow gives way to a spring of fevered anticipation as prospectors return to the Skagit River's golden banks.
Also about this, in other words
- Tragedy on the Skagit
A young worker loses his life in a whirlpool while attempting to transport shingle bolts downriver.
- The Settlers’ Plea for the Skagit River
Without government support, early pioneers are manually clearing massive river logjams to open the Skagit Valley to trade and development.
- The Skagit County Sheriff’s 'First Class' Hotel
Newly formed Skagit County lacks a proper jail, forcing the sheriff to board inmates at local hotels at public expense.
- The 'Agricultural Wonder' of the Skagit Valley
A local farmer promises to transform the economy of the Territory with a miracle oat that promises to outgrow all others.
- The Great Skagit Flood of 1887
Thousands of acres of farmland are submerged as the Skagit River hits record-breaking, catastrophic levels.
- The Skagit Farm Courtroom Battle
A landmark inheritance case hinged on the validity of an 1880s marriage between a white settler and a Swinomish woman.
- 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.
- A Skagit Valley Farmer’s Ruin
After the dikes failed, a prosperous farm on Skagit Island was reduced to 10 percent of its value, with the farmer pinning the blame on timber booms.