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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1862 | 4 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1865 | 1 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 6 |
| 1876 | 28 |
| 1877 | 22 |
| 1878 | 55 |
| 1879 | 5 |
| 1880 | 8 |
| 1882 | 9 |
| 1883 | 34 |
| 1884 | 15 |
| 1885 | 40 |
| 1886 | 17 |
| 1887 | 11 |
| 1888 | 21 |
| 1889 | 62 |
| 1890 | 4 |
| 1891 | 44 |
| 1892 | 60 |
| 1893 | 92 |
| 1894 | 79 |
| 1895 | 124 |
| 1896 | 1 |
| 1897 | 6 |
| 1898 | 17 |
| 1899 | 17 |
| 1900 | 5 |
| 1902 | 2 |
| 1903 | 63 |
| 1904 | 31 |
| 1905 | 4 |
| 1908 | 13 |
| 1909 | 50 |
| 1910 | 9 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 8 |
| 1915 | 8 |
| 1916 | 19 |
| 1917 | 11 |
| 1918 | 4 |
| 1923 | 6 |
| 1924 | 3 |
| 1925 | 3 |
1,028 stories matching sold
- The Real Estate Gold Rush: How Seattle’s Early Boomers Made Millions on Dirt
A Sunday editorial in the Post-Intelligencer lays bare the staggering profits of land speculation in 1883, revealing how a few savvy investors turned hundreds of dollars into fortunes through sheer timing and location.
- When Eggs Became Legal Tender: How the Palouse Survived the Panic of 1893
After the rains wrecked the 1893 wheat crop and merchants slammed shut the credit system, Palouse farmers discovered that the hen — and then the hog — could save them.
- The Apple Pool That Beat the Wholesale Buyers
Two years in, a Wenatchee growers' co-operative had moved 300 carloads of fruit and sold 101 cars of apples to the highest bidder in the East — and one orchardist a mile and a half from town cleared $18,544.80.
- The Invisible Killer in Your Milk: Seattle’s Health Officer Warns of Tuberculosis Cows
With consumption rates soaring and no dedicated veterinary inspector on staff, local officials admit the city is dangerously unprepared to stop diseased cattle from entering the food supply.
- The Old Log Jail That Outlived Two Colvilles Sells for $25
The county's first jail—built in old Colville, moved to the new townsite, and finally replaced—is auctioned off and will be hauled to a farm.
- The Fight to Build Washington's Capitol—and the Man Who Wanted It in Puyallup
A state commission says the capitol can be finished debt-free, but a rival town's booster has other ideas.
- The Valley the Kalispel Never Ceded
A federal allotting agent explains how the Kalispel Valley was divided into individual parcels—after much of it had already been treated as public domain and claimed by white homesteaders.
- The Diamond Palace Jeweler Who Vanished With the Stock
Simon Rumpf’s 'Diamond Palace' is placed in receivership after creditors allege he conspired to transfer his stock and then disappeared.
- The Wild Cow That Ran Amok: Seattle’s First Public Menace
A runaway bovine terrorized the streets of Pioneer Square before being shot dead, sparking a bizarre legal battle over who owned the carcass and whether rotten beef could be sold to unsuspecting diners.
- The Sunday Bond Deal That Split Benton County
Two commissioners secretly arranged a courthouse bond sale, and a courtroom fight over lost premiums exposed how far they went to keep the third commissioner—and the public—in the dark.
- The Alderman, the Cable Road, and the Broken Promise to Double-Track Yesler
A former cable-road owner accuses a Seattle alderman of slander and demands the city force the Yesler Avenue line to honor its franchise and double-track Yesler and Jackson.
- The Snohomish Bond Scheme: How Outsiders Tried to Rig City Finances
When Eastern and California financiers tried to orchestrate a 'little combine' to depress the value of city bonds, Snohomish officials fought back.
- A Seattle Merchant Sold His Stock, Then Vanished — and His Creditors Want Him Back
Simon Rumpf disappeared sometime after selling the Diamond Palace's goods to J. K. Basye & Co. Detectives are hunting Nuremberg, Honolulu, and a cache of missing merchandise they suspect never left the city.
- Washington's Public Lands Were Run by a Patchwork. Reformers Wanted One Powerful Board.
A joint legislative committee concludes that county tide-land boards, roving land cruisers and district attorneys have wasted public money, and recommends a three-member state land board to manage school and tide lands.
- The Shingle That Carried Washington Through the Panic of 1893
A year-end accounting of the state's sawmills and shingle mills shows a timber empire reaching twenty-two foreign countries — and a rail trade down 25 percent as the national depression bites.
- How an old mining ditch and a boulder patch became a $6,000 orchard
A correspondent's tour of the Methow valley and the benches above Pateros finds peaches by the boxcar, seven-pound carrots, and a warning that California land had already outrun the poor man.
- The Widow and the Land Graber
An Indian widow and her children reclaim their land after being defrauded by a prominent guardian.
- The Secret Courthouse Bond Deal Benton County Tried to Ram Through
Commissioners Clements and McNeill authorized $125,000 in bonds for a Prosser courthouse after a closed-door plan their own lawyer admitted was designed to keep taxpayers in the dark. A Kennewick lawsuit put the deal before Judge Grady.
- The Warden Fights Back: Prison Labor, Jute Sacks and a Seattle Newspaper Scandal
Accused of selling prison-made sacks to middlemen and brutalizing convicts, Walla Walla’s warden answers his critics with a detailed defense—and a challenge to inspect the prison.
- Seattle’s Yesler Donation Claim Goes on the Auction Block
An administrator petitions to carve 86 lots out of Sarah B. Yesler’s donation claim to settle an estate drowning in debt and taxes.
- The State vs. The Oyster Poachers
Land Commissioner C.V. Savidge cancels a tide land deed in Hood Canal, setting a precedent that public oyster lands must serve the shellfish industry, not private real estate greed.
- The $100-Acre Garden: How Puyallup’s ‘Rich Farming’ Made Landlords Rich and Farmers Poor
In the fertile valleys of Tacoma County, land speculators from Philadelphia are buying up prime soil for $150 an acre, turning subsistence farming into a high-stakes real estate game.
- The Soaring Value of Seattle Dirt
A look at the rapid rise of local property values, as pioneer church lots worth a dollar reach thousands in gold.
- The Globe-Trotter, the Elks, and the $5,000 Wager
A Boston telegram called Paul Jones a fake. Seattle's own reporting found a Harvard man circling the world on a wager — and turning a paper suit into a sellout lecture.
- The Man Who Bought His Own Death
In a Seattle saloon in 1877, a gambler named 'Hilly Hacker' was challenged by a stranger with a shotgun. Hacker’s response? He bet the man $50 that he could buy him 20,000 shares of stock at a higher price before the market opened—proving his nerve was stronger than any weapon.
Also about this, in other words
- Bondholders Take the Street Railway at a Courthouse Auction
The Rainier Power & Railway Company sells for $15,000, handing a troubled transit line to the men who held its debt.
- The Great Liquidation: Herman Wise’s Desperate Plea to Sell Everything in Aberdeen
A frantic letter from a Seattle merchant to his Aberdeen agent reveals the volatile nature of late-19th-century real estate and retail, urging a fire-sale 'regardless of cost' as business conditions sour.
- Pawn Shop Under Scrutiny Over Early Sale of Goods
A local second-hand merchant was arrested for selling a suit that had not yet reached its redemption date, sparking a test case for local consumer rights.
- He Burned the Deed to Prove His Love — Then Sold Her House for $1
A Tacoma wife says her husband coaxed her into signing away the family home, torched the paper to win her back, and secretly sold the property to his son.
- A Railroad, a Tide-Land Tract, and an Elevator Go on the Auction Block
A bond debt forced the sheriff to sell the Terminal Railway Elevator Company's tracks, tide land, West Seattle elevator and warehouse, and franchise at the courthouse steps.
- A State Official Caught Profiting Off World's Fair Surplus
Dr. N. G. Blalock faces public scrutiny for failing to report the sale of Washington State lumber exhibit assets, keeping the proceeds for himself.
- The Hard Sell at the Church Social
A bashful young man finds himself trapped at a church fair, unable to escape the relentless solicitation of two persistent young women.
- Voters Approve School Land Sale
Despite a storm, citizens gathered to authorize the sale of District No. 1 property, paving the way for new schools in the north and south ends.