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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 2 |
| 1889 | 4 |
| 1891 | 5 |
| 1892 | 7 |
| 1893 | 4 |
| 1894 | 8 |
| 1895 | 14 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1903 | 3 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1908 | 3 |
| 1909 | 7 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1924 | 1 |
71 stories matching straighten
- Rising from the Ashes: The Great Seattle Fire of 1888
While the downtown core smoldered, Seattle citizens gathered in the courthouse—lit by tallow dips—to demand a modern city of brick and stone, rejecting makeshift wooden shacks and dreaming of a reconstructed metropolis.
- The 1895 Plan to Straighten the Sammamish River
A petition from H. K. Kelsey and forty others asked King County to drain, deepen and straighten Squak Slough, reclaiming 3,000 acres of overflowed land.
- The Tailor, the Raffle Ticket, and the Entire Afternoon Police Force
A well-dressed Californian sold chances on a $30 suit of clothes to nearly every patrolman in Seattle. Then the drawing night came and went — and the swindled cops hauled him in themselves.
- The Great Assessment Scam: How King County Taxpayers Were Fooled by 'Blunders'
A local reporter exposes the absurdity of county tax assessments, where landowners receive notices for huge back-taxes on property they already paid off, forcing them to chase down exhausted commissioners in a cycle of bureaucratic error.
- One Street, Eight Names: The Tide-Land Map That Broke Seattle's Addresses
When the tide-land appraisers published their new plat, they named the filled waterfront after the states and the big cities — ignoring every street already on the ground. City Engineer Thomson's renaming scheme collapsed on the spot.
- Untangling the 'Ram's Horn' Rail Lines
A committee of aldermen pushes to straighten a confusing rail right-of-way that crippled Seattle's waterfront development.
- A Child's Hip Set Without a Knife, the First Time West of the Rockies
Surgeons from across the state crowd a Seattle operating room to watch a Baltimore doctor straighten a two-year-old's dislocated hip by hand.
- The City Was Broke. The Paper Wanted the Mayor and Council to Quit.
With Olympia's finances in a muddle and a bond election already doomed by irregularities, the Tribune pressed Mayor Kerr and three councilmen to resign early so the newly elected government could take charge.
- The Legislature’s Unfinished Business—and the Case for a Special Session
An anonymous Olympia lawmaker told The Tribune that defective appropriation laws, unpaid citizens and stalled state business demanded a special session by December.
- The Victorian Anxiety Over 'Fat Babies'
An 1880 advice column warns parents that 'excessive fat is really a disease' and cautions against the physical toll of oversized toddlers on their own developing bones.
- The Railway King vs. The 'Bow in the Ram's Horn'
James J. Hill, the legendary railroad titan, packs the Seattle City Council chambers to demand a straight track through the city's waterfront, warning that 'bottlenecking' the rails would cost the city its future.
- The Judge Who Warned Seattle Not to Sell Its Waterfront to a Canal Company
In 1894, Judge John J. McGilvra urged Congress to build the Lake Washington Ship Canal and warned that a private company's tideflat scheme would put tolls on the water and enrich speculators at public expense.
- The Meat Market Collector's Secret Life
A trusted employee at a Seattle meat market vanishes, leaving behind a trail of debt and a hidden history of gambling arrests.
- Thirty Grains of Morphine and a Baker’s Plea to Be Let Go
Christian F. Gutheil, a Seattle bakery owner, survived an overdose after a long spree—then told a reporter he wished the doctors had not interfered.
- The Late-Night Fight That Killed Washington's First University Building
A governor's-office showdown between the state auditor and the university building commission halted construction, left laborers unpaid, and pushed Olympia toward a special legislative session.
- A Pioneer's 40-Year Fight for Land the Indian Wars Took
Isaiah W. Bryant's 1895 petition traced how he fled his White River donation claim during the 1855-56 war, lost his savings, and waited decades for the land office to act.
- A Funeral with Flowers, a Minister—and No Mourners
Vina Kelly's funeral became a public spectacle when her family failed to appear. Then the coroner's post-mortem answered a rumored pregnancy and found pneumonia.
- A Desperate Night at the Clifton House
A Clallam County resident struggling with alcoholism and personal heartache attempts to end his life in a downtown hotel.
- James J. Hill's Railroad Ultimatum to Seattle
The Great Northern president tells Seattle's council he will build freight and passenger terminals 'right away'—if the city grants the track franchises he wants across the tide flats and South Third.
- Bureaucratic Delay, Bloody Quarrels: The Land Survey That Left Homesteaders in Limbo for 15 Years
Senator Squire demands answers from the General Land Office as settlers on townships 38-40 wait over a decade for their land titles, with boundary disputes turning deadly.
- The Tragedy of a Lonely Life in Seattle
A man's desperate act of suicide on Commercial Street illuminates the harsh isolation and economic despair of Seattle’s early frontier days.
- The 'Prison Evangelist' of the Seattle Jail
After two weeks of revival, a former variety actress turned missionary offers a glimpse into the transient lives and moral reckonings of the Pacific Northwest.
- The Stowaway with Seventeen Guns
A Victoria burglar thought he’d outsmarted police by hiding between decks on the steamer *Premier*, but a sharp-eyed customs officer at the Seattle dock caught him red-handed—and found his loot.
- Pike Street Runs Into a Lake: The Man Hired to Untangle Seattle's Eight-Named Streets
In 1895 the city handed City Engineer Thomson the worst street-naming mess on the Pacific Coast — five Cedar streets, three Adams, four Elliotts — and one road with eight different names. Then the ladies of Queen Anne Hill went to war over who got to be Highland Avenue.
- The Promised Metropolis on the Columbia
A booster report envisions a massive industrial city of 50,000 residents rising from the sagebrush desert at Priest Rapids.
Also about this, in other words
- Solving the 'Ram's Horn' Snarl
A council committee moves to eliminate a crooked railroad right-of-way that has long hindered harbor development on the Seattle waterfront.
- City Orders Poorly Laid Paving Ripped Up
A commissioner rejects the work of the Barber Asphalt Company for insufficient concrete foundations on North End streets.
- Clearing the Right-of-Way North of Columbia Street
After a protracted legal fight with the city, the Oregon Improvement Company prepares to rebuild its tracks north of downtown.
- The Racket on Tacoma Avenue
Local business owners demand the streetcar company silence its noisy, 'flat-wheeled' cars.
- Northern Pacific Purges Ranks in Consolidation
A master mechanic travels to Vancouver to test the fitness of workers on newly acquired rail lines as wage standards are adjusted.
- The Saloon Stoop Feud
A corner clothing shop proprietor scores a court victory against a neighboring basement saloon's attempt to wall off the sidewalk.
- Streetcar Smash-up on the Spur
A motorman is seriously injured in a collision at a local woodyard after a switch fails to be reset properly.
- "Great Scott! Is That Dr. Mary Walker?" — Two Seattle Clerks Ditch Their Skirts on a Dare
A druggist's cashier and stenographer appear on Front Street in bifurcated skirts, betting their boss they'd do it. The town stares; the women report no other inconvenience.