Research the archive
Narrow 22,457 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 |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 8 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1886 | 2 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 2 |
| 1889 | 9 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 7 |
| 1892 | 2 |
| 1893 | 3 |
| 1894 | 6 |
| 1895 | 5 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1903 | 2 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1916 | 1 |
| 1923 | 1 |
| 1924 | 1 |
| 1925 | 1 |
60 stories matching straw
- Cheaper to Ship Wheat to Liverpool Than to Seattle: An Inland Empire Farmer's Case Against the Railroads
A Whitman County grower tells the Post-Intelligencer that Palouse wheat can be raised for about 30 cents a bushel — and sent 16,000 miles to England for less than the railroad charges to haul it 400 miles to the Sound.
- The Counterfeit 'Rye Straw' Cigar Scam
Tobacco merchants discover a deceptive new counterfeit cigar wrapper made of chemically treated rye straw.
- The Cheap Alternative to Pavement
A visionary proposes using straw to harden dusty, alkali-laden country roads for wheat transport.
- The Effigy in the Pine Tree
Charles Gloystein crossed Spokane County's Populists and woke to find himself hanged in straw. Then he vanished.
- The Collapse of the Merchants' National
Tacoma bank officials indicted on charges of false entry and 'straw paper' schemes amid a brutal city-wide financial rivalry.
- The Dungeon Behind the Standard Theater: Inside Seattle’s Terrifying Jail
A reporter’s inspection of Marshal Hamilton’s holding cells reveals prisoners sleeping on straw in a damp basement, fed by a restaurant manager who claims their diet is 'wholesome' and identical to his paying customers'.
- The Customs Collector and the Straw Men of Puget Sound
A Tacoma official accuses Collector J. C. Saunders of padding the customs payroll with political workers—including a no-show inspector—for work never done at the Interstate Fair.
- 'As Cold as a Barn': The Olympia Theater Fight That Spilled Into Print
When the Tribune panned the Olympia Theater, the rival Standard accused it of kicking without reason. The rebuttal names icy dressing rooms, one-dollar seats and a manager in over his head.
- The Tragic Discovery of Francis Eurle
A desperate man is found barely alive, hidden away in a remote straw stack in Washington Territory.
- The Union Man in the White Suit Walked Into Jail
After the 1894 railroad strike, Northern Pacific committeeman Charles A. Barnes lost his bondsmen and surrendered in a canvas suit and straw hat, telling the marshal, 'Here is my body.'
- A Mystery in the School District Archives
A search through district records reveals suspicious 'straw bonds' and contract irregularities in the building of a new school.
- The Mayor's Hat Scandal
Snohomish citizens stage a humorous protest when the Mayor ditches his traditional straw hat for the season.
- A Dance-Hall Fight, a Choked Woman, and a Suspended Sentence
Beer, jealousy and a courtroom display of bruises followed a night at the New Zealand dance house and the Mint.
- The Blue-Flowered Bonanza: How Whatcom County Found Flax
A Ferndale doctor's experiments convince the federal government that Puget Sound can out-produce Europe's linen fields — and New York capital starts paying attention.
- A Literal Sagebrush Collision
A local man's unadvertised diving exhibition ends in a heap of sagebrush.
- Expulsion of 'Undesirables' Reported in City Council
The City Marshal’s report casually mentions the forced removal of fifty-five people, including Chinese and Black residents, as the council focuses on fire codes.
- The Eastern Oregon Burned at Percival’s Wharf
A repair crew’s paint store caught fire aboard the steamship Eastern Oregon, forcing men to jump forty feet to the mudflats and killing one cook; the blaze threatened Percival’s Wharf before rain helped firefighters.
- The Day Farmers Blew Up a Dam
In a bold act of agrarian rebellion on the Fourth of July, Stuck River farmers used dynamite to destroy the White River dam, draining the muck and reclaiming their land.
- The Judge Who Ejected His Own Lawyer: A Tacoma Courtroom Meltdown
In a bizarre turn of events at the Thurston County Courthouse, Presiding Judge Laurence silenced defense counsel Bronston and refused to hear the prisoner's testimony, leaving John Halson to face burglary charges in silence.
- The Forgotten Souls of the County Poor Farm
A rare, unflinching account of the grim conditions inside Seattle’s makeshift county asylum, where the elderly and infirm were left to languish on hard wooden planks.
- The Newspaper Letter That Nearly Started a Fight in the Washington Senate
With the U.S. Senate election deadlocked in Olympia, a Pierce County senator read a rival’s letter aloud — and the chamber erupted over money, lobbyists, and borrowed favors.
- The Fight to Keep the Cavalry at Fort Walla Walla
Local farmers and merchants brace for economic disaster as officials weigh the abandonment of the town's military post.
- Tragedy at Falling Springs
A domestic terror incident near Pomeroy ends in the perpetrator's suicide.
- The Wharf That Ate Its Workers: Seattle’s First Major Infrastructure Failure
In September 1876, a newly built lumber wharf in Seattle collapsed under the weight of its own laborers, sending Chinese workers and timber plunging into the Duwamish River. The disaster exposed the rotting reality of territorial construction and the precarious lives of immigrant labor.
- The Great Sunday Exodus: Seattle’s Mass Migration to East Lake
In a display of weather defiance and civic pride, thousands of residents abandoned the city center for the shores of Lake Washington, turning Stern & Miller’s new development into an impromptu amusement park.