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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 2 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 2 |
| 1892 | 5 |
| 1893 | 1 |
| 1894 | 3 |
| 1895 | 3 |
| 1915 | 1 |
24 stories matching tack
- Seattle's Sewers Were Cracking All Over Town — and the City Engineer Blamed the Dirt
A furious letter writer insists the pipes broke not from 'percussion' but from the very worst kind of trench work — and points the finger straight at the man in charge.
- The Day the Sloop Fired on a Federal Cutter
In 1860, twenty-four Port Townsend citizens chartered a sloop to save $5 on fares to Olympia. When intercepted by a revenue cutter, their captain opened fire with a brass howitzer—only to discover he’d just threatened the U.S. government.
- The Great Drift: Seattle’s First Regatta Ends in a Tie with the Wind
Fifteen boats battled light airs and navigational errors during the July 4th celebration on Puget Sound, proving that even in 1876, Seattle's weather was as unpredictable as its politics.
- Dormitory Pranks and Faculty Feuds at Pullman
Agricultural college students torment their professor with snow-filled beds and carpet tacks while an editorial war over college management brews.
- The Indestructible Spring Chicken
A satirical look at local wildlife hunting and the legendary toughness of the American barnyard bird.
- A Wooden Gun and a Jailbreak: The Hunt for Thomas Blanck
Nine prisoners escaped from the King County jail. Only three have been recaptured. The notorious Thomas Blanck is still at large, armed men guard the roads, and a woman's description may be the key.
- The Tragic End of the Ferndale
A British bark shattered by Grays Harbor breakers leaves sixteen dead, but a local woman's bravery saves three survivors from the surf.
- The Grocer's Wife, the Forged Letters, and the Poisoned Glass
A Seattle woman says a trusted neighbor engineered her husband's disappearance, shipped her to Honolulu, and slowly drugged her — then she found the receipts.
- The Tax Collector’s Quiet Heist in Thurston County
Assessments against “unknown owners,” doubled fees and $9,000 in illegal exactions left property titles tangled and taxpayers furious.
- The Partisan’s Price: How Civil Service Reform Cost a Delegate His Seat
In 1876, King County’s Republican establishment turned on Judge O. Jacobs for refusing to hand out federal jobs to party loyalists, revealing the brutal mechanics of the spoils system in early Washington Territory.
- A Near-Fatal Collision on Seattle’s Waterfront
A ferry boat narrowly missed catastrophe in the harbor after ramming a small sailboat, leading to a harrowing rescue of its occupants.
- The Waterfront Opium Mystery
A suspicious midnight sloop sighting and a conversation overheard on the Lake Union shoreline lead police to believe a massive shipment of contraband has been landed.
- The Shingle Mill Girls of Cosmopolis
A local lumber mill defies labor union expectations by hiring a crew of women, sparking both ridicule and admiration on the Pacific Coast.
- A Woman’s Plea to Shed a Violent Past
A Seattle woman files for divorce and a name change, citing severe physical abuse and her husband's cruelty toward her children.
- A Day of Fraternizing on the Seattle Waterfront
When the G.A.R. veterans from Tacoma steamed into Seattle, the city turned out for a day of cannon fire, pork, and beans.
- A Hanging in the Armory: The Unpopular Corporal and the Men Who Stuffed His Uniform
Company E turned a grudge into theatre — an effigy rigged with an electric-light wire, a pair of odd-coloured glasses and a chalked gravestone — and a military court may follow.
- The Fight Over Who Gets the Road Contract
Prosser taxpayers challenge Benton County commissioners over the awarding of the Kennewick-Finley road contract to a non-lowest bidder.
- The Battle of the Wishkah River Bridge
A city’s municipal gridlock and the bizarre arrest of a councilman over anti-bond propaganda.
- The Perils of the Domestic Ideal
A satirical poem from 1882 paints a brutal portrait of the 'married life' trap awaiting the youth of frontier Seattle.
- The Great Sewerage Snafu
As Seattle rapidly expanded, the city council struggled to build a modern waste system, hampered by exorbitant royalty demands from engineers and local political bickering.
- The Hidden Cost of Shipping Raw Hides
Seattle is exporting its wealth in the form of raw animal skins and buying back expensive leather—an economic cycle the editor calls 'almost criminal.'
- A Hard Day at the Coal Depot Ends in Paralysis for One of Olympia's Oldest Citizens
A prominent Olympian collapses after a day of heavy work in the rain; doctors prescribe quiet as visitors crowd St. Peter's Hospital.
- The Senate Kills the Railroad Rate Bill, and the Party Loses Face
An editorial lashes the state senate for 'slaughtering' the Helm bill regulating railroad freights and fares, despite the Republican platform and Governor McGraw's own demand for fairness to the public.
- The Day She Asked for Our Front Door
A Snohomish resident’s hilarious and exasperating account of his neighbors’ audacious borrowing habits reveals the thin veneer of civility in close-knit frontier communities.
Also about this, in other words
- The Battle Over the Anchor Brand
A territorial dispute over livestock branding sparks a public warning in the local paper.
- Longshoreman Injured at Commercial Dock
A dock worker is rushed to the hospital after a workplace accident involving falling lumber.
- The Brutal Reality of 'Assumption of Risk' in the Mills
A shingle sawyer loses his hand in a mill accident, only to have his lawsuit dismissed due to legal doctrines protecting corporations.
- The Wharfside Standoff
A group of longshoremen confront laborers attempting to work for lower wages at the Spring Street wharf.
- The Barber, the Boarder, and the Bad Meat
A Rosalia boarding house proprietor sues for $6,000 after a poet lampoons his culinary standards in the local paper.
- Portland Stock Buyers Head to Kennewick for Auction
General manager of the Union Stock Yards to attend first annual thoroughbred hog sale at the O-W. R. & N. depot.
- The Shoemaker's Windfall
When a simple shop sign is caught by the wind, it leads to an unexpected—and quite public—domestic confession.
- A Close Encounter with a Barnyard Kicker
A White Bluffs man learns the hard way why it is safer to stand at a horse's head than behind its heels.