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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1887 | 2 |
| 1889 | 2 |
| 1893 | 4 |
| 1894 | 2 |
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21 stories matching thirst
- A Christmas on the Ice King: The Climb That Saw Rainier Smoking
In 1894, Major Ingraham led six men, seven homing pigeons, and a camera onto Mount Rainier’s glaciers. They came back with frostbite, a story of steam and smoke rising from the crater—and one pigeon missing.
- Surveyors Expelled by Indigenous Resistance
Tensions rise as surveyors are pushed off the Colville reservation over contested land boundaries.
- The Right to Protect a Source in 1887 Seattle
A landmark court ruling in Seattle established that a journalist cannot be legally compelled to reveal their sources, protecting the freedom of the press in the burgeoning territory.
- The 1889 Great Seattle Thirst
As Seattle boomed toward 30,000 residents, the city faced a critical choice: build a dual system of salt water for fire and fresh for drinking, or bet everything on Lake Washington.
- The Trial of Little Willie Holmes
A young miner stands accused of killing a coworker in Franklin, revealing a community torn between justice and sympathy for the accused.
- The Fight Against the 'Two-Percent Shylocks'
A fierce 1878 constitutional debate in Washington Territory pits anti-monopoly reformers against banking interests.
- The Price of a City's Thirst
Tacoma’s struggle to purchase its own waterworks reveals the city's entanglement with Northern Pacific rail interests and the high cost of utility monopolies.
- The Ghost on the Forest Trail
A lone rider’s remains, discovered near Enumclaw, spark a haunting reflection on the anonymous lives lost in the rush to settle the wild West.
- When Seattle's Taps Ran Dry, One Citizen Took the City to Task
A resident of the city's eastern heights petitions the Seattle City Council over empty pipes, fire risk, and water bills—with sarcasm aimed at every authority from City Hall to the White House.
- City Council Battles Over Future Water Source
Walla Walla officials debate a costly Mill Creek pipeline versus tapping the Thomas ranch springs to quench the city's growing thirst.
- The New Year’s Eve Saloon Standoff
Prosser voters went 'dry,' but local saloonkeepers are refusing to close their doors.
- Walla Walla's Growing Thirst
City officials begin enforcing strict sprinkling hours as a record-breaking rainfall deficiency threatens the local water supply.
- The Brewery Moves On After Everett Goes Dry
Local industry shifts its sights from local taps to the export market following the city's prohibition vote.
- The Human Cost of the Overland Journey
Destitute immigrants arriving in Walla Walla by ox-team, broken by travel and disease, find a moment of grace from the city's residents.
- Seattle’s Thirst: A Winter Warning
A deep freeze has exposed the city's crumbling, inadequate water infrastructure.
- The Switchback Brawl
A violent confrontation breaks out between railroad workers and locals over a disputed switchback rail line.
- The Tiny Republic of Anacortes: Boys, Shells, and Self-Government
In 1893, a group of Anacortes boys turned beachcombing into a natural-history club with a constitution, dues, and an exhibition that drew the whole town.
- The Football Defense: A 19th-Century Debate on Brutality
Readers spar in the pages of the Post-Intelligencer over whether American college football is a ‘scientific’ athletic endeavor or a barbaric ‘prized-fight’ masquerading as sport.
- The Myth of the Wild West Cowboy
A columnist deconstructs the romantic image of the 'blood-draggled' cowboy, revealing that the men who shot up town billiard parlors were often just farm-boys performing bravado.
- The Vanity Trap: Seattle’s 1876 Warning on Materialism
While the city scrambled to build its future, one observer warned that an 'aristocracy of display' was hollowing out the pioneer soul.
- The Great 'Old Junction' Saloon Scandal of 1871
When the city's most beloved watering hole shut its doors, 10,000 disgruntled Seattleites felt the thirst.
Also about this, in other words
- When the Taps Ran Dry: Seattle's 1894 Water Famine
City council rations water as Renton Heights residents go without during a dry summer, passing a joint resolution to restrict use and hire an extra inspector.
- The Pride of the Vagabond
A man in Whatcom chooses starvation over begging, highlighting the grim extremes of dignity and survival in the 1890s labor market.
- The Quest for Water at Temperance and Mercer
Developer D. T. Denny is drilling deep into the ground of North Seattle, hoping to tap an artesian aquifer to secure water for his property.
- The Desert’s Promise in Wenatchee
Impatience grows as the city council moves to bond the town to pull water from the Columbia River, hoping to turn brush land into a fruit-growing empire.
- The Forty-Five Day Fast of a Welsh Miner
Seeking a cure for chronic throat trouble, a local man attempts an extreme medical fast under the guidance of a physician.
- The Invisible Milky Way in a Glass of Wine
A scientific lecture from 1878 explores the 'vital ether' and the microscopic life forces that drive fermentation.
- The Unseen Cost of a Glass of Milk
A 1887 inspection of Seattle's dairy conditions reveals the grim reality of animal welfare and public health, proving that the struggle for food quality is as old as the city itself.
- The Great Freeze: Island Waterworks Struggle
When the thermometer dropped, Vashon's plumbing systems proved no match for the elements.