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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 28 |
| 1877 | 19 |
| 1878 | 31 |
| 1879 | 2 |
| 1880 | 6 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 29 |
| 1884 | 5 |
| 1885 | 16 |
| 1886 | 12 |
| 1887 | 5 |
| 1888 | 10 |
| 1889 | 19 |
| 1890 | 6 |
| 1891 | 18 |
| 1892 | 26 |
| 1893 | 36 |
| 1894 | 32 |
| 1895 | 21 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 1 |
| 1899 | 10 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1902 | 3 |
| 1903 | 6 |
| 1904 | 13 |
| 1905 | 2 |
| 1907 | 1 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 3 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1914 | 9 |
| 1915 | 3 |
| 1916 | 11 |
| 1917 | 4 |
| 1923 | 2 |
| 1924 | 3 |
| 1925 | 3 |
408 stories matching ton
- The Coal King’s Dilemma: Seattle vs. the World
As global markets crash and foreign rivals flood San Francisco with cheap fuel, local miners and merchants scramble to save their industry from extinction.
- The Seattle Boom in Black and White: 1889
A look at the sheer volume of commerce flowing through Seattle's docks and rails just weeks after the Great Seattle Fire, showcasing a city obsessed with growth, brick, and iron.
- When Seattle Was Coal Country
A detailed 1895 survey shows King County leading Washington's coal output, with Seattle shipping fuel to California, Oregon, and the Midwest—while labor troubles and spontaneous mine fires shadowed the boom.
- The White Bluffs Sweet Potato Bonanza
After local reports of a massive 27-ton-per-acre sweet potato yield went viral, a farmer finds himself fielding inquiries from skeptics and hopeful growers across the country.
- The Seattle Coal Cooperative of 1876
A century and a half ago, Seattle workers formed a mutual benefit mining company to secure their own fuel and profits.
- Sunnyside’s Eight-Ton Alfalfa Boast, Put to the Test
A North Yakima skeptic doubted the valley’s famous hay yields. A local correspondent polled the oldest growers and came back with a table—and a defense of the district’s sales pitch.
- Tragedy at Cle Elum: Twelve Tons of Dynamite Explode
A catastrophic explosion at a mining magazine claims multiple lives, including a former Lynden pioneer.
- Seattle's $3 Million Steel Dream on Salmon Bay
A new blast furnace and steel works promised thousands of jobs, a freight-car plant, and 23,000 new residents—if the boosters were to be believed.
- The Cold Truth at City Hall
A winter coal shortage brings a parade of desperate applicants to a city official who doles out fuel with a mix of bureaucratic cruelty and casual dismissals.
- Seattle’s Iron Dream: The $3 Million Plant That Promised to Remake Puget Sound
In the wake of a depression, boosters announced a blast-furnace and steel-works complex on Salmon Bay — plus a freight-car factory — predicting thousands of jobs and 25,000 new residents.
- The Gold Bonanza Beneath the Palouse
On the headwaters of the North Palouse, two Farmington brothers struck a quartz ledge they say assays at more than $6,000 a ton — and they swear not one inch of it is for sale.
- Seattle's Coal Industry Expands for Future Growth
The Seattle Coal and Improvement Company announces major wharf expansion and railroad upgrades to meet growing demand.
- The Industrial Bounty of 1884
A wide-ranging survey of Pierce County’s coal mines, timber mills, and the early aspirations of a burgeoning Seattle and Tacoma.
- The Waterfront Hustle: A Snapshot of 1888 Seattle
Before the skyscrapers, the heart of Seattle was a chaotic symphony of coal, salmon, and stone as the city scrambled to build its future.
- The Black Gold Rush of 1888
As Seattle's industry boomed, the city's hunger for coal outpaced its supply, triggering a frantic expansion of mines across the territory.
- Roslyn Miners End a Three-Month Strike — and Return to the Pits at a 20 Percent Cut
After a bitter walkout against the Northern Pacific Coal Company, the miners of Roslyn vote almost unanimously to accept reduced wages and go back to work — a surrender that some say was hastened when a handful of Black miners from Franklin were brought in to take their places.
- The One-Ton Ring That Bore Three Tons—and Left a Worker Paralyzed
Thomas O’Leary was repairing the City of Kingston when a bad iron ring gave way. He sued for $2,500, bedridden from the chest down, as doctors called him a cripple for life.
- The Price of Coal and the Cost of Labor
After shifting from Chinese laborers to white workers, mining companies find themselves in a standoff over wages that leaves miners idle and mines shuttered.
- The Coal Wars of the Pacific
A mine manager argues that a higher tariff on Australian coal is the key to regional prosperity and industrial growth.
- Forty-Five Days From Hongkong: Seattle's New Orient Steamer Docks With Sugar, Rice and Bananas
The steel freighter Palmas, first ship on the Union Pacific's new Puget Sound–Orient run, fills Yesler's wharf with Chinese and Japanese goods and Hawaiian fruit — after her captain carries two mutinous sailors in irons halfway across the Pacific to face a court held on a Victoria wharf.
- The Great Meat Safe: How Seattle’s Fishermen Could Have Rivalled London’s Beef Trade
A July 1876 dispatch from the Agricultural Gazette reveals that fresh American beef was successfully shipped to London in refrigerated holds. The Daily Intelligencer editor sees a parallel opportunity for Puget Sound halibut, which currently spoils before reaching San Francisco markets.
- The Snow That Stole the Gold: Snohomish County’s Mining Boom Hits a Wall
Arthur Hank, a prominent local investor, returns from Snohomish County with news of rich ore deposits—but warns that an unprecedented winter is halting development just as the region stands on the brink of becoming a major mining center.
- The Coal That Changed Seattle: How an Australian Strike Starved the Lumber Trade
A labor dispute halfway across the world brought Pacific Northwest shipping to a halt, sending freight rates soaring and leaving local merchants scrambling for tonnage.
- The Price of Hay and the Cost of a Grudge
A minor dispute over ten tons of hay escalated into criminal trespass charges and a civil court battle that left neither party satisfied.
- The Price of a New Route
A shipping agent's proposal for a new trade route to Priest Rapids is rejected by Yakima business leaders as an economic burden.