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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 22 |
| 1877 | 15 |
| 1878 | 22 |
| 1879 | 3 |
| 1880 | 4 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 46 |
| 1884 | 22 |
| 1885 | 32 |
| 1886 | 14 |
| 1887 | 20 |
| 1888 | 17 |
| 1889 | 54 |
| 1890 | 14 |
| 1891 | 39 |
| 1892 | 159 |
| 1893 | 123 |
| 1894 | 115 |
| 1895 | 91 |
| 1898 | 5 |
| 1899 | 23 |
| 1900 | 4 |
| 1902 | 2 |
| 1903 | 48 |
| 1904 | 52 |
| 1905 | 3 |
| 1907 | 7 |
| 1908 | 24 |
| 1909 | 84 |
| 1910 | 7 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 7 |
| 1915 | 7 |
| 1916 | 18 |
| 1917 | 9 |
| 1923 | 3 |
| 1924 | 3 |
| 1925 | 1 |
1,128 stories matching track
- The Train That Didn't Whistle
A Seattle teamster loses a leg at a blind railroad crossing, and the Washington Supreme Court weighs whether his failure to stop and listen bars his claim against the Northern Pacific.
- The Alderman, the Cable Road, and the Broken Promise to Double-Track Yesler
A former cable-road owner accuses a Seattle alderman of slander and demands the city force the Yesler Avenue line to honor its franchise and double-track Yesler and Jackson.
- The Cable Company Wanted More Time. Yesler Avenue Wanted Its Double Track.
In 1895, Seattle’s aldermen weighed whether to give a struggling street railway more time to double-track Yesler Avenue—or force it to honor the franchise the neighborhood had bought into.
- Four Railroads, One Street Grid, and a Deal Seattle Had to Approve
Great Northern, Northern Pacific and rival lines nearly settle how their tracks will cross south of downtown—if the city council will rewrite their franchises.
- A Landslide Tipped a Locomotive Into Lake Washington and the Water Boiled
A freight train running the Lake Shore road hit a slide in the dark, the crew jumped for their lives, and the engine rolled over on its side in the lake, its wheels still churning as the steam died.
- The Streetcar Company Promised a Double Track. Yesler Avenue Wanted It Now.
A city council committee heard residents and bondholders argue over a one-year extension—and over who would pay for the growth the railway had promised.
- Two Railroads Cut a Deal Through Ballard
The Ballard council ratified a track-swap agreement between the Seattle & Montana and the Lake Shore & Eastern, settling access to Shilshole Avenue and the mills.
- The Ram's Horn: When Seattle Went to War With a Railroad Over Six Blocks of Public Street
Boxed in by an injunction, Corporation Counsel Donworth finds a lawyer's loophole: let the Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad lay its rails, but serve notice that the city denies the right-of-way exists at all.
- Telescoped at the Crossing: A Grant Street Horror
When a Northern Pacific freight train plowed into an electric streetcar on May 20, 1909, one man died and dozens were mangled in the icy water below. The crash exposed dangerous speeds and negligent watchmen at a city intersection that remains vital today.
- The Mysterious Vanishing Snow of Mount Rainier
A Wallula newspaper reports a strange, massive slide that left a mile-wide track across the face of the mountain.
- 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.
- Great Northern Promises Newport a $20,000 Brick Depot
The railroad superintendent says work will soon begin on a new brick station on the old depot site, part of a wider burst of passing tracks and ballast work.
- Railroad War Erupts on the Seattle Waterfront
The Great Northern and Lake Shore railroads face off in a midnight standoff over coal bunker right-of-way.
- Great Northern Right-of-Way Case Resumes
Railroad giants clash over terminal access, threatening to destroy the city’s existing shipping infrastructure.
- The Seattle Water-Hose Rail War of 1888
When two rival railroads fought over a contested stretch of waterfront track, the dispute escalated from legal threats to a chaotic brawl involving barricades, hired detectives, and a fire hose.
- The House That Blocked the Train
A standoff between a homeowner moving a house and the Everett street railway leads to suspended service and a tense municipal conflict.
- Newport’s Railroad Future Takes Shape in a $150,000 Yard
The Idaho & Washington Northern Railroad unveils plans for terminal yards, depots, switches and a loop through old and new Newport—and west-side farmers lobby for the line down the Calispel valley.
- F.A. Nadeau Favors Belt Line Over City Track Control
As Seattle rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1889, railroad managers and city officials butted heads over who would control the lifeblood of the growing port: the tracks on Railroad Avenue.
- The Street That Vanished into the Tide
A Seattle citizen recalls his lonely fight against a railroad company's takeover of Columbia Street, a legal battle that exposed the city's early history of corporate land giveaways.
- The Streetcar Franchise Seattle Couldn't Enforce
Alderman J. Eugene Jordan accused the Yesler Avenue Cable Car Company and its City Council allies of dodging a franchise requirement to double-track the line—while the city pleaded poverty and working men waited for jobs.
- The Walla Walla Track Record Falls
During a massive fair week gathering, spectators witnessed the local track record shattered as horses competed for a $500 purse.
- Forging the Future: The High Stakes of the Wilkeson Coal Line
As the Pacific Northwest transitions into an industrial powerhouse, a new rail line connects the rugged interior to the sea, promising to turn a wilderness of cedar and coal into a bustling mining frontier.
- Great Northern Races to Finish Its Newport Cut-off by September
A rumored route change, a new bridge and crews working through slides and clay banks point to a major reworking of the railroad between Newport and Spokane.
- New Steel, New Docks, and a Railroad That Won't Say Which Side of the River
Crews are relaying 102 miles of Great Northern track through Newport and building a freight dock that lets a train meet a steamboat — while the town waits to learn whether the Idaho & Washington Northern will run up the Washington or the Idaho bank. One west-side rancher is so sure he has ordered ten cars of wood.
- The Iron Flash: How Spokane Fell for a Railroad
In a daring midnight maneuver that bypassed local obstructionists, the Oregon and Washington Territory railroad laid its tracks through downtown Spokane in a single night, turning a political standoff into a civic celebration.
Also about this, in other words
- The Midnight Track-Layers
A hardware store owner battles a railroad company that allegedly used stealth to install tracks in front of his home and business.
- Tragic Accident on the Tracks at Wilkerson
A deaf woman, known as an inmate of a 'disreputable house,' is struck and killed by a runaway box car while walking on the railroad tracks.
- The Mystery of the Missing Railroad Track
A civil engineer's discovery threatens to derail the Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad's land claim in downtown Seattle.
- Tacoma High Juniors Dominate Annual Track Meet
Freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors competed at the Y.M.C.A. athletic park to determine the city's track representatives.
- Racing the Iron Horse on the Trestle
A man’s late-night walk toward the city turns into a desperate sprint for life against an oncoming train.
- The Waterfront Tracks Fight
A legal stalemate over rail access between Columbia and Marion Streets keeps the city's waterfront in suspense.
- A Narrow Escape on the Lake Shore Tracks
An evening train nearly derailed near Latona after striking a cow, mangling the animal and providing a terrifying ride for the passengers.
- Race Track Revival in Waitsburg
A prominent horseman secures a five-year lease to revitalize the local race track.