Research the archive
Narrow 25,724 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 |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 4 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 3 |
| 1893 | 8 |
| 1894 | 1 |
| 1895 | 4 |
| 1898 | 1 |
| 1903 | 3 |
| 1916 | 1 |
| 1923 | 1 |
28 stories matching watervill
- Missing Money Lender Feared Dead in the Snow
An elderly man disappears while trekking across a fifteen-mile stretch of frozen prairie near Waterville.
- Young Boy Shot in Accidental Gunfire
A tragic lapse in judgment by a group of boys near Waterville led to a severe injury.
- Federal Decision Settles Chelan Land Claims
After long legal disputes, the federal government issues a ruling on Indigenous land rights near Lake Chelan, granting acreage to three Native leaders.
- The Great Capital Land Grab
Boosterism and real estate speculation collide as small towns across Washington Territory compete to host the state capital.
- A Frontier Editor Tells a Political Rival to Sink His Soul in the Columbia
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reprints a rival editor’s furious attack on Hon. M. W. Miles, a Waterville politician accused of writing to the editor’s ex-wife—and the insults get very personal.
- The Bachelor Plague: A Warning to Women Considering Washington Territory
A satirical column in the Waterville Empire warns Eastern women that the territory is overrun with 'horrid bachelors,' urging them to come anyway for the climate and soil.
- A Bungled Burglary in Waterville
A thief breaks into a grocery store expecting a windfall, only to find the till completely empty.
- The Ghost in the Land Office
Federal authorities in Washington D.C. mistakenly appointed a man to a receiver position—unaware he had been dead for three months.
- Big Bend Settlers Win Land Rights Over Northern Pacific
Secretary of the Interior Hoke Smith rules against the railroad in a landmark case involving indemnity lands in Eastern Washington.
- The Man Who Owns Fifteen Townships Comes to Town
W. H. Babcock, back in Walla Walla after six months in Trinidad, is selling off Douglas County land he bought at 75 cents an acre — now fetching up to $12 — and keeping thousands of acres back for sheep.
- The Strange Afterlife of a Murdered Man
Letters from disgruntled ex-wives and rivals surface after a Waterville man is murdered, revealing a long, chaotic trail of failed marriages.
- Stagecoach Accident Injures Senator-Elect
J. M. Snow breaks his leg after jumping from a runaway stage on a dangerous mountain road.
- The Government Bans 'Holy Moses' Mining Claims
A federal ruling in Washington state aims to put a stop to 'tenderfoot' miners who give their claims offensive and profane names like 'Jumping Jesus.'
- The Ghost Gold of the Columbia
An amateur inventor claims to have solved the age-old problem of harvesting microscopic gold dust from the banks of the Columbia River.
- A Bloody Disagreement Over Press Freedom
A local attorney attempts to thrash a newspaper editor with a loaded cane and finds the editor more than a match for him.
- The Tragedy of a Matrimonial Paper Marriage
A farmer is arrested after a horrific, confessed murder of his wife, a woman he met through a matrimonial advertisement just a year prior.
- The Deadly Vengeance of a Rancher’s Wife
A Big Bend rancher who murdered his wife dies in jail after she allegedly poisoned him before her death.
- A Wedding Feast and a Racehorse Victory
A matrimonial celebration in the Baird country concludes with a high-stakes horse race featuring a mare named Pantages.
- The Banking Titans Building Modern Seattle
A look inside the financial engine driving Seattle’s rapid expansion in the early 1890s through the lens of a newly rising financial institution.
- Seattle Raises Half a Million Dollars for the Lake Washington Canal
Washington's small-town papers marvel as Seattle's wealthy close a $500,000 subscription for the canal — and call it the secret of the city's relentless rise.
- The Great Migration to the 'Power of Central Washington'
An 1889 promotional poem and report lured families from the 'crowded cities' of the East and Midwest to the promised land of the Wenatchee River valley.
- The Ghost Farm on the Big Bend
A pioneer spends his life building a homestead for his family, only to lose them in a catastrophic train wreck on the day they were to join him.
- A State Veterinarian's 1899 Warning: Fund Animal Disease Control or Pay for It Later
Washington's biennial animal-health report counted diseased horses and cattle, traced a horse meningitis outbreak to mouldy straw in Waterville, and warned lawmakers that tuberculosis could jump between cattle and people.
- A Man Frozen to Death as the Big Bend Storm Strands Trains and Madness Follows
In Washington's Big Bend country, a blizzard stalls trains, drives a stage driver out of his mind and leaves a young rancher dead in the snow.
- A Jailbreak, Stolen Horses, and a Bedside Capture Near the Canadian Line
Two fugitives from Sprague lead Okanogan officers on a chase to a cabin near Loomis—and are taken at gunpoint before they can reach British Columbia.