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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1892 | 1 |
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14 stories matching whim
- The Railroad Men's Retirement Plan
With jobs held at the whim of superiors, railroad employees are buying up farmland as a hedge against being fired or incapacitated.
- Oak Harbor Farm With Orchard and Good Water for Sale
An 1878 classified advertisement offers a 'mostly prairie' farm for sale near Oak Harbor, detailing a self-sufficient life built from the ground up.
- The College Men Who Rode the Rails to Spokane
Two Washington State College students recount their harrowing, freezing, and impromptu journey atop a freight train to Spokane in search of adventure.
- The Housewife's Rebellion
In an era of performative domesticity, one young woman in Washington Territory insists that 'accomplishment' means knowing how to run a household from the kitchen up.
- The Battle for a Living Wage in Washington
When the State Supreme Court struck down Spokane’s minimum wage ordinance, they left city workers vulnerable to the whims of contractors and the bottom line.
- The Price of a Day's Pay: Seattle’s 1887 Labor Brokers
A deep dive into the predatory practices of late 19th-century employment agencies that thrived on the desperation of transient laborers.
- The Midnight Purge of the Seattle Police
Mayor J.T. Ronald orchestrates a defiant, late-night suspension of Police Chief Bolton Rogers in a battle for control over the city's executive branch.
- The Circus That Outsmarted Its Own Management
When an underestimated Walla Walla crowd flocked to the Campbell Brothers' circus, the staff scrambled to haul seats back from the rail cars to avoid a ticket-holder disaster.
- Kennewick’s Satirical Search for a Forest
The local editor lampoons a regional directory for failing to list Kennewick as a premier mountain resort, despite the lack of actual mountains.
- The Roses of December: A Seattle Winter's Tale
A traveler describes the mild wonders of Seattle's weather in 1885, reflecting on the region's rapid growth and its promise as a 'poor man's paradise'—if one can handle the labor.
- Bertha Jarvis Wants Out
A widow who remarried in Renton in 1885 asks a Seattle court for divorce and a share of the property, cataloguing years of abuse, thrown food and threats against her children.
- The Mayor's Power to Fire: Seattle's Removed Police Commissioners Fight for Their Jobs
J. G. Niggle and E. G. Cheasty argue that Mayor Byron Phelps removed them without notice or hearing—and that the city charter requires cause, not whim.
- The City That Forgot How to Ride: Seattle’s Battle for Short-Term Streetcar Franchises
In May 1899, the Seattle Star warned that granting long-term monopolies to street railway companies would leave the city trapped with obsolete technology and inflated prices. The paper argued fiercely for short-term grants to keep corporations accountable—a debate that echoes in today’s transit infrastructure battles.
- The Great Political Tickling: How Daniel Bugley Outwitted Seattle’s Beriah Brown
A fiery editorial in the *Snohomish Sun* exposes a political alliance between two rival editors, accusing them of using religious fervor as a cover for partisan maneuvering.