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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1883 | 2 |
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23 stories matching wiser
- Trapped in the Wiser Lake Wilderness
A traveler gets lost in the brutal mud, snow, and falling timber of the Nooksack Valley while searching for a homestead.
- Vigilantism in Wiser
A deputy sheriff takes three men into custody for the targeting of Chinese laborers.
- The Ten-Cent Bet That Backfired
An Everett light company employee tried to bluff a union man over strike-related power outages, but ended up losing his confidence and his pride.
- The Rifle War: Knights of Labor vs. Mine Owners in Newcastle
A bitter feud between rival labor unions in King County erupts into armed conflict, with rifles smuggled from Seattle to support striking miners.
- The Race for the Rails: Seattle’s Fight to Keep the Northern Pacific Branch
As Oregon competitors maneuver to steal federal land grants, a local correspondent warns that losing the railroad connection could leave Washington Territory behind for decades.
- The Political Machine Topples in Walla Walla
Voters hand a crushing defeat to the local political machine, rejecting entrenched interests and the influence of gambling money.
- The Peril of the Open Road
A hit-and-run driver on the Guide Meridian road destroys a buggy and attempts to hide their identity.
- “Close Your Gates to Us — But Give Us Independence First”
A Filipino student in Seattle goes before the Labor Union's legislative committee to head off an exclusion bill, and finds the union men surprisingly reasonable — because independence, he argues, gives them exactly what they want anyway.
- The Front Street Fight: Seattle’s First Battle Over Urban Planning
In a rare moment of civic clarity, the Seattle City Council rejected a street railway company's proposal to destroy Front Street, recognizing that private profit should not override public infrastructure.
- The Senator’s Homecoming: A City Roars for Watson Squire
Thousands line the Seattle waterfront as the Bailey Gatzert steamer arrives, carrying newly re-elected U.S. Senator Watson C. Squire home from Olympia in a spontaneous ovation of cheers, champagne christenings, and civic pride.
- Fatal Blast on the Great Northern Line
A railroad construction explosion kills two Italian laborers and injures a third near Martin Creek, nearly sparking an ethnic confrontation between work crews.
- Smoke So Thick You Could Not See a Block: The August the Sound Went Dark
Forest and peat fires from Lynden to Wilkeson filled Puget Sound with smoke in late August 1894. Seattle's weather observer promised rain within thirty-six hours, and Whatcom County counted its losses.
- Deadlock in Olympia: A Governor Says No and the Senate Seat Stays Empty
Governor McGraw refuses a U.S. Senate seat, George Turner is pushed forward, and Ankeny's backers dig in as Populists threaten to break the deadlock.
- The Senator Asks: To Prep for War or Build for Peace?
Facing mounting pressure for military expansion as the Great War rages in Europe, U.S. Senator W. L. Jones takes the unusual step of polling Washington constituents on their views.
- The Dead Horses That Taught Tacoma How to Raise Sunken Ships
A Tacoma patent company says its collapsible air bags can lift wrecks from the sea floor—a trick supposedly inspired by a bloated boatload of horses in the Ohio River. Investors are already fighting over the fortune.
- The Great Seattle Straw Hat Swindle
A smooth-talking grifter fleeced the crowds of Seattle by promising cheap hats, only to leave them holding handfuls of worthless paper.
- Domestic Violence in 1878 Seattle
A man is fined for a violent assault on his partner, highlighting the grim reality behind the era's dismissive legal language.
- The Senator and the Irish Couple
A Western politician’s misguided attempt to intervene in a domestic brawl on the frontier results in an unexpected, four-way showdown.
- Spokane Taxpayers Revolt Before the Bonds Come Due
After selling $1.2 million in bonds, Spokane's council kept planning improvements. Property owners talked injunctions and credit, and the Ledger saw a lesson for every taxpayer.
- The Unintended Voyage of a Victoria Day Excursionist
A man looking to celebrate the Queen's birthday ends up on an accidental odyssey across international waters after being denied passage on a ferry.
- The Settler's Faith in Horse Heaven
Life on the frontier requires more than just endurance; it demands a resilient, if sometimes wavering, belief in the future of the arid landscape.
- Drawing the Lines of a New City
A called council meeting in September 1883 redrew Spokane Falls’s boundaries, split it into four wards, and argued over who would elect the city’s officers.
- The Unrest of the American Dollar
A 1880 editorial from the Seattle Intelligencer examines the nation's obsession with wealth accumulation and its hidden costs to the soul of a young nation.
Also about this, in other words
- The 'Wise Men' Choose a Candidate
A closed-door committee of seven selects a business-friendly mayoral ticket in a move to 'run the city like a corporation.'
- The Dealer in the Gambling Den
In the rowdy timber town of Sedro-Woolley, the local gamblers have found a unique way to keep the peace: replacing the standard rough-hewn card shark with a captivating young woman.
- A Judge Ate Candy While a Man's Life Hung on the Verdict
The state supreme court overturns a Jefferson County murder conviction after Judge Sachs reads newspapers and passes sweets on the bench — and delivers a rebuke that is the longest opinion of the term.
- The Watchful Companion
An elderly saloon worker dies in a local barn, found only because his dog refused to abandon the site.
- The Gambler Who Outsmarted the City Hall
In Tacoma, a local sharp named Morgan has become so powerful that citizens are joking he holds more sway than the elected officials.
- The Unlikely Enforcer of a Party Game
A jealous husband at a frontier social insists his young wife receives equal attention—or else he will settle the matter with his fists.
- A Heroic Rescue in Kent
A young boy was saved from being crushed by a heavy engine flywheel when a local woman lifted the massive weight off his chest.
- The Shrewd Landlady of Kennewick
A local boarding house manager turns a favor into a profitable transaction, proving that in the rental business, every crumb counts.