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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1871 | 2 |
| 1872 | 19 |
| 1876 | 111 |
| 1877 | 95 |
| 1878 | 41 |
| 1879 | 2 |
| 1880 | 22 |
| 1882 | 25 |
| 1883 | 140 |
| 1884 | 63 |
| 1885 | 123 |
| 1886 | 75 |
| 1887 | 85 |
| 1888 | 81 |
| 1889 | 191 |
| 1890 | 3 |
| 1891 | 77 |
| 1892 | 345 |
| 1893 | 362 |
| 1894 | 376 |
| 1895 | 383 |
| 1896 | 1 |
| 1898 | 5 |
| 1899 | 118 |
| 1900 | 2 |
| 1902 | 3 |
| 1903 | 31 |
| 1904 | 18 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1909 | 12 |
| 1910 | 4 |
| 1914 | 2 |
| 1915 | 2 |
| 1916 | 6 |
| 1917 | 1 |
| 1924 | 2 |
| 1928 | 4 |
| 1929 | 4 |
2,838 stories matching work
- South Sewer Tunnel Project Stalled
Financial chaos at City Hall halts work on a major infrastructure project, leaving thirty workers unemployed.
- Work Relief at the County Farm
Faced with a surge of unemployment and the limitations of traditional charity, King County Commissioners implement a work-for-pay program to sustain struggling families.
- New Factory Laws Target Child Labor
Seattle mills face new regulations on the employment of children as state authorities begin oversight.
- The Mayor's Veto: A Battle Over City Bonds
Mayor J. T. Ronald blocks a city council ordinance requiring a bond from a waterworks cashier, citing legal advice from the city's corporation counsel.
- Seattle’s Million-Dollar Water Gamble
Facing a growing population and urgent infrastructure needs, city leaders propose a massive bond measure to build a municipal water system, aiming to secure control over the city's future.
- The Disappearing Contractor of Madison Street
A Seattle infrastructure project hits a snag when the lead contractor vanishes with thousands of dollars in city funds, leaving his bondsmen to face the bill.
- The Seattle Longshoreman’s Strike of 1888
When the steamship Alki arrived in Seattle, a confrontation between non-union workers and the Longshoremen's Union highlighted the volatile labor climate on the Puget Sound docks.
- The Mayor vs. The Board
Mayor J.T. Ronald rejects a city ordinance, clashing with the Board of Public Works over who controls the schedule of the city's executive branch.
- The Laundry Con Artists
Two men posing as city water works employees extorted a Chinese laundry owner, sparking a police crackdown on a recurring racket.
- Tragedy at the Washington Iron Works
A steady, reliable laborer is maimed in a workshop accident, leaving his young family in financial peril.
- Fatal Accident at the Fremont Lumber Mill
A day laborer at Lake Union loses his life after being struck by a drifting log while working on a boom.
- The Harbor Master’s Religious Test
An immigrant laborer claims he was denied city sewer work specifically for being a Greek Catholic.
- Rain Turns Early Seattle's Front Street to Mud
When heavy rains turned downtown thoroughfares into impassable quagmires, residents demanded better engineering than the temporary, 'penny-wise' patch jobs of the 1870s.
- The Criminalization of Unemployment
A Seattle candy maker, down on his luck during hard times, faces repeated arrest for the 'crime' of being unable to find work.
- The Unending Grading of Front Street
Seattle's downtown thoroughfare is locked in a cycle of costly miscalculations, mud, and construction delays.
- City Hall's Cold Water Crisis
Seattle's Board of Public Works removes a water department superintendent after intense pressure from local labor groups.
- The Cascades Rail Standoff
High hopes for the Northern Pacific’s Cascade branch crumble as work on the massive infrastructure project hits a total standstill.
- The Dry Dock Deal That Promised 300 Jobs in Ten Days
A revised Navy contract at Port Orchard promised hundreds of jobs and a permanent naval station—and contractors insisted their work had been vindicated.
- The Pioneer Wagon Shop's Promise of Work
In an 1877 classified advertisement, a local craftsman highlights the necessity of reliable logging and repair work in a growing frontier Seattle.
- Ballard's Water Fight Goes to Court
When a lawsuit tried to block the young city from buying the West Coast Improvement Company's springs and pipes, Ballard's answer warned that an injunction would leave the water system in peril.
- The Seattle Mill Revolt
When mill workers walked off the job in 1886 to protest the hiring of Chinese labor, the resulting confrontation revealed the era's deep-seated exclusionary labor politics.
- Why is the City Buying Eastern Hydrants?
A citizen questions why the city administration is shipping tax money to Michigan for inferior equipment when local iron workers remain idle.
- Unemployed Rail Worker Attempts Suicide After Years of Hardship
A former American Railway Union member, struggling to find work since the great strike, attempts to take his own life near the Denny clay works.
- The City Wharf as a Stone Yard: Seattle's Plan to Put Its Idle Men to Work
A petition signed by dozens of prominent Seattle businessmen asks the city council to turn the waterfront into a public stone yard, trading honest labor for meals and lodging — and to run the beggars out of town.
- Who Gets to Dig Seattle’s Sewers? Knights of Labor Accuse City Hall of Hiring by Party Ticket
A labor committee charges that Seattle’s sewer crews were filled with nonresidents and Democratic loyalists while taxpaying workmen were turned away—and that some men were paid for less than they worked.
Also about this, in other words
- The Radical Defense of Sweat Equity
In an 1876 editorial, a fierce local voice challenges the city’s idle wealthy to stop 'illustrating fashion's caprices' and embrace the dignity of physical labor.