1870: Railway constructed to Strome Ferry, from where the steamers Oscar and Jura connected to Portree.
1871: Sixty-foot sperm whale beached near Elgol.
1872: Typewriter invented.
1872: Air (pneumatic) brakes invented.
1873: First ascent of Sgurr Alasdair (Sheriff Nicholson).
1875: Bell patents his telephone.
1876: Potteries magnate Edward Herbert Wood, of Sudbourne Hall, Suffolk, purchases Isle of Raasay.
1877: Edison invents gramophone.
1877: Freak cloudburst causes Great Flood at Uig, Trotternish.
1880: Single core submarine telegraph cable laid between Skye and mainland.
1880: Railway steamers from Strome Ferry to Skye make way for MacBraynes'.
1880: Pasteur discovers streptococcus bacteria.
1880: Water powered woolen mills built at Portree, eventually to become Skye Wool Mill.
1881: The tenants of Valtos refuse to pay rent increase.
1882: 30hp auxiliary engine installed in Skye Wool Mill.
1882: Battle of Braes. Crofters, refusing to be evicted, fight with 60 police. Warships sent.
1882: Glendale crofters resist eviction.
1882: First hydroelectric power generation in US.
1883: Population of Skye 17,000.
1883: Gladstone's government sets up Royal Commission into plight of crofters.
1884: Rayon invented.

Courtesy of Geoff Holman