Washington - Tidbits of History

Header image from National Park Service, Olympic National Parks, Washington.

Washington became the 42nd state on Nov 11, 1889

American Goldfinch

Also known as the Willow Goldfinch. These are active and acrobatic little finches that cling to weeds and seed socks, and sometimes mill about in large numbers at feeders or on the ground beneath them. Goldfinches fly with a bouncy, undulating pattern and often call in flight, drawing attention to themselves. The American goldfinch is gregarious during the non-breeding season, when it is often found in large flocks, usually with other finches. The social hierarchy, measured by how many aggressive encounters are won by each individual, tends towards the male being dominant in the non-breeding season. During the breeding season, this finch lives in loose colonies. While the nest is being constructed, the male will act aggressively toward other males who intrude into his territory, driving them away, and the female reacts in the same way toward other females. This aggressiveness subsides once the eggs have been laid.

Flower: Coast Rhododendron

An evergreen shrub. Coast Rhododendron leaves and flowers contain toxic substances and should not be taken by humans or animals. People have been known to become ill from eating honey made by bees feeding on rhododendron and azalea flowers. Rhododendron is extremely toxic to horses, with some animals dying within a few hours of ingesting the plant. In the language of flowers, the Rhododendron symbolizes danger and to beware.

Tree: Western Hemlock

Although it isn’t as strong as Douglas Fir, nor rot-resistant like Red Cedar, Western Hemlock still finds use as a building material and as a pulpwood for paper. For the First Nations peoples Western Hemlock was an important plant, more often used to make tools and cooking implements rather than as a building material. In some ancient North American traditions, western hemlock was an important herb for women. Among the Kwakwaka’wakw people, female warriors made head dresses from western hemlock, for ceremonial dances. ates. Because of its unusual power of holding spikes, it is also used for railroad ties. What the questioner has in mind, of course, is the fact that the Athenian philosopher Socrates is said to have committed suicide by ingesting a drink made from poison hemlock. Insofar as I am aware, however, hemlock trees aren’t toxic — and they don’t grow in Greece.

The poison hemlock associated with Socrates is an herbaceous plant (Conium maculatum) in the carrot family. Mentioned in the Bible, it’s a native of Eurasia that has been naturalized in the Western Hemisphere since colonial times. The Hemlock produces some of the smallest cones in the pine family.

State Quarter
From theus50.com
The reverse of Washington’s quarter features a king salmon breaching the water in front of majestic Mount Rainier. The coin bears the inscriptions “The Evergreen State,” “Washington” and “1889.” Mount Rainier is an active volcano encased in more than 35 square miles of snow and glacial ice. It is the symbolic bridge between the eastern and western parts of the State. The salmon is another important symbol of Washington. It is a traditional image of Pacific Northwest culture, and this fish has provided nourishment for the native peoples of the Pacific Northwest. Newsman and real estate pioneer C.T. Conover nicknamed Washington the “Evergreen State” because of its many lush evergreen forests.

Capital: Olympia

Nickname: Evergreen State

Motto: Washington’s territorial motto was a native American word: Alki, meaning “Bye and Bye”. An official state motto has not yet been recognized by Washington state

Washington Facts and Trivia

Washington state ranks 20th in size among the 50 states. It has 66,582 square miles – 360 miles East-West and 240 miles North-South.

The high mountains of the Cascade Range run north-south, bisecting the state. In addition to Western Washington and Eastern Washington, residents call the two parts of the state the “West side” and “East side,” “Wet side” and “Dry side,” or “Timberland” and “Wheatland.”

The first European record of a landing on the Washington coast was by Spanish Captain Don Bruno de Heceta in 1775, on board the Santiago, part of a two-ship flotilla with the Sonora.

Other European explorers arrived including British Captains James Cook in 1778 and George Vancouver in 1792. Vancouver spent two years mapping out the coast of Washington. He discovered and named Puget Sound and claimed the area for Britain. Also in 1792, American Robert Gray explored the region. He discovered and named the Columbia River.

The Lewis and Clark expedition entered the state on October 10, 1805.

In 1836, the missionary Marcus Whitman arrived. He built several missions in an effort to teach the Native Americans about Christianity. Marcus provided medical care for the Native Americans, but when Indian patients – lacking immunity to new, “European” diseases – died in striking numbers, while at the same time many white patients recovered, they held “medicine man” Marcus Whitman personally responsible, and murdered Whitman and twelve other white settlers in the Whitman massacre in 1847.

The first settlement in Washington was New Market (now known as Tumwater) in 1846.

1846 – The U.S. gained control of the region through the Oregon Treaty with Great Britain. The treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute.

In 1853, Washington Territory was formed from part of Oregon Territory.

Before it became a state, the territory was called Columbia (named after the Columbia River). When it was granted statehood, the name was changed to Washington, supposedly so people wouldn’t confuse it with The District of Columbia.

Washington became the 42nd state in the United States on November 11, 1889.

The state of Washington is the only state to be named after a United States president.

Washington state produces more apples than any other state in the union.

In 2004 Washington ranked first in the nation in production of red raspberries (90.0% of total U.S. production), hops (75.0%), apples (58.1%), sweet cherries (47.3%), pears (42.6%), Concord grapes (39.3%), and Niagara grapes (31.6%).

Washington state has more glaciers than the other 47 contiguous states combined.

The Northwestern most point in the contiguous U.S. is Cape Flattery on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.

The Cape Flattery Lighthouse sits on Tatoosh Island located at the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It was deactivated in 2017.

King county the largest county in Washington was originally named after William R. King, Vice President under Franklin Pierce; it was renamed in 1986, after civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Approximately 60 percent of Washington’s residents live in the Seattle metropolitan area, one of the most beautiful cities in North America.

The highest point in Washington is Mount Rainier. It was named by George Vancouver for his friend, Peter Rainier, a British soldier who fought against the Americans in the Revolutionary War. Ascending to 14,410 feet above sea level, Mount Rainier stands as an icon in the Washington landscape. An active volcano, Mount Rainier is the most glaciated peak in the contiguous U.S.A., spawning five major rivers. Subalpine wildflower meadows ring the icy volcano while ancient forest cloaks Mount Rainier’s lower slopes. Wildlife abounds in the park’s ecosystems.

Puget Sound’s many islands are served by the largest ferry fleet in the United States. The region around eastern Puget Sound developed heavy industry during World War I and World War II, and the Boeing company became an established icon in the area.

The forests of the Olympic Peninsula are among the rainiest places in the world and the only rainforests in the continental United States

During the Great Depression, a series of hydroelectric dams were constructed along the Columbia river as part of a project to increase the production of electricity. This culminated in 1941 with the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest dam in the United States.

By the turn of the 20th century, Aberdeen had the distinction of being “the roughest town west of the Mississippi” because of excessive gambling, violence, extreme drug use and prostitution (the city remained off-limits to military personnel into the early 1980s).

Mount St. Helens May 17, 1980

Mt St Helen May 19, 1982

Mount St. Helens erupted Nov. 22, 1842. On May 18, 1980, the northeast face of Mount St. Helens exploded outward, destroying a large part of the top of the volcano.

The percentage of non-religious people in Washington is the highest of any state, and church membership is among the lowest of all states.

The state of Washington is one of only seven states that does not levy a personal income tax.

Property tax was the first tax levied in the state of Washington and its collection accounts for about 30 percent of Washington’s total state and local revenue.

Washington is home to four of the five longest floating bridges in the world: the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge and Homer M. Hadley Bridge over Lake Washington, and the Hood Canal Bridge connecting the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas.

Per Wikipedia:

Washington is one of the wealthiest and most socially progressive states in the country. The state consistently ranks among the best for life expectancy and low unemployment. Along with Colorado, Washington was one of the first to legalize medicinal and recreational cannabis; was among the first thirty-six states to legalize same-sex marriage (in 2012); and was one of only four U.S. states to have been providing legal abortions on request before the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. Similarly, Washington voters approved a 2008 referendum on legalization of physician-assisted suicide, and is currently only one of five states, along with Oregon, California, Colorado and Vermont, as well as the District of Columbia to have legalized the practice. The state is also one of eight in the country to have criminalized the sale, possession and transfer of bump stocks.

The state is typically thought of as politically divided by the Cascade Mountains, with Western Washington being liberal (particularly the I-5 Corridor) and Eastern Washington being conservative. Washington has voted for the Democratic presidential nominee in every election since 1988. No state has gone longer without a Republican governor than Washington state. Democrats have controlled the Washington Governor’s Mansion for more than 34 years. The last Republican Governor was John Spellman, who held the office between 1981 and 1985. Washington has not voted for a Republican senator, governor, or presidential candidate since 1994 – tying Delaware for the longest streak in the country. In the election of 2016, Hillary Clinton garnered 54.3% of the vote; Donald Trump took 38.1%.

From Reader’s Digest State Jokes
In Seattle, you haven’t had enough coffee until you can thread a sewing machine while it’s running.—Jeff Bezos

From Reader’s Digest Difficult to Pronounce Towns
Puyallup, Washington, which is pronounced Pew-AL-up, is the home of the best state fair in Washington State. In fact, the fair is sometimes known as the Puyallup State Fair.

Strange Laws

No person may walk about in public if he or she has the common cold.
All lollipops are banned.
It is illegal to attach a vending machine to a utility pole without prior consent from the utility company.
It is illegal to buy a mattress on Sunday. It is also illegal to buy meat on Sunday.
It is mandatory for a motorist with criminal intentions to stop at the city limits and telephone the chief of police as he is entering the town.
It is illegal to paint polka dots on the American flag.
It is illegal to pretend that one’s parents are rich.

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