Cyberpedias & Features
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Aberdeen is located at the confluence of the Chehalis and Wishkah rivers at the head of Grays Harbor, at the southern end of the Olympic Peninsula. The region’s rich fisheries and abundant timber supported a significant Native American presence and served to attract European settlement in the mid-nineteenth century. During the latter half of the nineteenth century a number of small communities were established on Grays Harbor, but Aberdeen quickly grew to dominate as the commercial and cultural hub. Lumber, fisheries, and shipbuilding proved to be the mainstays of the local economy for much of the region’s history, but the most recent decades have witnessed a decline in the traditional industries and an increase in tourism and commercial retail.
On November 3, 1970, Washington voters approved Referendum 20, which legalized abortion in the early months of pregnancy. Fifteen other states had liberalized their abortion laws by that time, but Washington was the first -- and so far the only -- state to do so through a vote of the people. It was a triumphant moment in a campaign that had its genesis in 1967, in the office of Seattle psychologist Samuel Goldenberg, who had been asked to help two patients, one middle-aged and the other a young college student, both desperate for a way to end an unwanted pregnancy.
This essay offers a brief introduction to the state of Washington, its jurisdictional development and government, and its official symbols.
Adams County is a predominantly rural county located in southeastern Washington, with Ritzville serving as county seat. Since 1952 Columbia River water brought through the Columbia Basin Project has irrigated region's fertile volcanic soil. Adams County measures 1,925 square miles, ranking it 14th in size among Washington's 39 counties. It is bordered to the north by Lincoln County, to the east by Whitman County, to the south by Franklin County, and to the west by Grant County. As of 2005, Adams County has a population of 17,000, two-thirds of whom live in rural parts of the county. Othello (population 6,120) and Ritzville (population 1,730) are the largest towns. Agricultural pursuits include dry-land wheat farming, irrigated apple orchards, and field crops (primarily potatoes). The vegetable- and fruit-processing industry, especially potato processing and French fry manufacturing, provides most of the county's industrial employment. As of 2006, Adams County's population was 52 percent Hispanic, with most Hispanic residents being of Mexican heritage.
Bishop John Hurst Adams was pastor at Seattle's First African Methodist Episcopal Church from 1962 to 1968 and a leader in the city's civil rights struggle. He moved to other cities and states after 1968, rising to national prominence as a religious and civil rights leader.
Brock Adams represented the state of Washington for 12 years in the U.S. House of Representatives during the 1960s and 1970s and for six years in the U.S. Senate as well as serving as the U.S. Secretary of Transportation. He began his career as a lawyer in Seattle, and in 1961 was appointed to the position of U.S. Attorney. In 1964 he was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representatives. In Congress he criticized the Vietnam War, became a key player in restructuring the nation's railroad system after Penn Central collapsed, and worked for support of AIDS research. Persistent allegations of sexual harassment and rape forced him to withdraw from politics in 1992.
Nora B. Adams was an African American Seattle Public School principal who left more than $1 million in her estate to three of her major interests. She left $600,000 to the Seattle Public Schools Scholarship Fund and divided the rest between cancer and heart research. A shrewd investor, Adams divested herself of stock brokers and managed her own portfolio. She devoted 37 years to education, as a teacher and as an administrator and was one of the first black female principals in the city. According to her nephew, Gordon McHenry Jr. (Boeing executive and former member of the Seattle Public Library Board), she was the quintessential educator, not given to idle chatter but insisting on thoughtful and meaningful conversation.
The Admiralty Head Lighthouse, built in 1903 by the Army Corps of Engineers, is located in Fort Casey State Park near Coupeville on Whidbey Island. The beacon, high on a bluff, 127 feet above sea level, was an important navigational aid, especially for sailing ships entering Admiralty Inlet from the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It replaced the Red Bluff Lighthouse, a wooden Cape Cod style structure built in 1861. Although decommissioned in 1922, the Admiralty Head Lighthouse received national recognition in 1990 when the U. S. Postal Service selected it for a collection of five commemorative lighthouse stamps honoring the U. S. Coast Guard’s bicentennial.
Alaska Airlines traces its roots to the hardy pilots who flew the Alaskan "bush" in the 1930s. The airline was assembled through a series of purchases and mergers leading to the creation of Alaska Star Airlines in 1942, which dropped its middle name one year later. Chiefly equipped with a fleet of war surplus aircraft, Alaska built up a substantial charter business in the late 1940s, and participated in the Berlin Air Lift, evacuation of Chinese Nationalists, and transport of Jews to the new state of Israel. Alaska Airlines won federal approval for its first scheduled route linking Portland, Seattle, Fairbanks, and Juneau, in 1951. It introduced its first jetliners a decade later and grew to become a major regional airline. The Seattle-based airline was heavily buffeted by financial and labor strife following federal deregulation in the mid-1980s, but survived to expand service beyond the Pacific Northwest. Alaska enjoys an exceptional safety record with only four serious accidents between 1943 and early 2000.
The 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition was held in Seattle on the University of Washington campus from June 1 to October 16. This was Washington's first world's fair and it celebrated 12 years of prosperity -- since the 1897 Alaska Gold Rush -- through the display of resources, products, and advantages of Washington and the region. More than three million people visited the fair from Washington cities and counties and from the rest of the country. Throughout the exposition, commemorative days were set aside to honor organizations, professions, and ethnic communities, as well as visitors from various cities, counties, and states. Some of these commemorations included banquets, conferences, or other forms of special recognition given to the groups being honored. Because these events were so popular with fairgoers, A-Y-P promoters kept adding new commemorative days as the fair progressed. Thus, some days had mulitple honorees.This file contains a list of all A-Y-P commemorative days.
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Timelines
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About 100 million years ago, in the late Mesozoic Era, the Okanogan terrane (microcontinent) docks against the North American continent. This collision adds to the land mass of North America and extends the coastline of the Pacific Northwest about 50 miles farther west. Before the Okanogan terrane docking, the coastline ran along the present-day Idaho-Washington border. In the formation of the Pacific Northwest region over millions of years, there have been some 50 terrane dockings. These dockings, along with plate-tectonics (the sinking of the Pacific plate underneath the North American plate), tremendous volcanic episodes, and the advance and retreat of glaciers contributed to the Puget Sound landscape that we know today.
About 15,000 years ago, the Vashon glacier begins to melt and recede from lands that will come to be known as the Puget Sound region and the Columbia Basin region. By 11,000 years ago, the glacier has retreated to the border of present-day Canada. During its advance, the glacier had carved out Lake Washington, Lake Tapps, Lake Sammamish, Puget Sound, and Hood Canal. The other major shaper of the land -- the pushing of the Pacific Plate underneath the North American plate, and the docking of terranes (fragments of continents) had already occurred long ago.
Approximately 5,600 years ago, a massive landslide removes .7 cubic miles of earth from the summit of Mount Rainier. The ensuing mudflow, which spreads as far as modern-day Kent, is called the Osceola Mudflow. This is the largest mudflow of postglacial age in the history of Mount Rainier.
In about 1450, an immense landslide tumbles off Table Mountain in Skamania County and completely blocks the Columbia River, shoving it a mile off course. A lake forms behind the dam extending as far as 100 miles. The river will eventually breach the dam causing a 100-foot-deep flood downstream and creating the Cascades rapids. This is the most recent of four documented slides in the 14-square-mile Cascade Landslide Complex and will be called the Bonneville Landslide.
On January 26, 1700, at about 9:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time a gigantic earthquake occurs 60 to 70 miles off the Pacific Northwest coast. The quake violently shakes the ground for three to five minutes and is felt along the coastal interior of the Pacific Northwest including all counties in present-day Western Washington. A tsunami forms, reaching about 33 feet high along the Washington coast, travels across the Pacific Ocean and hits the east coast of Japan. Japanese sources document this earthquake, which is the earliest documented historical event Western Washington. Other evidence includes drowned groves of red cedars and Sitka spruces in the Pacific Northwest. Indian legends corroborate the cataclysmic occurrence.
In about 1725, Clatsops discover shipwrecked sailors whom they call Tlehonnipts (those who drift ashore) on a beach near Satsop Spit, which was located on the southern (Oregon) side of the mouth of the Columbia River. One of the sailors will be called Konapee the Iron Maker. They are probably the first European residents of the Pacific Northwest and will marry into Native American tribes in the region. The men may be Spanish or Mexican sailors engaged in the trade between Manilla and Mexico.
On August 11, 1774, Spanish explorers on the ship Santiago, commanded by Juan Perez, sail past the future state of Washington, sight the (later-named) "Mount Olympus," and name it Cerro Nevada de Santa Rosalia. Juan Perez's Spanish expedition represents the first European discovery and exploration of Nueva Galicia (the Pacific Northwest).
On July 12, 1775, Bruno de Hezeta, Juan Perez, and others from the Spanish ship Santiago land on the site of the future Grenville Bay and claim Nueva Galicia (the Pacific Northwest) for Spain. This is the first European landing in the future state of Washington.
During the 1770s, smallpox (variola major) eradicates at least 30 percent of the native population on the Northwest coast of North America, including numerous members of Puget Sound tribes. This apparent first smallpox epidemic on the northwest coast coincides with the first direct European contact, and is the most virulent of the deadly European diseases that swept over the region during the next 80 to 100 years. In his seminal work, The Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence, historian Robert Boyd estimates that the 1770s smallpox epidemic killed more than 11,000 Western Washington Indians, reducing the population from about 37,000 to 26,000.
On July 4, 1776, Britain's 13 American colonies, governed by England through the Continental Congress, pass the Declaration of Independence. This founding document of the United States of America, drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and 28, 1776, is the opening salvo of the American rebellion against British rule. The American Revolution (1775-1783) forms the context for British and Spanish exploration of the Pacific Northwest. Spain and England are traditional enemies, and Spain supports the American colonies against England during the Revolution. In 1775, Spain had claimed the Pacific Northwest. The United States will win the revolution in 1783, and will inherit Spanish claims to the region. This file contains the complete text of the Declaration of Independence.
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People's Histories
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Sam Mitsui gave this speech to the Rotary Club of Seattle at the 5th Avenue Theatre on November 9, 2005. Mitsui is a member of the Nisei Veterans Committee of Seattle, Washington. His speech begins, "My name is Sam Mitsui and I am a Nisei, a second generation Japanese American, and my parents were called Issei, the first generation of immigrants from Japan."
A condensed edition of this essay was published in The Seattle Times Sunday Opinion Section on October 30, 2005. This version offers a fuller tour of Washington’s “tectonic” political shifts and elections.
Before Frank Ruano (1920-2005) came to Seattle and became one of the city's most outspoken citizens, particularly with regard to the Kingdome, he lived in New York and worked for American Express. When asked if he would relocate to another U.S. city, he consulted his girlfriend Sophie first. She didn't want to live in a cold place. Frank eventually agreed to Seattle, despite its rainy reputation. Frank and Sophie departed together after she agreed to marry him (after a little bit of arbitration) on Labor Day, 1949. "I didn't know a single soul," Frank recalls. Some Seattle and King County politicians no doubt wished he'd stayed in New York.
This reminiscence of a beloved childhood house in Seattle's Green Lake neighborhood of the 1920s was written by Dorothea Nordstrand (b. 1916), who has lived in the vicinity for much of her life.
The method of nominating partisan candidates for public office and the structure of the primary in Washington state have been subjects of controversy and legislation throughout the past 100 years. The current dispute about the blanket primary is related to these past changes in the nominating process. Secretary of State Sam Reed and his staff wrote this history of primary election rules, which is reprinted from the Washington Secretary of State Website.
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels shares an undated "history" of his official desk, which dates back to 1928. The anonymous typescript was found in the desk by Mayor Nickels and is an artifact in its own right.
This people's history, contributed by Richard Hall, consists of an eight-page letter written by his great grandmother, Annie Hall (1869-1921) in late November 1900. She boarded a Spokane-bound Northern Pacific train in Edwall, Lincoln County, and recorded her trip in a letter addressed to "My Dear Joe and Children." Joe is Joseph Banyon Hall (1857-1947), her husband. In Spokane, Annie changed to a Union Pacific train that took her to Athena, Oregon. The writing commenced at Tekoa and the letter was mailed, on December 2, 1900, several days after her arrival in Athena. Following the letter is a brief history of the Hall family by Richard Hall.
Dorothea (Pfister) Nordstrand (b. 1916) wrote this reminiscence about a mother's courage and industrious good cheer during hard times. The mother was Mary Annie (Gierhofer) Pfister (1888-1962).
This is the story of a proud day in the life of Boeing mechanic (later Superintendent of Tooling) Vern Nordstrand (b. 1918). Nordstrand lives in the Green Lake neighborhood of Seattle with his wife, Dorothea Nordstrand.
Stimson Bullitt gave this remembrance of his sister Priscilla "Patsy" (Bullitt) Collins (1920-2003) at her Memorial Service at Seattle's Town Hall on July 8, 2003.
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