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Diablo Dam incline railway climbing Sourdough Mountain, 1930. Courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives, 2306.
Children waving to ferry, 1950. Courtesy Museum of History and Industry.
Loggers in the Northwest woods. Courtesy Washington State Digital Archives.
4/17/2025
The Egg and Washington
This week HistoryLink celebrates Easter by boiling up some of Washington's egg-related history for you to discover. In the 1800s, many Northwest farmers raised small broods of chickens, but the state's poultry industry didn't really flourish until better husbandry practices were introduced near the turn of the century. Soon after, poultry farms hatched throughout the state, and raising chickens – either for eggs or meat – became a good way for many folks to make a living.
Winlock erected a giant egg sculpture (shown above) in 1923, and in 1931 more than 7,200 eggs were used to create the world's largest omelet in Chehalis. The colossal concoction was prepared in a specially made eight-foot-wide frying pan, greased beforehand by a young woman wearing slabs of bacon on her feet. The event provided some light-hearted publicity for local chicken farmers during the dark days of the Great Depression.
In 1945 Washington received worldwide attention following the publication of The Egg and I, a runaway bestseller by Betty MacDonald that regaled readers with her exploits as a young bride on a Chimacum Valley chicken ranch. The book was later made into a successful film and has been reprinted in more than 32 languages.
Most likely you've enjoyed Washington eggs for breakfast or for baking, and while some people have had fun at summer picnic egg tosses, others have used eggs to express criticism. But at Easter, egg-painting is a family favorite, and although eggs are quite expensive right now, it's a good way to support Washington farmers.
Earth Day
On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day celebration was held to raise awareness of environmental issues. On that day, Washington Senator Henry M. Jackson – a leader on environmental legislation – spoke at UW and WSU on the dangers of environmental degradation. In Pullman, some students pelted him with marshmallows due to his hawkish stance on the Vietnam War, but Jackson caught a few and threw them back, eliciting cheers.
In keeping with Earth Day celebrations, we also note that this week marks the anniversary of two studies of the Northwest's natural world that took place two centuries ago. On April 22, 1812, fur trader, map maker, and geographer David Thompson left Kettle Falls for Montreal, having spent the previous year undertaking a scientific survey of the Columbia River. His explorations led to the first accurate rendition of the Inland Northwest north of the Snake River.
And on April 20, 1825, Scottish naturalist David Douglas arrived at Fort Vancouver, one month after the fur-trading outpost opened on the north bank of the Columbia River in present-day Clark County. In September that year he made the first recorded ascent of the Cascade Mountains. Douglas, a collector for England's Horticultural Society, was dispatched to the Northwest coast to bring back specimens and seeds of regional plants for introduction into British gardens and forests.
Four years after the Woman's Book Club of Everett petitioned the city for a free public library, the Everett Public Library opened on April 21, 1898. Located in three upstairs rooms at City Hall, the library quickly outgrew its space and moved into a new Carnegie-funded building in 1905.
On April 19, 1929, the Fox Theatre became the last movie house to open in Seattle before the stock market crashed later that year. After new owners renovated the theater and renamed it the Roxy, the venue became the target of a mysterious bombing incident on April 17, 1933. In 1991, despite Allied Arts' best efforts, a wrecking ball demolished the theater, which had been renamed the Music Hall.
On April 18, 1942, Major Ensley Llewellyn of Tacoma published the first edition of the World War II Stars and Stripes newspaper, under the direction of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Some of the airmen from McChord Field probably didn't get a chance to read it, as they had just flown off to take part in the Doolittle Raid on Japan the same day.
One of Washington's longest and nastiest strikes began on April 22, 1948, when aeromechanics walked out of Boeing. Group Health Cooperative expressed solidarity with the machinists, but the strike took a peculiar twist when Boeing allied with Teamsters leader Dave Beck to lure workers into an alternative union local. The IAM beat back Beck, but returned to work after six months with no new contract.
Century 21 – America’s Space Age World’s Fair – opened in Seattle on April 21, 1962, and for the rest of that summer visitors got an optimistic glimpse of things to come, even though the fair got off to a rocky start and almost ended with a bang.
When the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, Washington Senator Warren Magnuson was one of the few voices in Congress who argued for normalized relations between the two nations, noting that trade and contact were the best means to influence what many called the "Red Monolith." It wasn't until April 18, 1979 that the trade embargo ended when the cargo ship M.V. Liu Lin Hai arrived in Seattle.
The Tacoma Dome opened on April 21, 1983.
"Although I cannot lay an egg, I am a very good judge of omelettes."
–George Bernard Shaw
