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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.
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9/12/2024
After Boldt
Fifty years ago the landmark Boldt Decision upheld tribal treaty fishing rights, and its affirmation of tribal sovereignty represented a huge (and unexpected) victory for Native Americans. This week, as the focus of this year's HistoryLunch fundraiser, we'll be looking at what happened after the decision, especially its effects on the collaborative governance of natural resources.
Just months after the Boldt decision was issued in 1974, a charter committee met in Seattle to develop a constitution for the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, which would serve the treaty tribes whose fishing rights had been affirmed. Meanwhile, the state continued to fight the rulings until the 1980s, when it became clear that the only path forward was to recognize tribal sovereignty and develop new relationships and strategies to comanage the state's fisheries and resolve other intergovernmental conflicts.
In 1989, Governor Booth Gardner and 26 Washington tribes signed the Centennial Accord, which affirmed the sovereignty of Washington's federally recognized tribes and called for clearer communication and better collaboration between tribal and state governments. Since then, conflicts have been resolved over such issues as land management, plans for salmon recovery, and habitat conservation.
Organization like the William D. Ruckelshaus Center assisted parties involved in these complex public-policy challenges. In 2013, the ambitious Yakima River Basin Integrated Water Resource Management Plan was created after years of droughts, lawsuits, studies, and assessments. These kinds of collaborative approaches in Washington have led to many groundbreaking outcomes and established a model for the rest of the nation.
City Anniversaries
A number of cities are celebrating anniversaries this week, beginning with Port Orchard, which was originally named Sidney. On September 15, 1890, it became the first town to incorporate in Kitsap County, and its early residents took an active role in bringing the Puget Sound Naval Station (later Puget Sound Naval Shipyard) across Sinclair Inlet to Bremerton.
Yakima County has two cities celebrating birthdays this week. Sunnyside incorporated on September 16, 1902, and Wapato did the same exactly six years later. Beginning in World War II, these and other nearby communities benefited from the Bracero program, which contracted Mexican migrant workers, and today the majority of their residents are of Hispanic or Latino heritage.
Over in Snohomish County, Gold Bar incorporated on September 16, 1910, and although its name came from small gold discoveries made in the area, the town's early success from mining came from copper and arsenic. Back in Central Washington, Moses Lake incorporated in Grant County on September 15, 1938, named for Chief Moses, leader of the Columbia band of Indians. And finally, on September 18, 1947, Winslow became a city, but later changed its name to Bainbridge Island after annexing the entire land mass.
On September 14, 1892, Spokane's Temple Emanu-El became the first Jewish synagogue to open in the state of Washington. Four days later, Congregation Ohaveth Sholum opened the first synagogue in Seattle.
On September 14, 1901, Pier 4, commonly known as the White Star Dock, collapsed into Elliott Bay on Seattle's central waterfront. Investigators concluded that the collapse was caused by faulty construction, and the pier – known today as Pier 55 – was rebuilt within months.
On September 13, 1909, cats at the Ballard police station went stark raving mad, but there was a more serious health problem in the region. On September 12, 1909, Seattle health officials reported an outbreak of typhoid fever, but it wasn't until later that the cause was determined to be contaminated drinking water at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition.
During the summer and early fall of 1927, soon after returning from his historic solo flight across the Atlantic, aviator Charles Lindbergh traveled the country in the Spirit of St. Louis, promoting aviation and the building of airports. In Washington, he landed in Spokane on September 12, then made many low-altitude flyovers of cities along his route to Seattle the next day.
On September 13, 1934, the Los Angeles-based Orville Knapp Orchestra performed a Seattle concert at the Club Victor – featuring what is almost certainly the local public debut of the electric guitar. On September 16, 1957, Dave Bunker submitted a patent application for his dual-necked "Touch Guitar." And on September 13, 1991, Nirvana held a release party at Seattle's Re-bar dance club for their Nevermind album, which made music history by selling more than 10 million copies in the U.S. alone.
In 1998, Seattle voters approved a $196 million bond measure to help rebuild the city's public libraries. The Seattle Public Library Foundation added $83 million to complete the building program, as well as enhance system-wide funding for art, technology, collections, and programs. On September 13, 2008, the city celebrated the completion of this successful "Libraries For All" campaign.
On September 15, 1915, the citizens of Mabton celebrated their abundant alfalfa crop by opening the Hay Palace -- built almost entirely of hay bales.
"The fighting, that is, the fish-ins and demonstrations, is over now, I hope."
–Billy Frank
