Keyword(s): Kit Oldham
In Washington, a national leader in both farm production and international trade, agricultural exports played a key role in development from the early years of non-Indian settlement. As steamboats car...
George Bush (ca. 1790-1863) was a key leader of the first group of American citizens to settle north of the Columbia River in what is now Washington. Bush was a successful farmer in Missouri, but as a...
The Butler-Jackson House at 1703 Grand Avenue is significant for its place in Everett's architectural history and as the home of two prominent and influential, and very different, Everett residents. T...
Clallam County occupies the northern portion of the Olympic Peninsula, extending nearly 100 miles along the Strait of Juan de Fuca on its north and more than 35 miles along the Pacific Coast on its we...
William O. Douglas, who grew up in Yakima, was appointed to the United States Supreme Court at the age of 40 and served for more than 36 years, longer than any other justice in the Court's history. Bo...
Elisha Ferry was the first governor of Washington state, the only two-term governor of Washington Territory, and the only person to serve as governor of both the territory and the state. He is the nam...
Bernie "Kai Kai" Gobin (his Indian name means "blue jay" or "wise one") was a fisherman, artist, musician, and political leader on the Tulalip Reservation, where he lived most of his life. Gobin's for...
Henry M. (Scoop) Jackson was one of the most successful and powerful politicians in the history of Washington state. Jackson was born and died in Everett, Snohomish County, the rough-edged industrial ...
A man who lived 8,500 years ago along the Columbia River in what is now central Washington's Tri-Cities area became the center of worldwide attention and heated controversy following the 1996 discover...
King County's Farmland Preservation Program protects farmland and open space in the rapidly developing county by using tax money to buy development rights on farms. It is one of the oldest such progra...
A. Ludlow "Lud" Kramer became the youngest Secretary of State in Washington history when elected in 1964 at age 32. He was re-elected in 1968 and in 1972. A moderate Republican, he championed the righ...
Arthur B. Langlie was the only mayor of Seattle to become governor of the state and the only Washington governor to regain that office after losing it. Langlie was born in Minnesota and moved with his...
Warren G. Magnuson ("Maggie" to constituents, Warren to family and friends) represented Washington in the United States Senate longer than anyone else and used his seniority and persuasive skills to e...
In 1999 and 2000, after a hiatus of seven decades, Makah Indian whalers again hunted gray whales from their ancestral lands around Cape Flattery on the Olympic Peninsula. The Makah, whose whaling trad...
On March 22, 1778, Captain James Cook (1728-1779) names Cape Flattery. The Cape, home to the Makah Indians, and now part of the Makah Reservation, is the northwesternmost point in the continental Unit...
On April 28 (or 29), 1792, two of the first non-Indian navigators to explore significant parts of what is now Washington meet on the high seas off Cape Flattery, just south of the entrance to the Stra...
On May 7, 1792, American fur trader Robert Gray (1755-1806) enters Grays Harbor, a large natural harbor on the Pacific coast south of the Olympic Peninsula in present-day Grays Harbor County. Gray, on...
On May 8, 1792, British Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver (1757-1798) names an extensive bay at the northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula for the Marquis of Townshend, a British general. The "h"...
On May 11, 1792, American fur trader Robert Gray (1755-1806) enters the major river of the Pacific Northwest in his ship the Columbia Rediviva. Indian peoples have lived and navigated along Wimahl ("B...
Around May 14 through 17, 1792, American fur trader Robert Gray (1755-1806) explores Grays Bay on the Columbia River shore of present-day Wahkiakum County, and charts the outlet of Grays River where i...
In June 1792, Joseph Whidbey, a British naval officer on Captain George Vancouver's voyage of discovery to the waters of the future Washington state, circumnavigates a large island located at the inte...
On October 30, 1792, British Royal Navy Lieutenant William Broughton (1762-1821), who is exploring the Columbia River under orders from Captain George Vancouver (1757-1798), names Point Vancouver for ...
On November 4, 1805, the Corps of Discovery led by Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and William Clark (1770-1838) camps on the Columbia River in what is now Clark County, beside a Chinookan Indian house n...
From September 27 through October 6, 1809, Canadian explorer David Thompson (1770-1857) scouts the Pend Oreille River from Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho, downstream through what is now Pend Oreille Count...
In 1810, the Canadian North West Company establishes a fur-trading post called Spokane House where the Little Spokane River joins the Spokane River, about 10 miles downstream from the current location...
On June 19, 1811, a party of Canadian fur traders from the North West Company, led by explorer and mapmaker David Thompson (1770-1857), reaches Kettle Falls on the Columbia River. For many years, the ...
On July 9, 1811, at the mouth of the Snake River where it joins the Columbia, Canadian explorer David Thompson (1770-1857) erects a pole with a sign claiming the surrounding country for Great Britain....
In 1812, the Pacific Fur Company of John Jacob Astor (1763-1848), a New York merchant active in the fur trade with China, establishes a trading post called Fort Spokane near the current site of the ci...