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Keyword(s): agproject20

35 Features

Agricultural Exports from Washington

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...

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Agriculture in Washington 1792 to 1900

Washington's soils and climate make it one of the most productive agricultural states in the union. When explorers and fur traders from the East Coast and Europe reached the Northwest in the late 1700...

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Agriculture in Washington since 1900

At the turn of the twentieth century, Washington farmers and ranchers realized they still had much to learn about the land. Washington State College (later University) in Pullman became the center of ...

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Beef Cattle Farming in Washington

Beef cattle have been an economic driver in Washington's agricultural history since the first cattle arrived by ship with Spanish explorers, likely in 1780. Production soared with the rush of gold min...

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Bush, George (1790?-1863)

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...

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Coast Salish Camas Cultivation

Camas (Camassia spp) bulbs were harvested and baked as a sweet, fructose-rich food by Native Americans throughout the Great Basin and the Pacific Northwest. Camas meadows or "prairies" were often burn...

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Coast Salish Woolly Dogs

Weaving with spun yarns was a defining characteristic of pre-Contact Coast Salish civilization in the Salish Sea (the marine waterways of what are now Washington and British Columbia), together with t...

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Columbia Basin Reclamation Project, The Beginnings: A Reminiscence by W. Gale Matthews

In early 1952, W. Gale Matthews -- a resident of Grant County since 1890 and, at the time of this account, President of the Grant County Title Abstract Company -- provided his memories of the beginnin...

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Colville Valley (1870s-1880s): A 1928 Memoir by Thomas Graham

In 1928, Thomas Graham (1868-1946) wrote a series of articles in the Colville Examiner titled "50 Years Ago," recounting his experiences and observations as a teenager in the Colville Valley. His fami...

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Combine Harvester: Innovating Modern Wheat Farming by History Day Award Winner Christoper Wiley

This essay by Christopher Wiley on the development of the combine harvester won the 2010 Washington State History Day award presented by HistoryLink.org for Outstanding Essay on Washington State Histo...

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Dairy Farming in Washington

In 2016, milk was the second highest valued commodity in Washington behind apples, with some 90 percent of the milk produced in the state also processed there. The first substantial herd of cattle arr...

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Davis, James S. "Cashup" (1815-1896)

Randall A. Johnson wrote this article about Palouse pioneer James S. "Cashup" Davis in 1968 for The Pacific Northwesterner, the quarterly publication of the Spokane Westerners Corral. Johnson was born...

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Desimone, Joe: From Produce Farmer to Owner of Seattle's Pike Place Market

Giuseppe "Joe" Desimone, an immigrant from Naples, settled in Seattle's South Park neighborhood, where he made some money farming and more money investing in real estate. Like many immigrant farmers f...

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Duwamish Gardens (Ray-Carrossino Farmstead)

Duwamish Gardens, a park in the south King County city of Tukwila, was previously a farmstead and truck farm on the Duwamish River. The land was settled and farmed by the Thomas Ray (1852-1940) family...

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11 Timeline Entries

First irrigation ditch in the Yakima Valley is dug at the Saint Joseph Mission in 1852.

In 1852, Catholic Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate Father Charles Pandosy and Father Eugene Casmire Chirouse (1821-1892), in company with Yakama people, labor with shovels to dig the first irriga...

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Michael Sullivan and Samuel Calhoun build the first dike in Skagit County in 1863.

In 1863, Michael H. Sullivan (1840?-1912) and Samuel Calhoun build the first dike in Skagit County. They prove that the treeless flats between the Sullivan and Swinomish sloughs, once thought useless ...

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Ezra Meeker plants hops in the Puyallup Valley in March 1865.

In March 1865, pioneer Ezra Meeker (1830-1928) plants hop vine cuttings on his farm in the Puyallup Valley. The plants flourish and Meeker continues to expand his plantings over the years. By the earl...

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Schanno family plants the first wine grapes in the Yakima Valley near Union Gap in 1869.

In 1869, the Charles Schanno family plants the first known grapevines in the Yakima Valley on their farm near Union Gap. Finding the climate ideal for wine grape production, other settlers follow suit...

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Washington Agricultural College (predecessor to Washington State University) opens on January 13, 1892.

On January 13, 1892, the Agricultural College, Experiment Station, and School of Science of the State of Washington -- the descriptive if unwieldy name given to what eventually will become Washington ...

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Work commences on Old Lowden Ditch, an early irrigation project in the Walla Walla Valley, on April 15, 1893.

On April 15, 1893, work commences on the Old Lowden Ditch, one of the early irrigation projects in the Walla Walla Valley. This project takes water out of the Walla Walla River several miles upstream ...

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The Bush Act, allowing for the sale of state tidelands for oyster farming, is approved on March 2, 1895.

Even before Washington was a state, legislation in the region reflected the importance of the oyster. A 1911 state senate committee report reviewing oyster legislation stated, "Washington, as a state ...

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Adams County produces its first bumper crop of wheat in 1897.

In 1897, Adams County produces its first bumper crop of wheat. For the first time, raising wheat becomes predominate over cattle ranching in the county. The "Big Crop of '97" inspires a major influx o...

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Carnation condensed milk first manufactured in Kent on September 6, 1899.

On September 6, 1899, Carnation condensed milk is manufactured for the first time. The Carnation milk factory is located in Kent, in King County.

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Grain loading begins at new Port of Tacoma grain elevator on August 11, 1930.

On August 11, 1930, the grain elevator at the Port of Tacoma's new United Grain Terminal begins service. The publicly owned and funded grain elevator, which was proposed by Port Commissioner G. E. Led...

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Washington grain train begins rolling in the fall of 1994.

In the fall of 1994, the Washington grain train begins rolling. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and the Washington State Energy Office have purchased and repaired 29 used rai...

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