Washington Trivia & Tidbits - Page 10

Looking for Washington trivia? Try our list Washington little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

The Governor’s Mansion in Olympia (pop. 42,514) was originally built in a rush in 1908 for $35,000 to serve as a house to entertain visitors arriving for the Alaskan-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle. It was restored in the early 1970s, when rooms were added. The furnishings date generally from 1795 to 1850.

first appeared: 2/29/2004

William Boeing dropped out of college in 1903 to start a successful lumber business in his home state. After flying for the first time in 1914, he decided to build better airplanes and the result is the Seattle-based Boeing Co., the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer.

first appeared: 2/22/2004

Twin Lakes in Arlington (pop. 11,713) and several other lakes along Interstate 5 once were sand and gravel sites used to construct the highway. They now serve as community lakes and parks.

first appeared: 2/15/2004

When the last ice age peaked about 14,000 years ago, an ice sheet nearly a mile thick covered most areas of the North Cascades, which remain the most densely glaciated mountains in the contiguous United States.

first appeared: 2/15/2004

The President Washington is the state ship. It is an 860-foot-long container vessel with a 43,000 horsepower diesel engine, one of the largest container ships ever built in the United States.

first appeared: 2/8/2004

The Gorge Amphitheater in George (pop. 528) is one of the nation’s premier outdoor concert venues, with its sweeping views of the Columbia River Gorge and picturesque sunsets.

first appeared: 2/8/2004

The northwestern most point in the contiguous United States is Cape Flattery on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.

first appeared: 2/1/2004

Starbucks, the largest coffee chain in the world, opened its first location in Seattle’s Pike Place Market in 1971.

first appeared: 2/1/2004

The apple is the official state fruit, and Washington produces roughly half the apples grown commercially in America.

first appeared: 1/25/2004

The state’s 29 ferries comprise the largest non-military fleet in the United States and third largest in the world. The vessels carry 25 million passengers a year, more than Amtrak’s 21.5 million nationwide.

first appeared: 1/25/2004

The San Juan County (pop. 14,077) islands in Puget Sound comprise at least 172 named islands or groups of islands. These account for more than 375 miles of shoreline, or nearly as much saltwater shoreline as Washington and Oregon combined, and more than any other county in the United States.

first appeared: 1/18/2004

The Puget Sound area is America’s premier raspberry-growing region, producing 80 to 90 percent of the nation’s commercial crop.

first appeared: 1/11/2004

The state motto is al-ki or alki, a Chinook Indian word meaning “bye and bye” or “hope for the future.”

first appeared: 1/4/2004

A young guitarist billing himself as Jimmy James, born in Seattle in 1942, had a post-Army career of backing up other musicians in the early 1960s. He later traveled to London, where he joined other musicians to form the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

first appeared: 1/4/2004

In 1909, the state introduced speed limits of one mile in five minutes (12 mph) in “thickly settled areas and business districts” and one mile in two-and-a-half minutes (24 mph) in rural areas.

first appeared: 12/28/2003

The state has two distinct climates, depending on which side of the Cascade Range you’re on. West of the mountains, moist oceanic winds cool as they rise over the range, and it rains. As they descend on the eastern slopes, the winds become warm and dry.

first appeared: 12/21/2003

The 1898 North Head Lighthouse at Ilwaco (pop. 950) is located on one of the windiest places in the country, setting numerous wind-speed records. On Jan. 29, 1921, winds of up to 126 mph were recorded before the recording instrument blew away. On another occasion, severe winds forced a duck to fly into the lantern room, crashing through the window and chipping the lens.

first appeared: 12/14/2003

On June 19, 1910 in Spokane, Sonora Smart Dodd held one of the first Father’s Day celebrations to honor her father, a Civil War veteran who raised six children following his wife’s death. Dodd was inspired while attending a Mother’s Day service in 1909. She chose June because it was her father’s birth month.

first appeared: 12/7/2003

At 2,822 feet long and 100 feet tall, the Ice Harbor Lock and Dam at the confluence of the Snake River and Lake Sacajawea near Pasco (pop. 32,066) is one of the world’s largest navigational locks. The project’s construction, which cost $130 million, started in 1955, with operation beginning in December 1961.

first appeared: 11/30/2003

Inventor Al Moen began work on a single-handle faucet in 1937 after hot water from a conventional two-handle faucet burned his hands while he was working at a Seattle garage. He sold his first single-handle faucets in 1947, and eventually earned more than 75 patents on inventions such as the screen aerator. He headed his company’s research and development department until his retirement in 1982. Moen was inducted into the National Kitchen and Bath Association’s Hall of Fame in 1993.

first appeared: 11/23/2003

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