Washington Trivia & Tidbits - Page 13

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

Petrified wood was adopted as Washington’s official state gem in 1975. The state’s best examples of petrified wood—logs in which the wood fiber, over the centuries, was replaced by silica—are found in Gingko Petrified Forest State Park in Vantage (pop. 70).

first appeared: 2/23/2003

Washington’s official tartan—a cloth featuring perpendicular bands of color on a solid background—was designed in 1988 and adopted in 1991 to commemorate the state’s centennial celebration. Its background is solid green to reflect the many forests in the Evergreen State. The perpendicular bands are blue, white, red, yellow, and black—which represent, respectively, Washington’s bodies of water; snow-capped mountains; apple and cherry crops; wheat and grain crops; and the eruption of Mount St. Helens.

first appeared: 2/16/2003

The green darner dragonfly, featuring a bright green head and thorax, was adopted as Washington’s official insect in 1997. Also known as a mosquito hawk, the dragonfly was selected by a vote of Washington schoolchildren. It is considered valuable because it consumes large numbers of pests.

first appeared: 2/9/2003

Dixy Lee Ray, who became Washington’s first woman governor in 1976, was born Margaret Ray in Tacoma in 1914. The University of Washington science professor also chaired the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and held the distinction of being the youngest female, at age 12, to climb Mount Rainier. She died in 1994.

first appeared: 2/9/2003

The state Capitol in Olympia (pop. 42,514) became the home of Washington’s Legislature in March 1927. The classical design resembles the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

first appeared: 2/2/2003

Washington’s first television station, KING-TV, began broadcasting in Seattle in 1948.

first appeared: 1/26/2003

In 1792, Spain established the first non-American Indian settlement in Washington at Neah Bay (pop. 794). The fishing village is the northwesternmost community in the state.

first appeared: 1/19/2003

The New Cascade Tunnel in Washington’s Cascade Mountains is one of the longest railroad tunnels in the world at 7.79 miles. For its inauguration on Jan. 12, 1929, the first locomotive to run through the tunnel started things off by breaking through a giant ceremonial photograph covering the tunnel’s western portal.

first appeared: 1/12/2003

Bob Barker, host of CBS television’s game show The Price is Right, was born in 1923 in Darrington (pop. 1,136). For 30 years, Barker has hosted The Price is Right, America’s highest-rated daytime game show and the longest-running game show in television history. He is a former Navy fighter pilot and graduated from college summa cum laude with a degree in economics.

first appeared: 1/12/2003

In the early 1960s, Seattle architect John Graham built the first revolving restaurant in the country’s 48 contiguous states. The Eye of the Needle restaurant, now called SkyCity, spins 500 feet above Seattle atop the Space Needle—also a Graham design—on a 90-ton turntable.

first appeared: 1/5/2003

The Bank of America Tower in Seattle, completed in 1985, has the most floors of any building west of the Mississippi River. It has 76 floors and is 967 feet tall.

first appeared: 12/29/2002

Adam West, known best as television’s Batman, was born William West Anderson on Sept. 19, 1928 in Walla Walla (pop. 29,686). He won the role of the Caped Crusader after impressing producers in his commercial for Nestle’s Quick in the ’60s. Since Batman ended, West has appeared in dozens of television programs.

first appeared: 12/22/2002

The lowest temperature ever recorded in Washington was 48 degrees below zero at the neighboring towns of Mazama (pop. 115) and Winthrop (pop. 349) on Dec. 30, 1968.

first appeared: 12/15/2002

Bellingham has been designated a “Trail Town USA,” by the American Hiking Society and the National Park Service, one of only 30 cities nationwide to receive the honor. Bellingham boasts 29 miles of pedestrian, bicycle, and equestrian trails and more than 600 acres of open space.

first appeared: 12/8/2002

The Washington State International Kite Festival is held in Long Beach (pop. 1,283) at the southwestern tip of the state. The peninsula is internationally renowned among kite enthusiasts as one of the world’s best places to fly kites because of its winds and lack of obstacles.

first appeared: 12/8/2002

Grays Harbor Lighthouse (also called Westport Lighthouse) at Westport (pop. 2,137) is the tallest lighthouse in Washington (107 feet) and the second-tallest on the Pacific Coast. The lighthouse was built in 1898 to aid navigation at the south entrance to Grays Harbor.

first appeared: 12/1/2002

Leadbetter Point, located at the northern tip of the Long Beach Peninsula, separates Willapa Bay from the Pacific Ocean. The point changes constantly due to the shifting and eroding dunes. British explorer John Meares called it Low Point in 1788, but in 1852 the name was changed to honor Lt. Danville Leadbetter of the U.S. Coast Survey, who eventually became a brigadier general in the Confederate Army.

first appeared: 11/24/2002

Mount Baker (elevation 10,778) in northwest Washington officially became the country’s snowiest place in the winter of 1998-99, when 95 feet of snow fell there. The previous mark was recorded in 1971-72 on Mount Rainier/Paradise with its 93.5 feet.

first appeared: 11/17/2002

Cama Beach, on the west side of Camano Island, northwest of Seattle, at one time was a logging camp. The land later was developed as a private salmon fishing resort for more than 60 years. In the early 1990s, it was acquired as a state park.

first appeared: 11/10/2002

The state flag, approved in 1923, is the only U.S. state flag that is predominantly green, and the only one that includes a picture of a president (George Washington).

first appeared: 11/3/2002

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