Washington Trivia & Tidbits - Page 16

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

The Wenatchee National Forest in central Washington covers slopes ranging from 2,000 to more than 8,000 feet. Some 40 percent of the forest is designated wilderness, where no roads exist. Lake Chelan-Sawtooth, Glacier Peak, Henry M. Jackson, Alpine Lakes, William O. Douglas, Norse Peak, and Goat Rocks comprise the forest’s Wilderness Areas.

first appeared: 2/17/2002

One of the most recognized and revered landmarks of Tacoma is Old City Hall, built in 1893—20 years after the city was founded. The bell tower clock overlooks Tacoma’s historic district.

first appeared: 2/10/2002

Paradise Inn in Mount Rainier National Park is one of the first ski resorts in the United States. Built in 1916, the inn is constructed of Alaskan Yellow Cedar charred by a fire in nearby Silver Forest. Hand-hewn furniture, tables, piano, and a grandfather clock still stand in the lobby of this “Great Lodge.”

first appeared: 2/3/2002

Kettle Falls in northeast Washington once provided rich fishing waters to American Indians in the region. Archaeologists believe they caught as many as 1,000 fish a day during salmon runs. The falls disappeared after the construction of Grand Coulee Dam and Roosevelt Reservoir in the 1930s.

first appeared: 1/27/2002

During the last Ice Ages, Dry Falls sent water plunging 400 feet down a waterfall 3.5 miles wide—10 times the size of Niagara Falls. No longer a waterfall, Dry Falls is now a cliff in Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park near Coulee City (pop. 600).

first appeared: 1/20/2002

Washington is often thought of as a top apple-growing region, but flowers also occupy an important place in state agriculture since the state is the world’s largest commercial producer of tulips, daffodils, and bulbous iris.

first appeared: 1/13/2002

Gardner Cave, located in Crawford State Park 11 miles north of Metaline (pop. 162), is full of stalactites, stalagmites, rimstone pools, and flowstone (calcite deposited by flowing water on either the walls or floor of a cave). The second largest limestone cave in the state, it is named for Ed Gardner, who homesteaded near the cave and is said to have discovered it in the summer of 1903.

first appeared: 1/6/2002

The oldest artifacts in the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma are spear and arrow points made by people of the Clovis culture 11,000 years ago. The points are made of agate, quartz, and mammoth or mastodon bones and were used as either hunting tools or ceremonial objects.

first appeared: 12/30/2001

The emphasis at Cougar Mountain Zoological Park in Issaquah (pop. 11,212) is on animals considered endangered. Many of the animals residing there were born or raised at the zoo, which was established in 1972.

first appeared: 12/23/2001

The Fort Nisqually Granary in Point Defiance Park in Tacoma was built of logs in 1843 at Fort Nisqually—the first permanent Anglo-American settlement on Puget Sound. The Granary and Factor’s House were moved to the park from their original location in 1934.

first appeared: 12/16/2001

Olympic National Park west of Puget Sound contains more than 600 miles of trails, providing access to the park’s wild areas. Ninety-five percent of the park has been designated wilderness.

first appeared: 12/9/2001

Puget Sound, where saltwater from the Pacific meets fresh water draining from the surrounding land, has 2,354 miles of shoreline and an average depth of 450 feet. More than 10,000 streams and rivers drain into the sound.

first appeared: 12/2/2001

Fireboat No. 1, built in 1929 and owned by the city of Tacoma, is typical of fireboats of its day. The vintage vessel is now preserved as a historic monument in Marine Park.

first appeared: 11/25/2001

Speaking of Roosevelts, the mighty Columbia River widens into 130-mile-long Lake Roosevelt in northern Washington, which was created by the damming of the river in 1941 as part of the Columbia River Basin project. The lake, named for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, offers boating, fishing, swimming, camping, and canoeing.

first appeared: 11/18/2001

British Capt. George Vancouver was responsible for naming some of the state’s great landmarks, when he explored the Washington coast and inland waters in 1792—among them Puget Sound, named after Peter Puget, the officer who initially spotted the large coastal bay.

first appeared: 11/11/2001

In 1892, well before they were granted the right to vote, Washington women voted the coast rhododendron as the official state flower. State officials had been seeking a flower to enter a floral exhibit in the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. The undertaking required voting booths to be set up for this unique ladies-only ballot throughout the state.

first appeared: 11/4/2001

Washington gained its official state tree in an anything but typical way. In 1946, a Portland, Ore., newspaper poked fun at Washington for not having a state tree and went on to select the western hemlock to serve the purpose. State Rep. George Adams urged the Washington Legislature to adopt the hemlock, stating that it would become “the backbone” of the state’s forestry industry, and his bill to that effect was passed in 1947.

first appeared: 10/28/2001

Potholes State Park, southwest of Moses Lake (pop. 14,953) east of the Cascades, gets its name not from highway holes but from depressions made during flooding in the Pleistocene Ice Age. Those holes were filled with water when the water table rose in the 1950s after the building of O’Sullivan Dam.

first appeared: 10/21/2001

The Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, built in 1856, is the oldest functioning lighthouse on the West Coast. English Capt. John Meares, searching for what would later be known as the Columbia River, missed the passage to the river. Saddened by his failure, he dubbed the cape “Disappointment” in 1788. Four years later, American Capt. Robert Gray found the elusive entrance and named the great river Columbia, after his ship.

first appeared: 10/14/2001

Jarrell Cove State Park on the northwest side of Harstine Island in South Puget Sound is named for Philora Jarrell, the first pioneer woman to settle on the island. The park is a 43-acre marine camping park accessible by boat or bridge.

first appeared: 10/7/2001

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