Washington Trivia & Tidbits - Page 18

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

Washington’s San Juan Islands, located on the Pacific Flyway, a migratory bird route, attract more than 200 species of birds for all or part of the year. The islands also offer visitors the chance to see whales, seals, sea lions, and porpoises.

first appeared: 6/10/2001

The 860-foot container ship President Washington is the state’s official ship, proclaimed in 1983. The vessel travels the Pacific Ocean on trade trips between Washington and the Pacific Rim countries.

first appeared: 6/3/2001

Mount Rainier (14,410 feet in elevation) is actually an active volcano covered in snow and ice. Each year, more than two million people visit its national park, established on March 2, 1899, and covering 235,625 acres.

first appeared: 6/3/2001

Tourists contribute some $4.8 billion to the state’s economy each year. Major attractions include the three national parks of Mount Rainier, Olympic, and North Cascades.

first appeared: 5/27/2001

Europeans were first attracted to the coast of what is now Washington by the valuable fur of the sea otter, an animal found there in great abundance. By 1800, British interest shifted to fur-bearing land animals, particularly the beaver.

first appeared: 5/27/2001

Seattle’s Pike Place Market, well-known for its produce, crafts and more, is an important part of the city’s history. In 1907, local residents became angered by rapidly rising produce prices. Soon after, a city councilman proposed a public market where farmers could sell their wares directly to the public, cutting out the middleman blamed for the inflation.

first appeared: 5/20/2001

The Columbian mammoth, the state fossil, roamed what would become Washington state after crossing the Bering Strait from Asia and making its way south from Alaska about 2 million years ago. Fossils of these prehistoric relatives of the elephant family have been found on the Olympic Peninsula.

first appeared: 5/20/2001

Towering 12,276 feet above sea level, Mount Adams near central Washington—a popular peak with mountain climbers—is one of five major volcanic mountains in the Pacific Northwest. Climbing routes range from the merely strenuous to highly technical climbs requiring advanced experience and special equipment.

first appeared: 5/13/2001

A river runs through it: Spokane presents a scenic element to its urban landscape—the Spokane Falls thunder onto the Spokane River, which then courses through the middle of this eastern Washington city.

first appeared: 5/6/2001

Washington has long been known as the Evergreen State, but the designation never has been officially adopted in the legislature. An early Seattle real estate man and historian, C.T. Conover, is credited with coining the nickname.

first appeared: 4/29/2001

Orchards in Washington supply more than half the fresh eating apples grown in the United States. In 2000, state growers produced almost 4 billion pounds of the fruit.

first appeared: 4/22/2001

The temperate rain forest of Olympic National Park, located west of Puget Sound, is soaked with 140-167 inches of rain every year. Protected by mountains to the east, the area rarely sees temperatures below freezing or summer highs above 80 degrees.

first appeared: 4/22/2001

The Stonerose fossil site at Republic (pop. 940) is a shale deposit rich with ancient impressions of plants and animals that lived 50 million years ago. The earliest known records of the rose and maple families are present at the site.

first appeared: 4/15/2001

In the 1940s, the Bonneville Power Administration paid folk singer Woody Guthrie $270 to write songs for a movie it produced to encourage rural residents to electrify their homes. One of those songs, Roll On, Columbia, Roll On, was adopted as the official state folk song in 1987.

first appeared: 4/15/2001

Mount St. Helens, whose May 18, 1980, eruption was one of North America’s largest volcanic explosions, is named for British diplomat Alleyene Fitzherbert (1753-1839) whose title was Baron St. Helens. Comdr. George Vancouver and the other officers on the H.M.S. Discovery named the peak while they were surveying the area from 1792 to 1794.

first appeared: 4/8/2001

Ape Cave, the longest known lava tube in the continental United States, is located in Gifford Pinchot National Forest in southwest Washington. Lava tubes, caused by erupting volcanoes, are created as flowing lava cools and crusts on top and the magma under it continues to flow, forming a tube.

first appeared: 4/1/2001

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