Washington Trivia & Tidbits - Page 5

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

—One of the nation’s best examples of a temperate rainforest is the Hoh Rainforest, located near Forks (pop 3,120) in Olympic National Park. Upward of 140 inches of rain falls there every year, supporting Sitka spruce and Western hemlock that can grow up to 300 feet tall and 23 feet around. Temperatures in the forest rarely drop below freezing or rise above 80 degrees.

first appeared: 10/8/2006

The Haller Fountain in downtown Port Townsend (pop. 8,334) was donated to the community in 1906 by Theodore Haller, and is said to depict the Roman goddess Venus rising from the sea. After the statue was damaged, the Kiwanis Club raised money to have the bronze statue re-cast at the local Riverdog Fine Arts foundry in 1993

first appeared: 9/24/2006

Mel Hein, a native of Burlington (pop. 6,757), never missed a football game during the 15 years he played for the New York Giants between 1931 and 1945. Primarily a center, he was named the NFL’s most valuable player in 1938, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.

first appeared: 9/24/2006

Many of the 19th-century buildings in Port Gamble, near Kingston (pop. 1,611), resemble those from the same era in New England, with features such as roof gables and a steepled church. The architectural styles arrived with workers who traveled from East Machias, Maine, to work in a local mill owned by businessmen from their hometown.

first appeared: 9/10/2006

The American ginseng root grown by Don and Joy Hoogesteger of Ridgefield (pop. 2,147) set a record for the world’s largest in 1999, when it weighed in at more than 2 pounds.

first appeared: 9/8/2006

From 1908 to 1927, Des Moines (pop. 29,267) was home to Herman and Annie Draper's Children's Home. The couple offered orphaned and homeless children a loving and caring home environment that included music lessons and trade instruction. The children helped run a print shop and toured as "The Jolly Entertainers" to raise money for their home, which received no government funding.

first appeared: 8/27/2006

Test pilot "Tex" Johnston surprised even the president of The Boeing Co. when he flew a variation of a barrel roll in a Dash-80 (a prototype for the Boeing 707) on Aug. 7, 1955. The maneuver, which clearly demonstrated the capabilities of a commercial jet, took place over Lake Washington, north of Renton (pop. 50,052), at a speed of more than 400 mph.

first appeared: 8/13/2006

Police caught notorious train robber Roy Gardner in 1921 at what's now known as McMenamin's Olympic Hotel and Theatre in Centralia (pop. 14,742), after the hotel's proprietress became suspicious and contacted authorities. The original Olympic Club's saloon was built in around 1908, and was followed by the hotel in 1913. One of the hotel's 27 rooms is named after Gardner.

first appeared: 7/30/2006

Exhibits at the Museum of Flight in Seattle include an X-Jet: a one-person jet-powered flying platform developed by Sam Williams of Williams International and evaluated by the U.S. Army in the 1980s. Williams, who was born in Seattle in 1921, is considered a pioneer of small, efficient gas-turbine engines, and was given the museum's Pathfinder award in 2004 for aviation achievements.

first appeared: 7/30/2006

Railroad executive and entrepreneur Sam Hill began building a mansion near Goldendale (pop. 3,760) in 1914, intending it to be part of a model agricultural community. He changed his mind, establishing instead the Maryhill Museum of Art. Queen Marie of Romania formally dedicated the museum in 1926, but the facility didn't open until 1940, nine years after Hill's death in 1931.

first appeared: 7/16/2006

Since the "Singing Nuns" of Mount St. Michael gave their first public concert in 1979, they've appeared on television, recorded albums and toured widely—including a stop at the Hollywood Bowl in 2004. The nuns are traditional Catholic sisters whose motherhouse, St. Michael's Convent, is located in Spokane. Their singing reflects their faith and raises money for projects such as the convent's school.

first appeared: 7/2/2006

When architect Sabro Ozasa built a five-story hotel in Seattle in 1910, the building became a gathering place for Japanese immigrants. Today, the Panama Hotel's heritage can be seen in its original "sento," or public bathhouse, and in the coffee and tea house that preserves many belongings left behind by Japanese-Americans ordered to internment camps during World War II.

first appeared: 6/25/2006

For more than 20 years, former teacher Richard Tracy has surrounded his house in Centralia (pop. 14,742) with a sculpture garden that incorporates Styrofoam, wood, metal, plastic and items that other people have discarded. In the process, he's earned the nickname "Richart" for his collection of folk art.

first appeared: 6/4/2006

Journalist Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965) earned a degree in speech from Washington State University in Pullman (pop. 24,675), where the School of Communication now bears his name. The legendary broadcaster was known for his on-site reporting from World War II and the Korean War, and for his reporting on U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy in 1954. Murrow was profiled in the recent George Clooney film Good Night, and Good Luck.

first appeared: 6/4/2006

Author David Guterson won the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1995 for the best work of fiction by an American author for his novel Snow Falling on Cedars, which later became a movie of the same name. Guterson found inspiration for the story, which is set in 1954 on an island in Puget Sound, from his home in the community of Bainbridge Island (pop. 20,308).

first appeared: 5/21/2006

Actress Carol Channing was born in Seattle on Jan. 31, 1921, and raised in San Francisco. She is known for her Broadway roles, including more than 5,000 performances as the lead in Hello, Dolly! and for her Oscar-nominated role as Muzzy in the 1967 film Thoroughly Modern Millie.

first appeared: 5/14/2006

In Kid Valley, near Mount St. Helens, a statue of Bigfoot stands 28 feet tall beside Spirit Lake Memorial Highway at the North Fork Survivors Gift Shop, which incorporates an A-frame house buried by mud from the volcano's 1980 eruption. Constructed of wire, cement and volcano ash, the statue depicts the legendary humanoid, also known as Sasquatch, wearing fur and a big grin.

first appeared: 4/23/2006

When Washington State University announced plans last year to buy the Magpie Forest near Pullman (pop. 24,675), it meant the 14-acre parcel of rare Palouse prairie—one of the nation’s most endangered ecosystems—will be protected from development. More than 160 species of plants, birds and animals can be found in the forest, which will be used as an outdoor environmental science laboratory.

first appeared: 4/9/2006

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg is among four new inductees to the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, maintained at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle. Also inducted last year were animator and filmmaker Ray Harryhausen; writer Philip K. Dick; and artist Chesley Bonestell. The museum opened in 2004 with artifacts and memorabilia from art, literature, film and television.

first appeared: 3/26/2006

Boundary Dam, near Metaline Falls (pop. 223), was the site of the fictional Bridge City in the 1997 movie The Postman starring Kevin Costner. Set in a futuristic 2013 after a war has destroyed much of civilization, the movie’s Washington footage includes the final scene, which was filmed near Anacortes (pop. 15,764).

first appeared: 3/12/2006

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