Washington Trivia & Tidbits - Page 8

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

Ann Mitchell Lovell began collecting banana artifacts on a 1980 trip to Hawaii, where she bought a T-shirt from a bar named "Anna’s Bannanas." Her collection of memorabilia and art has grown to nearly 4,000 items and forms the Washington Banana Museum in Auburn (pop. 40,314).

first appeared: 12/19/2004

Thirty-five hundred panes of glass form the 12-sided dome and wings of the W. W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory in Tacoma’s Wright Park. Named for an early 20th-century civic leader who donated funds to build the conservatory in 1907, the Victorian-style structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It houses 500 individual plant species, including 200 orchids. December exhibits feature exotic amaryllis, fragrant paper whites and colorful poinsettias.

first appeared: 12/19/2004

The first annual Combine Demolition Derby in Lind (pop. 582) was held in 1988, after local business owner Bill Loomis suggested it be added to the town’s Centennial Celebration events. By rules of the event, the combines have to be at least 25 years old and unfit for the wheat fields. Drivers try to disable each other’s retired harvesters in 15-minute heats.

first appeared: 12/5/2004

Capt. George Vancouver landed at Bainbridge Island (pop. 20,308) in the Puget Sound in 1792, but the island didn't get its name until 1841. That's when Lt. Charles Wilkes of the U.S. Exploring Expedition named it after Commodore William Bainbridge, who commanded the USS Constitution during the War of 1812.

first appeared: 11/21/2004

The state’s Tall Ship Ambassador, the Lady Washington, was launched on March 7, 1989, from Aberdeen (pop. 16,461). The ship is replica of the original Lady Washington, a merchant vessel built in Massachusetts circa 1750, which sailed along the Northwest coast from 1787 to 1798.

first appeared: 11/7/2004

In 1920, Eddie Bauer opened a sporting goods store in Seattle and named it Eddie Bauer’s Sport Shop. Today, the company that Bauer started is headquartered in Redmond (pop. 45,256) and has more than 425 stores in the United States, Canada, Germany and Japan.

first appeared: 10/24/2004

Jim Whittaker became the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain (elev. 29,035 feet), on May 1, 1963. Whittaker, who grew up in the Seattle area, returned to the mountain’s Base Camp in 2003 to celebrate the expedition’s 40th anniversary.

first appeared: 10/10/2004

The sunshine-rich area around Sequim (pop. 4,334) is home to more than 30 lavender farms, which grow some 110,000 lavender plants featuring 50 different varieties.

first appeared: 10/3/2004

The 61,500-carat Millennium Sapphire, the world’s largest carved sapphire, was part of the June festivities when the Sapphire Princess became the first cruise ship to be christened in Seattle.

first appeared: 9/19/2004

Built in 1876, the Cedar Creek Grist Mill near Amboy (pop. 2,085) was restored in the 1980s by community volunteers who used broad axes and adzes to replace its posts and beams authentically. Today, it’s a working museum as 47 gallons of water per second flow from the creek to power the gristmill, which grinds grain into flour and meal.

first appeared: 9/12/2004

Nicknamed “the Bison,” Ray Meduna of Mount Vernon (pop. 26,232) is ranked among the world’s best eaters by the International Federation of Competitive Eating. Meduna’s achievements include eating two large cans of Pringles potato chips in 99 seconds, 2.9 pounds of rib meat in 12 minutes, and 5.5 pounds of ham and mashed potatoes in 12 minutes.

first appeared: 9/5/2004

In 1987, a group of local citizens from the Chehalis (pop. 7,057) and Centralia (pop. 14,742) area began restoring a 1916 steam locomotive that had been used in the logging industry. The restored train and several railroad cars have been running on a nine-mile section of standard gauge track near Chehalis since 1989.

first appeared: 8/29/2004

The San Juan County Marine Mammal Stranding Network responds to an average of 85 stranded marine animals annually, including harbor seals and gray whales. The network is a partnership between The Whale Museum and the Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, both located in Friday Harbor (pop. 1,989).

first appeared: 8/22/2004

In the 1970s, archaeologists excavated some 55,000 artifacts from the site of a mudslide that buried the ancient Makah Indian village of Ozette several centuries ago. The Makah Cultural and Research Center near Neah Bay (pop. 794), considered one of the nation’s finest tribal museums, features some of these unearthed items.

first appeared: 8/15/2004

The North Cascades Smokejumper Base in Winthrop (pop. 349) was established in 1940, after trial jumps in the fall of 1939 proved that firefighters could safely parachute into the forests to suppress wildfires, helping to save both money and timber. Today, the base provides initial fire attack resources for central and northern Washington forests.

first appeared: 8/8/2004

The American goldfinch, a small yellow and black bird, became the official state bird in 1951. Schoolchildren originally voted in 1928 for the meadowlark, but because other states had already chosen that species, the Washington Federation of Women’s Clubs voted in 1931 for the goldfinch. In 1951, another vote by schoolchildren confirmed the bird, which also is known as the wild canary.

first appeared: 8/1/2004

The World’s Champion Milk Cow Statue stands near Carnation (pop. 1,893), honoring a cow named Segis Pietertje Prospect, which produced a record 16,500 quarts of milk and 1,400 pounds of butter a year in the 1920s—roughly 10 times the yield from an average cow.

first appeared: 7/25/2004

With more than 9,000 acres and 1.3 million pounds of spearmint harvested annually, Washington leads the nation in spearmint oil production, thanks to good soil and the combination of hot summer days and cool nights. In 2001, Washington, Idaho and Oregon accounted for more than half of the world’s spearmint oil production.

first appeared: 7/18/2004

For some 40 years, beginning in the 1940s with the Manhattan Project, the Hanford site beside the Columbia River in southeast Washington was a key part of the nation’s defense. Formerly a plutonium production complex with nine nuclear reactors, it now is one of the world’s largest environmental cleanup projects. About 11,000 people work on the 586-square-mile site, with cleanup expected to last until at least 2025.

first appeared: 7/11/2004

The Evergreen State leads the nation in growing red raspberries, producing more than 60 million pounds of the fruit annually. Production is concentrated in Whatcom County, particularly the area around Lynden (pop. 9,020), with 99 growers producing some 55 million pounds in 2003—almost 90 percent of the state total.

first appeared: 6/27/2004

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