Washington

1543 - Pacific Northwest claimed by Spain

1579 - The Washington coast sighted by Sir Francis Drake and claimed for England

1592 - Discovery of Strait of Juan de Fuca claimed by Juan de Fuca

1741-43 - Russian explorers reach Alaskan islands and coast and trade with native peoples for sea otter pelts.

1774 - Juan Perez commands the first Spanish expedition to explore the Northwest Coast and sights the Olympic Mountains.

1775 - Bruno de Hezeta lands on the Washington coast and claims the area for Spain. On his return south, he sees the mouth of the Columbia River.

1778 - James Cook (British) explores and charts the Northwest Coast.

1789 - George Washington is elected the first president of the United States. See the US Presidents Project

1792 - Robert Gray (American) names the Columbia River after his ship. George Vancouver (British) explores and names Puget Sound and Lieutenant William Broughton explores the Columbia River up to Point Vancouver. Spain establishes the first non-Indian settlement in Washington at Neah Bay.

1803-1806: Captains William Clark and Meriwether Lewis lead the Corps of Discovery's Transcontinental Expedition of the lands west of the Missouri River. See the Lewis and Clark Expedition Project.

1805-1806 - Lewis and Clark enter Washington and stay at Fort Clatsop on the south side of the mouth of the Columbia River. See the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

1807-1811 - David Thompson charts the Columbia River.

1811 - John Jacob Astor builds Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River as part of his Pacific Fur Company. David Thompson maps the Columbia from its headwaters.

1818 - United States and Great Britain agree to joint occupation of the Oregon Territory.

1823 - Monroe Doctrine warns other countries against attempting occupation in US claimed lands.

1824 - Bureau of Indian Affairs is set up in the War Department. Russia sets its southern boundary in the Pacific Northwest at 54 degrees, 40 minutes.

1825 - Hudson's Bay Company establishes forts Vancouver and Colvile on the Columbia.

1831 - Department of Indian Affairs is set up in the Department of the Interior. New duties include dealing with Native American nations in the West. See the Native Americans Project and the Native American Tribes of Washington.

1834 - The Whitman Party, including Dr. Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa and also Reverend H. H. Spalding and his wife Eliza set up mission at the junction of the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Their travel route would become known as the Oregon Trail and used by thousands of future settlers. See the Trails and Wagon Trains Project.

1839 - Fr. Pierre-Jean DeSmet arrives among the Flatheads in the Bitterroot Valley. He and his staff would set up a number of Jesuit missions in present day states of Washington and Idaho.

1841 - United States naval expedition, headed by Charles Wilkes, explores Washington. The Western Emigration Society, a group of settlers bound for California and the Oregon Territory led by John Bidwell, set off on the Oregon Trail.

1842 - John C. Fremont leads an Army Topographical Corps' Expedition to the Rocky Mountains. He witnesses an eruption of Mt. St. Helens. His maps of this expedition and one the following year are printed by the government and are widely used by pioneers heading west.

1843 -The Great Migration, a rush of approximately 1,000 pioneers, head out on the Oregon Trail, led by Dr. Marcus Whitman. See the Trails and Wagon Trains page for more information.

1844 - James K. Polk becomes President of the United States. Among his four goals is the designation of the Oregon Territory's northern border to extend to 54' 40", even if through an act of war.

1846 - Treaty between United States and Great Britain sets boundary at 49th parallel.

1847 - Cayuse Indians attack Whitman Mission in Walla Walla.

1848 - Oregon Territory created.

1851 - First settlers land on the site of Seattle. See The Denny Party

1853 - Washington Territory created. Farmers living north of the Columbia River successfully argue for Congress to declare the region Washington Territory. It encompasses land east to the Rocky Mountains that are today Idaho and part of Montana.

1854-1856 - A number of treaties are signed between Native Americans living in Washington Territory and the U. S. government. See the Native Americans Project

1855-58 - Yakima Indian War. See the Confederated Tribes of the Yakama Reservation

1855 - Walla Walla Treaty Council.

1858 -The first Northwest railroad, the Cascade Railroad Company, begins operation in the Columbia River Gorge. The Walla Walla and Columbia River Railroad became the second Northwest railroad in 1873, and a large number of local railroads subsequently spring up in the 1880s. See The Way West Project.

1859 - Oregon joins the Union as a Free State.

1860s - Gold and silver discovered in the Okanogan.

1861 - The battle at Fort Sumter marks the beginning of the Civil War. See the Washington Territory Resource Page for the Civil War.

1862 - Congress passes the Pacific Railroad Act, giving Central Pacific and Union Pacific Companies permission and land grants to begin construction of a transcontinental railroad line stretching along the 42nd parallel. See The Way West page.

1863 - Idaho Territory is formed.

1864 - Montana Territory is formed. Asa Mercer brings women to the west. See the Mercer Girls, inspiration for "Here Comes The Brides"

1865 - Civil War ends. Union Pacific Railroad heads west. See The Way West Project

1871 - Indian Appropriations Act states that Indians are no longer considered sovereign nations but wards of the federal government. See the Native Americans Project

1872 - The American-British border dispute in the San Juan islands is settled via arbitration by the German emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm. President Ulysses S. Grant establishes the Colville Confederated Tribes through an Executive Order, not a treaty. The reservation lands are reduced later that year following complaints of Colville Valley settlers

1883 - Northern Pacific Railroad completed to Tacoma, linking Washington to the East. See The Way West Project

1886 - Coal mining town of Roslyn founded; Mine operated by the Northern Pacific Coal Company.

1887 - Dawes Severalty Act is passed. Indian lands are split into individual allotments, with remaining lands becoming public and therefore up for sale. Colville Reservation begins allotment process in 1906. See the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation

1888 - Stampede Tunnel of the Northern Pacific Railroad completed across the Cascades.

1889 - Washington becomes the 42nd state.

1890 - Idaho granted statehood

1893 - Great Northern Railroad completed to Seattle. See The Way West Project

1897-99 - Klondike Gold Rush; Seattle grows quickly as a jump-off point for people heading to the gold fields.

1899 - Mount Rainier National Park established. See background picture.

1900 - Frederick Weyerhaeuser sets up a logging business in western Washington.

1902 - Reclamation Service begins irrigation project in Yakima and Okanogan valleys to facilitate farming.

1903 - Iron Chink fish cleaning machine invented by Seattleite Edmund A. Smith.

1905 - Under the Dawes Act, tribal lands on the south half of the Colville. Reservation not then allotted are declared up for sale to white settlers. The Washington State Highway Department is formed, to oversee the construction and maintenance of roads and highways.

1909 - Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition held in Seattle to showcase the Northwest's setting and bounty of natural resources. Mount Olympus National Monument established.

1910 - Women gain the right to vote in Washington. See the American Suffragettes page and Jeannette Rankin, one of Washington's suffragettes and the first woman to be elected to Congress in 1916.

1914 - Finnish immigrant Oscar Wirkkala invents the "spar logging" technique.

1914-1918 - World War I. See The Great War Project

1917 - Spruce Army originated. Fort Lewis (United States Army) established. See Washington in the Great War

1919 - Seattle general strike; labor violence in Centralia.

1933 - Washington state unemployment peaks at more than 25 percent President. Franklin D. Roosevelt begins New Deal programs; Grand Coulee Dam begun.

1934 - Indian Reorganization Act sets up Tribal Business Councils and promotes the return of communal ownership of reservation lands, in order to create self-sufficiency. See the Native Americans Project

1937 - Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River completed.

1941 - Grand Coulee Dam completed. United States enters World War II; December: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii bombed by Japan. See the World War II Project

1943 - Hanford Engineer Works built to produce plutonium for the WWII bomb "Little Boy".

1939-45 - World War II August: US bombs Hiroshima and Nagasaki to help end WWII. See the United States in World War II page

1948 - Washington's first TV station (KING-TV) begins broadcasting in Seattle.

1954 - First flight of Boeing 707, first jet transport. See Maynard L. Pennell, a Boeing executive and developer of the 707.

1957 - Washington Public Power Supply System (WPSS) created to develop Washington's energy resources.

1962 - Seattle World's Fair.

1975 - Microsoft founded, major producer of computer software. See Bill H. Gates, III

1976 - Dixy Lee Ray, first woman governor of Washington elected. See Washington Governors, part of the US Governors Project

1980 - Mount St. Helens erupted, scattering ash throughout the state. See the Volcanic Eruptions page, part of the Worldwide Disasters Project.

1987 - Clovis Points discovered in an East Wenatchee orchard.

1989 - Washington's centennial of statehood.

1996 - The new Washington State History Museum opened.

List of Things To Do

1. The following list of people are all Notable. See the Notables Project
   1. Add profile page for Robert Gray and link to this page
   2. Add profile page for David Thompson and link to this page
   3. Profiles need to be added for the Mercer Girls and linked to their space page.
2. Need space pages created and developed for Washington counties and linked to this page. Would you like to lead a county project?
3. Create sub-project for the Hudson Bay Company and add a section for early posts in Washington Territory and the employees of the company. See: HistoryLink for more info. Who were the employees?
4. Develop space page either for Boeing or a general page for airplanes and flight and add a section for Boeing and the people who worked there.
5. A space page about the over 1000 dams in the state of Washington may be interesting, highlighting the key people involved. See the list for more information.
6. Add a space page for early military forts and those people who were assigned there. See: Washington forts
7. If you have any Washington state resources that you are willing to do lookups, please add them to the Resources Page.
8. If you live in Washington, please consider adding Catalog: Washington Research Assistance to your Wikitree profile page.
9. Possible future project for Explorers and Expeditions? Sub-projects could include the Corps of Discovery, John C. Fremont and Charles Wilkes Expedition

Ongoing List of Things to Do

1. Cemeteries in Washington need to be photographed and the categories added to profiles on WikiTree. See the Washington Cemeteries Project
2. Add profiles for those who obtained land grants and homesteaded in Washington. See the Homesteaders Project
3. Help develop the Native Americans Project with information about Washington state tribes.
4. Work on Washington's unconnected and unsourced profiles.
5. Create new profiles for people of Washington who are documented in a family member's profile, but might not have their own profiles yet. See Needs Profiles Created
6. Work on Suggestions for profiles from Washington, as reported by the Data Doctors Project.
7. Add profiles for the men who died in World War I, serving from Washington in the Great War project and for the Roll of Honor project.

State Resources

• Washington State Library
• Washington Census Records
• Encyclopedia of Washington State History
• Washington State Digital Archives
• Land Records: Bureau of Land Management General Land Office
• Books and Other Links

Famous People From Washington

• Nathan Adrian, 3-time Olympic gold medalist, Bremerton
• Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, Seattle
• Bob Barker, TV host, Darrington
• Dyan Cannon, actress, Tacoma
• Chester F. Carlson, inventor of "electron photography", Seattle
• Jim Caviezel, actor, Mount Vernon
• Carol Channing, actress, Seattle
• Kurt Cobain, grunge rock icon, Aberdeen
• Judy Collins, singer, Seattle
• Bing Crosby, singer, actor, Tacoma
• Bob Crosby, musician, Spokane
• Howard Duff, actor, Bremerton
• John Elway, NFL quarterback, Port Angeles
• Frances Farmer, actress, Seattle
• Kenny G, saxophone musician, Seattle
• Bill Gates, software executive, Seattle
• Jimi Hendrix, guitarist, Seattle
• Frank Herbert, author of the Dune series, Tacoma
• Robert Joffrey, choreographer, Seattle
• Chuck Jones, animator, Spokane
• Quincy Jones, composer, conductor, musician, Seattle
• Hank Ketcham, cartoonist, Seattle
• Gary Larson, cartoonist and creator of The Far Side, Tacoma
• Gypsy Rose Lee, entertainer, Seattle
• Kenny Loggins, singer, songwriter, Everett
• Mary McCarthy, author, Seattle
• John McIntire, actor, Spokane
• Phil Mahre, skier, Yakima
• Robert Motherwell, artist, Aberdeen
• Patrice Munsel, soprano Spokane
• Craig T. Nelson, actor, Spokane
• Apollo Anton Ohno, Olympic speed skater, Seattle
• Chris Pratt, actor, Lake Stevens
• Dorothy Provine, singer, actress, dancer, comedian, Bainbridge Island
• Jimmie Rogers, singer, Camas
• Francis Scobee, astronaut, Cle Elum
• Blair Underwood, actor, Tacoma
• Adam West, actor (Batman), Walla Walla
• Oscar Wirkkala, inventor
• Martha Wright, singer, Seattle

Related WikiTree Projects & Categories

• Washington, Cemeteries
• Washington Colleges & Universities
• Washington Homesteaders
• Washington Native American Tribes
• Washington, Politicians
• Washington, Religious Congregations
• Washington Research Assistance