Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Washington (2.)

WASHINGTON, a Territory of the United States, is the extreme north-western political subdivision of the Union (except the detached Alaska), and is bounded on the N. by the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the E. by Idaho Territory, on the S. by Oregon, and on the W. by the Pacific Ocean. It lies between 45º 40' and 49º 0' N. lat. and 117º 0' and 124º 44' W. long., and has a total land area within its boundaries of 66,880 square miles and a water area of 3114 square miles; its average length from east to west is 330 miles and from north to south is 220 miles. The Territory is divided by the Cascade Mountains into two unequal sections, which have very different climatic and physical characteristics and commercial and business interests. The climate is very mild, on account of the warm oceanic current from Japan which flows south along the coast. The moisture-bearing winds moving inland from the ocean are chilled against the Cascade Mountains, and cause the western section of the Territory to have a very heavy annual rainfall (about 53 inches), which is quite evenly distributed throughout the year. The summers are cool and pleasant and the winters mild; flowers bloom in the open air every month in the year, and the nights are always cool and refreshing. The climate in the western section is similar to that of Scotland. That of the eastern section is remarkable for clearness and brightness; it is hot and dry in summer, and has a brief and severe winter. The climate is tempered by a remarkable balmy wind, called the Chinook wind, coming over the mountains from the great Japanese current of the Pacific. In the summer it is a cool wind tempering the heat, and in the winter it is a warm wind, before which snow and ice disappear with marvellous rapidity.

The Cascade range is the local name of the extension through the Territory of the Sierra Nevada, the great and sharply-defined mountain chain which extends at a distance from shore of about 100 miles through the Pacific States and Territories (see vol. xxiii. pp. 800-1). To the north of the Columbia river the range widens out considerably into a region of high grassy mountain plateaus, of deep cañons, heavily timbered slopes, and high peaks of volcanic origin, furnishing mountain scenery of indescribable grandeur. The western slopes are covered with magnificent forests, principally of fir, the trees growing to an immense size. The mountain plateaus are from 3000 to 5000 feet in elevation, untimbered and covered with excellent grass, furnishing a large extent of valuable pasture-land. On the eastern slope the forests are more open, and consist principally of blue and yellow pine, tamarack, fir, and white cedar. The Northern Pacific Railroad reaches the sea by two routes, one of which goes down the Columbia river, and the other crosses the Cascade range by the Yakima Pass in 47º 20' N. lat.; this pass has an elevation of 3600 feet, and is in a region of beautiful deeply-embosomed lakes, the high cliff-like banks of which are crowned with splendid evergreen forests. To the north of the Yakima Pass the range becomes higher, and more rough and rugged than it is farther south. There seems to have been a volcanic centre between the Yakima and Wenatchee and about midway between the upper Yakima lakes and the Columbia, the highest peak of which is known as Mount Stuart, from which poured a grand flood of lava to the east and south, forming the elevated range between the Yakima and Wenatchee known as the Wenatchee Mountains, and crossing the present channel of the Columbia and forming Badger Mountain on the east. To the north of the 48th parallel, which is about the line of the Spokane river and the westward-flowing portion of the upper Columbia, the country changes, becoming more independent in its mountain formations,

and the eastern jutting ranges of the Cascades meet and join with the earlier rock materials of the western spurs of the Rocky Mountains. Here the great interior basin may be considered as ending, for to the north the Rocky and Cascade ranges approach, and are blended in inextricable confusion. The principal rivers having their sources in the Cascade Mountains on the west are the Nooksack, Skagit, Steilaguamish, Snohomish, Puyallup, and Nisqually flowing into Puget Sound, the Chehalis flowing into Gray's Harbour, and the Cowlitz and Lewis rivers flowing into the Columbia; while on the east are the Methow, Chelan, Wenatchee, Yakima, and Klickitat, flowing into the Columbia. The mountains are well stocked with large game, as deer, bear, mountain sheep, mountain goats, wolves, panthers, foxes, &amp;c., the valleys, plateaus, and lakes with feathered game, and the streams and lakes with trout and salmon.

The western section of the Territory lying between the Cascades and the ocean is the smaller of the two, and is covered with timber throughout nearly its entire extent. The principal natural feature is Puget Sound &mdash; one of the most beautiful sheets of salt water in the world, if not indeed the most beautiful. It is an arm of the sea joining the waters of the Gulf of Georgia and Strait of Juan de Fuca, and stretching about a hundred miles to the south into the heart of the country; it has a great number of bays, coves, inlets, and channels branching off from the main sound, altogether forming a collection of harbours unsurpassed in the world. The total area of the Sound is about 2000 square miles, with a shore-line of about 1600 miles. The water is very deep, in places more than 800 feet, the ordinary depths in the inlets and channels being from 300 to 600 feet. These depths in some places continue right up to the shore, so that vessels of the deepest draught could go and tie up to the trees on the banks as to a wharf. The tides in Puget Sound vary ordinarily from about 9 feet at Port Townsend to 15 feet or more at Olympia and the remote inlets. Along the shores, and for many miles back, the country is covered with the densest growth of very fine timber. The region of the Olympic Mountains lying between Puget Sound and the Pacific has never been explored to any extent, owing to the enormous difficulties of penetrating the forests, which, besides the standing trees, consist of masses of fallen timber and undergrowth. No rivers or creeks navigable for canoes penetrate any distance into it. There is no doubt that Puget Sound once extended much farther south, and occupied the Willamette valley of Oregon. Its retrogression has left large areas of low-lying land bordering the Sound and between it and the Columbia, which, when brought under cultivation, are found to be remarkably fertile. There are large areas of these low-lying lands covered with water at the highest tides which could be easily reclaimed by dyking; about 30,000 acres have been so reclaimed, and it is estimated that 150,000 acres besides can be thus improved. There are no good harbours along the Pacific coast of the Territory; but on the Straits of Juan de Fuca several fine ones exist. Western Washington is specially adapted to raising all the grasses, oats, hops, the root-crops, and fruits; whatever requires great heat does not ripen well.

Eastern Washington Territory differs in a very marked manner and in almost every material respect from the western section. South of the 48th parallel and east of the Cascades it is essentially a prairie country, which owes its origin to the great lava flow that covered eastern Oregon and northern California. This lava has disintegrated in the course of ages, and produced a soil which is unsurpassed in the world for richness. The region lying between the Blue Mountains and the Snake river, known

as the Walla Walla country, and that between the Snake and the Spokane, known as the Palouse and Spokane countries, are noted for their fertility. This is also the case with the regions along the eastern foot-hills of the Cascades known generally as the Yakima and Kittitass countries. In these regions there is sufficient rainfall to enable the agriculturist to raise almost every product of the temperate zone of the finest quality and in the greatest abundance. Besides the cereals, such as wheat, oats, barley, flax, &amp;c., there are grown grapes, apples, cherries, peaches, prunes, potatoes, both white and sweet, tobacco, cotton, broom corn, sorghum, peanuts, egg plants, &c. Over a large part of this eastern section, however, the rainfall is not sufficient, and irrigation must be resorted to. With irrigation properly conducted it is safe to say that nearly every foot of land now classed as desert will be found to be as productive as the regions more favoured by rain.

That part of eastern Washington Territory north of the Columbia and Spokane rivers is a region of low-timbered mountains and fertile valleys. This is mostly given up to the Indians, there being the two large reservations called the Columbia and Colville reservations stretching from the Cascade Mountains eastward to the southward-flowing portion of the Columbia, and embracing 7880 square miles of land. North of the Spokane river is the Colville country, which is open to settlement, and in which are much good land and large quantities of valuable timber.

( T. W. S. )