Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/413

Rh TERRITORY.] WASHINGTON 387 Very valuable quartz ledges, assaying 80 to 2000 ounces of gold per ton, have been discovered in a formation of granite and slate. The Okinakane district comprises the mines in the vicinity of the Okinakane, Salmon, and the Similkameen rivers and Osoyoos lake. Here the formation is granite, syenite, and porphyry, and the ores are galena, grey copper, and quart/., carrying sulphurets and native silver. The city of Spokane Falls, on the Northern Pacific Railroad, is the distributing point for all these mines, as well as for the Cceur cl Alene mines in northern Idaho. Shipbuilding. Shipyards exist at Seattle and Tacoma, and at other points on Fuget Sound, at Gray s Harbour and Shoalwater Bay, and on the Columbia river. The vessels constructed are mainly schooners for the lumber-carrying trade; many of them also are provided with auxiliary steam-power. All raw materials for their construction are found in the vicinity. The yellow fir of the northern Pacific ranks next to oak for strength and durability, and constitutes excellent material for shipbuilding. Vessels of 4854 tons were built during 1886, and the industry is rapidly growing. Commerce. The principal articles of export are lumber, coal, wheat, and salmon, and their annual value is from 8 to 10 millions of dollars. In the year from July 1886 to June 1887 the total entrances at Puget Sound were 994 vessels (539,597 tons), and the clearances 988 (514,441 tons). Railways. Washington Territory was the last of the political subdivisions of the United States to be reached by railroads. In 1883 the Northern Pacific was completed and direct rail connec tion secured with the east. Education. There are about a thousand common schools in the Territory, under the supervision of a superintendent of public in struction and a board of education of three persons, all of whom are appointed by the governor. In each county, county superin tendents and a board of county examiners visit the schools and report to the superintendent of public instruction. There is held each year a territorial teachers institute, and local teachers insti tutes are also held in different sections. These common schools are supported by county taxes and by certain criminal fines. Special taxes are also permitted in counties under certain con ditions. There are at present about 65,000 children under instruc tion, at a cost of about 500,000 per annum. The general Government has set aside for educational purposes one-eighteenth of all the land in the Territory, comprising about 2g million acres. This land, however, does not become available until the Territory becomes a State. All children must attend school at least three months in the year. There is a university at Seattle, supported by large animal appro priations of the legislature. It has four departments at present : literature, science, and the arts ; law ; medicine ; and military in struction. There are also twenty-four higher institutions of learn ing scattered throughout the Territory, consisting of colleges, seminaries, and academics, most of which are under sectarian con trol, and some of which have already a liberal endowment. Churches. All the leading Christian sects are well represented in the Territory, their membership and value of church property being about in the order given below : Methodist Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Protestant Episcopal, Congregational, Baptist, Presby terian, Christian, Lutheran, German Reformed, and Unitarian. Government. The administrative affairs of the Territory are in the hands of a governor, secretary, and chief justice, all appointed by the president of the United States, and a treasurer and comp troller and an upper and lower legislative house elected by the people. The Territory is represented in Congress by a delegate also elected by the people. Population. The total population, 75,116 in 1880, was 143,669 (84,470 males, 59,199 females) according to the census taken in 1886 and 1887, classified as follows : whites, 137,430; blacks, 254; mulattoes, 69; Chinese, 2584; Indian half-breeds, 3288 ; and Kanakas, 44. In addition to these there are about 11, 000 Indians. The total population is now (1888) about 175,000. The capital is Olympia, and the chief city Seattle, both on Puget Sound. Banks. There are in the Territory 18 national banks, with a capital of 1,430,000, 5 territorial banks, with a capital of 355,000, and also a number of private banks. History. The first event in history relating to Washington Territory was the discovery, in 1592, of the Strait of Juan de Fuca by an old Greek pilot of that name in the service of Spain. In 1775 Captain Hecata, a Spanish navigator, discovered the mouth of the Columbia, but was unable to enter the river. Captain Kendrick, an American navigator, in 1789 sailed into the Strait of Fuca and through the Gulf of Georgia and Queen Charlotte Sound to the Pacific, and was the first to clearly make known the character of these inland waters. On the llth of May 1792 Captain Gray, of the American ship &quot; Columbia,&quot; sailed into and explored for about 15 miles the great river to which he gave the name of his ship. This first entrance into the Columbia river gave the United States their principal claim to the territory drained by the river, and is thus a very important episode in the history of the Oregon region, which formerly comprised the present State of Oregon and the Territories of Washington and Idaho. In October of the same year (1792) an Englishman, Lieutenant Broughton, sailed up and ex amined the Columbia for about 100 miles from its mouth. The coast soon became quite well known, and the Government of the United States fitted out a number of expeditions to obtain a knowledge of the interior. The most important of these was that of Lewis and Clarke, who were directed to ascend the Missouri, cross the Rocky Mountains, and trace the Columbia from its sources to the sea. They began the ascent of the Missouri in 1804, and spent the winter of 1804-5 at Fort Maudan. In the next season, after incredible hardships and great sufferings, they crossed the Rocky Mountains, and reached the Clearwater river. Here they made boats, and pro ceeded down it, the Snake river, and the main Columbia, reaching the Pacific in December 1805. They returned by nearly the same route. The next important era in the history of the Territory was the attempt of J. J. Astor to establish a fur-trading empire on the Columbia and its tributary lands and streams. Two expedition were sent out in 1810 for this purpose, one by land and one by sea. The latter reached the Columbia in 1811, and established a trading post at Astoria near the mouth of the river. The laud expedition reached this post in 1812. In the meantime, in hopes of forestall ing Astor s expeditions, the North-West Fur Company sent a party in 1810 to cross the mountains and reach the mouth of the Columbia before them. This expedition experienced great difficulty in crossing the mountains in 52 N. lat., but in the spring of 1811 they reached the Columbia, and went down to its mouth, where they found Astor s sea party already established. This North-West Fur Company s expedition was the first to navigate the upper Columbia, or to traverse any part of the country drained by it. In 1813 the fortunes of war compelled the transfer of the Astor Fur Company to the North-West Fur Company. Henceforward for many years the history of the Territory is the history of the operations of the great North-West and Hudson s Bay Companies, and of the effort of private parties to get a share in the profits of the fur trade. A number of trading posts were built, and exploring and trading expeditions sent into all parts of the country. Missionaries began to arrive, and emigrants to drift in by sea and land. During all the years in which this region was first being explored and settled, a dispute had been going on between the United States and Great Britain in regard to its ownership, which at different times waxed so fierce as to threaten war. Finally an arrangement was arrived at, and in 1846 the treaty was signed fixing the boundary- line at the 49th parallel. The Territory of Oregon (comprising Washington, Idaho, and Oregon) was formed in 1848, and General Joseph Lane, the first Territorial governor, arrived in 1849, after which United States courts were established. The present Territory of Washington was established in 1853, and its first governor was Isaac I. Stevens. The settlement of the Territory has been slow, on account of its remoteness and the fact that it has had no great mining excitement to attract adventurous settlers. Since the advent of railroads, however, its development has been rapid. (T. W. S.) WASHINGTON, GEORGE (1732-1799), the first president of the United States, was born in Westmoreland county, Virginia, February 22 (Old Style, Feb. 11), 1732. One lawless genealogist has traced his ancestry back to Odin. Another genealogy, since given up with much regret, connected the family with the Washingtons of Northumberland or Durham, England. The ancestry of Washington can be traced no farther back than his great grandfather, John Washington, who settled in Virginia about 1657. His eldest son, Lawrence, had three children John, Augustine, and Mildred. Augustine Washington married twice. By the first marriage, with Jane Butler, there were four children, two of whom, Lawrence and Augustine, grew to manhood. By the second marriage, with Mary Ball, in 1730, there were six children George, Betty, Samuel, John, Augustine, Charles, and Mildred. The father died when George was but twelve years old ; Lawrence inherited the estate now known as Mount Vernon, and George his father s usual residence, nearly opposite Fredericksburgh. Very little is known of Washington s early life, probably because there was little unusual to tell. The story of the hatchet and the cherry-tree, and similar tales, are quite apocryphal, having been coined by Washington s most popular biographep, Weems. The boy s life was not different from that common to Virginia families in easy circumstances ; hunting, fishing, plantation affairs, and a