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WASHINGTON. ) The question was finally settled in favor of the United States by the decision of the German Emperor, October 21, 1872. In 1885-86 a violent agitation arose against the Chinese. Mobs burned their houses, forced them to leave the towns, and in some cases resorted to murder. Martial law was declared in Seattle in 1886 and the Governor called for the aid of Federal troops. An attempt was made to secure Statehood in 1876, and in 1878 a constitution was adopted, but to no purpose. In 1881-83 another bill was introduced into Congress, but again failed. In 1889 (February 22d) the Omnibus Statehood Bill, admitting the two Dakotas, Montana, and Washington, was signed by the President. A constitutional convention met July 4th, the Constitution formed was ratified October 1st, and State officers were elected at the same time. The State was admitted November 11th, and its progress since has been exceedingly rapid. The General Government has spent large sums for a navy yard and other governmental works at Port Orchard, near Seattle, and with the increasing importance of the interests of the United States in the Pacific, the State will gain because of its excellent harbors. In national polities the State voted for Republican electors in 1892, and for a fusion ticket of Democrats and Populists in 1896, but returned to the Republican column in 1900.

. Squire, Resources and Development of the Territory of Washington (Portland, 1889); Bancroft, History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana (San Francisco, 1890); Evans, History of the Pacific Northwest (Portland, 1889); Hawthorne, History of Washington (New York, 1893).  WASHINGTON. The capital city of the United States; conterminous with the (q.v.), a territory of 60 square miles (excluding 9.25 square miles of water), under the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress. It is situated on the northeastern shore of the Potomac River, about 100 miles from its mouth. and 40 miles by rail southwest of Baltimore, 228 miles from New York, 3118 from San Francisco, and 1110 from New Orleans; latitude (Capitol) 38° 53′ N., longitude 77° W. (Map:, C 7).

. The situation of the city is

noted for its picturesque beauty. The Potomac stretches out nearly a mile in width along its border, having here finally reached tide-water and the head of navigation. Rock Creek and the Anacostia or Eastern Branch here enter the river, which is spanned by three bridges. Along the Potomac the land is low, but it gradually rises, reaching an elevation of 100 feet, and much more in the suburban portion of the city. A circle of hills forms the edge of a plateau which has in some parts an elevation of 300 to 400 feet. Formerly the section of the District bounded approximately by Rock Creek, the Potomac River, the Eastern Branch, and Florida Avenue was the city of Washington, but now there are no civil distinctions throughout the entire District. Georgetown, built partly on the heights of the Potomac River, west of Rock Creek, was a municipality before the site of the Federal City was selected, and is sometimes designated as West Washington. Anacostia, Brightwood, and other names given to the settlements in the District away from the main centre of population are still in use, but have no civil significance. The steam railroads enter the city from three different points and centre in two depots, one north and the other west of the Capitol building. In the year 1903 Congress authorized the building of a union station, which is to cost $4,000,000. Underground electricity is exclusively used as the motive power in all street railroads within the former municipal limits, and the overhead trolley outside those limits. The facilities of cheap and rapid transit communication with the outlying territory are abundant, some of the lines extending as far as twenty miles from the main portion of the city.

The plan of the city, which was made in 1791 by Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a French engineer who served in the Revolutionary War, was approved by General Washington, and is generally conceded to be the most complete as well as the most artistic city system ever carried out. As far as the topography of the country outside of the former urban limits and the existing improvements made it possible, this plan has been applied to the entire District. Within the old city limits the alphabetical streets run east and west and the numbered streets north and south, the whole being intersected by twenty-one avenues named from different States in the Union. The avenues converge at centres such as the Capitol and the President's house, so that these broad thoroughfares aid materially in giving that variety which is the unique feature of the city's plan.

The streets on the whole are the widest of any city in the world, as they range from 80 to 160 feet. They are paved with asphalt almost exclusively, and the sidewalks are commonly of cement. More than 84,000 trees line the streets. Massachusetts Avenue is adorned with a quadruple row its entire length of four miles and a half. The broad transverse avenues form at the intersections with the rectangular streets squares and circles and reservations which number 302 and comprise 407 acres. The most important of these reservations is the series beginning with the Capitol grounds, extending westward through the Mall (including the Botanical Gardens) to the Washington Monument