WASHINGTON 



6186 



WASHINGTON 



1852 to 1869 he served continually in Congress, 

 becoming a friend and supporter of General 

 Grant, who appointed him Secretary of State 

 in his first Cabinet. This position Wash- 

 burne soon resigned in order to become min- 

 ister to France. Throughout the Franco- 



German War he remained at his post in Paris, 

 exhibiting remarkable diplomatic ability during 

 the period of the Paris Commune in 1871, 

 and winning honor for his country and the 

 gratitude of European governments. He re- 

 signed as minister in 1877. 



THE STORY OF WASHINGTON 



ASH'INGTON, the most northwest- 

 erly state of the American Union. It is the 

 leading lumber state, and because of its exten- 

 sive pine forests it is popularly known as the 

 EVERGREEN STATE. As in West Virginia, the 

 rhododendron, which grows luxuriantly on the 

 mountain slopes, has been chosen as the state 

 flower. 



Location and Size. Washington lies on the 

 Canadian frontier, the forty-ninth parallel 

 forming the boundary with British Columbia; 

 the straits of Georgia and Juan de Fuca are 

 between the state and the Canadian island of 

 Vancouver. The greater part of the southern 

 boundary with Oregon is formed by the mighty 

 Columbia; the Pacific Ocean washes its western 

 shores, and to the east is the northern projec- 

 tion of Idaho. 



Having an area of 69,127 square miles, of 

 which 2,291 square miles are water, Washington 

 ranks nineteenth in size among the states of 

 the Union. It contains a little more than twice 

 the area included in Maine, which occupies a 

 corresponding position at the northeastern ex- 

 tremity of the United States, but is less than a 

 fifth of the size of British Columbia. 



The People. Since its admission into the 

 Union in 1889, the state's growth in population 

 has been remarkable. In 1910 the population 

 was 1,141,990, and there were 17.1 inhabitants 

 to the square mile; this was a greater average 

 than that of any other coast or Rocky Moun- 

 tains state and exceeded that in most of the 

 states west of the Mississippi River. The in- 

 crease in population between the census reports 

 of 1900 and 1910 was 120.4 per cent, as com- 

 pared to twenty-one per cent for the United 

 States as a whole. On January 1, 1917, it was 

 estimated that there were 1,565,810 inhabitants. 



Of the foreign born, the English-Canadians 

 are the most numerous, and there are many im- 

 migrants from Sweden, Germany, Norway, Eng- 

 land, Italy, Austria, Russia and Ireland. There 

 are over 12,900 Japanese, 2,000 Chinese and 

 6,000 negroes, who are employed chiefly as la- 

 borers or are in domestic service. About 10,900 

 Indians on the state reservations are included 

 in the total population. 



Over half of the total number of inhabitants 

 live in towns or cities with a population of 

 2,500 or more. The three great cities of the 

 state, Seattle, with nearly 350,000 inhabitants, 

 Spokane, with more than 150,000, and Tacoma, 

 with nearly 115,000 (all Federal estimates), con- 

 tain more than one-third of the entire popula- 

 tion. Other important cities are Olympia, the 

 capital; Bellingham, Walla Walla and Everett. 



Among the -religious bodies the Roman 

 Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, Disci- 

 ples of Christ, Congregational and Episcopal 

 denominations have the largest number of ad- 

 herents. 



Education. The school system is adminis- 

 tered by the state superintendent of public in- 

 struction and a state board of education. The 

 state is divided into school districts, which must 

 maintain grade schools for at least three months 

 of the year and a four-year accredited high 

 school. Education has been compulsory in 

 Washington since it was organized as a terri- 

 tory, and all between the ages of eight and fif- 

 teen years and those between fifteen and six- 

 teen who are not employed are required to 

 attend school. The illiteracy among the native 

 whites averages only three-tenths of one per 

 cent, but the large number of foreign-born in- 

 habitants who cannot read or write increases 

 the total average for the state to two per cent. 



