The Olympic Peninsula is in the upper northeast corner of Washington State. The Pacific Ocean, Strait of Juan de Fuca and Hood Canal border the extensive forests, mountains, and beaches that contributes to a pristine environment. Right in the center of the Olympic Peninsula is the Olympic National Park. President Franklin Roosevelt designated this area the Olympic National Park in 1938 after he acknowledged the need to preserve such unspoiled land. Unfortunately he made an effort far too late because settlers and entrepreneurs with industrialist ideologies made their mark on the untouched land in 1910.
In the late 1800s Seattle, then the heart of the industrialized Olympic Peninsula saw many changes. Industrialization is not a cheap endeavor for cities so Seattle contracted workers from China. White and Native Americans saw the Chinese as labor competition and prejudices quickly developed. Victor Smith, head and founder of the Puget Sound Cooperate Colony and emerging entrepreneur opposed the new labor force so greatly that he decided to move to an area where he could attain and retain more power. In 1862 Smith was given permission by President Abraham Lincoln to set aside 3,520 acres of raw land in the upper most corner of Washington State. The same year Port Angeles was established as a city, Thomas Aldwell another entrepreneur arrived by steamboat into the recently established community - Aldwell traveled with a vision to harness uncharted lands.
With no consideration for the native Lower Elwha Klallam tribe of the Olympic Peninsula, Aldwell and Smith began to advance their industrialization plans. Aldwell secretly acquired rights to the Elwha River in the Olympic National Park and it is said he purchased the lan...
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...dly will the importance and dependence remain? Based on the tribe’s resilience in fighting any opposition and retaining traditional values, the importance of the river will not decline. Even as society has shifted from traditional tribal life to the modern world, there has been minimal cultural decline except in cultural language retention. Although there is no longer physical dependence on the river to feed an entire tribe, there is still emotional dependence. As long as elders continue to pass down stories with important values children will continue to protect their land. Other than environmental groups, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe is responsible for the major push to preserve the Olympic National Park’s most significant river. The strong ideology and political push of the Klallam tribe was responsible for the biggest dam removal to date in the United States.
In 1855, miners discovered Gold in the Colville mines of northeastern Washington Territory. Newspapers such as the Oregonian began running daily advertisements to attract miners into the region. Exciting articles with bold titles of “Colville Gold Mines” exclaimed that, “with a common pan we made $6, $8, $10, and as high as $20 per man!” This news created an influx of white settlement to Washington. Territorial Governor, Isaac I. Stevens encouraged the settlement and proposed to consolidate fourteen tribes w...
1. Lambert, Dale A. Pacific Northwest History. 4th Edition. Wenatchee: Directed Media, 1997. 150-151. Print
The first tensions began on the Klamath Reservation when the Modocs signed a treaty to quarter alongside their neighboring Klamath tribe in 1864. Issues here included lack of food, poverty, sickness and general unwelcoming attitudes. Kintpuash’s band of Modocs had to travel to different parts of the reservation to avoid hostile matters. Yet there was no place within the reservation borders that had the resources they ...
Momaday decides to take the fifteen hundred mile trip to Rainy Mountain that his people experienced many many years ago. The way to Rainy Mountain was a long and hard one for the Kiowa people. His journey began “from the headwaters of the Yellowstone River eastward to the Black Hills and south to the Wichita Monuntains” (Momaday 1). Along the way he stopped at historical landmarks like Devil’s Tower and pondered events that had taken place, ones he heard from his grandmother. However along the way, the Kiowa people faced ...
The coast of Washington is rich with the history of early America. While much of the United States was still in its infancy, Washington was thriving with industry. Though the industry was large, the towns were just beginning to grow.
In 1848 word started to spread like wildfire about Sutter’s mill and the very precious metal that was found nearby. In 1849 George, now in his early thirties, and fifteen other anxious miners packed up their things and made the long trek towards California via the California-Oregon trail. This trek was more than 2,000 miles and took them more than 6 months in a wagon train. George became very ill not long after departing Missouri with cholera. A lesser, undetermined man would have died. George was bound and determined to start his new life with a huge fortune. George was very unsuccessful for nine whole years until he joined some friends and they all went in on the Comstock Lode. This cost them 450 dollars between them and made all of them extremely wealthy. By now George was a seasoned miner and by “reputation had a uncanny sixth sense about mines—some miners and prospectors called him the best judge of a mine in the country(p.14 W.R.H). Everything was going so well for George until he heard his mother was ill and was needed back home. George headed back home to Missouri at the age of forty. While tending to his family he met a young woman named Phoebe Apperson. She was only eighteen years old. They married in 1862 just after the civil war broke out. George and Phoebe made their way back to California by way of boat through the Panama Canal and on April 29, 1863 they gave birth to William Randolph Hearst. Williams’s mother was very loving and attentive. She never left his side. George, willies father, was not. He was very preoccupied with his mining interest and his new business adventures. He owned property all over the western states and was a senator too. Meanwhile, when Williams mother wasn’t taking care of him at home in California, they were traveling the world. Phoebe loved to see Europe.
When a group Olympic Valley, California residents decided to start a petition to incorporate the community, property owners and local businesspersons immediately began debating the issue. Those in favor of incorporation wanted to make Olympic Valley into a town, so the community could govern itself by electing a town council. Those against incorporation claimed that the town wouldn't be able to afford to maintain services, such as snow plowing, that were essential to the community.
Kathleen DuVal, professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, contests long held beliefs about the historiography of native people and their place in America with her work, The Native Ground: Indians and Colonists in the Heart of the Continent. DuVal’s insightful book focuses on the Arkansas River Valley and the diverse group of both native groups and European powers that contented over the physical landscape, its resources, and the perception of control and power. The premise of Native is to show that native groups such as the Quapaws, Osage, and the Cherokee had the upper hand in almost every aspect from their economy, military might, and physical presence up until the 1800s.
The feeling is all too familiar, from the front row to the last seats in the bleachers; a
The California Gold Rush in 1849 was the catalyst event for the state that earned them a spot in the U.S. union in 1850. This was not the first gold rush in North America; however, it was one of the most important gold rush events. The story of how the gold was discovered and the stories of the 49ers are well known. Men leaving their families in the East and heading West in hopes of striking it rich are the stories that most of us heard about when we learn about the California Gold Rush. Professors and scholars over the last two decades from various fields of study have taken a deeper look into the Gold Rush phenomena. When California joined the Union in 1850 it helped the U.S. expand westward just as most Americans had intended to do. The event of the Gold Rush can be viewed as important because it led to a national railroad. It also provided the correct circumstances for successful entrepreneurship, capitalism, and the development modern industrialization. The event also had a major influence on agriculture, economics, and politics.
In “Tecumseh and the Quest for Indian Leadership”, Tecumseh and the many Indian tribes in west America spent years fighting for their land and trying to keep their culture alive. The story illustrates cultural aspects of the period through elucidating the important figure
The Lakota and Nakota people are fighting the injustice of a replay of the Trail of Tears. Fighting to keep their water supply uncontaminated as a private company tries to drill a 1,172-mile, 30-inch diameter pipeline underneath the Missouri river, within half a mile of
The Ancient Greek Olympics were not only sporting events, it was a celebration to honor the great and powerful Zeus. The Ancient Olympics were held every four years at the famous Olympia, a district of Elis, here all free Greek men were allowed to compete. The first record of the Olympic Games was held in 776 B.C. The main sports were the Pentathlon, the Equestrian Events, Pankration, and Boxing.
Forssblad, M. (2001, August 15). HistoryLink.org- the Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History. HistoryLink.org- the Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History. Retrieved October 22, 2011, from http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=3476
Along the Pacific coast and the complex shoreline of Puget Sound, small towns and large cities dot the major thoroughfares like pearls on a string. Aberdeen, Port Angeles, Everett, Seattle, Tacoma and the state capital of Olympia surround Olympic National Park. Approximately 80 percent of Washington's population lives in the region between the Pacific shore and the Puget Sound basin. Wa...