Washington State

By Robert E. Ficken

Subjects: Populist, government, gold rush, History, Washington (State)

Description: In November 1889, Washington—70,000 square miles brimming with timber, salmon, and rich farmland,—became the nation’s 42nd state. In a sequel to "Washington Territory," (WSU Press, 2002), author Robert E. Ficken relates how the turbulent inaugural decade laid foundations for the state’s infrastructure and a new century’s commercial and social development. The early years saw a spectacular influx of people arriving by railroad, solidifying major urban patterns yet straining all levels of government funding. The young state’s initial prosperity ended abruptly with the Panic of 1893, followed by four long years of severe economic depression—spurring greater debt, extensive unemployment, and escalating dependence on both East Coast and European investment capital, while also revealing incipient political corruption. In 1896, a desperate public rejected traditional political incumbency, resulting in a Populist takeover of state government. Suffering finally eased in 1897, outside investment returned, and the Klondike gold rush added other entrepreneurial opportunities. Populism precipitously collapsed as Washington reverted to its earlier pro-capital political alignment. Near the century’s end, the state fortuitously stood poised to exploit an oceanic commercial empire as American hegemony spread to Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines following the Spanish-American War.