Agricultural colleges are maintained by the state at Pullman and Seattle, and at the latter is the University of Washington, with 106 instructors and 2,358 students. The other higher seats of learning are Whitman College (undenominational) at Walla Walla, with 40 instructors and 494 students; Whitworth College (Presbyterian), Tacoma, with 19 instructors and 144 students; the University of Puget Sound (M. E.) at Tacoma; and Gonzaga (R. C.) College at Spokane. State normal schools are in operation at Cheney and Ellensbury; at Chehalis there is a reform school; at Vancouver a school for defective youth; at Orting a soldier's home; and at Walla Walla a state penitentiary.
History and Government. The early history of the region is marked first by conflicts between Spain and Great Britain and later by difficulties between England and the United States. These disputes occurred as the result of early exploration and the successive operations of the fur-traders. As far back as the 16th century the Oregon region was visited by Sir Francis Drake, while a Greek mariner in the Spanish service is credited with having discovered and named the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Captain Gray of Boston discovered and entered Columbia River in 1792. George Vancouver, the English navigator who gave his name to Vancouver Island and Vancouver City, was another explorer of the region about 1791-2. He was preceded by Captain Cook, who in 1778 discovered Nootka Sound, the deep inlet in Vancouver Island; while at the close of the 18th century Captain Vancouver penetrated Puget Sound and disclosed its ramification of bays and harbors. Later came the fur-traders, and among them Jacob Astor, who in 1811 founded Astoria on the southern bank of the Columbia near its outlet. This post was captured in the War of 1812 by the British and renamed Fort George, though five years later it was restored and supplanted by Fort Vancouver, founded in 1824-5. In 1804-6 the Lewis and Clark expedition explored the region, and upon this expedition and its explorations, together with the purchase from France of the Louisiana Territory as well as upon Gray's discovery, rests the American claim to the region, including the great waterway of the Columbia. Settlement at first progressed slowly, immigration not coming until the thirties, when Walla Walla was founded, followed ten years later by settlement about Puget Sound. About this period Oregon organized a territorial government which included Washington and part of Idaho; but in 1853 Washington was formed into a territory with a government of its own; this continued till 1889, when the territory was admitted as a state. Before 1840 boundary differences became acute on several occasions, increased by the clamor of gold-seekers who sought to know to which nation—Britain or the United States—they owed allegiance. The matter was a vexatious one, as both countries from 1827-8 had jointly occupied the region, the British seeking ownership as far south as the mouth of the Columbia and Russia agreeing not to encroach southward below 54° 40'. About 1844 the difficulty almost precipitated war between England and the United States, for the Democratic rallying-cry of the era was "Fifty-four forty, or fight!" In 1846 the boundary agreed upon by the Webster-Ashburton treaty was 49° N., the separating line being the channel between Washington and Vancouver Island. This settlement, as it turned out, was vague, for in 1859 "the question arose as to whether the channel gave the United States possession of Haro Archipelago and San Juan Island. The contention being submitted for arbitration to Germany, its emperor in 1872 decided in favor of the United States. In 1885-6 there was trouble with the Chinese entering the state, the governor being obliged to call Federal troops to his aid in quelling disturbances at Seattle. Thirty years prior to that the state had to contend against the Indians who troubled both Washington Territory and Oregon. Consult Hawthorne's Washington; Irving's Astoria; Squires' Resources and Development of Washington; and Bancroft's Washington, Idaho and Montana.
Washington, D. C., the capital of the United States, is in the District of Columbia on the Potomac River, 39 miles southwest of Baltimore. The city was laid out under the direction of Washington, on a plain 40 feet above the river, with wide streets and 21 broad avenues, named after the states. Three streets, known as North, South and East Capitol Streets, radiate from the Capitol, and with a line of public parks divide the city into four quarters. The avenues run diagonally, and where they cross circles are formed, with triangles at their intersection with the streets, and besides these ornamental spaces there are a number of squares with trees, shrubbery, fountains and statues. Pennsylvania Avenue is the main street of the city, and Massachusetts Avenue the finest.
The chief public building is the Capitol, of which the corner-stone was laid by Washington in 1793, and the structure finished in 1827. An extension of two wings was finished in 1867. The building covers about 3½ acres, and is 751 feet long and 348 feet broad. The dome, 287½ feet high, is crowned by a bronze statue of Liberty. The rotunda under the dome, senate chamber, hall for the house of representatives and one for the supreme court are some of the interior rooms. The White House, the residence of
