A Week to Remember

This week marked a series of historical anniversaries that, while mostly unrelated, all played important parts in our county's and our state's histories.

On Tuesday, we celebrated Veterans Day and honored the sacrifice of the men and women who have served in our armed forces. It was the 96th anniversary of the end of World War I. In fact, many countries in Europe and around the world celebrate November 11 as Armistice Day.

Students in schools throughout the Touchet Valley honored veterans on Monday (since they were off Tuesday) and we bring you some images of them in this week's paper.

Sunday was the 25th anniversary of the falling of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. For those of us old enough to remember fallout shelters, that was a great milestone and a great relief.

Tuesday also marked the 125th anniversary of Washington becoming the 42nd U.S. state. Early November 1889 was a busy couple of weeks for state creation. The Dakotas, North and South, became the 39th and 40th states on November 2. Montana was admitted on November 8 as the 41st.

According to an article in the Olympian this week, Congress passed the measure allowing Washington and the three others to become states in February of that year. A group of 75 men met in Olympia on July 4 to draw up Washington's state constitution. They finished the job on August 22, and the draft constitution was put to a vote of the citizens on October 1.

About 80% of the 50,000 plus voters, voted to approve the new Washington State Constitution, and Olympia was selected as the state capitol, over Yakima and Ellensburg.

According to the article's author, Washington would have been the 41st state, squeaking in ahead of Montana, but the territorial governor, Miles C. Moore, forgot to sign the certified copy of the state constitution before it was sent off to Washington D.C. Thus statehood was held up a few days - approval was granted on November 11. Idaho and Wyoming would become the 43rd and 44th states in July 1890.