August 10-16
August 10, 1940
On this day, two U.S. Forest Service fire guards, Francis Lufkin and Glen H. Smith, became the first smokejumpers to parachute into a forest wildfire in the state of Washington. The dual jump at Little Bridge Creek in the Chelan (later Okanogan) National Forest was the first time that a fire in the Forest Service’s Region Six, encompassing Oregon and Washington, was fought by smokejumpers.
In the fall of 1939, the Forest Service began trials using men with parachutes to reach forest fires from the air. The area selected for this testing was a small airstrip located between Twisp and Winthrop in the Methow Valley of North Central Washington.
August 12, 2004
On this day, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission gave Old Man House State Park, located on the eastern edge of the Kitsap Peninsula, to the Suquamish tribe. The one-acre park, which includes a shell-strewn beach, is sacred to the tribe. It was the site of their “mother village” and of Chief Seattle’s longhouse. This was the first time the state has ever given land to a tribe.
August 15, 1870
On this day, Seattle’s first public schoolhouse opened.
Seattle Public School District No 1 purchased four lots in the “northern portion of town” for a public school. On the lots, which cost $2,000, contractors built a 30-by-48-foot two-story, two-room schoolhouse.
On August 15, 1870, the doors opened, pupils were admitted, and Lizzie Ordway was the teacher.
This post is in partnership with HistoryLink, and Warren Seyler, former chairman Spokane Tribe of Indians, the Black Muse Resource Center, and the Living Arts Cultural Heritage.
We encourage you to engage in further research through your local historic societies, museums, archives, and community.
