August 17-23
August 19, 1958
On this day, United States Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas led a hike along the Olympic coastline between Lake Ozette and Cape Alava (the farthest point west in the 48-contiguous United States), then south to Rialto Beach. The goal of the hike, facilitated by Pacific Northwest conservationist Polly Dyer, was to increase public opposition to a planned portion of U.S. Highway 101 which, if constructed, would destroy the wild coastline portion of Olympic National Park.
August 19, 2011
On this day, the Hibulb Cultural Center, located on the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Snohomish County west of Marysville, opened to tribal members and invited guests. It opened to the general public the following day. Decades in the planning, the $19 million center is a 23,000-square-foot building with a 10,000-square-foot collections wing and a 42-acre natural history preserve.
August 20-22, 1931
On this day, a historic powwow held in Cashmere drew Indians and non-Indians from a wide area. The main organizers were J. Harold Anderson, a young Cashmere attorney who had represented the Wenatchi Tribe, and Mark Balaban, one of the founders of the well-known Cashmere firm Aplets & Cotlets. Anderson had become increasingly aware of the unfair treatment of these Indians following Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens’s 1855 Walla Walla Treaty. As an attempt to call attention to unfilled treaty obligations to the Wenatchis, as well as to boost the economy of the Cashmere area, Anderson, Balaban, the Chamber of Commerce, and local Indian leaders organized a “Grand Powwow and Historical Pageant.”
August 22-23, 1896
On this day, the Washington State Federation of Women’s Clubs was founded when 22 women’s clubs responded to the invitation of Tacoma’s Nesika and Aloha clubs to convene, write a constitution, and create a statewide federation of clubs to share reports on group projects in literature, art, music, science, and current events.
August 22, 1986
On this day, the Timber Fish Wildlife Agreement offered a new way to manage state forests by allowing all the stakeholders — tribes, loggers, environmentalists, government agencies — to develop logging practices together. The agreement avoided the sometimes acrimonious process in which competing interests present sometimes conflicting evidence to the Forest Practices Board, which then had to make a decision. Under the new process, the parties developed methods for harvesting timber that still protect the environment.
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.
