Washington in the Pacific Northwest (Review Part 1)
Chapter 1: The Far Corner – Washington’s Geography
A. Physical and Human Characteristics
a. How have ideas about the environment changed over time?
B. Location
a. What is a hinterland?
C. The Mighty Ocean
a. What is a “temperate” climate?
b. How do the ocean and our mountains combine to affect our weather?
What is a “rain shadow” and where do these appear in Washington?
D. Regions
a. What is the Pacific Rim? Where is it located?
b. What three states make up the Pacific Northwest?
c. Locate and briefly describe Washington’s five land regions.
Chapter 2: Fire and Ice – Washington’s Geology
A. A Changing Land
a. Define: “Pangaea”, “Continental Drift,” “Plate Tectonics”
B. Forming our Mountains
a. Locate the Olympic and Cascade Mountain Ranges.
C. Mountains of Fire
a. Locate Washington’s five volcanic peaks. Which one erupted in
1980? Which one is potentially most dangerous? Why?
b. What is the “Pacific Ring of Fire?”
D. Forming the Columbia Plateau
a. What kind of volcanic activity led to the Columbia Plateau being
relatively flat?
b. What led to the rich soil of the Palouse?
E. Ice Age in Washington
a. When did the Ice Age occur in Washington?
b. Where did the Ice Age glaciers end in Washington? How deep were
they over Seattle?
c. Describe how the great floods occurred in Washington – be sure to
include “Lake Missoula” in your answer.
d. How were the Grand Coulee and Dry Falls formed?
e. How did the Ice Age likely lead to the peopling of the Americas?
Chapter 3: American Indians of the Pacific Northwest
A. The First Americans
a. Why is Kennewick Man such a controversial figure?
B. Paleo-Indians
a. What do we call the first group of people to come to the Americas?
C. Map: “Historic Native American Groups”
a. What were the two basic groups of Native American tribes in what we
now call Washington?
D. The Coastal People
a. What role did the Pacific Ocean and the red cedar play in their culture?
b. Who were the Salish, Chinook and Makah? Briefly tell what stands
out about each group?
c. Define “potlatch.”
E. The Plateau People
a. In what kind of dwellings did the Plateau people live?
b. What geographic feature was extremely important to them?
F. Trade Connections
a. How did the Northwest Indians get the horse and how did it benefit
them?
G. Disease Frontiers
a. What are some of the diseases that hit the Indians? Why were they so
deadly?
Chapter 4: The Great Encounter
A. The Search for a Northwest Passage
a. What was the Northwest Passage?
b. What European country was the first to make claims in the Northwest?
c. Why didn’t the Spanish settle in the Northwest?
B. British Search for the Northwest Passage
a. How did the British Captain Cook’s voyage lead to European
settlement of the Northwest?
C. American Explorers
a. What role did Robert Gray play in providing an American claim to the
Northwest?
D. Naming the Islands
a. What British sea captain named many geological features in our area?
Name some of those places.
E. American Fur Traders Build Fort Astoria
a. What American Fur Company, started by John Jacob Astor, was active
in the Pacific Northwest?
F. British Fur Traders
a. What large British company was active in the Pacific Northwest?
b. What important trading fort did Dr. John McLoughlin build for HBC?
c. What was the primary fur being sought?
d. Why were American fur companies unsuccessful in the Pacific
Northwest?
e. What was the special language that Indians and whites used when
trading?
Chapter 5: Looking West
A. Christian Missionaries
a. Why did Indians ask William Clark to send missionaries in 1831?
b. How was the missionary Marcus Whitman connected to the Cayuse
War?
B. Extra: Go West!
a. When settlers reached the end of the Oregon Trail, where did the
Hudson’s Bay Company direct them to settle? What did the
Americans think of that?
C. Washington Portraits: George Washington Bush
a. Why did George Washington Bush move from Oregon to
Washington?
b. What happened to Bush’s land when a law was made saying only
whites could own land?
D. The First Local Government
a. What were “Wolf Meetings” and why were they important?
E. The Oregon Territory
a. How is a territory different from a state?
b. Why did both Britain and the United States want the Oregon
Territory?
c. Know what the following terms have to do with the Oregon Territory:
i. Convention of 1818
ii. Fifty-four Forty or Fight
iii. Oregon Treaty of 1846
iv. 49th Parallel
d. What was the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 and how did it affect
settlement of the region?
F. Washington Becomes a Territory
a. In 1853, why was the Washington Territory created?
b. Extra: Pig War: What was the Pig War really about (NOT a pig)?
How was it resolved? What was the casualty?
c. Who was the first territorial governor of Washington?
G. Indians and Settlers
a. List two ways in which the Oregon Trail had a negative impact on
Native American tribes.
Chapter 6: Life in Washington Territory
A. Property Lines and Boundaries
a. How was the Washington Territory divided up? (Township, Section,
640 acres)
b. What was a “witness tree?” How were newspapers used in the process
of claiming property?
B. Pioneer-Indian Conflict
a. What was Governor Stevens’ plan for dealing with the Indians?
b. What led to the Yakama War?
C. Indian-White Conflict
a. Give five reasons for Indian-White conflict?
b. What was Chief Sealth’s advice about moving to a reservation?
D. Chief Joseph and the Last Indian War
i. What led to the Nez Perce War?
ii. How were the Nez Perce as warriors?
iii. In his “I will fight no more forever” speech, what are some
reasons Chief Joseph gives for surrendering?
E. New Towns
a. In the mid-1800s, where were most new towns developed? Why?
b. What was significant about Walla Walla? What was its economic
foundation?
c. What was Seattle’s early economic basis? What roles did Dr. David
Maynard and Henry Yesler play in Seattle’s founding?
F. Timber!
a. How were jobs in the Pacific Northwest affected by San Francisco?
b. What are “old growth forests” and “skid roads?”
G. Fishing
a. What invention led to growth in Washington’s fishing industry?
b. Why did American whalers come to Washington waters (What was the
most valuable part of the whale and what was its use?)
H. New People in a New Land
a. What brought Hawaiians to Washington?
b. In the 1840s, what led to Irish coming to America?
c. In what Washington industries did Chinese work?
d. What was the Chinese Exclusion Act and why was it made?
Chapter 7: Leaving the Frontier Behind
A. The Railroad Age
a. What were Federal Land Grants?
b. How were Federal Land Grants and immigration connected?
c. What was the first transcontinental railroad in Washington?
B. A Natural Resource Economy
a. How did timber companies benefit from the Timber and Stone Act?
b. Who worked as commercial fishermen? Who worked in the
canneries?
c. How did Washington benefit from mining in other areas?
C. Agriculture
a. What crop spread rapidly across the Palouse in the late 1800s?
b. What three developments allowed Washington to become a leading
apple producer and exporter in the early 1900s?
c. Where was the climate suitable for raising dairy cows?
D. Urbanization
a. What led to booming growth in Tacoma in the late 1800s?
b. What are two economic factors helped Spokane’s growth?
c. How did Seattle promoters help its growth?
E. The Vanishing Indian
a. What was the goal of the Indian Homestead Act of 1875 and the
Dawes Act? Was it accomplished?
b. What was the purpose of boarding schools?
F. Statehood
a. In what year did Washington become a state?