FUN FACTS

*The state of Washington is the only state to be named after a United States president.

*Completed in 1928, Olympia Legislative Building was the last dome capital build in the United States.

*In 1947, Kenneth Arnold saw the first modern UFO sighting by Mount Rainier. The name “flying saucer” comes from his description “flying like a saucer”.

*The world's first soft-serve ice cream machine was located in an Olympia Dairy Queen.

*In 1997 Gary Locke became the first Asian American governor in the continental United States.

*Washington ranks first in the nation in the production of apples, cherries, pears, and grapes, earning it the nickname of "America's Fruit Basket".

*Opened in 1873, the oldest continually operating gas station in the US is located in the town of Zillah. It hasn't changed much and and still accepts payments by either cash, check, or beaver pelt.

*Since 1985, only 30 new surface mine facilities have been permitted, while almost 700 have been depleted or reclaimed. Surface mining is only an interim use of the land.

*Hells Canyon is the deepest gorge in North America at 5,000 feet deep.

*The forests of the Olympic Peninsula are among the rainiest places in the world.

*In Washington state the last underground coal mine closed in 1975, and the last open pit mine, which operated at Centralia, closed in 2006.

*The forests of the Olympic Peninsula are the only rainforests in the continental United States.

*Washington is a leading lumber producer. Its rugged surface is rich in stands of Douglas fir, hemlock, ponderosa and white pine, spruce, larch, and cedar.

*In the late 1800's, Seattle's the first chess club, located in L. B. Andrews gunshop, had only two members for many years.

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