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Show j i .THE STORY OF i j OUR STATES j By JONATHAN ERAi.'E I ( by McClore Newspaper Syndicate. VASHINGTON .sa nn.ll-: story of Wash-1 Wash-1 ington the forty-3!v. forty-3!v. SL','V"U' state of the ,"?( s Fnion, is tied up la t-J1 )?! ,vitH lwo ' our V i'"" .I'X'sidents. The first VVssJ' is obvious, for It was in honor of our first President, George Washington, that the state was named, as a lasting memorial me-morial to this great soldier-statesman! But the actual fate of this region was due to President Polk, and formed the main Issue in his campaign for election elec-tion in 1S44. Previous to that time, the country north of California and extending to Alaska, which was then owned by Russia, was called the Oregon territory. terri-tory. Claim was laid to this region by both Great Britain and the United States as has been seen in the story of Oregon. In ISIS, when the boundary boun-dary between Canada and the United States was settled, this line was definitely defi-nitely placed from the Atlantic cimst to the Rocky mountains. But no agreement agree-ment could be reached west of that, and it was left under an arrangement whereby this territory was to be jointly joint-ly occupied by the British and Americans. Ameri-cans. Settlers from the United States began be-gan to come into the Northwest in such numbers thai the United States felt that they shoidd own this section, which Included the present states of Oregon and Washington, and British Columbia, through the right of possession. posses-sion. Agitation in favor of actirely pushing our claims became so sti-ong that when Polk was noniina'ed by the Democrats in 1S14, one of the main planks in the party platform Was the famous one popularly eallvd "Fifty-four "Fifty-four forty or fight." This meant that the United States was dete.-mlncd to annex this territory as far north as Parallel 54 degrees 40 minifies, which was the lower boundary of Alaska, or fight for its possession. Like many party planks, this one was not followed, fol-lowed, although Polk was elected. Instead In-stead in 1S-I0 a peaceful settlertcnt was made with England on a compromise compro-mise basis, which made the boun !ary run along the 49th parallel, and I In was added to the V'nlfd .State an area equal to six tlmen the size of New York state. In 1S53 Washington territory was separated from Oregon. It did not. however, become a slate cmlil 1 3ft. and then only after thirteen yeait; petitioning pe-titioning for admission IDAHO Hp UK yctu 1S.''.: saw Hie stars in our o5vVi hug increase i roni fe5($Cp3 ihlrty-eighc to fcrty-pWSi'jPffll) fcrty-pWSi'jPffll) I wo. for four sl'iles i Union in that year. 5 In 1S90 two t'vro slates were admitted, the lirsl of which was Idaho, so that during H.eso two years tiie manufacturers must have been kept busy turning out new flags with the proper number of slars. Idaho Is very mountainous and the name Is derived from the Shoshone Indian word meaning "gem of motr. -tal.ns," The first white explorers were i... dotibtedly Lewis and Clark on their memorable trip in isoj-o, Idaho was' a part of Oregon lerri-tory, lerri-tory, which was Jointly occupied by British and Americans until the Treaty of 1810 definitely turned over to die United States the country soulh of the 4!)th parallel. In iHO.'i Idaho was organized as a territory, with an area three times the size of tin- present pres-ent state, as It included Montana anil part of Wyoming. The next year Montana Mon-tana was set off for a territory by Itself, It-self, and In 1808 Wyoming was organized organ-ized so that in 1890 when IdaJio i.i admitted as the forty-third state of the Union, Its area was reduced to 83.SS8 square miles. Even so It ranks as the eleventh state In size. The rapid settlement of Idaho im? due to the discovery of gold, the same rause which so rapidly built up the adjacent states. It was In 1HH'J. (hat gold was found at Coeur d'Alcno In the northern part of the si ale, and miners Immediately flocked lo Ibe state In great numbers. In fact, l.oih placer and quartz gold mines a-e found In every county of the stale, and In addition, the loud-silver district In Shoshone county Is considered one of the richest In the United Slates. There was serious labor trouble In lI'P Coeur d'Alene section In 1 s: u mid again In isttil, when martial law huh established u illl pence between (be miners and mine owners was efTc-ted. Idaho Is fifth from (lie end in ),.. ljs of slates neeordiltg tf) population, and accordingly has hut four pre id.ei. Hal electors. But the stale Is (1cm 1-oping 1-oping rapidly. |