The Evergreen State

Students taste sweet victory as onion passes first hurdle to state icon status

Seattle Times Eastside bureau

Kirkland Junior High ninth-grade teacher Toni Miller has spent three years working with students on crafting a bill to make the Walla Walla sweet onion the state vegetable.

The Walla Walla sweet onion could join the apple, the orca and the green darner dragonfly as an official symbol of the state. Thanks to the persistence of a Kirkland Junior High School ninth-grade class and the tenacity of their teacher, the state House voted 95-1 Monday to declare the Walla Walla sweet onion as the state vegetable.

But the road to becoming a state symbol may not be smooth — it may be lined with potatoes.

Whatever happens, the students say they have learned some valuable lessons. Raymond Schwabacher, 14, said they won’t soon forget the process of how a bill gets considered and passed. And more than half of the class say they’re now interested in working as a House page or intern.

The "onion bill" has been a project of Kirkland Junior High teacher Toni Miller for three years. She and her students were instrumental in creating the bill. They lobbied legislators to sponsor it and they testified on its behalf in committee hearings.

Walla Walla Sweet Onion facts:

The Walla Walla sweet onion has a short season — they’re available from mid-June through September. The onion’s seed originated in Italy, and is grown in Walla Walla County in southeastern Washington and a part of Umatilla County in northeastern Oregon.

"Government can be so dry to teach," Miller said. "Once we got into it, the kids really enjoyed this."

Miller said she picked the Walla Walla onion because it’s associated with Washington state and because Idaho already is known as the Potato State.

About 50 students were in the galleries in Olympia on Monday when the House passed the bill. They were then treated to a Walla Walla sweet onion sausage lunch.

The bill may have an uphill battle in the Senate, where it likely will face opposition from the potato.

"I don’t have anything against the Walla Walla sweet onion, but if you ask me, it’s a county onion, not a state onion," said Randy Mullen, chairman of the Washington State Potato Commission, who wants the spud considered for state vegetable-hood.

State of Washington Web site Members of the Potato Commission testified against a similar onion bill originating in the Senate last week, successfully squelching that one in the Agriculture Committee.

Mullen, a farmer in Franklin County who grows potatoes and onions — the yellow Spanish variety — along with beans and sweet corn, said this is an issue that should be thought through a little more.

Potatoes are a $1.5 billion industry in Washington, he said, and that’s not counting the French-fry-processing industry in the state.

Representatives Maureen Walsh, R-Walla Walla, who sponsored the onion bill, and Toby Nixon, R-Kirkland, hope it will fare better in the Senate this time. A hearing in the Senate Committee on Government Operations is slated for 8:30 a.m. Monday. Nixon, Miller and some of her students plan to testify in favor of the bill.

If the committee approves it, the bill goes to the Senate floor for a vote.

The Senate would have until March 3 to approve the bill. If the Senate passes it, the bill will be sent to Gov. Christine Gregoire to sign into law or veto.

Students plan to keep lobbying in hopes of seeing the bill through.

"We’re going to keep writing and e-mailing and stay actively involved," said Taylor Standish,14.

"It’s been nice to see how kids can be effective in government," said Allison Speelpenning, 14, though she personally doesn’t believe the onion is worthy of being the state’s top veggie.

"I thought it should be the coffee bean, due to all the Starbucks we have here," she said.

For a history project, I had to make a "tourist" brochure on Washington State. In it, I was meant to feature historical, natural, and cultural places in the state. The following pictures show the result. If you want it as a brochure you have to re-do it. Suggestions, if there’s anything you think should be changed, are appreciated.

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In 1810, the Canadian North West Company established a fur-trading post called Spokane House.  Spokane House became the first long term non-Indian settlement in what is now Washington state.  Many nations had explored the Washington’s coast.  With the exception of a Spanish garrison at Neah Bay – lasting only a few months, none had tried to start a settlement. 

Fur-trading was what drew most people to Washington.  Spokane House was built along the Spokane River, by the North West Company – a fur-trading company that traveled by land.  Explorer and mapmaker David Thompson commissioned Jacques Raphael to build a trade house for the Spokane and Colville. 

Spokane House turned into a complex of buildings.  There was the trading store, an office, dormitories for the men, and carpenter and blacksmith shops.  It became a desirous destination for those working nearby. 

Spokane House changed hands two times.  The first was in 1821, when the North West Company merged with the Hudson Bay Company.  In 1825, Hudson Bay decided to close Spokane House and move to Kettle Falls.  Jacques Raphael, the founder, moved into the original settlement with his wife, living as an independent trader until 1828. 

During these years, the only establishments in current day Washington State were trading posts.  Later, in 1836, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman traveled to Washington marking the first white woman to journey to Washington and the first mission work in Washington.  The Whitman’s spent their time working with the Cayuse Indians.  While teaching them about Christianity, the Whitman’s attempted to change the Indian’s lifestyles.  Differences in culture, values, and language resulted in conflict between the missionaries and the Cayuse. 

Narcissa Whitman also started a school for her adopted children and the Indian children.  They were taught to observe the Sabbath, to read and write English, and even to sing.  In the winter of 1846-1847, William Geiger was hired to teach school.  

In the fall of 1847, an infected wagon train started a measles epidemic that killed approximately half of the Cayuse Indians.  Marcus Whitman, considered a medicine man, had been unable to stop the spread.  Some of the Cayuse viewed the epidemic as an attack against their people.  On November 29, 1847 they retaliated, killing the Whitmans along with 11 others. 

The deaths of the Whitmans did not stop the arrival of emigrants.  The Treaty of 1855 set aside certain reservation lands, opening the rest for homesteading.  Walla Walla was established in 1859. Also in 1859, Rev. Eells laid claim to the Waiilatpu mission site and established a school there in honor of Marcus Whitman.  It was eventually renamed Whitman College. 

On February 20, 1914, bandits robbed a Great Northern train in Whatcom County. Three passengers were killed, the culprits got away, and this wanted poster (only part shown above) remains posted at the Blaine Depot.

The state nickname of Washington – The Evergreen State – was introduced by Charles Conover in 1889, used as a publicity attractor. Over a hundred years later, Washington State is still known for its natural beauty. From the Cascade mountains to Puget Sound, Washington’s diversity makes it the home to many kinds of flora and fauna.

Flora

Western Hemlock

The western hemlock is a large evergreen tree averaging 50-70 m in height. It is native to the west coast of North America. In 1947, the western hemlock became the state tree of Washington State. State Representative George Adams remarked that the hemlock would become "the backbone of this state’s forest industry." Thriving in the deep, damp forests of the Pacific Northwest, the western hemlock rivals Douglas fir as preferred construction lumber.

Coast Rhododendron

Flowering in May and June, the coast rhododendron grows on forest edges in Washington State. A large plant that will compete for the best sunlight, the coast rhododendron grows more efficiently in the wild. The coast rhododendron has been called our most magnificent native shrub, and is the official flower of Washington State. In 1934, botanist Leslie Haskin wrote that "the annual pilgrimage from our cities to the coast or mountains to view [rhododendron] flowers is so great that the railroads are at times forced to put on special trains for … those who wish to go."

Coast Rhododendron

Salmon Berry

The salmon berry is a tangy-sweet, blackberry shaped berry that grows in forests and near streams in Washington State. They ripen around the time when salmon travel up the streams to spawn. Natives cooked the freshly caught salmon with the berries. Although salmon berries are rarely used for food anymore, they are still a tasty snack for people wandering through Washington forests.

Fauna

Geoduck

The geoduck is the largest North American clam. They live buried deep along the coasts of Washington State. Although edible, their inaccessibility has limited the market. They are exposed for only a few hours a month. Digging geoducks is considered a sport in Washington, where there is a limit of three per day.

Steelhead Trout

The steelhead trout is another state symbol – adopted by the Legislature in 1969. Really the same species as rainbow trout, the steelhead is given to the silver or steel-blue headed ocean-going form. Most streams in the Puget Sound region and many tributaries of the Columbia River have steelhead populations. Steelhead are one of the most highly prized game fish in the Pacific Northwest.

Roosevelt Elk

The largest of the elk subspecies, the Roosevelt elk is found in the rain forests of the Pacific coast. They eat wild plants including huckleberry, vine maple, salal, and other shrubs. In 1898, American biologist C. Hart Merriam named it in honor of Theodore Roosevelt, U.S. president and accomplished amateur naturalist.

Roosevelt Elk

The coast rhododendron is the state flower of Washington.  The following article provides information on this beautiful plant.

A Rhododendron of Our Own
by Jim McCausland

In 1934, a botanist named Leslie Haskin wrote that "the annual pilgrimage from our cities to the coast or mountains to view [rhododendron] flowers is so great that the railroads are at times forced to put on special trains for … those who wish to go."

Some plant. Lighting up the woods with big trusses of pink flowers, coast rhododendron (R. macropbyllum) has been called our most magnificent native shrub, and it is the official flower of Washington State. Oregon named a town after it, and in season, it’s one of the most-asked-about plants in California’s Redwood National and State Parks.

A large evergreen rhododendron native to the West–most sold in nurseries are hybrids from other countries–coast rhododendron is a tapestry plant that’s at its best jostling for space with other plants along the forest’s edge. It tends to stretch out so that it can reach through competing plants for light–a trait that makes it much more effective in nature than in most gardens.

To see the rhododendron at its best, head for the woods. They don’t put on extra trains for it any more, but the following locations are easily accessible by car. Peak bloom most years is late April into June; call ahead for bloom status.

Hi, I’m known as columbia while online.  I’m a 9th grader studying Washington State history.  I decided to share the things I learned, via blog, so other students could learn about Washington State history. You may use all the information provided on this page, but please give credit.

My other blogs are Liberty Bell and Choir Geek.