1543: Spain claimed Pacific Northwest
1592: Juan de Fuca discovered Strait of Juan de Fuca
1543: Spain claimed Pacific Northwest
1579: Sir Francis Drake claimed Washington coast for England
1774: Juan Perez led first Spanish expedition to Northwest Coast,
discovered Olympic Mountains
1775: Bruno de Hezeta landed on Washington coast, claimed area for Spain
1778: James Cook explored and charted the Northwest Coast
1792: George Vancouver explored and named Puget Sound; Spain established
first non-Indian settlement in Washington at Neah Bay
1805-1806: Lewis and Clark reached Washington
1811: John Jacob Astor built Fort Astoria, part of Pacific Fur Company at
Columbia River mouth
1825: Forts Vancouver and Colvile established on Columbia River by Hudson
Bay Company
1841: Charles Wilkes led United States naval expedition to explore
Washington
1842: John C. Fremont witnessed eruption of Mount St. Helens
1847: Cayuse Indians attacked Whitman Mission in Walla Walla
1851: First settlers arrived at Seattle site
1853: Washington Territory created.
1855-58: Yakima Indian Wars occurred
1858: Cascade Railroad Company began operating in Columbia River Gorge;
Indian wars ended
1860: Gold and silver discovered in Okanogan
1886 Coal mining town of Roslyn founded
1889 Washington became 42nd state
1897-99: Klondike Gold Rush brought thousands to Seattle
1899: Mount Rainier National Park established
1909: Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition held in Seattle
1910: Women won right to vote in Washington
1933: Grand Coulee Dam construction began
1937: Bonneville Dam on Columbia River completed
1941: Grand Coulee Dam completed
1962: World Fair held in Seattle
1974: Expo '74 World's Fair held in Spokane
1975: Microsoft founded
1976: First woman governor, Dixy Lee Ray, elected
1980: Mount St. Helens erupted
2001: Communist Party office closed in Seattle
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