| Book Review | Oregon Historical Quarterly, 109.1

Reviews

WASHINGTON STATE: THE INAUGURAL DECADE, 1889–1899

by Robert E. Ficken

Washington State University Press, Pullman, 2007. Photographs, maps, notes, bibliography, index. 288 pages. $21.95 paper.

The state of Washington is fortunate to have Robert E. Ficken as one of its premier historians. He is not only a fine writer but also a dedicated researcher. Ordinarily, I spend a relatively small amount of time reading footnotes when I do a book review, but Ficken's are an exception. They clearly testify that he has assiduously mined all the relevant books, theses and dissertations, manuscript collections, popular journals, and newspapers. I counted more than 120 newspapers listed in his bibliography, with Seattle, Tacoma, and Spokane papers being represented as well as those published in smaller places ranging from Kettle Falls to Orting. Ficken even researched out-of-state papers from Oregon and British Columbia. I mention this feat because I know from personal experience just how tedious newspaper research can be, but it is also highly rewarding because it provides historians with a good feel for the texture of the times. Ficken has worked many choice quotations gleaned from the press into his narrative to give it an extra measure of verbal spice and a sense of immediacy. Because most of those quotations have never before been used in published histories of Washington, the book is able to take familiar topics and give them a fresh twist. The footnotes themselves contain many fascinating snippets of history that did not fit well into the text.

Ficken has already solidified his reputation with other important books on Washington's past, but this one on the first decade of statehood seems to me to be his best work to date. By focusing on a single decade, perhaps the most formative in the state's history, Ficken is able to deal in depth with the salient issues of the time. He is able to use his newspaper research to good effect by citing the perfect contemporary quotation to enliven his text. His own writing and quoted material fit together seamlessly, to the great benefit of readers. I may be biased because I have long thought that the decade of the 1890s is one of the most fascinating in all of American history. To see important events of that one decade — ranging from Populist protest and economic depression to the consequences of inordinately great railroad power and extraordinary political corruption — examined in depth at the state level is a fascinating exercise.

One curious aspect of Washington's history of the 1890s is the strident and repetitive boasting by contemporaries about the state's abundant natural resources. Claims of present and future greatness could be heard in every corner of the state, and they were repeated in all types of publications and public forums. Perhaps, taken collectively, those claims reflect a combination of immaturity and insecurity in the newborn state, but to question them must have also seemed like an act of ingratitude or even treason. The assertions of unprecedented material abundance seem as much an integral part of Washington's collective perception of itself as a new member of the sisterhood of states as little George Washington's honest admission that he had chopped down his father's cherry tree was once to the nation's creation myth. It may be worthwhile for Ficken to examine further in another publication the significance of the state's enduring "chamber of commerce" mentality. During my more than thirty years in the Pacific Northwest, this did not seem particularly odd to me — even during the 1990s, I heard Washingtonians from both sides of the Cascade Mountains frequently boast about how fortunate they were to live in God's Country. But now, after living almost seven years in Missouri and reading extensively in that state's history, I realize how much Washington's enduring "chamber of commerce" mentality is a reflection of the way Washingtonians viewed the world during their formative decade. And Ficken deserves a generous measure of credit for bringing that decade alive for readers more than a century later.

There may be other states fortunate to have a highly competent historian examine in depth their formative decades — that is, the first decade of statehood for each. Supposing a sufficient number are available, it might be an interesting and enlightening exercise to compare the inaugural decade for states located in different parts of the United States over time. I am certain that many similarities as well as significant differences would exist even between neighbors Oregon and Washington because of the thirty-year interval that separated their respective inaugural decades. Meanwhile, this is a book that belongs in the library of anyone interested in the history of Washington and the Pacific Northwest. It is not only a good reference tool (its excellent bibliography guides readers effortlessly to all relevant sources), but it is also rewarding reading.

Carlos A. Schwantes

University of Missouri–St. Louis

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