The Panhandle's Longing: A Century-Old Border Dispute
Before Washington became a state, Northern Idahoans fought for annexation, citing mountain barriers and shared economic interests with the Columbia River basin.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The bill pending in the Senate on Wednesday for the formation and admission into the Union of the state of Washington should be passed at once by both houses of Congress and receive the immediate signature of the President. The territory has more than the total vote number of inhabitants and they are intelligent, loyal, law-abiding and in every way qualified to manage their own affairs. Our right to admission seems to be everywhere conceded and the only difficulty now experienced arises from difference of opinion on the question of annexing to the new state the northern part, or panhandle, of Idaho. The desire of the people of Northern Idaho to be within the limits of the new state of Washington is a natural one. There is no good or harmony between the north and south of the territory. They are separated by a natural boundary in the form of a mountain barrier, which is almost impassable in winter and difficult in summer. Because of this, the people of Northern Idaho are practically separated from their territorial government. The Northern Idaho region is a part of the vast country known as the Columbia River Basin. Intercourse between Washington and the Panhandle is natural and easy, while the condition of the northern part of the territory is one of political connection with a section from which it is practically separated, the progress of Northern Idaho is retarded considerably.
“They are separated by a natural boundary in the form of a mountain barrier, which is almost impassable in winter and difficult in summer.”
This 1888 editorial highlights the geographic and political disconnect that defined the Pacific Northwest's early state-making. Similar to modern debates over regional transit, tax bases, and urban-rural divides, the residents of Northern Idaho felt that administrative geography—imposed from afar—ignored the practical realities of their daily lives and mountain-locked economy.
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