The Push for Statehood
Governor Newell of Washington Territory lobbies in Washington D.C., touting the region’s timber, coal, and agricultural potential as proof of readiness for statehood.
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.
Governor Newell, of Washington Territory, who is here as a Commissioner, solicited by various municipalities and prominent citizens to advocate for the early admission of the territory as a state, was seen by a reporter. When asked what arguments he would urge, he replied: 'I can do no better than by stating what our resources are, and thereby demonstrating our ability to sustain ourselves as a state. We consider that we have the ability to assume the functions and the expense incidental to statehood, and our people are almost unanimous in the desire that we shall be admitted to the Union during the present session of Congress.' Newell described Washington as containing 70,000 square miles, divided by the Cascade Mountains into two distinct regions, with vast forests of fir, cedar, and spruce. He also touted the territory's mineral wealth, including coal mines in Seattle and Tacoma already shipping 1,000 tons per day, and a climate that allowed for farming year-round.
“I can do no better than by stating what our resources are, and thereby demonstrating our ability to sustain ourselves as a state.”
In 1883, the push for statehood was centered on proving the territory’s economic self-sufficiency to a skeptical Congress. Washington would eventually become a state in 1889, fulfilling the Governor's prediction that the land’s abundant natural resources—timber, coal, and agriculture—would guarantee its long-term viability.
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