Promoting the New State
An editorial from the Snohomish Sun argues that Washington must attract specific types of settlers to achieve its full potential as a state.
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.
Now is the time to settle this country with a class of citizens that will make her the grandest state in the Union. We want the good people of the northern and eastern states here, men of industry and capital to develop the many diversified resources of the country. Washington will yet rival California in gold, Colorado in silver, and Dakota in wheat. We possess the greatest proportionate extent of navigable waters, the finest harbors, and above all, a salubrious, healthful climate. There is no danger here of Kansas hot winds, Nebraska’s hail storms, or Mississippi’s negroes. In inducing your friends to come here, you can have nothing to regret.
“There is no danger of Kansas hot winds, Nebraska’s hail storms, Alabama’s yellow fever, Missouri’s ague, Dakota’s blizzards or Mississippi’s negroes.”
This text is a classic example of territorial boosterism, explicitly pairing economic ambition with the explicit white-supremacist rhetoric common to the era's exclusionist politics. It serves as a stark reminder that the 'settlement' of Washington was frequently framed as an exclusionary project meant to engineer the state's social makeup.
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