The Great Washington Road Trip of 1891

Edmond S. Meany, press agent of the Washington World's Fair Association, returned from a 60-day tour of the state with glowing reports. 'Talk about your tours around the world,' Meany exclaimed, 'I would not exchange for one moment my experience in the recent World's Fair trip I have made around our own state of Washington for all the vaunted pleasures of travel in far lands.' Meany visited 32 of the 34 counties, witnessing the aftermath of the great fires of 1889 that leveled cities like Spokane and Ellensburg, which were already rising from the ashes as modern centers of brick and granite. He described the harnessing of the Spokane River for electric power and the irrigation projects that promised to turn the sandy deserts of Pasco and Yakima into fruit-bearing paradises. From the timber-rich mills of Snohomish to the oyster-laden waters of Willapa Harbor, Meany found a state defined by fierce civic competition and a shared vision of rapid growth. He noted that even in the face of local rivalries—such as the bitter county seat contest between Sprague and Davenport—the spirit of organized progress was universal, with boards of trade springing up in nearly every corner of the territory.