The Political Fever of 1880
As Washington Territory tallied its votes for Delegate to Congress, local editors traded barbs and grand dreams of a future state capital.
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 following, so far as officially returned, is the vote of Washington Territory for Delegate to Congress at the election held Nov 2, 1880. J.M. Brents (Republican) secured a total of 6,192 votes against T.H. Burke (Democrat) who received 4,983 votes, a majority of 1,209 for Brents. Northern Idaho voted strongly for annexation, and we hope the day will come when Washington will be a grand State, with the Blue Mountains and majestic Columbia on the south, the 46th parallel on the north, the Pacific ocean on the west and the Rocky mountains on the east as her boundary lines, with Yakima City for its capital. Seattle the New York and Walla Walla the new Chicago of the far distant West. Let's all arise and say Hooray!
“Seattle the New York and Walla Walla the new Chicago of the far distant West. Let's all arise and say Hooray!”
This 1880 election report captures the formative, often aggressive nature of Washington's territorial politics. The lofty dreams of Seattle becoming a 'New York' and Walla Walla a 'Chicago' show that the state's long-standing obsession with regional competition and growth infrastructure was baked into its earliest civic identity.
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