Chapter 9: The Changing South

The abolition of slavery did not change any counts in Washington Territory, which had been slave-free, but the count of the Native American population was not that easy. Although nearly 15,000 Indians were counted, less than 10 percent were classified as "civilized." Besides being the first to have no slaves in its count, the 1870 census was also the first for which a Statistical Atlas was put together and published in 1872.

 United States Slave population figures, 1870

The 1870 census was one of several that tried, with little success, to accurately subdivide the "colored" population into two categories, Blacks and Mulattoes, a practice that was abandoned for good in the 1920 census. The 1870 census for Washington Territory had the following breakdown of the African American population:

• Total of Colored "Blacks" in 1870: 56
• Black males: 44
• Black females: 12

• Total of Colored "Mulattoes" in 1870: 151
• Mulatto males: 89
• Mulatto females: 62

Overall, and dispensing with the "black/mulatto" distinction, the racial breakdown of the population of Washington Territory in 1870 was:

• White: 22,195 (92.64 percent of total population)
• Colored: 207 (0.86 percent of total population)
• Japanese: 0
• Chinese: 234  (0.97 percent of total population)

Anti-Chinese Activism

Historians believe that Seattle's first Chinese resident was Chin Chun Hock, who arrived around 1860. He was lured by the Northwest's "Golden Mountain" and the jobs to be had here: digging mines, laying railroad tracks, and canning salmon. The Northern Pacific Railroad completed tracks from Lake Superior to Tacoma, Washington, in 1883. Two thirds of the men who laid track for the Western Division of the railroad were Chinese, a totally of almost 15,000 men across several states. The Chinese also helped construct the Seattle to Newcastle railroad.

At first, Seattle's whites welcomed the aid of the Chinese workers, but this relationship soured during the hard times of the 1870s and led to the national Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first significant law restricting immigration in the United States. Chinese immigration to the United States was suspended for 10 years, and Chinese persons were ineligible for naturalization.

sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_riot_of_1886
http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/films&slides.htm

Chapter 8: Appalachia and the Ozarks

Seattle is nowhere near the Appalachia mountains. But it does have the Olympic Mountains and Cascade Range in its view.

Cascade Range

The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of the North Western region. It extends from southern British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and North California. The Cascades are interesting where it includes both non-volcanic mountains (known as the North Cascades) and the volcanos (known as the High Cascades). The part of the range that is in Washington is the North Cascades. The Cascades are part of what is called the Pacific Ring of Fire which are a ring of volcanoes and mountains around the Pacific Ocean.

North Cascade Range of Washington State near Mount Baker

North Cascades

• Glacier Peak (northern Washington) — secluded and relatively inaccessible peak. Contrary to its name, its glacial cover isn't that extensive. The volcano is surprisingly small in volume, and gets most of its height by having grown atop a nonvolcanic ridge.

 Glacier Peak

High Cascades

• Mount Rainier (southeast of Tacoma, Washington) — highest peak in the Cascades, it dominates the surrounding landscape. 
• Mount St, Helens (southern Washington) — Erupted in 1980, leveling forests to the north of the mountain and sending ash across the northwest. The northern part of the mountain was destroyed in the blast.
• Mount Adams (east of Mount St. Helens) — the second highest peak in Washington and third highest in the Cascade Range.

Mount St. Helens

Olympic Mountains

The Olympic Mountains is located on the Olympic Peninsula of western Washington in the US. They are park of the Pacific Coast Ranges. The highest peak would be Mount Olympus at 7,962 ft. On the west side of the mountain, it is said to be one of the wettest place in the 48 contiguous states, with an average of 142 inches of rainfall each year. On the east side it is located in a rainshadow (where Seattle is) which is much drier relative to the west. The Olympics have the form of a cluster of steep-sided peaks surrounded by heavily-forested foothills and incised by deep valleys. Sounds a little like the Appalachia doesn't it?

Olympic Mountains from Seattle

sources

http://www.nps.gov/olym

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Washington/OlympicMountains/description_olympic_mountains.html

http://www.olympicpeninsula.org/

Chapter 7: The Bypassed East

I wasn't able to find much connection between Seattle and the Bypassed East since Seattle is again located on the North Western part of the US. Instead I would like elaborate on Seattle's landmark: The Space Needle.

 

The Space Needle is a tower located in Seattle. It is a great landmark and symbol of the Pacific Northwest and of Seattle.  The two architects of the Space Needle were Edward E. Carlson and John Graham. Now at the top of the tower we have a Pacific Northwest cuisine restaurant named Sky City that rotates 360 degrees so diners are able to see the view of Downtown Seattle. The tower was built for the 1962 World's Fair and is located at the Seattle Center. It is said that during that time almost 20,000 people rode the elevators a day with 2.3 million visitors at the fair. The tower is built 605 ft high and weighs about 9,550 tons. The tower is said to be able to withstand winds up to 200 mph and with a 25 lighting rods on its roof to protect it from lightening. It was dubbed a historic landmark on April 19, 1999.

sources
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h3118.html
http://www.spaceneedle.com/

Chapter 5: North American Manufacturing Core

Although Seattle isn't part of the Manufacturing Core, Seattle has a history of boom and bust cycles, as is common to cities near areas of extensive natural and mineral resources. Seattle has risen several times economically, then gone into precipitous decline, but it has typically used those periods to rebuild solid infrastructure. The first booming business for Seattle was in the lumber industry in the 1800s which also earned the name "Emerald City" due to its luscious green forest. Other boom was in 1896 where gold was found in the Canadian Yukon and suddenly Seattle became a major supply transportation point for miners.

Bringing it more up to date, Seattle experienced another boom in its economy when Boeing airplane manufacturing started to dominate in the airliner market. Today Seattle is one of the cities leading toward a more green friendly urban environment. The city has one of the leading green technologies in the industry.

source
Seattle Industry
Seattle History

Chapter 4: Megalopolis

Although Seattle is not considered part of the Megalopolis, as we glance through Seattle's development history we can see how much it has advanced and can be considered as a growing megalopolis. It is the biggest urban city in its region unlike the east coast region where they have spanning cities. However Seattle's location does give itself opportunities and advantages for a growing city. Seattle's habor has fishing industry that can generate more than $113 million dollars in local purchases. Other than the bodies of water surrounding Seattle, its economy is driven by a mix of older industrial companies, and Internet and technology companies, service, design and clean technology companies. Seattle is said to be one of the best start-up businesses in green building and clean technologies. According to Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Seattle is ranked as America's #1 "Smarter Cities" due to its government policies and green economy.

Although Seattle may not be considered as part of the Megalopolis, it sure does share a common problem with traffic congestion. Surprisingly, Seattle is ranked 9th in worst traffic congestion in the United States. The GPS maker TomTom ranked Seattle as #1. The difference in rankings is the TomTom study measured traffic on surface streets in Seattle while the INRIX study measured traffic on the highways around Seattle. The city sees this as a problem is determined to alleviate the congestion:

"Identify funds for bicycle and pedestrian facilities, work towards an all electric transit system, including light rail, streetcars, and electric trolley buses, and strive for a fairly allocated source of funds for bus service connecting Seattle neighborhoods and connecting Seattle with job centers in other parts of King County."

Sources
http://smartercities.nrdc.org/about
Seattle Times
http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~public/phot1.htm

Chapter 3: Foundation of Human Activity

Through archaeological excavations, Seattle area has been inhabited by humans for at least 4,000 years. It is said that when the first European explorers came, the people of the Duwamish Tribe occupied at least seventeen villages around Elliott Bay. In 1851, David Denny, his older brother Arthur A. Denny and stepmother Sarah Boren Denny traveled the Oregon Trail to Portland in a party of 50 settlers led by his father, John Denny. While the party waited in Portland, David Denny and John N. Low took the Cowlitz Trail to Olympia. There they joined with Lee Terry and sailed up Puget Sound to look for homesteads. David was the first to make landfall at the mouth of the Duwamish River on September 25, 1851. There they were welcomed by another group of explorers led by Luther Collins, Henry Van Asselt and Jacob and Samuel Mapel, who had filed claims in the Duwamish Valley nearly two weeks earlier. Denny was also greeted by no less than Chief Noah Sealth, leader of the resident Duwamish and Suguamish tribes. The city was named after the chief: Seattle. After spending a harsh winter on the west of the Elliot Bay, they migrated west and made a small establishment where it later became to what we know today as Seattle.

Names and Ages of the Denny Party upon Their Arrival on November 13, 1851
Families:

• Arthur A Denny, 29
• Mary Ann Denny, 28
• Louisa Catherine (Kate) Denny, 7
• Margaret Lenora (Lenora) Denny, 4
• Rolland H. Denny, 6 weeks 

• John N. Low, 31
• Lydia Low, 31
• Mary L. Low, 8
• Alonzo Low, 6
• John V. Low, 4
• Minerva Low, 2 

• Carson D. Boren, 26
• Mary Boren, 20
• Livonia Gertrude Boren, 11 months 

• William N. Bell, 34
• Sarah Ann Bell, 32
• Laura Keziah Bell, 8
• Olive Julia Bell, 5
• Mary Virginia (Virginia) Bell, 4
• Alvina Lavina (Lavina) Bell, 9 months  

          Single adults:

• Louisa Boren, 24
• David T. Denny, 19
• Charles C. Terry, 23 
• Leander (Lee) Terry, 33

Sources
Seattle.com
Lochkelden Mansion
Historylink.org

Chapter 2: Geographic Patterns of the Physical Environment

The city itself is consider to be hilly. These hills include: Capitol Hill, First Hill, West Seattle, Beacon Hill, Queen Anne, Magnolia, and Denny Hill. Seattle is surrounded by a sea, rivers, forest, and lakes. If we take a look at Seattle, it is located between the Puget Sound on the west which is an inlet of the Pacific Ocean and on the east we have Lake Washington. We also have Elliott Bay an inlet of the Puget Sound that is the city's chief habor.

Seattle's Climate:

Seattle's climate is usually rainy. It is categorized as temperate oceanic or marine west coast with mild, wet winters and mild, relatively dry summers. Luckily the region is protected from Pacific Ocean storms by the Olympic Mountains. These mountains are also the reason why Seattle has a reputation. Seattle has a reputation for having lots of rain. This is only half true, although it does rain, it seldom pours. The rain usually comes in drizzles or light rain. Seattle's reputation also owes it to its cloudy days, it is said to be cloudy on an average of 201 days and 93 partly cloudy days per year. Seattle is part of something called the Puget Convergence Zone, which is an important factor in it's weather. In it's convergence zone, we have air from the north meet the air from the south. It is explained that the air from the Pacific Ocean is split by the Olympic Moutains to the west of Seattle and the air flow is reunited by the cascade Mountains in the east. When the air is reunited, it causes the air to go upward, causing convection which is responsible for the rain and few thunderstorms.

 Sources

10 Reasons Why People Move to Seattle 

Komo News

Chapter 1: Regions and Themes

Seattle is located in the state of Washington right above Oregon which is located in the Pacific Northwest Region of the United States. Seattle is known as the largest city in the region and its state. It is also the leader as the economic, educational, and cultural center in the region. It is ranked as the 15th largest city in the United States. It is located about 100 miles away from the Canadian border.

Seattle was named after Chieft Sealth from the native tribes of Duwamish and Suquamishit. This city has been inhabited for more than 4,000 years. Now Seattle metropolitan area is ranked 17th out of 363 metropolitan areas according to the U.S Bureau of Economics Analysis in 2006. Seattle has a strong base for information technology, aviation, architecture and recreation industries. Seattle is known to be a strong supporter of "green" technologies. It is said that in February 2010 Seattle committed itself to becoming American's first "climate neutral" city along with the goal of reaching zero net per capita greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2030.

Demographics
3.2 million people live in the Greater Seattle Area. About 570,000 live in Seattle itself.
According to the 2006-2008 American Community Survey, the racial composition of Seattle was as follows:

• Whites: 71.3% (Non-Hispanic Whites 68.4%)
• Black: 8.0%
• Native American: 0.9%
• Asian:13.2%
• Native Hawaiian & other Pacific Islander: 0.4%
• Hispanic or Latino: 5.6%
• Other: 2.2%
• Two or more races: 4.0%

Sources
Wikipedia
Seattle.gov
US Census Bureau 

Intro

Hi my name is Amy. When I was a little girl about 5 or 6 years old, my family and I moved to Seattle, Washington. Our stay was brief about six months long when we decided Seattle just wasn't for us. From what I remember, it was always cold, gloomy and rainy in Seattle. Which is why I decided to do my blog on this city, in hopes I can rediscover Seattle and one day visit this city once again.