Icons of Washington History
I took a tour of the new exhibit at the Washington State History Museum called “Icons of Washington History.” Pretty interesting tour…although it could have been a lot better. However I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.
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- The entryway to the museum.
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- Sketch of Spokan Garry (of the Spokane Tribe) from 1855…signed by the man himself.
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- A bust of Chief Seattle, an apparently dour fellow.
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- Ezra Meeker’s wagon. He was an original Oregon Trail pioneer who ran “tourists” across the trail later in life.
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- A Boeing advertisement from the 1950’s with Mt. Rainier in the background.
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- A painting of Mount Rainier that was roughly 12 to 14 feet across by at least 8 feet hight.
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- A postcard from the early part of last century.
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- Original poster for the 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle.
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- A sneak photo of a scale model of Safeco Field. The model was surrounded by signs which read, “Do not photograph this model.” So I had to take this one literally on the down low.
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- An actual piece of “Galloping Gertie,” The original Tacoma Narrows Bridge which collapsed in dramatic fashion back in 1940.
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- A huge, wooden rendering of the Washington State Seal surrounded by Washington-related images, all made from Washington State wood.
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- The placard next to the piece of the bridge, which reads “the most famous failure in state history,” to which I would reply, “They obviously printed this before the Legislature passed the 2010 budget.”
I think the bottle was a Clovis Brew, from about 10,000 years ago or maybe the mid-70’s. The Clovis People it seems were here before the modern ‘pub crawlers’ and they had these really cool local beers made out of malted barley, hops, and local fresh water. Seems they didn’t figure out that yeast was an ingredient, though, since Pasteur was the first to prove their existence in 1857. Hence why Clovis man vanished in an epidemic of sobriety.
I think you’re right about the Clovis spearhead. Our “tour guide” (who was the director of the museum) mentioned something about it being around 10,000 years old. The inkwell is believed to be the one used by Lewis and Clark themselves, as it was found near Fort Vancouver on the L&C trail. And the brick was used in a hearth by Spanish (Mexican by today’s borders) workers. As he said, the oldest “American,” “Euro-American” and “Native American” items ever found in the state.
Here is the info on the Clovis People
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clovis_culture
I think the spearhead was a Clovis Point, from about 10,000 years ago. The Clovis People it seems were here before the modern ‘native Americans’ and they had these really cool spearheads made out of a white stone of some kind.
Also, I used to go to a catholic school in Yakima that used desks that still had ink wells in them. We weren’t allowed to use ’em, though. They had invented ball point pens by then.
When we lived in Tacoma, you and I went charter fishing right over the remains of Gertie, because the fish use the structure underwater as protective habitat. It also snags a ton of gear!