Washington, state, United States: The West and the Pacific Coast

Washington's coastal region is one of the wettest areas in the United States, receiving up to 150 in. (381 cm) of rain per year at high elevations; it is correspondingly heavily forested, especially with spruce, fir, cedar, and hemlock. Between the Cascades and the much lower Coast Ranges to the west lies the Puget Trough, a lowland heavily indented by Puget Sound, the site of Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, and most of the state's population and industry. The Coast Ranges rise to 7,965 ft (2,428 m) at Mt. Olympus in the Olympic Mts., within Olympic National Park. Along the Pacific coast, in the southwest, they are breached by two substantial bays, Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay. Puget Sound is filled with more than 300 islands, including the San Juan Archipelago and Whidbey Island; it is entered from the northwest through the Juan de Fuca Strait, from the north through the Strait of Georgia. Point Roberts, the northwesternmost portion of Washington on the latter strait, is the southern end of a peninsula that begins in Canada, and the area is not connected by land with the rest of the state.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Postwar Change and New Industry
• The Early Twentieth Century
• Gold, Immigration, and Statehood
• Native American Resistance and Territorial Status
• Early Settlement and Boundary Disputes
• European Exploration
• Government and Higher Education
• Economy
• Places of Interest and Cities
• The West and the Pacific Coast
• The Cascades
• The Interior
• Geography
• Facts and Figures
• Bibliography

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