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And in the field of journalism, it’s worth noting that Anna Maley, editor of The Commonwealth  — the official publication of the Washington State Socialist Party — was also the first woman in the state to run for the office of governor. Other journalists include Margaret Bundy Callahan, who wrote for The Seattle Star and The Seattle Times and also edited the arts weekly Town Crier; Lucile McDonald, a popular feature writer for The Seattle Times, as well as a local historian; and Dolly Connelly, a journalist and photographer who wrote for The Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, as well as Time, Life, Sports Illustrated, and Sunset magazines.

World of Sports

On March 26, 1917, local sports devotees let out a big cheer when the Seattle Metropolitans hockey team won the Stanley Cup. On March 26, 2005, the Rat City Rollergirls competed in their first roller-derby match, held at the Southgate Roller Rink in White Center.  And three years ago this week, on March 27, 2016, the Washington Huskies became the first team in state history to reach the NCAA women’s basketball Final Four.

And with the baseball season soon upon us, this week marks a dual anniversary for Seattle’s Kingdome, once a notable landmark but now just a distant memory. Plans for a domed stadium in Seattle were first hatched in 1960, but voters balked at funding it until 1968, when hopes were high for Seattle’s first major-league baseball team — the Pilots. Unfortunately, after playing one season in an aging Sicks’ Stadium, the Pilots flew the coop to Milwaukee, where they became the Brewers.

As Seattle fought to acquire another baseball team, discontent over the new stadium grew among citizens and public officials — mostly over building costs and possible sites — which delayed construction even further. The Kingdome finally opened on March 27, 1976, and was imploded almost exactly 24 years later, on March 26, 2000.

NEWS THEN, HISTORY NOW

Missing the Strait

On March 22, 1778, Captain James Cook named Cape Flattery in modern-day Clallam County as he unwittingly missed the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Captains Robert Gray and George Vancouver met near the same spot 14 years later. Vancouver left to explore Puget Sound and Gray went on to enter and name the Columbia River.

Crossing the Bar

The mouth of the Columbia figures in three anniversaries this week. On March 22, 1811, the crew of the ship Tonquin, owned by fur baron John Jacob Astor, spied the mouth of the great river. The hope was to establish a trading post on the Columbia, but currents proved treacherous and on March 26, 1811, Hawaiian Islanders traveling aboard the ship held a traditional funeral on the shore of Cape Disappointment for a lost countryman. Lastly, on March 25, 1813, a North West Company vessel carrying supplies departed eastern Canada for the Columbia River, a trip made more perilous by the War of 1812.

Moving the Seat

Not long after citizens in Cheney finally settled on a name for their town, a squabble arose with residents of Spokane Falls over which community should be the seat of Spokane County. After a close election and a recount, Spokane Falls barely won out. That didn’t deter folks in Cheney, who on March 21, 1881, sneaked into the other town — armed with guns — and swiped the county records. They held onto the seat until a new election was held in 1886, but Spokane has been the county seat ever since.