Established in 1853, Washington remained a Territory until admitted into the Union thirty-six years later in 1889. Few other territories in the American West languished longer in dependent status. Because of a dividing geographical barrier (the Cascade Range) and the lack of an adequate internal transportation system, Washington Territory made little practical sense as a social and economic entity. Western Washington actually was a satellite of San Francisco and Eastern Washington at Portland, until railroads were completed along the Columbia River and, especially, over the Cascades in the mid-1880s. Essentially, Washington was not qualified for statehood until very late in its territorial period when railway tracks finally unified the region. --From publisher's description