(See Cover)
When the westbound pioneers crossed the Continental Divide on the Oregon Trail, according to a legend told in the State of Washington, they came upon a fork in the road. A blank signpost pointed south, another aimed west and bore the words: "This way to the Oregon Territory." Travelers who could read, says the legend, went on to the great Northwest; the illiterates veered south to California.
Today most literate Washingtonians know from billboards plastered from Seattle to Pysht, Humptulips, Fishtrap, Washougal, Tiger and Nooksack that the state is in the...