Eugene Semple (June 12, 1840 – August 28, 1908) was an American politician who served as the 13th Governor of

Washington Territory The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...

and the unsuccessful Democratic candidate to be the first governor of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

State.

Early life

Eugene Semple was born in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

, Colombia, on June 12, 1840, to then minister to the

Republic of New Granada The Republic of New Granada was a 1831–1858 centralist unitary republic consisting primarily of present-day Colombia and Panama with smaller portions of today's Costa Rica, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru and Brazil. On 9 May 1834, the national flag wa ...

James Semple James Semple (January 5, 1798 – December 20, 1866) was an American attorney and politician. He was Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, Attorney General of Illinois, an associate justice of the Illinois Supreme Court, Chargé d'A ...

.Corning, Howard M. (1989) ''Dictionary of Oregon History''.

Binfords & Mort Publishing Binford & Mort Publishing is a book publishing company located in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1930, the company was previously known as Metropolitan Press and Binfords & Mort. At one time they were the largest book publisher in t ...

. p. 219. The older Semple later served as chief justice to the

Illinois Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the State of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the five ap ...

and as U.S. Senator. The younger Semple received his education in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

before attending law school at St. Louis Law School. In 1864, Semple moved to

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, where he was editor of the ''

Oregon Herald The ''Oregon Herald'' was a newspaper published in Portland, Oregon, United States from 1866 until 1873. It was originally a weekly newspaper, and thus was alternatively known as the ''Weekly Oregon Herald''. However, in 1869 the publication bec ...

'' and practiced law. He was the editor from 1869 until 1873, and in 1872 he became state printer for

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. In 1870, he married Daniel H. Lownsdale's daughter Ruth. After Semple left the state printer position in 1874, the family moved to

Vancouver, Washington Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, located in Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Was ...

, across the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

from

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

. Semple was in the lumber business there before moving to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington

President

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

appointed Semple as the Governor of

in 1887, where he served for one term until April 1889. After

became a state in November of that year, Semple ran as the Democratic candidate to be the first Governor of the State of Washington, however he lost to the Republican

Elisha P. Ferry Elisha Peyre Ferry (August 9, 1825October 14, 1895) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the List of governors of Washington, first governor of Washington from 1889 to 1893. Ferry was a Republican Party (United States), Republic ...

. In 1893, he successfully pushed a bill through the Washington State legislature to facilitate a means of financing privately owned canals by allowing them to sell reclaimed

tideland ''Tideland'' is the third published book by author Mitch Cullin, and is the third installment of the writer's ''Texas Trilogy'' that also includes the coming-of-age novel '' Whompyjawed'' and the novel-in-verse ''Branches''. The story is a firs ...

s. With $500,000 of financing, he himself soon attempted such a canal connecting

Elliott Bay Elliott Bay is a part of the Central Basin region of Puget Sound. It is in the U.S. state of Washington, extending southeastward between West Point in the north and Alki Point in the south. Seattle was founded on this body of water in the 1850s an ...

Lake Washington Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle. It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It borders the cities of Seattle on the west, ...

by cutting through

's Beacon Hill: a more southerly route than the

Lake Washington Ship Canal The Lake Washington Ship Canal, which runs through the city of Seattle, connects the fresh water body of Lake Washington with the salt water inland sea of Puget Sound. The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks accommodate the approximately difference in w ...

that was favored by Judge Thomas Burke and others aligned with the Great Northern Railway, and which was ultimately built. Work began July 29, 1895. Within 10 months nearly of tide flats had been filled. At that point, Burke managed to get a court injunction challenging the constitutionality of the 1893 law. A December 1898 decision went in Semple's favor, but the delay had put his company into financial difficulties. Semple scored some other legal victories and did well with the state government, but Burke ultimately won out. Semple's activities affected railroad lands, giving Burke further opportunities for injunctions; Burke won over the Seattle city government (and ultimately the federal government) to the northern canal route. By May 1904, Semple's incomplete project was dead. The former Elliott Bay tidelands filled in by his attempt at building a canal soon became the heart of Seattle's

Industrial District Industrial district concept was initially used by Alfred Marshall to describe some aspects of the industrial organisation of nations. Industrial district (ID) is a place where workers and firms, specialised in a main industry and auxiliary indu ...

. Some opponents of the project considered Semple's canal project a complete boondoggle. The ''Seattle Mail and Herald'' wrote in an unsigned article published June 8, 1904, "It is named the Seattle and Lake Washington Waterway Company, but its promoters never for a moment intended to create a waterway between Seattle's harbor and Lake Washington. The very name of it is a fraud and was created with intent to deceive. Under the guise of building a canal, it only aimed to fool the land owners into letting it disfigure the landscape, while it took dirt enough from them at condemnation prices to fill in the tide lands, for which service it is allowed over 18 cents per square yard and is secured by a preferred lien upon the land it fills."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Semple, Eugene Governors of Washington Territory 1840 births 1908 deaths Oregon Democrats Politicians from Portland, Oregon Washington (state) Democrats Politicians from Vancouver, Washington American expatriates in Colombia

Early life

Washington

References

Further reading

External links