Washington State Trivia Questions and Answers

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Which British explorer followed the Spanish into the straits of the Washington coast in 1792?

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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with any school, exam board or quiz show. Bank checked October 3, 2026.

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These Washington State trivia questions and answers come in five rounds: explorers, forts and the border, territory and statehood, volcanoes, rain and the two sides of the Cascades, ferries, bridges and mountain passes, and state symbols.

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Five rounds, from Cape Flattery to the green darner

Explorers, forts and the border ends with a war named after a pig and a German emperor as referee. Volcanoes, rain and the two sides lines up the five volcanoes. State symbols is the gentle round: an onion, a marmot and a dragonfly.

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Tap a choice and the card shows the right answer, why, and the article it was read in. Ten come up at a time; Scored round asks 20 and marks them at the end.

Questions and answers

What are some easy questions in this pack?

Which mountain range splits the state into a wet side and a dry side? What is the state marine mammal? What carved the fjords of Puget Sound? The answers are the Cascade Range, the orca and glaciers.

Is this pack about Washington State or Washington, DC?

The state. The capital city has a round of its own in the site's fifty-state pack. Washington is the only state named after a president, and Congress first planned to call the territory Columbia.

Is the Evergreen State the official nickname?

No. Charles T. Conover of Seattle proposed it in 1890 and it appears on license plates, but it has never been officially adopted.

How were the answers checked?

Each was read on October 3, 2026 in the Wikipedia article Washington (state), linked under the question. The state songs, crop rankings and snowfall records in that article are left out.

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All 51 questions with answers

Explorers, forts and the border 10

  • The American captain Robert Gray found the mouth of the Columbia River. After what did he name the river? Answer: His ship. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • In 1778 Captain James Cook sighted which cape at the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, without realizing the strait was there? Answer: Cape Flattery. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • The pioneer George Washington Bush led the families who founded New Market in 1846. What is that town called now? Answer: Tumwater. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • The quarrel between Britain and the United States over the San Juan Islands is known by the name of which animal? Answer: The pig. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Which agreement of 1790 ended Spain's claim to have the Northwest Coast to itself? Answer: The Nootka Convention. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Which British explorer followed the Spanish into the straits of the Washington coast in 1792? Answer: George Vancouver. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Which farm and trading post, founded in 1833, was the first European settlement in the Puget Sound area? Answer: Fort Nisqually. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Which missionary set up the settlement of Waiilatpu in 1836, near present-day Walla Walla? Answer: Marcus Whitman. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Which ruler was chosen to arbitrate the San Juan Islands dispute, settled for the United States in 1872? Answer: Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Which Spanish captain made the first recorded European landing on the Washington coast, in 1775? Answer: Bruno de Heceta. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)

Territory and statehood 10

  • The border with Oregon was moved off the Snake River to keep the fertile farmland of which town in Washington? Answer: Walla Walla. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • The creation of which territory in 1863 gave Washington its final eastern border? Answer: Idaho Territory. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • During the statehood process in 1889, which city's name was put forward as a new name for the state? Answer: Tacoma. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Washington became a state on November 11, 1889. Which number state was it? Answer: The 42nd. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Washington is the only one of the fifty states to be named after which kind of person? Answer: A president. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Washington Territory came into being on March 2, 1853 under the signature of which president? Answer: Millard Fillmore. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • What became of the Washington state constitution that was drafted and ratified in 1878? Answer: It was never officially adopted. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Which dam on the Columbia River, finished in the early 1940s, was the largest dam in the world when it was built? Answer: Grand Coulee Dam. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Which line of latitude forms the eastern part of the border between Washington and Oregon? Answer: The 46th parallel. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Which name was first planned for Washington Territory, before a congressman found it too much like the name of the nation's capital district? Answer: Columbia. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)

Volcanoes, rain and the two sides 11

  • The Hoh Rainforest, one of the few rainforests in the continental United States, grows on which peninsula? Answer: The Olympic Peninsula. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • How many species of salmon swim up the streams of Western Washington to spawn? Answer: Five. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Olympic and Mount Rainier are two of Washington's three national parks. Which is the third? Answer: North Cascades. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Washington's five major volcanoes stand in a line. Which is the northernmost? Answer: Mount Baker. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • What carved the deep fjords and bays of Puget Sound? Answer: Glaciers. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • What do people in the Pacific Northwest call the run of storms that carries moisture all the way from the tropical Pacific? Answer: The Pineapple Express. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • What is the dry zone east of the Cascades, where the mountains have wrung the moisture out of Pacific air, called? Answer: A rain shadow. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • What is the region of southeastern Washington, once grassland and now mostly farmland, called? Answer: The Palouse. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Which mountain range splits Washington into a "wet side" and a "dry side"? Answer: The Cascade Range. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Which two plants dominate the open countryside of Eastern Washington? Answer: Tumbleweeds and sagebrush. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Which Washington peak is covered with more glacial ice than any other in the contiguous 48 states? Answer: Mount Rainier. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)

Ferries, bridges and mountain passes 7

  • Barges can travel up the Columbia and Snake rivers as far east as which Idaho city? Answer: Lewiston. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • The Cascade Tunnel on the Stevens Pass route holds which title? Answer: The longest railroad tunnel in the United States. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • The Hood Canal Bridge joins the Olympic Peninsula to which other peninsula? Answer: The Kitsap Peninsula. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • How many counties does Washington have? Answer: 39. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Washington is home to four of the five longest bridges in the world of which unusual kind? Answer: Floating bridges. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Washington runs the largest fleet in the United States of which kind of vessel, as part of its state highway system? Answer: Ferries. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Which highway, State Route 20, closes every year because of snow and avalanches near Washington Pass? Answer: The North Cascades Highway. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)

State symbols 13

  • Columbian mammoth, saber-toothed cat, giant ground sloth or dire wolf: which one is the state fossil of Washington? Answer: The Columbian mammoth. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • The portrait of George Washington on the state seal and flag was inspired by an unfinished painting by which artist? Answer: Gilbert Stuart. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • The state gem of Washington is not a mineral crystal. What is it? Answer: Petrified wood. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • The state insect of Washington is which dragonfly? Answer: The green darner. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • The Walla Walla sweet onion holds which official title in Washington? Answer: State vegetable. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Washington's nickname appears on its license plates. What has the legislature never done with it? Answer: Officially adopted it. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Western hemlock, Sitka spruce, western red cedar or noble fir: which one is the state tree of Washington? Answer: The western hemlock. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Which animal is the state marine mammal of Washington? Answer: The orca. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Which burrowing animal of the Olympic Mountains is the state endemic mammal of Washington? Answer: The Olympic marmot. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Which dance did Washington adopt as its state dance in 1979? Answer: The square dance. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Which flowering shrub is the state flower of Washington? Answer: The coast rhododendron. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Which sea-going trout is the state fish of Washington? Answer: The steelhead. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
  • Which small yellow bird is the state bird of Washington? Answer: The willow goldfinch. Source: Wikipedia: Washington (state)
How this list was compiled

Written for this site; nothing was copied from another list. Every answer was read on October 3, 2026 in the English Wikipedia article Washington (state) (text under CC BY-SA 4.0), which is linked beside each question; the questions, wrong choices and explanations are in our own words. Left out on purpose: population figures and ranks, current office-holders and living people, sports teams, companies and brands, the state songs, crop rankings and weather records. Levels are our estimate. Licence: own work