Annual Meeting 2005  Washington, East of the Cascades  Ann Le
Bar, November 2004  The bulk of Washington State's population
today lives along the thin western strip known as the I-5
corridor, but its geologic history and key elements of the
state's history and identity—pioneer trails, missionary
settlements, an economy rooted in natural resources such as
wheat, wine, and apples—lie in the east. Washington east of the
Cascades also has a thriving history community. Spokane is
regularly first in the state in securing National Historic
Register districts and Historic Register properties. The Eastern
Regional Branch of the Washington State Archives, newly opened
on Eastern Washington University's campus, is the first digital
state archive anywhere in the United States. Whitman and
Whitworth Colleges, along with Gonzaga University, house the
records of missionaries who sought to Christianize the Pacific
Northwest. The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture has the
largest collection of Plateau Indian artifacts, and