Seattle Chamber of Commerce Photograph Collection, Sept. 22-27, 1908; Oct. 16-23, 1920

During the first decades of the twentieth century, the Seattle Chamber of Commerce organized tours of various parts of Washington State to encourage the commercial development of agriculture and natural resources such as mining, forestry, and hydroelectric power. The two trips depicted in this collection reflect railroad tours of Eastern Washington. Typically the excursionists were greeted at the depots with gifts of local fruit. The towns' commercial clubs treated their guests to luncheons or dinners, complete with speeches by both hosts and visitors. The excursion of Sept. 22-27, 1908, traveling on the North Bank Railroad's "1909 Special," began in Portland and followed the Columbia River inland to White Salmon and Kennewick. The visit to Walla Walla included a tour of the Washington State Penitentiary hosted by Supt. Reed, former chief of police of Seattle. In Spokane, the businessmen were treated to a motorcade and banquet in the Doges Hall of the Davenport Hotel. Throughout the tour, major topics of discussion between the visiting and local businessmen included the benefit to agricultural trade brought by the expanding railroad system, as well as the promotion of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition which was planned for the following year, 1909.

The Chamber discontinued the regional trade relations tours during the World War I years due to increased transportation costs and shortage of cars, but returned to the tradition for the tour of Oct. 1920. In that year, 122 Seattle businessmen traveled over 1,200 miles in a Great Northern train, complete with observation, baggage, and dining cars as well as five sleeper cars. The tour crossed the Cascades, with its first stop in Leavenworth, continuing through Wenatchee, Chelan, and the Okanogan region, traveling east to Spokane, then southward to Pasco and Walla Walla, through the Yakima Valley, and finally through Ellensburg and the Kittitas Valley on the way home. Many of the stops were related to regional agriculture, and each location featured banquets, speeches, and entertainment. Discussions focused on the need for irrigation and land reclamation projects to increase agricultural production.