WHEREAS, In the lush and temperate county of Grays Harbor, the towns of Aberdeen and Hoquiam were incorporated nine days apart, on May 12 and May 21 in the Year Eighteen Hundred and Ninety; and

WHEREAS, These cities were peopled with Native Americans whose ancestors had been the first to sail the rivers and build large settlements upon the shores, with Americans whose ancestors had immigrated from faraway lands in the generations prior, and with new Americans who had recently immigrated from faraway lands to the new cities of Aberdeen and Hoquiam to begin building new lives on a new continent; and

WHEREAS, Due to their fortuitous locations in this exceptionally resource rich environment at the point upon where a large river transitions into an estuary bay and into an ocean, these towns thrived and enjoyed wealth, peace, and comforts; and

WHEREAS, Aberdeen and Hoquiam have a long history of use and conservation of natural resources, in particular the logging, fishing, wildlife, and port activity for which they are most well known today; and

WHEREAS, Aberdeen and Hoquiam have held up and stood against threats to their existence, facing economic devastation that threatened to close out their history, a fate that had befallen other vanished port cities along the coast of the state of Washington, and today look with hopeful eyes toward the future; and

WHEREAS, In the Year Two Thousand and Fifteen these small cities upon the shores of an ocean port harbor still today retain and possess the natural riches with which they began existence: Dedicated residents committed to their homes and communities, a natural deep water port on the Pacific Ocean shipping goods to and receiving goods from the rest of the world, lush and fertile land, inspiring natural beauty, rivers, and a bay unspoiled by toxic waste and welcoming to all fish, birds, and wildlife;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Washington State House of Representatives recognize and celebrate the towns of Aberdeen and Hoquiam upon the occasion of their 125th Anniversaries.