- Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC
- NASA�s Moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) captured this series of true-color images of eastern and northeastern Greenland in June and July 2002. Summer is well underway in this frigid place, and snow and sea ice are retreating form the rugged coastlines. Off shore, fine white swirls are made by finely crushed ice.
- Washington Territorial Legislature incorporates the City of Steilacoom on April 22, 1854. (historylink.org)
On April 22, 1854, Steilacoom becomes the first town in Washington to be incorporated by the new Washington Territorial Legislature. Originally two separate and competing towns founded in 1851 by Lafayette Balch (1825-1862) and John B. Chapman (1797-1877), they are combined into one by the incorporating legislation. Initially Steilacoom grows rapidly as an industrial and economic center. Despite its promising start, railroad construction in the 1870s will bypass the town, and its growth will slow as Tacoma becomes Pierce County’s main industrial and economic center. Steilacoom will eventually evolve into a commuter town surrounded by encroaching suburban development. Local efforts to preserve historic buildings and sites in Steilacoom beginning in the 1960s will lead to the town being named one of the state’s first designated historic districts.
