Page 298 - PGM Compendium

As Governor, Ferry was successful in putting Washington Territory on a sound financial footing,
by pressuring various counties to pay their taxes, and was able to leave his successor a Territory
almost debt-free. He also regulated the rail fares, and centralized the penal system on to a state
rather than a county basis.

After a break from politics, working in Seattle in law and banking, Ferry was nominated as
Republican candidate for State Governor, when Washington was granted statehood on November
11, 1889. He beat the Democrat Eugene Semple with 58 percent of the vote. (The brethren of
Harmony Lodge No. 18 did also re-elect him as Worshipful Master on Harmony Lodge, on
December 11, 1889. However, Most Worshipful Brother Ferry’s duties as Governor precluded him
from being installed.)

In his first summer, he had to supervise the rebuilding of three major cities that had been largely
destroyed by fire: Seattle, Ellensburg, and Spokane Falls. The prompt replacing of timber buildings
with brick and stone gave reassurance to the increasing numbers moving into the state, some of
them interested in acquiring public land. Ferry tried to manage the debate between supporters of
business, wanting to privatize land (mainly people in the West of the state) and those who favored
full public ownership (mainly East), but the commission he appointed failed to reach a conclusion
in the allotted time, and this made the administration look as though it was in the pocket of the
corporations.

The same inference was drawn when a miners' strike was put down by the National Guard.
Following a costly fire, a local mining company decided to cut expenses by replacing white
mineworkers with blacks at lower wages. The longer the strike lasted, the more the employers saw
the advantage of using black labor, and this became their standard policy. Once again, the
Washington Republicans were looking like powerful allies of the corporations.

But Ferry's health was starting to fail, and he was having to miss important votes, as well as losing
his commanding presence in the chamber. Two years after stepping down as State Governor, he
died of a cold, on board a steamer in Puget Sound on October 14, 1895. In the life and character
of Most Worshipful Brother Elisha Peyre Ferry we have a grand illustration of a noble patriot,
wise statesman, profound lawyer; an incorruptible and honest citizen; a kind and courteous
gentleman; a devoted, tender, loving husband and father; a true, just and upright man and
Freemason. His name is commemorated in Ferry County, named for him in 1899, and by a popular
mode of water transportation.