Page 289 - 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.

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