Encyclopedia Cascadia is an online encyclopedia and digital resource library that makes the place names, toponyms, geographic features and literature of the Pacific Northwest Coast discoverable in the digital age.
A Place Name Database for the Pacific Northwest
Recent Place Name Updates
Resources recently updated and where information has been added or updated
Gabriola Island, British Columbia
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. One of the Gulf Islands, just off Nanaimo on W side of the Strait of Georgia, Nanaimo Land District
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. One of the Gulf Islands, just off Nanaimo on W side of the Strait of Georgia, Nanaimo Land District
Discovery Island, British Columbia
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. Off Oak Bay, just E of Victoria, Victoria Land District
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. Off Oak Bay, just E of Victoria, Victoria Land District
D'Arcy Island, British Columbia
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. S of Sidney Island in Haro Strait, E side of Saanich Peninsula N of Vicoria, Cowichan Land District
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. S of Sidney Island in Haro Strait, E side of Saanich Peninsula N of Vicoria, Cowichan Land District
Coal Island, British Columbia
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. Off NE end of Saanich Peninsula, N of Sidney, Cowichan Land District
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. Off NE end of Saanich Peninsula, N of Sidney, Cowichan Land District
Chatham Islands, British Columbia
Islands - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. Plural of Island. Off Oak Bay just E of Victoria, near the junction of Haro and Juan de Fuca Straits, Victoria Land District
Islands - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. Plural of Island. Off Oak Bay just E of Victoria, near the junction of Haro and Juan de Fuca Straits, Victoria Land District
Galiano Island, British Columbia
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. One of the Gulf Islands, NE of Saltspring Island at S end of the Strait of Georgia, Cowichan Land District
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. One of the Gulf Islands, NE of Saltspring Island at S end of the Strait of Georgia, Cowichan Land District
Haida Gwaii, British Columbia
Islands - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. Plural of Island. Off NW coast of British Columbia, separated from mainland BC by Hecate Strait, Queen Charlotte Land District
Islands - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. Plural of Island. Off NW coast of British Columbia, separated from mainland BC by Hecate Strait, Queen Charlotte Land District
Hornby Island, British Columbia
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. W side of Strait of Georgia, E of Denman Island, Nanaimo Land District
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. W side of Strait of Georgia, E of Denman Island, Nanaimo Land District
Lasqueti Island, British Columbia
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. W of S end of Texada Island, Nanaimo Land District
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. W of S end of Texada Island, Nanaimo Land District
Mayne Island, British Columbia
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. One of the Gulf Islands, NE of Saltspring Island at S end of the Strait of Georgia, Cowichan Land District
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. One of the Gulf Islands, NE of Saltspring Island at S end of the Strait of Georgia, Cowichan Land District
North Pender Island, British Columbia
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. One of the Gulf Islands, E of Saltspring Island at S end of the Strait of Georgia, Cowichan Land District
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. One of the Gulf Islands, E of Saltspring Island at S end of the Strait of Georgia, Cowichan Land District
Saltspring Island, British Columbia
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. Largest of the Gulf Islands, E of Duncan off SE side of Vancouver Island, Saltspring Island Land District
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. Largest of the Gulf Islands, E of Duncan off SE side of Vancouver Island, Saltspring Island Land District
Saturna Island, British Columbia
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. One of the Gulf Islands, SE of Saltspring Island at S end of the Strait of Georgia, Cowichan Land District
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. One of the Gulf Islands, SE of Saltspring Island at S end of the Strait of Georgia, Cowichan Land District
Texada Island, British Columbia
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. E side Strait of Georgia, S of Powell River (city), Texada Island Land District
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. E side Strait of Georgia, S of Powell River (city), Texada Island Land District
Tumbo Island, British Columbia
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. Just N of E end of Saturna Island, at S end of Strait of Georgia, Cowichan Land District
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. Just N of E end of Saturna Island, at S end of Strait of Georgia, Cowichan Land District
Sidney Island, British Columbia
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. Off E side of Saanich Peninsula, N of Victoria, Cowichan Land District
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. Off E side of Saanich Peninsula, N of Victoria, Cowichan Land District
Vancouver Island, British Columbia
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. SW British Columbia, separated from the mainland by Queen Charlotte, Georgia and Juan de Fuca Straits
Island - Land area surrounded by water or marsh. SW British Columbia, separated from the mainland by Queen Charlotte, Georgia and Juan de Fuca Straits
City of Battle Ground, Washington
A brisk little trading center, with a grain elevator and one of the largest cheese factories in the State. About 1888 August H. Richter built a store here and founded the town. The surrounding plains were used by the Hudson’s Bay Company and, later, by the United States Army for pasture lands.
Battle Ground is a small town with nearby lakes, streams and forest service areas offering many recreational opportunities. The city’s name comes from a battle that never took place. In 1855, some Klickatat tribal members escaped from Fort Vancouver and Captain Strong headed up the army in charge of bringing the Native Americans back. Upon meeting with the Native Americans, their chief, Chief Umtuch, promised Strong that the Native Americans would return to the fort. When Chief Umtuch was unexpectedly killed, Strong allowed the Native Americans to bury him, and the Native Americans returned to the fort. In thanks for not forcibly bringing them back, Captain Strong was presented a petticoat for bravery and courage. This area later became known as “Strong’s Battle Ground.”
A brisk little trading center, with a grain elevator and one of the largest cheese factories in the State. About 1888 August H. Richter built a store here and founded the town. The surrounding plains were used by the Hudson’s Bay Company and, later, by the United States Army for pasture lands.
Battle Ground is a small town with nearby lakes, streams and forest service areas offering many recreational opportunities. The city’s name comes from a battle that never took place. In 1855, some Klickatat tribal members escaped from Fort Vancouver and Captain Strong headed up the army in charge of bringing the Native Americans back. Upon meeting with the Native Americans, their chief, Chief Umtuch, promised Strong that the Native Americans would return to the fort. When Chief Umtuch was unexpectedly killed, Strong allowed the Native Americans to bury him, and the Native Americans returned to the fort. In thanks for not forcibly bringing them back, Captain Strong was presented a petticoat for bravery and courage. This area later became known as “Strong’s Battle Ground.”
Pluvius, Washington
PLUVIUS: Early railroad crew camp near the Pacific/Lewis county border on Highway 6. The name was bestowed by E. H. McHenry, chief engineer of the Northern Pacific Railroad, for Jupiter Pluvius. The Romans used the name Jupiter Pluvius for Jupiter as god of rain, wind and dark storm clouds. A railroad survey and construction crew camp was established near this summit in 1892 by the Yakima and Pacific Coast branch of the Northern Pacific Railroad. It rained incessantly during construction. When the camp moved toward South Bend, so did the population. Today, the sharp turn on Highway 6 is still called Pluvius Hill.
“A Name for Every Place Around Pacific County, from A to Z.” Chinook Observer, 13 May 2013, https://chinookobserver.com/2013/05/13/a-name-for-every-place-around-pacific-county-from-a-to-z/.
PLUVIUS: Early railroad crew camp near the Pacific/Lewis county border on Highway 6. The name was bestowed by E. H. McHenry, chief engineer of the Northern Pacific Railroad, for Jupiter Pluvius. The Romans used the name Jupiter Pluvius for Jupiter as god of rain, wind and dark storm clouds. A railroad survey and construction crew camp was established near this summit in 1892 by the Yakima and Pacific Coast branch of the Northern Pacific Railroad. It rained incessantly during construction. When the camp moved toward South Bend, so did the population. Today, the sharp turn on Highway 6 is still called Pluvius Hill.
“A Name for Every Place Around Pacific County, from A to Z.” Chinook Observer, 13 May 2013, https://chinookobserver.com/2013/05/13/a-name-for-every-place-around-pacific-county-from-a-to-z/.
Cedarville, Washington
One of the earliest settlements in the Washington Territory. It was homesteaded by James L. (Blockhouse) Smith, so-called because the government built a blockhouse on his land in 1855 as a protection against Native American attacks. The foundation stones of the blockhouse, which burned down in recent years, still remain. Another rugged pioneer, John Armstrong, erected on Cedar Creek one of the first waterpower mills in the district; it was equipped with an upright saw and was said to have had a production capacity of 1,000 feet of lumber a day. The Sam Williams home, a rambling frame structure, was built of lumber from Armstrong’s mill.
One of the earliest settlements in the Washington Territory. It was homesteaded by James L. (Blockhouse) Smith, so-called because the government built a blockhouse on his land in 1855 as a protection against Native American attacks. The foundation stones of the blockhouse, which burned down in recent years, still remain. Another rugged pioneer, John Armstrong, erected on Cedar Creek one of the first waterpower mills in the district; it was equipped with an upright saw and was said to have had a production capacity of 1,000 feet of lumber a day. The Sam Williams home, a rambling frame structure, was built of lumber from Armstrong’s mill.
Frances, Washington
FRANCES: A farming community on Highway 6. The name was bestowed by E. H. McHenry, chief engineer of the Northern Pacific Railroad survey crew, who passed through the area in 1892. Frances was his wifes middle name. The Wallace Campbell family homesteaded Elk Prairie, south of the townsite, in the early 1880s. Several Swiss/German families followed in 1886 and have been a dominant group in the community for over 100 years. Descendants hold a variety of ethnic celebrations at the Swiss Picnic Grounds on Elk Prairie Road each year. A post office was established May 26, 1894, and continued in operation until Nov. 23, 1973.
“A Name for Every Place Around Pacific County, from A to Z.” Chinook Observer, 13 May 2013, https://chinookobserver.com/2013/05/13/a-name-for-every-place-around-pacific-county-from-a-to-z/.
FRANCES: A farming community on Highway 6. The name was bestowed by E. H. McHenry, chief engineer of the Northern Pacific Railroad survey crew, who passed through the area in 1892. Frances was his wifes middle name. The Wallace Campbell family homesteaded Elk Prairie, south of the townsite, in the early 1880s. Several Swiss/German families followed in 1886 and have been a dominant group in the community for over 100 years. Descendants hold a variety of ethnic celebrations at the Swiss Picnic Grounds on Elk Prairie Road each year. A post office was established May 26, 1894, and continued in operation until Nov. 23, 1973.
“A Name for Every Place Around Pacific County, from A to Z.” Chinook Observer, 13 May 2013, https://chinookobserver.com/2013/05/13/a-name-for-every-place-around-pacific-county-from-a-to-z/.
Breakers, Washington
BREAKERS: Ilwaco railroad mail and passenger stop north of the City of Long Beach, 1901-1920. J. M. Arthur built The Breakers, a four-story hotel (December 1900), on the sandridge overlooking the Pacific Ocean and named it for the excellent view of the breaking surf. A fire in 1904 destroyed the hotels original elegance. Arthur rebuilt the hotel but declining patronage eventually closed it in 1920. A post office was established at the hotel August 17, 1905; discontinued March 31, 1919. The Breaker condominium, a modern facility, now occupies the site.
“A Name for Every Place Around Pacific County, from A to Z.” Chinook Observer, 13 May 2013, https://chinookobserver.com/2013/05/13/a-name-for-every-place-around-pacific-county-from-a-to-z/.
BREAKERS: Ilwaco railroad mail and passenger stop north of the City of Long Beach, 1901-1920. J. M. Arthur built The Breakers, a four-story hotel (December 1900), on the sandridge overlooking the Pacific Ocean and named it for the excellent view of the breaking surf. A fire in 1904 destroyed the hotels original elegance. Arthur rebuilt the hotel but declining patronage eventually closed it in 1920. A post office was established at the hotel August 17, 1905; discontinued March 31, 1919. The Breaker condominium, a modern facility, now occupies the site.
“A Name for Every Place Around Pacific County, from A to Z.” Chinook Observer, 13 May 2013, https://chinookobserver.com/2013/05/13/a-name-for-every-place-around-pacific-county-from-a-to-z/.
Bedford, Washington
BEDFORD: A logging camp in the Willapa Hills in the 1920s. Located on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad route from Chehalis to Raymond. Bedford was one of the logging camps operated by the Raymond Lumber Company (Charles E. Lewis, president). Name derivation unknown.
“A Name for Every Place Around Pacific County, from A to Z.” Chinook Observer, 13 May 2013, https://chinookobserver.com/2013/05/13/a-name-for-every-place-around-pacific-county-from-a-to-z/.
BEDFORD: A logging camp in the Willapa Hills in the 1920s. Located on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad route from Chehalis to Raymond. Bedford was one of the logging camps operated by the Raymond Lumber Company (Charles E. Lewis, president). Name derivation unknown.
“A Name for Every Place Around Pacific County, from A to Z.” Chinook Observer, 13 May 2013, https://chinookobserver.com/2013/05/13/a-name-for-every-place-around-pacific-county-from-a-to-z/.
Balevile (historical), Washington
BALEVILLE: A rural farming and residential community located on Highway 105 and the north shore of the Willapa River across from South Bend. Elijah Pernich, an early resident on the south bend of the Willapa River, bought land on Mailboat Slough in 1871. Several real estate schemes subdivided the land around Mailboat Slough for boomtowns (1889-1891 and 1910) but each of the schemes failed and most of the subdivisions became additions to South Bend. North Pacific City (1889) and Willapacific (1910) were two of the most highly promoted schemes. In both cases, the land was low and swampy, sales were slow, the promised railroad terminals were never built, and the towns were ultimately a bust. Around 1891, Joseph Camenzind bought the Terminus Addition, which was on high ground, for his dairy herd and built a farmhouse and barn overlooking the Willapa River. Herbert Bale purchased land near the Camenzind farm in 1898.
Later, Herberts father Lee Bale, brother George T. Bale, and son Harry Bale purchased acreage in the same vicinity. In 1910 the Milwaukee railroad promised Herbert Bale a depot near his farm and named it Baleville. The railroad did not lay track past Raymond but the community was thereafter known as Baleville. The Bale and Camenzind farms and pastures still cover much of the landscape in Baleville, along with the South Bend sewage treatment plant and county airport facility. (See North Pacific City and Willapacific.)
“A Name for Every Place Around Pacific County, from A to Z.” Chinook Observer, 13 May 2013, https://chinookobserver.com/2013/05/13/a-name-for-every-place-around-pacific-county-from-a-to-z/.
BALEVILLE: A rural farming and residential community located on Highway 105 and the north shore of the Willapa River across from South Bend. Elijah Pernich, an early resident on the south bend of the Willapa River, bought land on Mailboat Slough in 1871. Several real estate schemes subdivided the land around Mailboat Slough for boomtowns (1889-1891 and 1910) but each of the schemes failed and most of the subdivisions became additions to South Bend. North Pacific City (1889) and Willapacific (1910) were two of the most highly promoted schemes. In both cases, the land was low and swampy, sales were slow, the promised railroad terminals were never built, and the towns were ultimately a bust. Around 1891, Joseph Camenzind bought the Terminus Addition, which was on high ground, for his dairy herd and built a farmhouse and barn overlooking the Willapa River. Herbert Bale purchased land near the Camenzind farm in 1898.
Later, Herberts father Lee Bale, brother George T. Bale, and son Harry Bale purchased acreage in the same vicinity. In 1910 the Milwaukee railroad promised Herbert Bale a depot near his farm and named it Baleville. The railroad did not lay track past Raymond but the community was thereafter known as Baleville. The Bale and Camenzind farms and pastures still cover much of the landscape in Baleville, along with the South Bend sewage treatment plant and county airport facility. (See North Pacific City and Willapacific.)
“A Name for Every Place Around Pacific County, from A to Z.” Chinook Observer, 13 May 2013, https://chinookobserver.com/2013/05/13/a-name-for-every-place-around-pacific-county-from-a-to-z/.
Brigham City (historical), Washington
BRIGHAM CITY: Abandoned settlement on Hawks Point near North River on Highway 105. Capt. David K. Weldon and wife came to Shoalwater Bay from San Francisco in 1852 and built a home and store on Weldons Point (Hawks Point). Weldon laid out a town around his store and called it Brigham City. The name was bestowed in honor of Weldons partner, another early bay visitor, Captain Brigham. In 1854 the state legislature created Chehalis County (renamed Grays Harbor County in 1915) and designated Weldons place in Bruceville as the first county seat. Weldon was elected county treasurer. The county seat designation was changed to the stockade at Bruceville (Bruceport) later in the year when it was discovered that Weldons place was not in Bruceville. Weldon had another partner, Chehalis County Commissioner George Watkins, who built the first sawmill on Shoalwater Bay, on the banks of North River and Salmon Creek, near Brigham City. The partners were soon arguing over the ownership of the mill and went to court. The lawsuit, a fever epidemic at the mill, and a freshet which nearly destroyed the mill, were the end of Brigham City. Weldon returned to San Francisco, Brigham was lost at sea bringing supplies to the settlement, Watkins moved to the Cascades where he was killed by Indians, and the remains of the mill were dismantled and sold. Brigham City disappeared from maps of the bay. John Hawks and family were the only settlers found living on the abandoned settlement site in 1858. Weldons Point is now known as Hawks Point.
“A Name for Every Place Around Pacific County, from A to Z.” Chinook Observer, 13 May 2013, https://chinookobserver.com/2013/05/13/a-name-for-every-place-around-pacific-county-from-a-to-z/.
BRIGHAM CITY: Abandoned settlement on Hawks Point near North River on Highway 105. Capt. David K. Weldon and wife came to Shoalwater Bay from San Francisco in 1852 and built a home and store on Weldons Point (Hawks Point). Weldon laid out a town around his store and called it Brigham City. The name was bestowed in honor of Weldons partner, another early bay visitor, Captain Brigham. In 1854 the state legislature created Chehalis County (renamed Grays Harbor County in 1915) and designated Weldons place in Bruceville as the first county seat. Weldon was elected county treasurer. The county seat designation was changed to the stockade at Bruceville (Bruceport) later in the year when it was discovered that Weldons place was not in Bruceville. Weldon had another partner, Chehalis County Commissioner George Watkins, who built the first sawmill on Shoalwater Bay, on the banks of North River and Salmon Creek, near Brigham City. The partners were soon arguing over the ownership of the mill and went to court. The lawsuit, a fever epidemic at the mill, and a freshet which nearly destroyed the mill, were the end of Brigham City. Weldon returned to San Francisco, Brigham was lost at sea bringing supplies to the settlement, Watkins moved to the Cascades where he was killed by Indians, and the remains of the mill were dismantled and sold. Brigham City disappeared from maps of the bay. John Hawks and family were the only settlers found living on the abandoned settlement site in 1858. Weldons Point is now known as Hawks Point.
“A Name for Every Place Around Pacific County, from A to Z.” Chinook Observer, 13 May 2013, https://chinookobserver.com/2013/05/13/a-name-for-every-place-around-pacific-county-from-a-to-z/.
Web Resources Related to Entries
Curated resources recently added to the enclopedia
The British Colonist 1858-1980 (UVic)
On December 11th, 1858, in the midst of a gold rush, a man with the improbable name Amor de Cosmos inked up an old hand press and launched a newspaper -- the British Colonist -- into the world. Published in Victoria, it became the leading paper in the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, and was the paper for the province of British Columbia until the emergence of Vancouver and competitors in the 1890s.
WEB LINK
On December 11th, 1858, in the midst of a gold rush, a man with the improbable name Amor de Cosmos inked up an old hand press and launched a newspaper -- the British Colonist -- into the world. Published in Victoria, it became the leading paper in the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, and was the paper for the province of British Columbia until the emergence of Vancouver and competitors in the 1890s.
WEB LINK
British Columbia Regional Digitized History (BCRDH)
The University of British Columbia's Okanagan Campus Library has cultivated regional partnerships with community memory institutions across B.C.'s southern interior and enhanced access to archival records and primary sources through the British Columbia Regional Digitized History (BCRDH) project. The project's primary purpose has been to connect UBCO Library's Special Collections and Archives program to community repositories in the pursuit of creating a shared digital portal compiling a wide range of local historical resources including photographs, oral histories, video, maps, and newspapers.
WEB LINK
The University of British Columbia's Okanagan Campus Library has cultivated regional partnerships with community memory institutions across B.C.'s southern interior and enhanced access to archival records and primary sources through the British Columbia Regional Digitized History (BCRDH) project. The project's primary purpose has been to connect UBCO Library's Special Collections and Archives program to community repositories in the pursuit of creating a shared digital portal compiling a wide range of local historical resources including photographs, oral histories, video, maps, and newspapers.
WEB LINK
Kirkland Heritage Society
The Kirkland Heritage Society’s mission is to identify historic resources; to encourage their preservation; to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret the history and heritage of Kirkland and its people; and to promote public involvement in and appreciation of its heritage and cultures.
WEB LINK
The Kirkland Heritage Society’s mission is to identify historic resources; to encourage their preservation; to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret the history and heritage of Kirkland and its people; and to promote public involvement in and appreciation of its heritage and cultures.
WEB LINK
West Vancouver Archives and Collections
The West Vancouver Archives collects, preserves, and provides meaningful access to the records that tell the story of West Vancouver.
WEB LINK
The West Vancouver Archives collects, preserves, and provides meaningful access to the records that tell the story of West Vancouver.
WEB LINK
360 Riot Walk - Vancouver, British Columbia
360 Riot Walk is an interactive walking tour of the 1907 Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver, the ancestral territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tseil-Waututh people. It utilizes 360 video technology to trace the history and route of the mob that attacked the Chinese Canadian and Japanese Canadian communities following the demonstration and parade organized by the Asiatic Exclusion League in Vancouver. Participants are brought into the social and political environment of the time where racialized communities were targeted through legislated as well as physical acts of exclusion and violence. The soundtrack is available in four languages of the local residents of the period: English, Cantonese, Japanese and Punjabi.
WEB LINK
360 Riot Walk is an interactive walking tour of the 1907 Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver, the ancestral territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tseil-Waututh people. It utilizes 360 video technology to trace the history and route of the mob that attacked the Chinese Canadian and Japanese Canadian communities following the demonstration and parade organized by the Asiatic Exclusion League in Vancouver. Participants are brought into the social and political environment of the time where racialized communities were targeted through legislated as well as physical acts of exclusion and violence. The soundtrack is available in four languages of the local residents of the period: English, Cantonese, Japanese and Punjabi.
WEB LINK
City of Vancouver Archives' database
Welcome to the City of Vancouver Archives' database, the system for searching descriptions of the Archives’ holdings. You can view records by visiting the Archives in person; digitized or born-digital material, if available, may be viewed and downloaded directly from the database.
WEB LINK
Welcome to the City of Vancouver Archives' database, the system for searching descriptions of the Archives’ holdings. You can view records by visiting the Archives in person; digitized or born-digital material, if available, may be viewed and downloaded directly from the database.
WEB LINK
Vancouver Island Local History Society
Vancouver Island Local History Society’s Mission: a) To promote, encourage, and engage the study of local and regional history within the communities of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. b) To develop and support local history initiatives that take a critical and exploratory approach to Indigenous and non-Indigenous relations. c) To develop and support projects that are inclusive, diverse, and representative of communities in the past and present. d) To act as a facilitator of local efforts that build relationships between organizations and communities and situate history as a foundational or key element. Includes a wiki type resource of transcribed documents from the Point Ellice House & Museum collection.
WEB LINK
Vancouver Island Local History Society’s Mission: a) To promote, encourage, and engage the study of local and regional history within the communities of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. b) To develop and support local history initiatives that take a critical and exploratory approach to Indigenous and non-Indigenous relations. c) To develop and support projects that are inclusive, diverse, and representative of communities in the past and present. d) To act as a facilitator of local efforts that build relationships between organizations and communities and situate history as a foundational or key element. Includes a wiki type resource of transcribed documents from the Point Ellice House & Museum collection.
WEB LINK
Japanese American Museum of Oregon
Formerly known as the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, the Japanese American Museum of Oregon at Naito Center is a venue for culture and research as well as an invaluable resource for exploring Nikkei experiences and their role in Oregon’s multicultural community. Our permanent exhibit space highlights Issei immigration and early life in Oregon, Nihonmachi (Japantown), life after Executive Order 9066 (including the Portland Assembly Center), and contemporary Nikkei life.
WEB LINK
Formerly known as the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, the Japanese American Museum of Oregon at Naito Center is a venue for culture and research as well as an invaluable resource for exploring Nikkei experiences and their role in Oregon’s multicultural community. Our permanent exhibit space highlights Issei immigration and early life in Oregon, Nihonmachi (Japantown), life after Executive Order 9066 (including the Portland Assembly Center), and contemporary Nikkei life.
WEB LINK
Black Washington
Black Washington – the first app and educational platform dedicated to exploring the remarkable statewide stories and rich cultural legacy of Washington State’s Black community. Black Washington is an award-winning app and educational platform that explores the vibrant statewide history of Black Washingtonians through captivating stories, influential icons, and significant landmarks. Black Washington features over 60 entries, with plans for adding more over time. Each entry provides a glimpse into people, places, and moments that shaped Black history across the state and provides links to resources where users can explore this history in more detail. Engaging multimedia elements such as photographs, ephemera, maps, music, videos, essays, and oral histories bring the entries to life. In addition, educators will have access to curriculum materials, allowing them to integrate the app into their classrooms. WSHS encourages people across Washington to contribute their Black history stories, landmarks, and icons, f
WEB LINK
Black Washington – the first app and educational platform dedicated to exploring the remarkable statewide stories and rich cultural legacy of Washington State’s Black community. Black Washington is an award-winning app and educational platform that explores the vibrant statewide history of Black Washingtonians through captivating stories, influential icons, and significant landmarks. Black Washington features over 60 entries, with plans for adding more over time. Each entry provides a glimpse into people, places, and moments that shaped Black history across the state and provides links to resources where users can explore this history in more detail. Engaging multimedia elements such as photographs, ephemera, maps, music, videos, essays, and oral histories bring the entries to life. In addition, educators will have access to curriculum materials, allowing them to integrate the app into their classrooms. WSHS encourages people across Washington to contribute their Black history stories, landmarks, and icons, f
WEB LINK
Coast Salish Place Names of the San Juan Islands
An ongoing project of a present day look at historic Coast Salish locations throughout the San Juan Islands and Strait of Georgia compiled by the Samish Indian Nation
WEB LINK
An ongoing project of a present day look at historic Coast Salish locations throughout the San Juan Islands and Strait of Georgia compiled by the Samish Indian Nation
WEB LINKCatalog of British Columbiana and Pacific Northwest Americana
Encyclopedia Cascadia Catalog contains book titles of mostly non-fiction Pacific Northwest Coast of North America Titles (primarially British Columbia, Idaho, Oregon and Washington State) in an easy-to-understand title catalog.
If you see a link with this badge ONLINE Circulation it means that there is an online institution that provides free access to that title. In some cases there may be more than one institution hosting the title digitally.
Cohassett Beach chronicles World War II in the Pacific Northwest by Kathy Hogan, Klancy Clark De Nevers, Lucy Hart
In 1940, the Grays Harbor Post in Aberdeen, Washington, introduced its readers to "The Kitchen Critic," a new column chronicling life in nearby Cohassett Beach. Within a year the U.S. was at war, and columnist Kathy Hogan's weekly dispatches turned to soldiers, rationing, and the barbed wire that lined the sand dunes around her weathered cottage. 50 years later, Kathy Hogan's writings provide a window onto how one Pacific Northwest community responded to World War II. Cohassett Beach Chronicles, a collection of Hogan's columns from the war years, offers a remarkable social history of the war at home. The attack on Pearl Harbor brought U.S. troops to Cohassett Beach and to towns up and down the West Coast. With wit and perception, Hogan writes of civilians valiantly coping with this friendly occupation and wartime scarcity. Her neighbors — loggers, commercial fishermen, Finnish cranberry farmers — learn to live with blackouts, blimps, and a ban on beachcombing. Hogan's weekly descriptions of life on the home front capture America's wartime mood. Together, her columns document the war's tremendous impact at home, from the internment of Japanese Americans and the spread of government regulations to the changing role of women. They also reveal that in spite of the war effort life, in many ways, continued as it always had. There was still time to pick blackberries, gossip at the local tavern, and attend the occasional Friday night dance. As children, the editors spent summers in the Cohassett Beach cottages that still, in the late 1940s, bore scars of the Army's occupation.
xxx, 290 pages : illustrations, maps ; 27 cm
Desiderata
The journals of Lewis and Clark by Meriwether Lewis , William Clark , Frank Bergon
In 1803, when the United States purchased Louisiana from France, the great expanse of this new American territory was a blank-not only on the map but in our knowledge. President Thomas Jefferson keenly understood that the course of the nation's destiny lay westward and that a national "Voyage of Discovery" must be mounted to determine the nature and accessibility of the frontier. He commissioned his young secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to lead an intelligence-gathering expedition from the Missouri River to the northern Pacific coast and back. From 1804 to 1806, Lewis, accompanied by co-captain William Clark, the Shoshone guide Sacajawea, and thirty-two men, made the first trek across the Louisiana Purchase, mapping the rivers as he went, tracing the principal waterways to the sea, and establishing the American claim to the territories of Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Together the captains kept a journal, a richly detailed record of the flora and fauna they sighted, the Indian tribes they encountered, and the awe-inspiring landscape they traversed, from their base camp near present-day St. Louis to the mouth of the Columbia River. In keeping this record they made an incomparable contribution to the literature of exploration and the writing of natural history. With 2003 marking the beginning of the Lewis and Clark expedition bicentennial celebration, this journal is now reissued in a beautiful new Penguin Classics package
xlvi, 505 pages : illustrations, maps ; 20 cm
Non-circulating [ 1 ]
Centennial history of Salmon Arm by Ernest Doe
Ernest Doe’s Centennial History of Salmon Arm serves as the foundational civic chronicle documenting the transition of the Salmon River valley and Shuswap Lake shorelines from rural pre-emption tracts into an incorporated municipal district and city. Doe traces how late nineteenth-century homesteading corridors, early wagon roads, and agricultural clearings were established directly across the ancestral lands and seasonal gathering domains of the Secwépemc (Shuswap) people. The narrative details the crucial logistics of frontier community building, illustrating how the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885 catalyzed land settlement, commercial fruit orchard development, and civic governance, leading to the district municipality's formal incorporation in 1905 and subsequent municipal evolution. Drawing extensively upon municipal ledgers, early council minutes, and pioneer oral accounts, the work records the civic institutions, church bodies, and school districts that structured settler society in the interior lake country.
298 pages : illustrations, portraits, maps ; 23 cm
Desiderata
Photographic memory Salmon Arm's past in essays and pictures by Denis Marshall
Edited by Denis Marshall, Photographic Memory: Salmon Arm’s Past in Essays and Pictures synthesizes archival photography from the R.J. Haney Heritage Village collections with thematic essays detailing the social, commercial, and structural evolution of Salmon Arm throughout the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The work examines how early mercantile storefronts along Front Street and Alexander Avenue, community halls, and agricultural packing houses were built up along the southern shores of Shuswap Lake, an area long utilized by the Secwépemc for seasonal root digging and salmon harvesting. Marshall documents the transition from subsistence homesteading to an organized commercial fruit-growing and lumbering economy, tracing how local transportation networks adapted from lake steamers to rail corridors and modern highway links. Ultimately, the collection provides a vital spatial and visual record of civic expansion, showing how architectural vernacular and commercial hubs shaped the townscape.
144 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 28 cm
Desiderata
The story of Sidney Island's three names by Jim McDowell
Jim McDowell’s The Story of Sidney Island's Three Names traces the cartographic, linguistic, and political evolution of a prominent landform in the southern Gulf Islands by examining the layered origins of its designations. The text illustrates how corporate traders and imperial hydrographers progressively superimposed colonial designations—first as "Sallas Island" under the Hudson's Bay Company and subsequently as "Sidney Island" via British Admiralty surveys—directly over the ancestral W̱SÁNEĆ (Saanich) territory and ancient harvesting shores of SḰŦÁMEN (Sktamaen). McDowell details the changing logistics of island access and resource extraction, showing how an Indigenous marine domain defined by reef net fisheries and seasonal harvesting was re-engineered through colonial property surveys to facilitate settler pre-emptions, steam navigation in Haro Strait, and industrial brick-making operations at Sidney Spit. Ultimately, this toponymic chronicle demonstrates how successive colonial renamings functioned as deliberate instruments of spatial control across the Salish Sea, superimposing imperial administrative authority onto an enduring Indigenous archipelago.
65 pages : illustrations (some color), maps (some color) ; 28 cm
Desiderata
Columbia County, Oregon by Columbia County Historical Society
The Columbia County Historical Society’s Columbia County, Oregon provides an archival photographic and spatial record of the lower Columbia River shorelines and interior Nehalem Valley timberlands. The narrative documents how nineteenth-century logging camps, river landings, and agricultural clearings were established across lands traditionally stewarded by the Multnomah and Clatskanie Chinookan peoples. The volume details the rise of the historic river ports of Saint Helens, Columbia City, Prescott, Rainier, and Goble, examining their transition from steamship fuel docks into industrialized sawmill and papermaking centers. Detailed photo essays record early railroad corridors, school districts, and community hubs spanning Scappoose, Warren, Deer Island, Yankton, Apiary, and the interior logging communities of Vernonia and Mist.
128 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 24 cm
Desiderata
A history of the Columbia County courthouse by Pearl M. Becker
Pearl M. Becker’s A History of the Columbia County Courthouse chronicles the contentious political and civic struggles that determined the seat of government on the lower Columbia River. Becker traces the early administrative formation of the county, detailing the heated nineteenth-century county seat rivalry between the riverfront rivals of Saint Helens, Columbia City, and Rainier. The text documents the construction of the landmark 1893 stone and Italianate courthouse overlooking the Saint Helens waterfront, analyzing how municipal governance, road surveying, and tax administration were orchestrated from the building. Becker incorporates early commissioners' journals and court records, preserving the administrative histories of surrounding rural precincts including Scappoose, Warren, McNulty, Trenholm, and Bachelor Flat.
44 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 23 cm
Desiderata
Mrs. Butler's 1853 diary of Columbia County, Oregon by Ruth Stoller, Ann Butler
Transcribed and contextualized by Ruth Stoller, Mrs. Butler's 1853 Diary of Columbia County, Oregon provides an early firsthand pioneer record of settler arrival and homestead survival along the sloughs of the lower Columbia. Ann Butler’s daily entries chronicle her family’s donation land claim located on the fertile alluvial bottomlands of Scappoose Plains, detailing how immigrant cabins and livestock pastures were superimposed onto lands long stewarded by the Multnomah people. The narrative captures the arduous logistics of clearing thick timber, hand-rowing skiffs across Scappoose Bay to reach river steamers at Saint Helens, and establishing basic family networks with neighboring settlers at Warren, Chapman Landing, and South Scappoose. Stoller’s accompanying historical notes provide vital cadastral and spatial context documenting the pioneer transition of the region.
52 pages : illustrations, map ; 22 cm
Desiderata
Logging the Nehalem railroads, camps, and sawmills of the Upper Nehalem Valley by M. J. Nelson
M. J. Nelson’s Logging the Nehalem: Railroads, Camps, and Sawmills of the Upper Nehalem Valley documents the large-scale industrial lumber boom that reshaped the dense fir and cedar watersheds of western Columbia County. Nelson details the establishment of the Oregon-American Lumber Company in Vernonia, which constructed the world’s largest electric-powered cedar and fir sawmill, turning the town into a thriving interior company city. The text details the expansion of extensive logging railroads—including lines operated by the Portland, Astoria & Pacific and the United Railways—which branched outward through deep canyons to service timber camps at Keasey, Birkenfeld, Mist, Pittsburg, and Treharne. Nelson illustrates how heavy steam yarders, Shay locomotives, and high-lead rigging extracted vast timber tracts, while chronicling the daily social rhythms and labor conditions of loggers in remote rail-car camps.
192 pages : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm
Desiderata
The lower Columbia a history of Clatskanie and its people by Irene L. Barr, Clatskanie Historical Society
Irene L. Barr’s The Lower Columbia: A History of Clatskanie and Its People stands as the definitive local chronicle of the riverine lowlands and dikes of northwestern Columbia County. Barr chronicles how early nineteenth-century settlers entered the ancestral territory of the Tlatskanai (Clatskanie) people, establishing donation land claims along the tidal sloughs where the Clatskanie River enters the Columbia. The narrative traces the monumental cooperative labor required to construct protective earthen dikes and drainage tide gates, which transformed flood-prone marshlands into rich agricultural and peppermint-producing acreage across Marshland, Quincy, and Mayger. The volume details the maritime trade of pioneer steamships, the industrial operations of riverfront shingle mills, the development of Clatskanie Heights and Delena, and the commercial evolution of the City of Clatskanie.
310 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 29 cm
Desiderata