Catalog of British Columbiana and Pacific Northwest Americana

Capturing stories from Seattle newspapers and other sources, this narrative history traces a turbulent decade that scarred a generation and defined years of policy and culture—from the city’s real estate depression, savings and loan failures, and waterfront Hooverville, to its political fights over unemployment assistance, intense business rivalries, union growth, and more.

260 pages, illustrations, notes, bibliography

A relentless advocate for Native rights, Ramona Bennett Bill has been involved in the battles waged by the Puyallup and other Northwest tribes around fishing rights, land rights, health, and education for over six decades. This invaluable firsthand account includes stories of the takeover of Fort Lawton as well as events from major Red Power struggles, including Alcatraz, Wounded Knee, and the Trail of Broken Treaties. She shares her experiences at the Puyallup fishing camp established during the Fish War of the 1960s and 1970s, which led to the federal intervention that eventually resulted in the Boldt Decision. She also covers the 1976 occupation of a state-run facility on reservation land and the lobbying that led to the property's return to the tribe. Bennett Bill served for nearly a dozen years as a Puyallup Tribal Council member and ten as chairwoman, organizing social welfare, education, and enrollment initiatives and championing Native religious freedom. Her advocacy for Native children, especially those who had been adopted out of their community, helped pave the way for the Indian Child Welfare Act. Now in her mid-eighties, she continues to organize for Native rights and environmental justice. The book is full of vivid stories of her fearless testimony in courtrooms and press conferences on issues affecting Indian Country, and of the many friends and comrades she made along the way.

Ancient and carbon-rich, old-growth forests play an irreplaceable role in the environment. Their complex ecosystems clean the air, purify the water, cool the planet, and teem with life. In a time of climate catastrophe, old-growth and other natural forests face existential threats caused by humans—and their survival is crucial to ours. In a bicoastal journey, environmental journalist Lynda V. Mapes connects the present and future of Pacific Northwest forests to the hard-logged legacy forests of the northeastern United States. Beginning in Oregon and Washington, where old growth supports, and is supported by, the region’s salmon, we meet Jerry Franklin, who led scientists in recognizing and studying the distinctiveness of these majestic spaces. From there, we journey to Vancouver Island, where Indigenous activists and scientists strive to preserve the health of Nuu-chah-nulth traditional homelands amid continued clearcutting. On the East Coast, we see the corduroy patterns of lands that have been logged for generations, leaving industrial carnage along formerly life-filled waterways. Mapes interviews Penobscot elders and scientists whose new practices are restoring the fish runs, as well as loggers using new technologies to harvest more sustainably. With vibrant storytelling supported by science and traditional ecological knowledge, Mapes invites readers to understand the world where trees are kin, not commodities. The Trees Are Speaking is essential reading for those with a deep interest in environmental stewardship, Indigenous land rights, and the urgent challenges posed by climate change.

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The Northwest Coast of North America is a treacherous place. Unforgiving coastlines, powerful currents, unpredictable weather, and features such as the notorious Columbia River bar have resulted in more than two thousand shipwrecks, earning the coastal areas of Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver Island the moniker “Graveyard of the Pacific.” Beginning with a Spanish galleon that came ashore in northern Oregon in 1693 and continuing into the recent past, Wrecked includes stories of many vessels that met their fate along the rugged coast and the meanings made of these events by both Indigenous and settler survivors and observers. Commemorated in museums, historical markers, folklore, place-names, and the remains of the ships themselves, the shipwrecks have created a rich archive. Whether in the form of a fur-trading schooner that was destroyed in 1811, a passenger liner lost in 1906, or an almost-empty tanker broken on the shore in 1999, shipwrecks on the Northwest Coast opens up conversations about colonialism and Indigenous persistence. Thrush’s retelling of shipwreck tales highlights the ways in which the three central myths of settler colonialism—the disappearance of Indigenous people, the control of an endlessly abundant nature, and the idea that the past would stay past—proved to be untrue. As a critical cultural history of this iconic element of the region, Wrecked demonstrates how the history of shipwrecks reveals the fraught and unfinished business of colonization on the Northwest Coast.

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One of America's most walkable cities, Seattle rewards urban trekkers with expansive scenery and architectural and historical riches. The second edition of this acclaimed guidebook offers eithteen walks chosen for interest and easy accessibility. Williams's compelling stories bring the city to life, revealing often-overlooked details of Seattle's past and present.

304 Pages, 5.5 x 7.5 in, 54 color illus., 33 b&w illus., 19 maps

In the early decades of the twentieth century, Grays Harbor was the Lumber Capital of the World. While thousands of lumber and maritime workers fought for higher wages and decent conditions, employers unified to protect their interests, often through violent and corrupt means. They spied on unionists, expelled them from their own towns, vilified them in the press, and physically assaulted labor activists. But with deep roots in their communities, radical workers continued to meet in their halls and immigrant neighborhoods—and to influence the wider labor movement well into the 1930s. In Red Harbor, Aaron Goings resurrects the forgotten history of lumber workers in a bastion of labor radicalism, examining the conflict as workers faced down an alliance of employers, police, and violent anti-radicals, including the Ku Klux Klan. But he goes beyond these clashes to illuminate the vital roles of families, immigrants, and working-class women in the labor movement, revealing how people fought not only for labor rights but also for the good of their communities. The Industrial Workers of the World (or Wobblies) in particular adopted views and tactics from socialist Finnish immigrants while authoring programs responsive to local needs and supported by the people—radical and otherwise. Vivid and revealing, Red Harbor shines a light on lumber workers and the pursuit of justice in the Pacific Northwest.

360 Pages, 6 x 9 in, 19 b&w illus

Nestled against the Cascade Mountains, former lumber town Bend, Oregon, entices residents who long to live in a wonderland of sagebrush and forests. But like so many other communities across the West, Bend has too few homes for everyone clambering for access. In High Desert, Higher Costs, Jonathan Bach takes a closer look at the housing crisis in this mid-sized city that is both the population center for rural Central Oregon and a major recreation area. Bach uses Bend as a lens into the growing housing crisis in the region, where residents and tourists alike prize access to outdoor recreation, and housing issues have been brewing for decades. Like other cities in Montana, Idaho, and Colorado, Bend serves as a gateway to popular natural areas while also experiencing a limited amount of new housing, increasing populations, amenity migrants in the age of remote work, depressed or stagnating wages, and a widening gulf between homeowners and renters. High Desert, Higher Costs introduces us to regular people—from the former political candidate evicted during COVID-19 to the nonprofit worker hoping to build apartments for the houseless—who struggle to call Bend home. Bach explores the causes of these issues and the political, legal, economic, and cultural factors influencing them, and also offers potential solutions for current and future residents to build their lives now, and in the years to come, in Bend and throughout the American West.

6x9 inches, 200 pages, 10 black-and-white photos

First Fruits offers a fascinating look at the lives of Pacific Coast horticulturists Henderson, Jonathan, and Seth Lewelling. Traveling across the Overland Trail—Henderson to Oregon in 1847, with a wagonload of fruit trees, and Seth and John to California three years later—the brothers would establish themselves as pioneers in the West’s growing fruit industry. By recounting how Henderson planted the first orchard of grafted fruit trees in Oregon, how Seth originated the Black Republican and Bing cherries, and how John led the development of the Napa Valley wine industry, First Fruits preserves the Lewellings’ place in history. However, the Lewellings were not simply planters, grafters, and breeders. They were also adventurers, colonists, gold seekers, reformists, and explorers—experiencing firsthand the westward expansion of the nation. Their stories provide a unique glimpse into the social, economic, and political history of the day. From their Quaker upbringing in North Carolina and Indiana to Henderson’s attempt to start a utopian colony in Honduras, John’s efforts to grow the Grange in California, and Seth’s contribution to democratic reforms in Oregon, the Lewellings’ legacy extends far beyond their agricultural endeavors. In the first biography to reclaim the brothers’ histories, Linda Ziedrich splendidly captures their dedicated support of one another and their communities, their contributions to the development of the modern fruit industry, and their lasting influence on the cultivation of fruits synonymous with the Pacific Coast region.

304 pages : b&w photos, 6 maps, 4 family trees

Few places could hope to rival the rich history of Washington's San Juan Island. From the famed Pig War to the secretive "kingdom" at Roche Harbor, the island has played host to countless remarkable stories. Like any other historical place, however, there are some tales that the textbooks tend to omit; tales like the terrifying "Cry Baby House," or the subterranean sasquatch said to stalk the woods around Cady Mountain. With the aid of articles, first-hand accounts, and period photographs, Mysterious San Juan Island attempts to document this strange side of San Juan history-and to ensure that the island's campfire stories remain suitably spooky for years to come.

"From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Prairie Fires comes a terrifying true-crime history of serial killers in the Pacific Northwest and beyond-a gripping investigation of how a new strain of psychopath emerged out of a toxic landscape of deadly industrial violence Caroline Fraser grew up in the shadow of Ted Bundy, the most notorious serial murderer of women in American history, surrounded by his hunting grounds and mountain body dumps, in the brooding landscape of the Pacific Northwest. But in the 1970s and '80s, Bundy was just one perpetrator amid an uncanny explosion of serial rape and murder across the region. Why so many? Why so weirdly and nightmarishly gruesome? Why the senseless rise and then sudden fall of an epidemic of serial killing? As Murderland indelibly maps the lives and careers of Bundy and his infamous peers in mayhem-the Green River Killer, the I-5 Killer, the Night Stalker, the Hillside Strangler, even Charles Manson-Fraser's Northwestern death trip begins to uncover a deeper mystery and an overlapping pattern of environmental destruction. At ground zero in Ted Bundy's Tacoma stood one of the most poisonous lead, copper, and arsenic smelters in the world, but it was hardly unique in the West. As Fraser's investigation inexorably proceeds, evidence mounts that the plumes of these smelters not only sickened and blighted millions of lives but also warped young minds, including some who grew up to become serial killers. A propulsive nonfiction thriller, Murderland transcends true-crime voyeurism and noir mythology, taking readers on a profound quest into the dark heart of the real American berserk"-- Provided by publisher

466 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps (some color) ; 25 cm

Published by the Office of the Secretary of State's Legacy Washington program, New Land: Southeast Asian Refugees Finding Home in Washington chronicles the profound humanitarian effort and individual resilience surrounding the resettlement of Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian refugees in the Pacific Northwest following the 1975 fall of Saigon. Drawing on extensive oral histories and archival research, authors John C. Hughes and Edward Echtle trace how thousands of displaced families rebuilt their lives from the ground up, establishing enduring cultural, economic, and civic roots across the state. A keen insight drawn from the book is how Washington's successful integration of these communities—spearheaded by pioneering political leadership under figures like Governor Dan Evans—fundamentally transformed the state's cultural landscape. By shifting the historical perspective away from distant geopolitical conflict to focus on grassroots local welcome, the book highlights how regional humanitarian action successfully countered national xenophobia and redefined the Pacific Northwest as a vibrant, multicultural diaspora.

327 pages, 14 unnumbered pages : illustrations, portraits ; 26 cm.

"This uniquely west-coast take on Canada's origin story focuses on a long-forgotten event that nearly led to British Columbia becoming part of the United States. Long before a certain American president took to social media to express his desire to make Canada the fifty-first state, the west coast of what is today called British Columbia found itself in the crosshairs of two imperial powers, faced with the very real possibility of being ceded to the United States. In the summer of 1789, a political and trade dispute between the Nuu-chah-nulth Nation, imperial Spain, Great Britain, and the USA converged in Nootka Sound, off Vancouver Island. If not for the intervention the King George's Sound Trading Company, Vancouver Island and British Columbia's fate could have turned out very differently, and the concept of a Canada that extended from Atlantic to Pacific would have been finished before it even began. With clear, engaging prose, author Graeme Menzies lays out the setting, intrigue, and dynamic cast of characters that ultimately determined Canada's geographical fate. Released at a time when imperialism, sovereignty, and national identity are more relevant than ever, this book asks us to ponder the events that shaped a nation and established a relationship between neighbouring countries that has once again become precarious."-- Provided by publisher

296 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm

"With evidence of human habitation dating back fifteen thousand years to the last ice age, British Columbia boasts a fascinating array of famous and lesser-known archaeological sites. Across the province, archaeologists are changing how archaeology is practised by working in partnership with Indigenous and other descendant communities to document important cultural sites. In this up-to-date overview, professional archaeologist Robert Muckle visits sites around the province to explain what archaeology is (and isn’t), how research is undertaken in this province, and what it contributes to our broader understanding of human history. Once upon This Land introduces readers to some of the most notable archaeological investigations, including footprints left in mud on Calvert Island thirteen thousand years ago, the remains of a large First Nations village near Lillooet, and the body of a man frozen in ice for centuries in the Tatshenshini region. He also investigates more recent phenomena, such as a fur-trade fort, remains of the gold rush, a World War I internment camp near Fernie, a Japanese logging camp in North Vancouver, shipwrecks, airplane crashes, and even the remnants of COVID-19 left behind in urban landfills."-- Provided by publisher

xii, 205 pages cm

"Early in 1892, more than seventeen Haida artists were commissioned to carve a model of their village of Skidegate on Haida Gwaii. The model, displayed at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, is the only North American example of an aboriginal village systematically documented by its own nineteenth-century residents. It originally featured twenty-nine house and forty-three totem pole models; after the exposition, the model was dispersed and many pieces were lost over time. However, ten house and twenty-two totem pole models remain in Chicago in the collection of the Field Museum of Natural History, and two additional model houses with seven totem poles have been located in other collections. In this highly collaborative research project, Wright combines interviews with members of the Skidegate community today with close study of the extant parts of the model along with a review of the documentation collected in 1892 to bring both the model and the village and community it documents into full view. The community engaged research and resulting book offers valuable insights into Northwest Coast art history and will be a significant cultural resource for the Haida Nation"-- Provided by publisher

xvii, 201 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), color map ; 27 x 27 cm.

A keystone species is an organism that defines and supports an entire ecosystem, filling a vital ecological niche. Without these species, ecosystems would be radically altered or even collapse. This full-color, pocket-sized field guide by best-selling naturalist Collin Varner highlights fifty keystone birds, mammals, amphibians, insects, fish, shellfish, and mollusks found across the Pacific Northwest bioregion. Each entry features clear photography, etymology, descriptions, habitat information, and risks and warnings. This convenient and easy-to-use reference is perfect for walkers, hikers, campers, beachcombers, sailors, paddlers, and whale watchers and important for raising awareness of the need to conserve and protect these vital species. -- back cover

123 pages : color illustrations, color map ; 18 cm

A keystone species is an organism that defines and supports an entire ecosystem, filling a vital ecological niche. Without these species, ecosystems would be radically altered or even collapse. This full-color, pocket-sized field guide by best-selling naturalist Collin Varner highlights fifty keystone trees, flowering plants, fruit-bearing plants, marine plants, and fungi found across the Pacific Northwest bioregion. Each entry features clear photography, etymology, descriptions, habitat information, and risks and warnings. This convenient and easy-to-use reference is perfect for walkers, hikers, campers, and beachcombers and important for raising awareness of the need to conserve and protect these vital species. -- back cover

123 pages : color illustrations, color map ; 18 cm

"In the era of the First World War and its aftermath, the quest to identify, restrict, and punish internal enemy "others," combined with eugenic thinking, severely curtailed civil liberties for many people in Oregon and the nation. In Oregon's Others, Kimberly Jensen analyzes the processes that shaped the growing surveillance state of the era and the compelling personal stories that tell its history. The exclusionary and invasive practices ranged from multiple wartime registrations for women and the registration of "enemy aliens" to the incarceration of women with sexually transmitted diseases, the use of deportations, and forced sterilization at the Oregon State Hospital and other institutions. But some Oregonians resisted the restrictions and challenges to their civil liberties. Their fierce determination to maintain their rights and freedoms fueled movements for human rights, social justice, and dissent that still reverberate today. Oregon's Others examines the collision of civil liberties and persecution through the lens of gender, gender identity and presentation, ability, race, ethnicity, and class"-- Provided by publisher

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In 1974, Judge George Boldt issued a ruling that affirmed the fishing rights and tribal sovereignty of Native nations in Washington State. The Boldt Decision transformed Indigenous law and resource management across the United States and beyond. Like Brown v. Board of Education, the case also brought about far-reaching societal changes, reinforcing tribal sovereignty and remedying decades of injustice. Legal historian and tribal advocate Charles Wilkinson tells the dramatic story of the Boldt Decision against the backdrop of salmon's central place in the cultures and economies of the Pacific Northwest. In the 1960s, Native people reasserted their fishing rights as delineated in nineteenth-century treaties. In response, state officials worked with non-Indian commercial and sport fishing interests to forcefully--and often violently--oppose Native actions. These fish wars spurred twenty tribes and the US government to file suit in federal court. Moved by the testimony of tribal leaders and other experts, Boldt pointedly waited until Lincoln's birthday to hand down a decision recognizing the tribes right to half of the state's fish. The case's long aftermath led from the Supreme Court's affirmation of Boldt's opinion to collaborative management of the harvest of salmon and other marine resources

xvi, 350 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

An American farmer shoots an English pig, sparking a war over an international boundary. Explore the disputed islands through the ordinary lives of the multi-ethnic, polyglot communities that lived in the San Juans during this conflict: how these islanders make their homes, work and socialize, and resolve their differences. (from the back cover)

475 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm

"A Forest of Your Own is based on the principle of ecological forestry-recognizing that a forest is not a "wood factory," but rather a whole system that has been entrusted to human stewards. In this comprehensive how-to manual, authors Kirk Hanson and Seth Zuckerman explore all aspects of forest ownership-everything from how to evaluate a piece of land before you buy it through creating-and implementing--long-term management plans that may include establishing and protecting new stands of trees, harvesting mushrooms and medicinal plants as well as wood, and protecting your forests far into the future"-- Provided by publisher

270 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 23 cm

A River Captured explores the controversial history of the Columbia River Treaty and its impact on the ecosystems, Indigenous peoples, contemporary culture, cross-border politics and recent history of the Pacific Northwest. The Columbia River Basin is a vast region in North America, primarily located in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and parts of Canada. It covers portions of seven U.S. states: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, and Utah, as well as the Canadian province of British Columbia. The basin is defined by the watershed of the Columbia River and its tributaries, making it one of the largest river basins in North America. Long lauded as a model of international co-operation, the Columbia River Treaty governs the storage and management of the waters of the upper Columbia River basin, a region rich in water resources and with a natural geography well suited to hydroelectric megaprojects. The Treaty also displaced more than 2,000 residents of over a dozen communities, flooded and destroyed archaeological sites, and upended once-healthy fisheries. Paying special attention to First Nations history, ecology, economics, politics, and Canada–US relations, this investigative work weaves from the present day to the past and back again in an engaging and unflinching examination of how and why Canada decided to sell water storage rights to American interests. With one of the Treaty’s provisions set to change in 2024 and termination of the treaty requiring a 10-year notice period, this updated edition of A River Captured looks at the destructive mistakes of our collective past in order to save us from an even more difficult future

341 pages : illustrations, maps ; 20 cm

"A century ago, Seattle was held hostage by its own waterfront. Competing railroad companies built a chaotic sprawl of rail lines, docks, and warehouses along the shoreline of Elliott Bay, creating conditions so bad that visionary civic planner Virgil Bogue called the harbor side "a blot on the city and a menace to the lives of its people." After years of bickering and lawsuits, the 1911 Port District Act was passed, making the Port of Seattle the first public port formed under legislation. The new public seaport briefly became the second busiest in the country during World War I. In the 1940s the Port of Seattle agreed to provide civilian air services by building Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, which today serves millions of passengers per year. This new edition covers the innovative Northwest Seaport Alliance, created in 2015 with the Port of Tacoma to jointly operate commercial shipping out of two harbors; the rise of cruise ship travel and the accompanying economic boom; Sea-Tac’s responses to 9/11 and the Covid-19 pandemic; and the airport’s growth and new International Arrivals Facility. Revised and updated, this new edition brings the story of the Port of Seattle up to the present and marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of Seattle’s bustling international airport." -- Provided by publisher

168 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), maps ; 27 cm

Few would dispute that these days Vancouver is a prime craft beer destination, with over 70 breweries in the greater Vancouver area and 35+ in Vancouver proper. Beer has shaped the city’s culture, and in turn, Vancouver’s idiosyncratic identity has also shaped its craft beer. But how did it all begin? In this rigorously researched deep dive into the history of craft beer in Vancouver, beer historian and enthusiast Noëlle Phillips follows independent brewing from the city’s inception in 1886 to the onset of prohibition in 1917 and, hopping over the “big beer” period of 1920–1980, delves into the explosion of micro, small-batch and craft breweries that dot the city’s neighbourhoods today. She traces the smaller, lesser-known breweries, brewers, and owners through archival materials, newspaper accounts, and personal interviews. Along the way she uncovers stories and details that have been largely unknown even to local beer writers and aficionados. Illustrated with photos, original newspaper clippings, and maps, with stops into basement archives and sunlit tap rooms, Brewmasters and Brewery Creek is an inviting and exciting addition to books on the city’s history that will appeal to beer-lovers and history buffs alike.

398 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

This is the first book to look at the life and times of Elise Olmstead, wife of Roy Olmstead, Seattle's notorious "Gentlman Bootlegger." The newspapers crowned her Seattle's "Queen of the Bootleggers" during Prohibition and she became an endless object of fascination, speculation and interest for reporters. It sold newspapers. But what was myth and what was merely mystery? Did she leave behind a dark secret when she came from England to Canada? Did she illegally enter the U.S.? Was she an informer for Prohibition agents before she married, or, did she become the brains of Roy's business after? Was it true that she used her radio show to send coded messages to Roy's rum-running ships while reading bedtime stories for children over the air? Who was the real Elise? On trial with Roy and dozens of her cohorts for violating Prohibition laws, she was acquitted, but Roy went to jail for four years. How did she survive? Why didn't their marriage last? This is the true story of an independent woman, ahead of her time, an entrepreneur running a radio station and bringing live orchestra music to the airwaves. An intensely private and secretive person, Elise's story has never been fully or accurately told until now. back cover

280 pages, 18 pages of plates (pages 80-97) : black and white portraits, facsimiles, photographs ; 23 cm

Mariners have long dreaded the labyrinth of the San Juan Islands. Bounded by the howling straits of Georgia, Rosario, Haro, and Juan de Fuca, the islands have proved the resting place of many an unlucky ship. With the aid of period accounts and historical photographs, Shipwrecks of the San Juans brings to life harrowing tales such as the infamous Clallam tragedy, the Bahada mystery, and the unsolved disappearance of the yacht Prelude . . . along with many more.