Catalog of British Columbiana and Pacific Northwest Americana

Examination of contest for the Columbia Country, the Oregon Crisis, the gold rush crises, the dispute over the San Juan Islands, and the defense of the Pacific colonies in a decade of Anglo-Americanism (1861-1871) from the perspective of the Royal Navy's involvement. Esquimalt Naval base's evolution as the Pacific headquarters of the Royal Navy to meet the changing strategic requirements of the whole Pacific area is considered in detail. The repercussions of the Crimean War and the rise of German and United States naval power on the alignment of British forces in the Pacific are also considered.

xvi, 294 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 25 cm

Glenn and Mildred Carlson’s The Rosario Story, Orcas Island chronicles the history of the iconic Moran Mansion and its surrounding estate, situated on the forested shores of Cascade Bay in Washington’s San Juan archipelago. The narrative focuses deeply on the rugged geography of Orcas Island, detailing how shipbuilding magnate Robert Moran selected this isolated, deep-water inlet along the East Sound to build his sprawling early twentieth-century retreat. By documenting the estate's transformation from a private wilderness sanctuary beneath the towering peak of Mount Constitution into a renowned regional resort, the text maps the historical development of this pristine maritime landscape. Ultimately, the book captures the rugged coastal topography of the San Juan Islands, showcasing a vital piece of the broader Salish Sea's historical geography.

23 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

"One day in 1915, I started down the Rogue River in a boat I made. My first trip, I was a wild brainless kid of course, learning the hard way by rambunctious adventure, the needs to explore the unknown, down the plunging rapids. The Rogue is a wild brawling river and you had better respect it. I learned to use the oars, the pikepole, rope line, currents and eddies, and how to read the water. I craved fast white water like a steelhead, and tried lots of rivers like the Klamath, the Salmon River of No Return, Canadian rivers, etc., but for me the Rogue beats them all. Later I hauled dudes... hundreds of them... maybe over a thousand, shooting the rapids and camping out on the beach in the wilds." These stories and many more are in this no-holds-barred book. But more than that, it tells of the Rogue itself, of its development and its people. It gives you a sense of an earlier time - a time whose only remnants are rusting pieces of mining equipment, fiant traces of burned cabins and crumbling bridge piers. It brings alive the grizzled miners always looking to strike it rich tomorrow; hermits toting rifles after the ultimate game, each other; tall-tale tellers; poachers and gamewardens; fueders, gillnetters, sportsmen and unsportsmen. It tells of blasting the channel downriver, of floods and rescues, of depression and river-running highs.

xv, 276 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

This history of the native peoples of western Oregon is a systematic study of the formation, application and effects of United States Indian policy. Historian E.A. Schwartz tells how contacts with whites early in the nineteenth century culminated in the pork-barrel Rogue River War of 1855-56, in which the Rogue River peoples demonstrated superior tactics and repeatedly drove off more-numerous opponents. Schwartz narrates how the Indian peoples known today as the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation survived American expansion and coped with each federal Indian-policy initiative, from the new western reservation policy of the 1850s through termination and restoration in the 1970s

xiv, 354 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Marilyn Wheeler has authored and compiled a fascinating look at a a rural community in the wilds of British Columbia. She has found some of the best and most important stories from a very interesting part of the world. While her first edition of the Robson Valley Story was exceptionally popular, this new book is even more important. In a very deep way, Marilyn Wheeler has shown the essence of what it is to live in rural Canada-to live in community. It is a history of the valley to be sure, but one that mines the depth of our most important experiences, both good and bad. A remarkable new addition is the story of a Second World War veteran's struggle to reintegrate with his community. A story which would likely be lost or untold in a larger community gets its due here. The story of how people rallied together to bring in electricity is an amazing testament to their tenacity, their ability not just to adapt, but to seek out change. Matthew Wheeler's encyclopedic knowledge of the photographs of the Robson Valley will make this one of the best illustrated history books you have ever seen. -Andru McCracken, former editor of, The Robson Valley Times

ix, 710 pages : illustrations, maps ; 26 cm

Diana French’s The Road Runs West: A Century Along the Bella Coola Trail examines the historic transportation corridor linking the central interior plateau from the Fraser River across the Chilcotin to the Pacific tidal inlets at Bella Coola. French documents how nineteenth-century surveyor routes and settler wagon trails were superimposed onto ancient grease trails long traded and defended by the Nuxalk, Tsilhqot'in, and Dakelh nations. The narrative traces the establishment of early river ferries, stage stops, and farming communities along the Fraser River benches, detailing pioneer agriculture and civic development at Alexandria, Australian, Marguerite, Kersley, Macalister, and Soda Creek. Through detailed interviews, archival correspondence, and property records, the text chronicles how rural homesteaders and freight teamsters maintained vital supply lines across an unforgiving and isolated interior landscape.

276 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 23 cm

"With bountiful salmon and fertile plains, the Duwamish River has drawn people to its shores over the centuries for trading, transport, and sustenance. Chief Se'alth and his allies fished and lived in villages here and white settlers established their first settlements nearby. Industrialists later straightened the river's natural turns and built factories on its banks, floating in raw materials and shipping out airplane parts, cement, and steel. Unfortunately, the very utility of the river has been its undoing, as decades of dumping led to the river being declared a Superfund cleanup site. Using previously unpublished accounts by Indigenous people and settlers, BJ Cummings's compelling narrative restores the Duwamish River to its central place in Seattle and Pacific Northwest history. Writing from the perspective of environmental justice-and herself a key figure in river restoration efforts-Cummings vividly portrays the people and conflicts that shaped the region's culture and natural environment. She conducted research with members of the Duwamish Tribe, with whom she has long worked as an advocate. Cummings shares the river's story as a call for action in aligning decisions about the river and its future with values of collaboration, respect, and justice."-- Provided by publisher

xiv, 222 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

History of Grays Harbor, its coastal towns and river valleys in Grays Harbor County, Washington from 1775-1948. Narrative insights into the lives of the native Indians, early explorers and the pioneers who settled the valleys and established towns such as Aberdeen, Hoquiam, Cosmopolis and Grays Harbor City

423 pages, 48 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

In this beautifully crafted collection of essays, Cole Harris reflect on the strategies of colonialism in British Columbia during the first 150 years after the arrival of European settlers. The pervasive displacement of Indigenous people by the newcomers, the mechanisms by which it was accomplished, and the resulting effects on the landscape social life, and history of Canada's western-most province are examined through the dual lenses of post-colonial theory and empirical data. By providing a compelling look at the colonial construction of the province, the book revises existing perceptions of the history and geography of British Columbia

xxii, 314 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Born and brought up in Whitechapel, John Sebastian Helmcken worked his way through apprenticeships as a chemist and a medical pupil before gaining admission to Guy's Hospital to complete his training. The accounts he gives of working class family life and of the great economic and social disadvantages he had to confront in order to become a doctor make this volume of memoirs not only a valuable historical document, but also an autobiography with considerable human interest. In 1850 Helmcken arrived in Fort Victoria -- at that time still a fortified trading post -- to take up the position of Hudson's Bay Company doctor. British Columbia was then in the midst of rapid change: the fur trade was in decline, the gold rush was soon to begin, and the first phase of genuine settlement was just getting under way. In 1856 Helmcken entered what was to be a political life lasting 15years and served as Speaker in the first Legislative Assembly. This section of the Reminiscences is filled with vivid and often humorous descriptions of the personalities and everyday life of Victoria andBritish Columbia from the 1850's to the 1870's. In 1870 Helmcken secured his place in the history of Canada and British Columbia by accepting the task, together with Sir Joseph Trutchand R.W.W. Carrall, of negotiating British Columbia's entry into Canada. The Reminiscences, now held in the Provincial Archives of British Columbia, have a special significance for students of provincial and federal Canadian history. Helmcken's is a unique account of the way social and economic conditions were actually felt and experienced in B.C. at the time of Confederation. Together with his personal diary of the Ottawa negotiations, edited by Willard E. Ireland and included here, the memoirs are the most complete and intimate record available of how Canada secured a foothold on the Pacific.

xlii, 373 pages, 6 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Frances Barkley was the first European woman to set foot on the coast of B.C. In 1786, she embarked from Europe on a trade and exploration voyage with her husband, Captain Charles W. Barkley. Her reminiscences contain her descriptions of their life at sea, and visits to S. American, India, China, and what is now known as Alaska and B.C

xv, 207 p. : ill., ports., maps ; 23 cm.

"The most enduring feature of U.S. history is the presence of Native Americans, yet most histories focus on Europeans and their descendants. This practice of ignoring Indigenous history is changing, however, as a new generation of scholars insists that any full American history address the struggle, survival, and resurgence of American Indian nations. Indigenous history is essential to understanding the evolution of modern America. Ned Blackhawk interweaves five centuries of Native and non-Native histories, from Spanish colonial exploration to the rise of Native American self-determination in the late twentieth century. In this transformative synthesis he shows that: European colonization in the 1600s was never a predetermined success; Native nations helped shape England's crisis of empire; the first shots of the American Revolution were prompted by Indian affairs in the interior; California Indians targeted by federally funded militias were among the first casualties of the Civil War; the Union victory forever recalibrated Native communities across the West; twentieth-century reservation activists refashioned American law and policy. Blackhawk's retelling of U.S. history acknowledges the enduring power, agency, and survival of Indigenous peoples, yielding a truer account of the United States and revealing anew the varied meanings of America"--Publisher's description

viii, 596 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

"The Red Coast is a lively and readable informal history of the labor, left-wing, and progressive activists who lived, worked, and organized in southwest Washington State from the late nineteenth century until World War II. The book serves as a hidden history for a region frequently identified with conservatism, rescuing these working-class activists from obscurity and placing them at the center of southwest Washington's history."--Back cover

viii, 236 pages : illustrations, map ; 23 cm

The railroad that ran by the tide Ilwaco Railroad & Navigation Co. of the State of Washington examines the highly idiosyncratic transportation network and coastal resort expansion situated along the shifting, narrow sandspit of southwestern Washington's Long Beach Peninsula. Feagans details how the region's dynamic estuarine and coastal topography—specifically the shallow, treacherous mudflats of Baker Bay, the extreme tidal fluctuations of the lower Columbia River, and the unbroken, surf-pounded expanse of the Pacific shoreline—strictly dictated the margins of regional transit, maritime docking, and early tourism. By mapping the operation of a precarious narrow-gauge rail line whose daily schedule was entirely governed by the rhythm of the ocean tides rather than a clock—a physical necessity to align with deep-water steamboat arrivals at the shallow Ilwaco terminus—the narrative highlights how this specific tidal geography anchored the peninsula's profound reliance on synchronized marine-overland connectivity. Ultimately, this transportation record serves as a highly localized spatial history, demonstrating how the immense estuarine shoals, severe tidal variations, and isolating coastal geography of this Pacific Northwest landscape fundamentally shaped the uniquely synchronized, tide-bound character of the Ilwaco Railroad and the early Long Beach Peninsula.

146 pages illustrations 29 cm

Kathleen E. Dalzell’s The Queen Charlotte Islands, Volume 1: 1774–1966 serves as a foundational spatial and documentary chronicle of Haida Gwaii, tracing the archipelago’s turbulent transition from an autonomous Indigenous maritime stronghold into a resource-extraction frontier. Drawing heavily on archival logs, pioneer journals, and oral testimonies, Dalzell details how European maritime fur traders, gold seekers, and homesteaders entered a densely organized geography long governed by the Haida nation, whose village sites, cedar reserves, and open-ocean canoe routes spanned the treacherous waters of Hecate Strait and Dixon Entrance. The text documents the systematic superimposition of colonial infrastructure—ranging from early mineral outposts and Anglican mission stations to commercial fish canneries, timber leases, and coastal steamer docks—directly over ancestral Haida town sites such as Masset (Kayung/Atewaas) and Skidegate (Hlgagilda). Dalzell underscores the profound physical isolation of the archipelago, illustrating how early non-Indigenous survival was wholly contingent on interdependent alliances, wage labor, and critical logistical aid from Haida mariners, who provided essential open-water canoe transport, coastal piloting, and food provisions. Ultimately, the history captures the enduring tension between expanding industrial enterprises and an unceded Indigenous marine domain, revealing how twentieth-century logging camps and civic settlements remained physically grounded upon the ancient geographic networks of the islands.

340 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Kathleen E. Dalzell’s The Queen Charlotte Islands, Volume 2: Places and Names serves as an exhaustive toponymic gazetteer and spatial record, documenting the linguistic and cartographic superimposition of Euro-American settlement across Haida Gwaii. Functioning as a granular geographical ledger, the volume systematically traces how eighteenth-century naval charts, colonial surveys, and pioneer mining and timber claims assigned British, Spanish, and settler monikers over ancient Haida village sites, hereditary fishing stations, and ancestral canoe passages. Dalzell details the logistics of frontier navigation, illustrating how remote infrastructure—such as isolated lighthouses, steamship landings, copper prospects, and coastal canneries—was anchored to specific sheltered inlets and treacherous tidal passages long mastered by Haida mariners. By cataloging the origins of every inlet, reef, and headland, the work reveals the geographic friction between an imposed imperial cartography and an enduring Indigenous maritime domain, demonstrating that the archipelago’s modern civic map remains an indelible palimpsest built directly upon ancestral Haida geography.

472 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 23 cm

"In this richly detailed study, Kamala Nayar documents the social and cultural transformation of the Punjabi community in British Columbia. From their initial settlement in the rural Skeena region to the communities that later developed in larger urban centres, The Punjabis in British Columbia illustrates the complex and diverse experiences of an immigrant community that merits greater attention. Exploring themes of gender, employment, rural and urban migrant life, and the relationships between the Punjabis and surrounding First Nations and other immigrant groups, Nayar creates a portrait of a community in transition. Shedding light on the ways in which economic circumstances affect immigrant communities, Nayar presents findings from interviews conducted with over one hundred participants. She details the relocation of Punjabi populations from the Skeena region to British Columbia's lower mainland during the decline of the forestry and fishery industries, how their second migration changed their professional and personal lives, and how their history continues to shape the identities and experiences of Punjabis in Canada today. A nuanced look at the complexities of social and cultural adaptation, The Punjabis in British Columbia adds an essential perspective to what it means to be Canadian."--Publisher

xxi, 361 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 24 cm

Literary Nonfiction. History. Memoir. Native American Studies. Captain Richards's journal is an account of three survey seasons on Vancouver Island aboard two British Navy ships, the HMS Plumper and the HMS Hecate. Between 1860 and 1862 Richards and his dedicated crew surveyed and charted the entire coastline of Vancouver Island, creating baseline information for the nautical charts we use today. This monumental task, faithfully and often humorously recorded, also includes a lively description of California on the eve of the American Civil War as Richards sits in dry dock following the near wreck of the Hecate. Part of the private collection of a direct descendant of Captain Richards, the journal is a little known and untapped resource. Extensively annotated and supplemented with excerpts from the journals of Second Master John Gowlland, the journal provides a unique and personal view of the aboriginal, colonial, nautical and natural history of Vancouver Island. Richards is revealed as a man of immense energy and diplomacy; the descriptions of the First Nations he encounters are remarkably unbiased for the time and his keen observations are a portal into the social and political life of Vancouver Island during these formative years of the colony. The journal will appeal to historians, anthropologists, sailors, meteorologists and the general reading public alike.

271 pages, [32] pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps, portraits ; 23 cm

The Princess story: a century and a half of West Coast shipping examines the precarious maritime navigation and strategic commercial integration across the deeply indented, storm-battered archipelagos and fjords of the Pacific frontier. Hacking and Lamb detail how the region's formidable physical barriers—specifically the treacherous, tide-swept aquatic chokepoints of the Inside Passage, the violent, blinding fog banks of the open Pacific, and the steep, impenetrable coastal rainforests that rendered overland transit virtually impossible—strictly dictated the margins of regional connectivity and economic expansion. By mapping the immense navigational skill and industrial effort required to deploy and maintain a massive, reliable fleet of coastal steamships through this labyrinthine marine topography, the narrative highlights the monumental logistical endurance necessary to supply and anchor permanent, isolated communities in this demanding maritime environment. The absolute geographic isolation of remote coastal settlements, logging camps, and salmon canneries initially forced these enclaves into a strict reliance on the deepwater marine highway, completely anchoring their physical survival and commercial existence to the predictable arrival of the "Princess" ships and the mastery of the severe tidal hydrology. Ultimately, this maritime and historical record serves as a macro-level spatial history, demonstrating how the complex aquatic geography and severe coastal extremes of this Pacific Northwest frontier fundamentally shaped the fiercely resilient, strictly maritime-dependent character of the region's coastal transportation networks.

[8], 360 s. : il. ; 23 cm.

The historical puzzle that is the Green River and its drainage basin, from Mount Rainier to Puget Sound, is carefully pieced together in this portrait of the people, events, and dramatic forces that have determined the fate of this once-powerful river. Beginning in the early years of this century, the Duwamish/Green waterway was rechanneled, dredged, dammed, and diked in an attempt to prevent flooding and salvage land for agriculture and industry. The "taming" of the river made a valuable stretch of land usable year-round but the consequences have been pollution and the destruction of the habitat it once provided for fish, shellfish, and wildlife. Ranging from prehistoric times to the present, from geologic forces to political and economic battles, The Price of Taming a River shows clearly what has been lost but also tells the compelling story of the individuals and communities who are working to restore and preserve the watershed. It is a story of small places and large issues, of bitter controversy and quiet victories, which presents a vision of what can be accomplished by those who choose to embrace their role as stewards of the river

107 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm

Biography of Charles Bedaux who, among other activities, pioneered a route through the wilds of British Columbia and Yukon to Alaska - the Bedaux sub-arctic expedition in 1934 which left Edmonton on July 6, 1934. (Chapter 8)

xviii, 342 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

In the remote northeast corner of Oregon lies the ruggedly beautiful Zumwalt Prairie, one of the last native prairies in the United States. A wild expanse of untilled ground covering nearly two hundred square miles, the Zumwalt is almost entirely managed by cattle ranchers. It also is home to one of the highest concentrations of hawks in North America. Marcy Houle, a wildlife biologist and student, first went to the Zumwalt in 1979 to discover what attracts and sustains the hawks there in such startling abundance. Houle explores the vast prairie on foot and horseback, cataloging its hawks, studying its complex ecosystem, and meeting its people. Fueled by her youth, her spirit, her humor--and in part by her naivete--she bands birds, outruns a bull, and pulls together the factious community of ranchers, townspeople, and government employees. Her findings, eloquently reported, show that ranchers and wildlife not only can coexist, but in some instances must coexist if we are to save the last of the native prairies. In a new epilogue, Houle writes of the Zumwalt two decades later. Despite tremendous changes occurring in the American West, she finds reason for hope in the Zumwalt--in the hawks and ranchers still there, and also in new partnerships that encourage stewardship and sustainable cattle grazing.

274 pages ; 22 cm

Agnes Rothery’s The ports of British Columbia explores the dynamic maritime development and enduring economic integration of the rugged, resource-rich coastal hubs of Victoria and Vancouver. The narrative illustrates how the challenging environmental realities of this northern Pacific landscape—defined by intricate island archipelagos, deep-water fjords, and the imposing forested barricades of the Coast Mountains—initially required immense navigational skill and resilience from early maritime traders and settlers. By detailing the steady transition from isolated Hudson's Bay Company trading posts and scattered lumber camps to the collaborative construction of massive modern docklands and transcontinental rail termini, the text highlights how the region's prosperity relied on thoughtfully harnessing its strategic coastal geography. Ultimately, the account demonstrates that cooperatively bridging the vast oceanic distances and integrating robust, global shipping infrastructure were essential steps in transforming these distant colonial enclaves into thriving, interconnected maritime anchors of the Pacific seaboard.

vii, 279 pages, 7 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 23 cm

Portland, Oregon, though widely regarded as a liberal bastion, also has struggled historically with ethnic diversity; indeed, the 2010 census found it to be “America’s whitest major city.” In early recognition of such disparate realities, a group of African American activists in the 1960s formed a local branch of the Black Panther Party in the city’s Albina District to rally their community and be heard by city leaders. And as Lucas Burke and Judson Jeffries reveal, the Portland branch was quite different from the more famous—and infamous—Oakland headquarters. Instead of parading through the streets wearing black berets and ammunition belts, Portland’s Panthers were more concerned with opening a health clinic and starting free breakfast programs for neighborhood kids. Though the group had been squeezed out of local politics by the early 1980s, its legacy lives on through the various activist groups in Portland that are still fighting many of the same battles. Combining histories of the city and its African American community with interviews with former Portland Panthers and other key players, this long-overdue account adds complexity to our understanding of the protracted civil rights movement throughout the Pacific Northwest.

283 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

"The true story behind a labor leader reputed to be a serial killer. Aaron Goings offers a vivid biography of Billy Gohl (1873-1927), a prominent union official in Grays Harbor, Washington who came to be known for killing dozens of people, maybe even more than one hundred. In a cruel twist, many victims were his union members. "These anonymous dead men, culled from the hordes of migrant laborers who had flocked to Grays Harbor to cut trees, came to be known as the floater fleet. Billy Gohl was credited with launching most of them," Murray Morgan wrote in The Last Wilderness: A History of the Olympic Peninsula. "If he was responsible for even half of the floaters found in the harbor during his day, Gohl was America's most prolific murderer. Over a ten-year period the fleet numbered 124." A union leader turned serial killer? As a labor historian, author Aaron Goings felt compelled to get to the bottom of the story. So he dug into the archives. In this popular biography, Goings uses Gohl's life to illuminate the brutal nature of everyday life in that era: the Yukon gold rush, the brutally dehumanizing lives of sailors and loggers, and the heated clashes between pro- and anti-union forces in Grays Harbor, the world's busiest lumber shipyard, where millions of dollars were at stake. Goings carefully examines court records and other archival sources to sort through the lore and legends surrounding Gohl, painting the story of a violent man in a violent time who did kill someone-maybe even more than one-but comes almost comically short of his storied reputation. Why did people believe such outrageous things about Gohl, then and now? And where did all those dead bodies come from? Goings shows how powerful economic players help build the myth of "Gohl the Ghoul" to undercut the credibility of union advocates. By pinning all these deaths on one man and building up the story of an extreme pathology, no one had to confront the structural violence of capitalism. The resulting book is not a grisly true crime tale; but an equally intriguing mystery about the creation of myth and the cost in human bodies in the making of the Pacific Northwest"-- Provided by publisher

xiv, 277 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm