Catalog of British Columbiana and Pacific Northwest Americana

Lucile Foster Fargo’s Spokane Story chronicles the rapid industrial colonization of a remote inland metropolis built entirely around the colossal kinetic energy of the Spokane Falls, situated within the vast, arid expanses of the Columbia Plateau. The narrative maps how the severe geographic isolation of this landlocked basin—walled off by the formidable Rocky Mountains to the east and the Cascades to the west—initially restricted early pioneers to a precarious existence, forcing them to rely entirely on the localized hydrological power of the roaring river to operate rudimentary sawmills and gristmills. By detailing the massive regional transition from an isolated river crossing to the mechanized epicenter of the Inland Empire, the text illustrates how the aggressive exploitation of surrounding timber stands, Palouse agriculture, and Coeur d'Alene mineral wealth was strictly dictated by the arrival of transcontinental rail networks engineered to conquer these massive continental distances. Ultimately, the account demonstrates that artificially harnessing the violent hydrology of the falls and deploying heavy transit infrastructure to overcome the profound physical detachment of the inland steppe were the absolute prerequisites for transforming a remote frontier outpost into the vital commercial and industrial anchor of eastern Washington.

276 pages

The historical corona of the "Spokane Country," rife with romance and intrigue, truly shines brightly. It outshines most areas of the world because the Inland Empire was the last section of the North American continent to come under the control and development of a single modern imperialistic nation. This tardy development came about because the Inland Empire was ringed by formidable mountain ranges, difficult to penetrate-The Rocky Mountains to the eat, to the north the Selkirks, the Cascades on the west the the Blue Mountains on the southern rim.Geographical remoteness set the stage for the most interesting historical dramas possible. The isolation retarded the rapid influx of agricultural settlers, elsewhere often a rather prosaic over-night affair, and instead, forced an unusually long and exciting period of human-interest events involving fiercely resisting Indians, rugged explorers, freedom loving fur traders, missionaries, prospectors, miners, soldiers, cattle and sheep raisers, adventurers, surveyors and railroad builders, all of whom, for six or seven decades, were permitted to operate in a wild romantic land, uncluttered with white populations

vii, 319 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 24 cm

Essential aspects about the prehistory, history, geography, and architecture of the Inland Pacific Northwest are presented here in one succinct volume. This landmark collection features essays by noted national and regional scholars, such as Donald W. Meinig, Carlos A. Schwantes, Henry Matthews, Clifford E. Trafzer, and Harvey S. Rice. Spokane and the Inland Empire outlines the region's historical geographic systems, Palouse tribal history, characteristics of prehistoric Plateau Indian dwellings, a century of Columbia Plateau agriculture, Spokane's bitter labor disputes that occurred prior to America's entry into World War I, the exceptional architecture of Spokane's Kirtland Cutter, and more. This updated edition includes some new material and has been revised from the original volume published in 1991. Extensive illustrations supplement the text.

xvii, 194 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Compiled and published directly by the Splatsin people, Splatsin: Spallumcheen Indian Band History articulates the cultural sovereignty, oral histories, and territorial presence of the southernmost tribe of the Secwépemc Nation. Rooted in traditional spetékwll and Secwepemctsín language documentation, the text maps ancient hunting trails, fishing encampments, and camas-harvesting grounds spanning the Shuswap and Salmon river watersheds, including sites across Enderby, Mara, Grindrod, and Ashton Creek. The chronicle details the profound disruptions caused by nineteenth-century settler pre-emptions, the arbitrary reduction of tribal lands under colonial reserve commissions, and the impacts of the residential school system. The work stands as an essential legal and historical record detailing continuous Splatsin territorial stewardship and sovereign land title assertions across the North Okanagan.

76 pages : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm

"From trilobites near the Idaho border and primitive horses on the Columbia Plateau to giant bird tracks near Bellingham and curious bear-like beasts on the Olympic Peninsula, fossils across Washington State are filled with clues of past life on Earth. With abundant and well-exposed rock layers, the state has fossils dating from Ice Age mammals only 12,000 years old back to marine invertebrates more than 500 million years old. In Spirit Whales and Sloth Tales, paleontologist Elizabeth A. Nesbitt teams up with popular science writer David B. Williams to offer a tour through more than a half billion years of natural history. Following an introduction to key concepts, twenty-four profiles-each featuring a unique plant, animal, or environment-tell stories of individual fossils, many of which are on display in Washington museums. The paleontology of Washington is brought to life with details of the fossils' discovery and extraction, their place in geological time, and the insights they provide into contemporary issues like climate change and species extinction"-- Provided by publisher

x, 214 pages : color illustrations, color maps ; 24 cm

For 25 years, Mary Paetzel roamed the Siskiyou Mountains of southwest Oregon, tracking rare plants and insects. A rugged land of peaks, canyons, and rushing rivers, the Siskiyous are renowned for their unusual plant life. A self-taught naturalist, Paetzel first came to these mountains as a pollen contractor for a pharmaceutical company. Traversing logging roads in an old Volkswagen bus and hiking the high country with her beloved dog Sal, Paetzel came to know the Siskiyous — their wildflowers, butterflies, bees and wasps, lichens, and birds — as few ever have. Mary Paetzel recorded her wilderness experiences in a series of illustrated journals. Spirit of the Siskiyous gathers the best of these writings along with selections of Paetzel's paintings and drawings into a single volume. An important natural history of the Siskiyou Mountains, the book also documents a unique personal journey through a little-known, but fascinating, landscape. Although at times outspoken in her criticism of the Forest Service, Paetzel later worked for the agency conducting species surveys in the Siskiyou National Forest. During this time, she discovered a rare colony of Mariposa copper butterflies and was instrumental in establishing several protected botanical sites. It's to make readers aware of the fragile beauty of the Siskiyous and the urgent need to protect these wild places that Mary Paetzel has made her private journals — with their keen observations, fine wit, and demonstrated love of the land — available in this remarkable book.

xxviii, 164 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 26 cm

Spirit Lake People: Memories of Mount St. Helens by Alan Guggenheim and James Mortland is a poignant 1986 oral history and photographic collection that preserves the heritage of the tightly knit communities surrounding Spirit Lake prior to the catastrophic May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. The book gathers personal recollections, anecdotes, and imagery to document the lives of the individuals who lived, worked, and recreated in this pristine alpine environment. By focusing on the human element rather than just the geological disaster, the authors capture the region's vibrant lodge culture and the deep connection residents shared with the mountain. Ultimately, it serves as an invaluable, nostalgic tribute and a vital historical record of a unique Pacific Northwest landscape that was permanently erased by one of the most destructive natural events in modern U.S. history.

140 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Spirit and Ancestor: A Century of Northwest Coast Indian Art at the Burke Museum by renowned scholar Bill Holm, featuring striking photography by Eduardo Calderón, is a stunning 1987 exhibition catalog celebrating the centennial of the Seattle-based institution. The book showcases 100 masterworks from the museum's extensive collection of Indigenous art, offering deep cultural, historical, and aesthetic context for each intricately carved mask, textile, and ceremonial object. Ultimately, it serves as both a breathtaking visual record and a definitive academic resource honoring the enduring artistic traditions of the Pacific Northwest's First Nations.

253 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 29 cm.

Spilsbury's Coast is that part of the Inside Passage between the Fraser River and the top end of Vancouver Island -- a place of small boats, countless islands and whole towns on floats. When Jim Spilsbury, B.C's most famous pioneer entrepreneur, teams up with master storyteller and literary craftsman Howard White, the result is a spell-binding romp up and down British Columbia's rugged coast; eighty years of fascinating anecdotes and memories distilled into 190 pages. Jim Spilsbury grew up in a tent on Savary Island, squatting on crown land. His story is one of the classic "rags-to-riches" stories in Canadian history. As well as being as brilliant inventor and an ambitious, astute businessman, he had the intangible gift of being in the right place at the right time. In 1923, at the age of 18, primed with a correspondence course in electrical engineering, Jim Spilsbury began building sophisticated radio telephones. Fishermen bought them, loggers bought them, and eventually homesteaders, explorers and even governments bought them. "Radio boomed," Spilsbury recalls, "and it carried me with it." As we follow Spilsbury in his adventures, we meet Frank Osborne, the genius engine-builder; Emil Gordon, the obsessive flamboyant Powell River salesman who sold everything from refrigerators to cows; Red Mahone, the obstreperous Boathouse cook and Spilsbury's own bizarre family, including his rifle-toting mother who cut her hair like a man's and golfed on the beaches at low tide. Howard White, himself a child of BC's backwaters, brings the voice of authority to Spilsbury's amazing tale. A rare gem of authentic storytelling - it flows fast and bright, like a mountain stream.

iii, 190 pages, 64 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 24 cm

Since the Late 1960s, Oregon has been at the forefront of environmental protection in the United States. The state generally, and Portland in particular, continue to have strong "green" credentials well into the twenty-first century. Within this forty year period of progress, however, the health of the Willamette River has been a consistent blot on the record. Willamette River water pollution has not gone away - the problem has, in fact, gotten much more complex. James Hillegas-Elting's book, Speaking for the River, provides a historical look at this dilemma. Willamette River cleanup efforts between 1926 and 1975 centered on a struggle between abatement advocates and the two primary polluters in the watershed, the City of Portland and the pulp and paper industry. Beginning in 1926, clean streams advocates created ad hoc groups of public health experts, sanitary engineers, conservationists, sportsmen, and others to pressure Portland officials and industry representatives to cease polluting the river. By the late 1960s, these grassroots initiatives found political footholds at the state level. Governor Tom McCall took the issue of environmental protection personally, providing the charisma and leadership that was needed to finally make substantive progress toward cleaning the Willamette. Speaking for the River is the first book to describe the historical roots of Willamette River pollution, providing important context for understanding the political, fiscal, and technological antecedents to the present-day conundrum. Hillegas-Elting's contribution to the academic literature on environmental and urban history in Oregon will be welcomed by policy makers, environmentalists, and concerned citizens alike. Book jacket

xiii, 334 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Thorough, scholarly study of this important aspect of the exploration of the Pacific Coast of North America. The Quimper Expedition, the Eliza Expedition, and the Galiano-Valdes Expedition are among the Spanish Expeditions presented here

v, 323, [1] pages : maps (some folded) ; 28 cm

John L. Acton’s Spallumcheen: The First Century provides an authoritative centenary administrative and spatial history of British Columbia's oldest rural district municipality. Acton analyzes the institutional and legal development of the Spallumcheen Valley, documenting how nineteenth-century surveyor grids, drainage ditches, and agrarian settlements were superimposed over ancient Indigenous hunting corridors and salmon-harvesting rivers. The text traces the economic transition from open-range cattle empires to mechanized wheat farming and intensive dairy production, detailing the municipal secession of the commercial core of Armstrong in 1913. Through council minutes, taxation ledgers, and cadastral maps, the work illustrates the civic challenges of managing road maintenance, rural schools, and agricultural zoning across the farming benches of Hullcar and the surrounding valley basin.

viii, 184 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 29 cm

When mineral riches were found in Idaho an explosion of development erupted and quickly died away. Here is a guide to eighty-four of Idaho s most interesting ghost towns, describing the history of Idaho s mining boomtowns and their eventual demise. Descriptions are organized by region and provide the current state of preservation. Both wilderness explorers and armchair travelers will be delighted with the treasures to be found.

135 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

How it was formed. Indians - the first inhabitants. Early explorers and the arrival of settlers. The giant mammoths that once roamed here. And much, much, more.

volumes : illustrations ; 26 cm

Towns are begun. Immigrants and pioneers gouge a living from pristine Whidbey forests. Roads are built, and civilization creates a unified society

volumes : illustrations ; 26 cm

Langley, The Village by the Sea: A gleam in the eye of a teen-age German boy becomes a South Whidbey village. The village becomes a town and the town becomes a city

volumes : illustrations ; 26 cm

South on the Sound: An Illustrated History of Tacoma and Pierce County chronicles the evolution of Washington’s "City of Destiny" and its surrounding region from Indigenous roots and early European settlement through its late-twentieth-century industrial growth. Written by celebrated Pacific Northwest historian Murray Morgan alongside Rosa Morgan and Rita Happy, the book combines engaging narrative with a rich archive of historical photographs, maps, and archival imagery. It highlights major regional milestones, including Tacoma's pivotal selection as the Northern Pacific Railroad’s western terminus, the rise of timber and maritime shipping, and local community life. The volume stands as an accessible, visually driven portrait of the South Sound's cultural and economic heritage.

199 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 29 cm

These fifteen essays invite readers in and make them feel at home in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. The straightforward and unpretentious writing carries the imagery and emotion of people and place in a way that defines a region

xiv, 122 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

The awe-inspiring story of explorer David Thompson, whose expeditions helped shape western North America In this true story of adventure, author Jack Nisbet re-creates the life and times of David Thompson--fur trader, explorer, surveyor, and mapmaker. From 1784 to 1812, Thompson explored western North America, and his field journals provide the earliest written accounts of the natural history and indigenous cultures of the what is now British Columbia, Alberta, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Thompson was the first person to chart the entire route of the Columbia river, and his wilderness expeditions have become the stuff of legend. Jack Nisbet tracks the explorer across the content, interweaving his own observations with Thompson's historical writings. The result is a fascinating story of two men discovering the Northwest territory almost two hundred years apart

1 online resource (288 p.)

Pacific Northwest musician-historian Bret Lunsford (Beat Happening/D+) unravels a string of mysteries to reveal the avant-garde shards of a 20th century alchemist in his hometown. Harry Everett Smith (1923-1991) was a boyhood resident of Anacortes, Washington for ten years of the Great Depression. Sounding for Harry Smith: Early Pacific Northwest Influences is a visually compelling oral history-based biography that immerses the reader in Salish Sea traditions and discord to explore the myths of a countercultural shaman whose strange impacts on art, music and film resound from studies of place to beat improvisation, through brain paintings to a Grammy Award for his folk music bible. -from back cover

231 pages : illustrations (some color), maps, portraits (some color) ; 26 cm.

Voices of British Columbia presents the firsthand stories of the people with the courage, the dreams – and the plain stubbornness – to settle the Canadian frontier when it was still wild. These people talk candidly about the tragedy and the comedy, the good times and the rough times. Their authentic voices reveal what it was really like in those early days. Beginning with the legends and true stories of the native peoples, as well as the sagas of the early missionaries, this book tells tales all the way up to the lives and times of modern settlers on the frontier. This book is a collection of stories that appeared in BC’s oral history quarterly, Sound Heritage.

276 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 26 cm

Pike Place Market is a space that annually draws more people than any of the city's major sporting and cultural events. It has a reputation among American markets that is comparable to Les Halles in Paris and Convent Garden in London - the difference being that it has survived. This book illustrates the many people who have fought to sustain it.

175, [1] pages : illustrations, map ; 26 cm

This textn tells the story of Oregon's most prominent Chicano activist, which also illustrates the formation of a significant Mexican-American community in the state between the 1960s and 1980's, and the ensuing rise of Oregon's Chicano movement

x, 326 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Songs of Power and Prayer explores the role of song as a transformative force in the twentieth century. It traces a cultural, spiritual, and musical encounter that upended notions of indigeneity and the rules of engagement for Indians and priests in the Columbia Plateau. Chad Hamill’s narrative focuses on a Jesuit and his two Indian “grandfathers”—one a medicine man, the other a hymn singer—who together engaged in a collective search for the sacred. The priest became a student of the medicine man. The medicine man became a Catholic. The Indian hymn singer brought indigenous songs to the Catholic mass. Using song as a thread, these men weaved together two worlds previously at odds, realizing a promise born within prophecies two centuries earlier. Long before Jesuits appeared in Coeur d’Alene and Salish country, Indian prophets foretold their arrival. In their respective visions, Circling Raven and Shining Shirt were the first to behold the odd-looking men wearing long black robes, carrying with them little more than “crossed sticks” and words of a foreign prophet who lived and died a world away. Roughly a century later, the “Blackrobes” arrived, immediately translating liturgical texts and hymns into the Salish language. Calling on centuries of indigenous praxis in which song was prayer, the hymns were very quickly and consciously embodied by the Salish and Coeur d’Alene people, reinterpreted and re-sung as expressions of indigenous identity and spiritual power. Songs of Power and Prayer in the Columbia Plateau reveals how song can bridge worlds, both between the individual and Spirit and the Jesuits and the Indians. Whether sung in an indigenous ceremony or adapted for Catholic Indian services, song abides as a force that strengthens Native identity and acts as a conduit for power and prayer.

xiii, 169 pages, 4 pages of plates : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Arthur C. Ballard’s 1927 monograph, Some tales of the southern Puget Sound Salish, serves as a crucial ethnographic and spatial record of the Southern Lushootseed-speaking communities inhabiting the White, Green, Puyallup, and Nisqually river valleys. Working closely with respected culture-bearers, Ballard recorded oral accounts that function as precise, localized geographic catalogs, encoding vital environmental knowledge regarding seasonal salmon migrations, prairie root-digging grounds, and foot trails linking the saltwater estuaries of Puget Sound to the high Cascade mountain passes. These narratives illuminate the complex kinship ties and interdependent alliances through which extended Salish families communally managed resource access, river weirs, and overland portages. For historians of the region, the collection documents an established indigenous geography just as it was being permanently reconfigured by Euro-American settlement—offering an irreplaceable record of the sacred landmarks, river meanders, and marshlands that were systematically diked, channeled, and built over by late nineteenth-century hop farms, timber mills, and the rail corridors of the White River Valley.

3 preliminary leaves, pages 63-81 ; 26 cm