Catalog of British Columbiana and Pacific Northwest Americana

"As BC 150 celebrations have made us aware, modern British Columbia began in the central interior of the province, where Simon Fraser founded the fur trade empire known as New Caledonia. Today only the restored trading post of Fort St. James and the ancient trails remain. Fort St. James and New Caledonia is the first history of this crucial chapter in over one hundred years. Using unpublished Hudson's Bay Company archival material, Marie Elliott delivers rare glimpses into the lives and times of the first fur traders, weaving a tapestry of colourful characters including the great Carrier chief Kwah, Nor'westers John Stuart and James McDougall, as well as a surprisingly strong cast of women including Miyo Nipiy, Governor Simpson's country wife, Margaret Taylor and the tragic Elizabeth Pruden

270 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Whether the names come from the First Nations peoples, the English and Spanish explorers who sailed along BC's coast, or the fur traders, gold prospectors and settlers, the stories behind the place names reveal much about the places themselves and the history of the province: - Babine Lake takes its name from the French word for large lip and refers to the former practice of the local First Nations people of inserting half-inch pieces of wood or bone between the teeth and lower lips of their women - Barkerville was named for Billy Barker, a gold prospector from the Cariboo Gold Rush Days who struck it rich but later died in poverty - In 1920, the residents of Harper's Camp voted almost unanimously in favour of changing their community's name to Horsefly in honour of that pesky insect that visits every summer - Lulu Island, on which the city of Richmond sits, was named for 16-year old American actress Lulu Sweet who won the hearts of a detachment of Royal Engineers - Squamish is an anglicization of the Squamish people's name for themselves, the Skwxwú7mesh, the word means mother of the wind and many refer to the steady wind that blows off Howe Sound into the city - Vancouver's famous clothing-optional Wreck Beach was named after three ships that were sunk off its shores in 1928 to create a breakwater for a log-storage site - Tête Jaune Cache is French for Yellow Head's hiding place and refers to the yellow-haired Pierre Bostonais, an Iroquois Métis fur trapper and trader who worked as a guide for the North West and Hudson's Bay companies.

336 pages : portrait ; 21 cm

The Northwest has been at the forefront of forest management and research in the United States for more than one hundred years. In The U.S. Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest, Gerald Williams provides an historical overview of the part the Forest Service has played in managing the Northwest’s forests. Emphasizing changes in management policy over the years, Williams discusses the establishment of the national forests in the region, grazing on public land, the Great Depression, World War II, and the rise of multiple-use management policies. He draws on extensive documentation of the post-war development boom to explore its effects on forests and Forest Service workers. Presenting such controversial issues as roadless areas and wilderness designation, timber harvesting, forest planning, ecosystems, and spotted owls, Williams demonstrates the impact of 1970s environmental laws on national forest management. The book is rich in photographs, many drawn from the Gerald W. Williams Collection, Oregon State University Archives. Extensive appendices provide detailed data about Pacific Northwest forests. Chronicling a century of the agency’s management of almost 25 million acres of national forests and grasslands for the people of the United States, The U.S. Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest is a welcome and overdue resource. This work was completed through the collaborative efforts of the author and the Pacific Northwest Forest Service Association, with support from the U. S. Forest Service.

x, 416 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

From the late 1940s to the mid-1970s, American conservation politics underwent a transformation — and Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas was at the heart of this shift toward modern environmentalism. The Environmental Justice explores how Douglas, inspired by his youthful experiences hiking in the Pacific Northwest, eventually used his influence to reshape American conservation thought, politics, and law. One of the nation’s most passionate conservationists, Douglas wrote eloquent testimonies to the value of wilderness and society’s increasing need for it, both in his popular books and in his heartfelt judicial opinions celebrating nature and condemning those who would destroy it. He led public protests in favor of wilderness. He worked tirelessly to secure stronger legal protections for the environment, coordinating with a national network of conservationists and policymakers. As a sitting Supreme Court Justice, Douglas brought both prestige and the enormous symbolic power of legal authority to conservation crusades at a time when the nation's laws did not favor environmental protection. He understood the need for national solutions that included public involvement and protections of minority interests; the issues were nationally important and the forces against preservation were strong. In myriad situations Douglas promoted democratic action for conservation, public monitoring of government and business activities, and stronger laws to insure environmental and political integrity.

x, 198 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

This revised and expanded edition of Oregon Fossils includes a record of all known fossils in Oregon going back 400 million years, along with collecting localities by county, age, rock formation, and published source. The book also provides a geologic overview of the state, from ocean beaches to the high desert, from the Blue Mountains to the Siskiyous. Unique among fossil field guides, Oregon Fossils includes both specimen identification and interesting notes about their discovery, naming, and conservation. The narrative is sprinkled with biographical sketches of paleontologists who have contributed to the state’s fossil record, and the text is richly illustrated with photographs, line drawings, charts, and maps. A complete bibliography lists full citations to fossil material. The only single volume that provides Oregon’s fossil record and history, Oregon Fossils is a well-written, well-organized guide. It is an excellent reference for classroom and library use, for researchers, and for private collectors and hobbyists.

xiv, 300 pages : illustrations, maps ; 26 cm

Davis Country collects the best writings of H. L. Davis, one of the Northwest's premier authors and the only Oregonian to receive the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Born in southern Oregon's Umpqua Valley in 1894, Davis grew up in Antelope and The Dalles. He began as a poet, receiving the prestigious Levinson Prize at age twenty-five. With the encouragement of H. L. Mencken, he turned to fiction, winning the Pulitzer Prize for his 1935 novel Honey in the Horn, which Mencken called the best first novel ever published in America. Full of humor and humanity, Davis's work displays a vast knowledge of Pacific Northwest history, lore, and landscape. His instinctive feel for the Northwest – the weather, trees, plants, animals, the varieties of Oregon rain, the smell of forest winds and high-desert heat – is unmatched. This volume gathers many of Davis's finest stories, essays, poems, and letters, as well as excerpts from his most famous novels. An introduction by editors Brian Booth and Glen Love, a brief autobiography, and an afterword on Davis's final, unfinished novel provide for a better understanding of this truly original Northwest voice.

320 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Handbook of Oregon Birds is a portable, field-friendly guide to the seasonal status and distribution of Oregon birds. A condensation of the status and distribution material from Birds of Oregon: A General Reference, the definitive source for Oregon ornithology, the book provides a quick but detailed field reference for birders who want to know a bird’s status, seasonal patterns of occurrence, basic habitat information, and movements. The Handbook also includes comprehensive new breeding and winter maps, as well as the most up-to-date status of vagrants, displaying their seasonality and geographic occurrence in graphs and maps. Although not an introductory identification book, Handbook of Oregon Birds includes many features that newer birders will appreciate, including the maps, short summaries, and ID notes for difficult-to-identify species. A specially commissioned set of paintings by wildlife artist Ramiel Papish and a selection of color photographs provide identification aids that are an improvement on standard field guides for such challenges as flying alcids and immature swallows.

287 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 22 cm

"In a world of increasing traffic congestion, a grassroots movement is carving out a niche for bicycles on city streets. Pedaling Revolution explores the growing bike culture that is changing the look and feel of cities, suburbs, and small towns across North America." "From traffic-dodging-bike messengers to tattooed teenagers on battered bikes, from riders in spandex to well-dressed executives, ordinary citizens are becoming transportation revolutionaries. Jeff Mapes traces the growth of bicycle advocacy and explores the environmental, safety, and health aspects of bicycling. He rides with bicycle advocates who are taming the streets of New York City, joins the street circus that is Critical Mass in San Francisco, and gets inspired by the everyday folk pedaling in Amsterdam, the nirvana of American bike activists. Chapters focused on big cities, college towns, and America's most successful bike city, Portland, show how cyclists, with the encouragement of local officials, are claiming a share of the valuable streetscape."--Jacket

288 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Oregon has long been a destination for those seeking new beginnings. Since the establishment of the Aurora Colony in 1856, the state has been the home of nearly three hundred communal experiments. Eden Within Eden is the first book to survey this utopian history, from religious and Socialist groups of the nineteenth century to ecologically conscious communities of the twenty-first century. James Kopp examines Oregon’s communal history in the framework of utopian and communal experiences across America. Eden Within Eden provides rich detail about utopian communities – some realized, some only planned – many of which reflect broader social, political, economic, and cultural aspects of Oregon’s history. From the dawn of communal groups in Oregon – the German Christian colony at Aurora – to Oregon’s most infamous communal experiment – Rajneeshpuram – Kopp describes the range of attempts to establish ideal communities in the state. These include the Jewish agrarian colony of New Odessa in the 1880s as well as the “new pioneers” of the 1960s who captured the spirit of the counterculture and gave voice to growing concerns about the environment. Kopp explores other areas of Oregon’s utopian heritage as well, including literary works and idealistic city planning. The book’s appendix is a rich compilation that will guide students, scholars, and other interested readers to additional information on the profiled – and many other – communities.

xiii, 370 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Sahaptin, or Ichishkíin Sínwit (literally, "this language"), is a Plateau Penutian language spoken in south-central Washington and northern Oregon. This dictionary documents the dialect of Sahaptin that is spoken by the Yakama people. Ichishkíin Sínwit Yakama / Yakima Sahaptin Dictionary is the first modern published dictionary of any Sahaptin dialect. The dictionary is divided into three sections: a Sahaptin-English section; an English-Sahaptin section; and a section listing roots used in the formation of Sahaptin words. The Sahaptin-English section contains approximately 3,500 headwords, over 4,500 example sentences, more than 100 images, and over 9,200 sound files available online. Copious cross-references alert readers to related words elsewhere in the Sahaptin-English section. The English-Sahaptin and roots sections serve as indices to the Sahaptin-English section. In the English-Sahaptin section, users can look up the Sahaptin equivalents of English words. In the root section, users can see words from different parts of the dictionary that share the same component of meaning. The dictionary also contains essays by noted Plateau linguist Bruce Rigsby (professor emeritus, University of Queensland) on the histories and current usage of the terms "Sahaptin" and "Yakima / Yakama."

lxviii, 492 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 26 cm + 1 audio disc (digital, MP3 file ; 4 3/4 in.)

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, born out of the 1934 West Coast maritime and San Francisco general strikes under the charismatic leadership of Harry Bridges, has been known from the start for its strong commitment to democracy, solidarity, and social justice. In this collection of firsthand narratives, union leaders and rank-and-file workers - from the docks of Pacific Coast ports to the fields of Hawaii to bookstores in Portland, Oregon - talk about their lives at work, on the picket line, and in the union. Workers recall the back-breaking, humiliating conditions on the waterfront before they organized, the tense days of the 1934 strike, the challenges posed by mechanization, the struggle against racism and sexism on the job, and their activism in other social and political causes. Their stories testify to the union's impact on the lives of its members and also to its role in larger events, ranging from civil rights battles at home to the fights against fascism and apartheid abroad. Solidarity Stories is a unique contribution to the literature on unions. There is a power and immediacy in the voices of workers that is brilliantly expressed here. Taken together, these voices provide a portrait of a militant, corruption-free, democratic union that can be a model and an inspiration for what a resurgent American labor movement might look like. The book will appeal to students and scholars of labor history, social and economic history, and social change, as well as trade unionists and anyone interested in labor politics and history.

xi, 347 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Ezra Meeker braved the Oregon Trail in 1852, eventually becoming a hop farmer and broker. He platted the town of Puyallup, Washington and served as its first mayor. By the 1880s he had built a fortune and a mansion. But in 1892, a scourge of aphids devastated the hop harvest, followed by a severe national economic depression, sweeping his assets away, "slick as a mitten." During the gold rush, Meeker ventured to the treacherous Klondike four times, transporting and selling 100 tons of groceries to Yukon gold miners. His wife, who remained closer to home, managed the food-drying and canning operation, manufacturing granulated eggs and dehydrated soup vegetables. Three years of letters, most from Ezra to his beloved Eliza Jane, relate the details of his risky schemes and intriguing experiences, from business and mining pursuits to family relationships.-- Publisher

[viii], 128 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 28 cm

Graeme Pole’s The Spiral Tunnels and the Big Hill on the Canadian Pacific Railway provides a detailed spatial and mechanical chronicle of the railway engineering corridor anchoring the mountain village of Field in the Kicking Horse River valley. Pole recounts the construction and harrowing operation of the infamous "Big Hill"—a temporary 4.5 percent rail grade dropped down from Kicking Horse Pass into Field in 1884 that resulted in frequent runaway trains and fatal derailments. The volume documents the transformative 1909 construction of the Spiral Tunnels through Cathedral Mountain and Mount Ogden, which reduced the grade to a manageable 2.2 percent. The narrative illuminates the daily civic and operational rhythms of Field as a dedicated locomotive pusher depot and terminal servicing the rugged Yoho Valley and the Kicking Horse canyon corridor.

80 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 23 cm

John Sutton Lutz’s Makúk: A New History of Aboriginal-White Relations offers a transformative ethnohistorical analysis of Indigenous economies, wage labor, and state policies across British Columbia. Lutz examines how the Tsilhqot'in, Secwépemc, and Dakelh nations navigated the rapid onset of colonial capitalism, showing how Indigenous workers actively integrated commercial ranch work, freight packing, and seasonal resource harvesting into their traditional subsistence economies. Drawing upon extensive regional documentation from Nemaiah Valley, Ulkatcho, Anahim Lake, Alkali Lake, Sugarcane, Alexandria, and Nazko, the text demonstrates that First Nations were foundational participants in the nineteenth-century agricultural and industrial development of the interior. Lutz analyzes how subsequent provincial land pre-emption laws, reserve reductions, and coercive welfare policies deliberately displaced Indigenous producers from independent land ownership, illuminating the origins of structural marginalization.

xv, 431 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Collection of forty-six stories chronicling the events surrounding the building of the great Carey act irrigation project that has transmuted a once barren desert into what is now called the "Magic" Valley. The book tells the personal stories of pioneers who got that job done, and who founded the city of Twin Falls, and first made it prosper -- people like Ira Perrine, John Hansen, Paul Bickel, John and Anna Hayes, and many others

ix, 176 pages : illustrations, maps ; 29 cm

The inaugural volume in the Northwest Photography Series, Wild Beauty chronicles the rich photographic history of the spectacular Columbia River Gorge. This exquisitely produced large-format book features more than 130 images—most of them previously unpublished and many never before available for public view—by some three dozen photographers, including Carleton Watkins, Benjamin Gifford, Lily White, Sarah Ladd, Fred Kizer, Alfred Monner, and Ray Atkeson. Wild Beauty represents, in the words of one reviewer, “a culmination of decades of research, exhibition, and total immersion in the geology, history, and photography of the Columbia River Gorge.” The Columbia River Gorge exerts a powerful influence on the lives and imaginations of the inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest. For people who live here today, just as for those Native Americans and European settlers who preceded us, this dramatic natural landform is a source of awe. Since the 1860s it has inspired superb photographers who have framed and interpreted the way we see the Gorge, and who have in turn had their artistic vision shaped by this compelling landscape. The ninety-year period covered in Wild Beauty was a critical period in the river’s history. Over thousands of years the wild, free-flowing torrent of the Columbia River carved a passage – the Columbia River Gorge – through the Cascade Mountain Range. In the 1860s, when the first photographers arrived, the Gorge still looked much the same as it had when Lewis and Clark made their way down the river in 1805, and indeed as it had for centuries before that, when the native peoples’ culture of fishing and trade thrived along the river’s banks. In the mid twentieth century, the character of the river was fundamentally altered by the construction of hydroelectric dams. Wild Beauty begins in 1867 with images by the legendary Carleton Watkins, creator of some of the greatest landscape photographs of the nineteenth century. The volume ends in 1957 with the completion of The Dalles Dam, which drowned Celilo Falls and with it the historic site where Indians had fished for millennia. The images in this beautifully designed volume are presented one to a spread, with captions on the facing pages. The book is organized into five chronological sections, each with a brief introduction; a map shows the locations where the photographs were made. The photographs have been meticulously restored and are exquisitely reproduced in four-color process to capture the subtle coloration and nuanced tonal values of albumen prints, gelatin silver prints, platinum prints, hand-colored photographs, and early Kodachromes. The photography of Watkins and his successors is a significant piece of the cultural heritage of the Pacific Northwest. Readers interested in the history of the Columbia River and the photography of the developing American West will be enthralled by the book’s scope and artistry. And those who love the Gorge’s stunning beauty will welcome how this volume has captured its grandeur. Wild Beauty is the inaugural volume in a new series initiated by the Northwest Photography Archive. For 150 years, photographers have chronicled the landscape, people, and events of the Pacific Northwest. The Archive’s mission is to gather the finest and most significant of these images, from both private and public collections, and publish them in book form to make them widely available. All volumes in the series will be printed and bound in Oregon.

345 pages : illustrations (some color), color maps ; 32 cm.

The Lake County Historical Society’s Lake County history the first 100 years, 1876-1976 explores the enduring pioneer settlement and collaborative agricultural development within the expansive, arid expanses of Oregon’s high desert. The narrative illustrates how the profound environmental realities of this remote Basin and Range topography—defined by vast alkaline lakes, the sheer basalt cliffs of Abert Rim, and the demanding, highly variable climate of the "Oregon Outback"—required immense physical resilience and thoughtful agrarian adaptation from early homesteaders and ranchers. By detailing the gradual transition from isolated, vulnerable cattle and sheep operations to the cooperative establishment of enduring civic centers like Lakeview and the shared management of the region's vital timber and water resources, the text highlights how the county's prosperity relied heavily on community-driven responses to its challenging geography. Ultimately, the account demonstrates that cooperatively navigating the extreme seasonal shifts of the high desert and patiently cultivating a shared, neighborly identity were essential steps in transforming a rugged, isolated frontier into a cohesive, deeply rooted civic heartland of south-central Oregon.

History of Lake County, Oregon from 1876-1976, compiled by the local historical society. Includes black and white historical photographs.

viii, 250 pages : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm

Published by the Skykomish Historical Society, Upriver Voices: Tales of Skykomish compiles local oral histories, archival photographs, and pioneer recollections to chronicle the dramatic evolution of the upper Skykomish River valley in Washington. The narrative captures the raw realities of a rugged mountain frontier shaped by the timber industry, the grueling construction of the Great Northern Railway, and the sheer grit required to carve isolated hamlets out of the Cascade foothills. Through the preserved voices of loggers, railway workers, and families, the volume documents the social fabric and daily hardships of a transient industrial community. A keen insight drawn from the text is how its grassroots, multi-author preservation approach exposes the fragile permanence of mountain boomtowns; by centering the firsthand accounts of ordinary workers rather than corporate boardrooms, the book illustrates how the relentless cycles of resource extraction left behind tight-knit communities defined just as much by communal resilience as by corporate transience.

166 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm

Discover the wonders of Oregon's beautiful South Coast, from unspoiled beaches and the vast Oregon Dunes, to lush river valleys and soaring forest mountaintops. Let this guidebook lead you to the region's world-famous scenery, and to some of its overlooked treasures. Coos Bay outdoor writer Tom Baake explores the region's popular scenic spots and visits the "back road" places, with an emphasis on easy day-hikes and driving loop tours. Destinations include Shore Acres State Park --spectacular seaside setting and gardens of a former lumber baron as well as Golden and Silver Falls State Park, twin cascades in a protected stand of old growth forest. Another tour takes you to South Slough, the nation's first protected estuary. With plenty of places to stop for a picnic and fun, you'll visit forest groves, see unusual geology, get inspired by waterfalls, wander the beaches and ridges, and experience life in this fascinating region. Wildflowers and wild rhododendrons line the way on many of the roads, while autumn colors are a delight. There's added information on camping, biking, paddling, boating, fishing, even a chapter on "what to do on a rainy day." Most of all, it's a book about picnics - so let's go!

183 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm

Wings Over Idaho began as a modest overview of the history of aviation in Boise, Idaho, and grew into a history embracing the whole state. The wonder of flight made Idaho's thousands of square miles of mountains and wilderness passable by plane in hours rather than weeks.

175 pages : illustrations ; 28 cm

A beautifully designed book of photos celebrating the rugged Owyhee Mountain Canyonlands. The high desert of Owyhee Country contains some of the most spectacular, pristine canyonlands in the United States. A nationally recognized outdoor photographer, Mark Lisk s photographs of the Owyhees along with an essay by William Fox bring the rugged beauty of this Idaho and Oregon region to life.

120 pages : color illustrations ; 26 cm

"Rod Miller tells the story of the West's worst, but least remembered attack on Native Americans. Although they have been largely ignored by historians, it was the war waged against the Shoshoni tribe that opened the book on Indian massacres in the West. The Shoshoni were victims of a bloodbath more extreme than that at Wounded Knee, and more deadly than the more famous slaughter at Sand Creek. The Bear River Massacre, on January 29, 1863, claimed at least 250 Shoshoni lives. And it changed the culture of the natives who lived in the area along what later became the Utah-Idaho border. The author provides a compelling narrative account of the Bear River Massacre and the events leading up to the bloody clash on a frozen riverbank in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. He gives historical context to three major players in the massacre -- the Shoshoni, the military, and the Mormon settlers and their leaders -- and the interplay among those groups"--Page 4 of cover

xix, 193 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Donald Shannon presents the third in his series of books on Indian attacks on emigrant trans on the Oregoni Trail west of the Rocky Mountains. Massacre Rocks and City of Rocks details attacks that took place in 1862 at those two sites in what is now southeast Idaho.

xii, 240 pages : illustrations, maps, portrait ; 23 cm.

In Modoc: The Tribe That Wouldn't Die, Cheewa James, a direct descendent Modoc War hero Shkeitko, aka "Shacknasty Jim", recounts the explosive and personal story of her ancestors in a richly documented, non-fiction narrative that occasionally incorporates fictionalized inserts to help bring the story to life-an asset for school and family reading. Covering Modoc history from ancestral times to the present, this unique book includes over 100 rare black and white photographs of the Modoc War, historic Modoc men, women and children--many handed down through Cheewa's family--and life from times past. There are 40 color photographs of Modocs and their activities in current times. The book contains accounts from the letters of soldiers and eye-witnesses never before published. The six-month long Modoc War, fought in 1872-73, pitted some fifty-five Modoc warriors against 1,000 U.S. soldiers in the jagged, hostile terrain of today's Lava Beds National Monument, where both warriors and families held out in Captain Jack's Stronghold, a massive lava-cave maze named after the Modoc leader. The surviving Modocs were exiled to Oklahoma Indian Territory, where they faced the added trauma of disease and corrupt officials. Some later returned to the Klamath Reservation in Oregon, where Cheewa was born.

x, 335 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps, portraits ; 22 cm

As author Ann Ronald notes, "Simultaneously a paean to his father and a personal memoir about a changing landscape caught by a ‘rising tide of affluence,’ Alan Weltzein’s A Father and an Island:Reflections on Loss, echoes my own Pacific Northwest youth—the endless saltwater summers, the quirky behavior of a bookworm, the sweet sharp tang of blackberry cobbler, the fierce games of badminton, the beachcombing days of discovery, the blessedness of parents well loved. Anyone who’s grown up in and around Puget Sound will find familiar memories triggered on every delicious page. Some sweet,some nostalgic, some downright sad, they’re all here in this poignant remembrance of things past." Northwest author Mary Clearman Blew writes, "In this moving tribute to his father and his family’s home on a Puget Sound island,Alan Weltzein returns us to a time when summers were glorious and children played all day long on beaches that were still unexploited and unrestricted—a pleasure to read." Weltzien's memoir is an essential book for Northwest Letters.

288 pages ; 22 cm