Catalog of British Columbiana and Pacific Northwest Americana

"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

Russell R. Rich’s Richfield of the Desert: A History of Paris and Bear Lake County, Idaho serves as a foundational civic and colonization chronicle of the Bear Lake Valley. The narrative details how 1863 Mormon pioneer companies, directed by Apostle Charles C. Rich, established permanent agrarian enclaves directly across the summer gathering corridors and hunting domains long frequented by the Shoshone and Bannock peoples. Rich documents the surveying of wide orthogonal village grids, the digging of collaborative irrigation canals diverted from Paris Creek, and the construction of the monumental Romanesque sandstone Paris Tabernacle. The volume provides detailed records of cooperative livestock regimes, early municipal governance in Paris, and the expansion of secondary farming settlements through St. Charles, Bloomington, and Ovid.

viii, 264 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm

Rhythm in the Rain is a nonfiction narrative about the jazz community in the Pacific Northwest that examines the people, places, and events that have made cities like Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, so popular among musicians. From the genesis of Jackson Street and Williams Avenue in the 1940s & '50s with such legends as Ray Charles and Quincy Jones, to the modern voices of George Colligan, Rebecca Kilgore, and Esperanza Spalding, this book aims to encompass and illuminate the rich musical history of a region that, while not widely recognized as a jazz mecca, has seen its relevance within the local community

xiii, 235 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm

ix, 324 pages, 56 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Ruby M. Nobbs’s Revelstoke: History and Heritage serves as the authoritative municipal history of the strategic mountain crossroads situated at the confluence of the Columbia and Illecillewaet rivers. The volume chronicles the town’s rapid emergence from a raucous 1880s railhead construction camp known as "Farwell" into the preeminent administrative, maintenance, and division point for the Canadian Pacific Railway through the Selkirk and Monashee mountains. Nobbs details how railway infrastructure, steamship docks connecting to the Arrow Lakes, and hard-rock smelter ventures were mapped over traditional Sinixt and Secwépemc river routes. The narrative examines civic development across the Columbia River into the adjacent community of Big Eddy, early hydro developments, and the establishment of Mount Revelstoke National Park, capturing the physical resilience of a major Canadian mountain division town.

x, 230 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 23 cm

Photographer Edward Curtis’s 1914 orchestrally scored melodrama In the Land of the Head Hunters was one of the first US films to feature an Indigenous cast. This landmark of early silent cinema was an intercultural product of Curtis’s collaboration with the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw of British Columbia—meant, like Curtis’s photographs, to document a supposedly vanishing race. But as this collection shows, the epic film is not simply an artifact of colonialist nostalgia. In recognition of the film’s centennial, and the release of a restored version, Return to the Land of the Head Hunters brings together leading anthropologists, Native American authorities, artists, musicians, literary scholars, and film historians to reassess the film and its legacy. The volume offers unique Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw perspectives on the film, accounts of its production and subsequent circulation, and evaluations of its depictions of cultural practice. Resituated within film history and informed by a legacy of Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw participation and response, the movie offers dynamic evidence of ongoing cultural survival and transformation under shared conditions of modernity.

xxvii, 420 pages ; 26 cm.

Jay Sherwood’s Return to the Frontier: The Photographs and Journeys of Frank Swannell, 1920–1928 documents government surveying and mapping expeditions through northern British Columbia along the route of the Dominion Telegraph Line. Drawing upon surveyor Frank Swannell’s journals and photography, Sherwood maps the trail running from Hazelton through the Stikine wilderness toward the Yukon boundary. The chronicle details the operation of remote telegraph maintenance stations—including Fourth Cabin and Fifth Cabin—and packhorse supply outposts such as Days Ranch, Callison Ranch, Rupert, and Hiusta Meadow. The narrative highlights encounters with Tahltan families, lineman crews, and packers who maintained communication across this demanding subarctic terrain.

176 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 22 x 26 cm

The recent listing of Pacific salmon under the Endangered Species Act has led to substantial interest in the scientific basis for river restoration in the Pacific Northwest. Millions of dollars in state and federal funding have been programmed for habitat restoration efforts to stem the decline of salmon populations in the region. This volume addresses the need for a solid understanding of fluvial processes and aquatic ecology in order to predict both river and salmonid response to restoration projects. In the Pacific Northwest, as in most regions of the United States, we are still learning about the processes that create habitat and river structure, how those processes influence aquatic ecosystems, and how to gauge the response of river systems to both land-use changes and restoration efforts. River systems are still responding to historic changes, and degraded habitat may not be restored successfully if natural conditions are not well understood, particularly if massive changes in watershed hydrology or other processes are the root cause. These issues faced in the development of regional river restoration programs are by no means unique to the Northwest, and so the initiation of a regional program of river restoration provides an opportunity to evaluate the state of river restoration in general. The eighteen chapters of Restoration of Puget Sound Rivers--presented by the region’s experts at a symposium of the Society for Ecological Restoration--examine geological and geomorphological controls on river and stream characteristics and dynamics, biological aspects of river systems in the region, and the application of fluvial geomorphology, civil engineering, riparian ecology, and aquatic ecology in efforts to restore Puget Sound Rivers. This volume will be of interest to geomorphologists, aquatic biologists, civil engineers, planners, and all those interested in the interface of science and policy in addressing one of the fundamental environmental challenges of the twenty-first century.

v, 505 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Resilience Through Writing: A Bibliographic Guide to Indigenous-Authored Publications in the Pacific Northwest before 1960 includes nearly 2,000 entries by over 700 individuals, 29% of them women, most of which were largely unknown. Coverage has been thorough, with writings from coastal and interior regions of Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and northern California. Entries include newspaper letters to the editors, school compositions, speeches, legal statements, and articles in miscellaneous relatively obscure publications. These materials thus provide new perspectives on Native American/First Nations cultures in the Pacific Northwest. The potential value of this material to descendants; tribal members; tribal historians; and scholars of Indigenous literature, political science, and culture change is enormous. By producing this bibliography and allowing the Journal of Northwest Anthropology (JONA) to publish it in our Memoir series, Robert Walls has given those interested in Northwest Indigenous writings the roadmap to years of research.

xiv, 481 pages : illustrations ; 28 cm

Researching Local History by Mary Reed and Carole Simon-Smolinski is a 1985 methodological guide and technical leaflet published by the Idaho State Historical Society. The book serves as a practical, step-by-step instructional manual designed to equip amateur historians, genealogists, and private citizens with the tools necessary to rigorously investigate their communities. The authors outline essential research techniques for navigating primary sources, emphasizing how to utilize county courthouse records to uncover property histories, track down early plat maps, and decipher business directories or local archives. Ultimately, it functions as a foundational educational resource that democratizes historical methodology, empowering local residents to actively uncover, document, and preserve the grassroots heritage of Idaho and the broader Pacific Northwest.

22 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Requiem for a people the Rogue Indians and the frontiersmen examines the brutal cultural collision, rapid mining incursion, and subsequent indigenous dispossession situated within the deeply incised, mountainous terrain of southwestern Oregon's Klamath and Siskiyou ranges. Beckham details how the region's formidable macro-geography—specifically the steep, heavily timbered slopes of the surrounding mountain barriers, the labyrinthine, whitewater chasms of the Rogue River canyon, and the isolated, mineral-rich inland basins—strictly dictated the margins of indigenous Takelma subsistence, sudden and aggressive pioneer gold mining operations, and the ensuing guerrilla warfare. By mapping the transformation of these isolated riverine corridors from sustained indigenous homelands into fiercely contested frontier battlegrounds, where the unforgiving mountainous topography both facilitated fierce native resistance and ultimately trapped outgunned populations in devastating military bottlenecks, the narrative highlights how this specific highly fractured geography anchored a profoundly violent, resource-driven campaign of ethnic cleansing. Ultimately, this ethnohistorical and military record serves as a localized spatial history, demonstrating how the severe topographic barricades, vital riparian corridors, and rich geological deposits of this Pacific Northwest landscape fundamentally shaped the highly tragic, fiercely contested character of the Rogue River frontier.

xiv, 214 pages : illustrations, map, plan, portraits ; 22 cm.

"A guide to turtles, lizards, and snakes. Each species entry includes: description, distribution, ranges, habits, comparison to similar species, and remarks regarding the uniqueness of the species. Also the only field guide to cover all marine and freshwater turtles in the region" --back cover

viii, 176 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), maps ; 22 cm.

Herbert Beaver’s Reports and Letters chronicles the profound cultural collision that occurred when an inflexible British ecclesiastical framework was thrust into the profoundly isolated, geographically expansive trading empire of the Hudson’s Bay Company at Fort Vancouver. The text maps how the immense distances and unyielding topography of the Columbia River basin strictly dictated the outpost's pragmatic social structure, forcing the diverse frontier population to prioritize localized survival, massive agricultural self-sufficiency, and vital indigenous alliances over rigid metropolitan dogmas. By detailing Beaver’s vitriolic clashes with the fort's administration, the narrative illustrates how the sheer physical detachment from the European continent rendered traditional, uncompromising institutional infrastructure entirely incompatible with the severe environmental realities of the Pacific frontier. Ultimately, the account demonstrates that adapting to the immense scale and isolating geography of this critical riparian highway—often through localized, syncretic social customs—was the absolute prerequisite for maintaining a functional imperial foothold in the untamed western wilderness.

xxiv, [2], 148, [5] pages : illustration ; 28 cm

"Oregon entered a new era in 1964 with the election of Tom McCall as Secretary of State and Bob Straub as State Treasurer. Their political rivalry formed the backdrop for two of Oregon's most transformative decades, as they successively fought for, lost, and won the governorship. Veteran Oregon journalist Floyd McKay had a front-row seat. As a political reporter for The Oregon Statesman in Salem, and then as news analyst for KGW-TV in Portland, McKay was known for asking tough questions and pulling no punches. His reporting and commentaries ranged from analysis of the "Tom and Bob" rivalry, to the Vietnam War's impact on Senators Wayne Morse and Mark Hatfield and the emergence of a new generation of Portland activists in the 1970s. McKay and his colleagues were on the beaches as Oregon crafted its landmark Beach Bill, ensuring the protection of beaches for public use. They watched as activists turned back efforts to build a highway on the sand at Pacific City. Pitched battles over Oregon's Bottle Bill, and the panic-inducing excitement of "Vortex"--The nation's only state-sponsored rock festival--characterized the period. Covering the period from 1964-1986, McKay remembers the action, the players and the consequences, in this compelling and personal account. As major actors fade from the scene and new leaders emerge, McKay casts a backwards glance at enduring Oregon legends. Half a century later, amid today's cynicism and disillusionment with media, politics, and politicians, Reporting the Oregon Story serves as a timely reminder that charged politics and bitter rivalries can also come hand-in-hand with lasting social progress. Reporting the Oregon Story will be relished by those who lived the history, and it will serve as a worthy introduction to Oregonians young and old who want a first-hand account of Oregon's mid- twentieth-century political history and legislative legacy"-- Provided by publisher

xiv, 270 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Albert H. Campbell’s 1859 government document, Report upon the Pacific Wagon Roads, details the arduous federal engineering projects undertaken to carve overland migration routes into the expanding Pacific Northwest. A major geographic focus of the text is the monumental Fort Benton to Walla Walla route—later known as the Mullan Road—which required clearing paths through the rugged Bitterroot Mountains of northern Idaho and extending across the vast plains of eastern Washington. The report also surveys critical transportation corridors in southern Oregon, mapping the challenging topography and mountain passes necessary to connect established Willamette Valley settlements to frontier territories further south. By documenting the exhaustive surveying across these formidable river crossings, high deserts, and dense forests, Campbell's report highlights the severe physical landscapes that defined early pioneer travel into Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

125 pages : 3 maps (folded in pocket) ; 27 cm

Published in multiple parts during the early twentieth century by a joint provincial and federal effort, the Report of the Commission Appointed to Delimit the Boundary Between the Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia documents the grueling topographical expedition tasked with permanently mapping the region's legal borders. The exhaustive technical volumes detail the surveying of the treacherous Rocky Mountain Continental Divide and the 120th meridian, translating high-altitude wilderness into precise trigonometric data, contour maps, and physically erected boundary monuments. Beyond a mere geographic catalog, the commission's multi-year undertaking established the absolute jurisdictional clarity required by both provinces to manage lucrative natural resources, timber rights, and emerging alpine tourism. A keen insight drawn from the work is how the rigorous application of topographical science functioned as a profound mechanism of state enclosure; by mathematically carving a rigid, artificial political barrier across the natural landscape, the Boundary Commission successfully overwrote fluid Indigenous territorial networks with an absolute, permanent geometry of colonial jurisdiction.

volumes : illustrations ; 26 cm

Report of an expedition from Fort Colville to Puget Sound, Washington Territory, by way of Lake Chelan & Skagit River examines the grueling military reconnaissance and overland pathfinding situated across the formidable, heavily glaciated divide of the North Cascade mountains. Pierce details how the region's extreme vertical topography—specifically the deep, glacially carved trench of Lake Chelan, the jagged alpine ridges of the Cascade crest, and the precipitous, densely forested river gorge of the upper Skagit—strictly dictated the treacherous margins of territorial exploration and early routing. By mapping the expedition's agonizing physical progression over high mountain passes and through the impenetrable western-slope temperate rainforests, the narrative highlights how this specific cordilleran geography anchored early governmental attempts to forge a viable transit corridor between the arid interior Columbia Plateau and the maritime Puget Sound basin. Ultimately, this military record serves as a macro-level spatial history, demonstrating how the sheer geological wall and immense topographic hostility of this Pacific Northwest frontier fundamentally shaped the highly constrained, physically punishing character of trans-Cascade exploration.

27 pages : illustrations, folded map ; 27 cm

Authored by Nancy Stringfellow, Report from Grimes Creek After a Hard Winter captures the isolated, rugged reality of pioneer life and gold-mining culture in the mountainous backcountry of Boise County, Idaho. The book reflects on the punishing aftermath of a brutal winter season, detailing how local homesteaders, miners, and families endured freezing isolation, scarce supplies, and the grueling physical toll of sub-zero mountain living. Through evocative prose and regional historical anecdotes, the text preserves a snapshot of resilient community survival along a historic Idaho creek. A keen insight drawn from the work is how seasonal extremes served as the ultimate equalizer on the mining frontier; by demonstrating how a severe winter instantly stripped away the speculative hype of the gold rush and reduced all residents to a shared struggle for basic warmth and sustenance, the narrative reveals that true frontier survival relied far more on stubborn endurance against nature than on mineral wealth.

34 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

David M. Buerge, Cynthia Barker, and Nada Oakley’s Renton, where the water took wing: an illustrated history chronicles the profound industrial and civic transformation of the fertile lowlands at the southern shores of Lake Washington. Set against the coal-rich Cascade foothills and a historically dynamic hydrological landscape, the narrative details how early homesteaders, immigrant miners, and indigenous communities navigated a terrain fundamentally altered by massive civic engineering—most notably the 1916 lowering of Lake Washington, which permanently dried up the vital Black River and redirected the Cedar River. By tracing the transition from rugged, resource-extraction frontier towns and river-dependent settlements into a pioneering aviation manufacturing hub built on the newly exposed lakeshores, the text reveals how tight-knit ethnic neighborhoods and industrial workforces coalesced through shared labor and rapid environmental adaptation. Ultimately, this illustrated history demonstrates how collaboratively harnessing both the region's natural waterways and its radically re-engineered geography successfully transformed a scattered mining settlement into a cohesive, enduring modern city whose legacy of flight reshaped the Pacific Northwest.

135 pages : illustrations (some color), map ; 29 cm

Renton from coal to jets examines the dramatic industrial evolution and severe geographic manipulation of a critical aquatic chokepoint situated at the southern tip of Lake Washington. Slauson and her co-contributors detail how the region's formidable physical barriers—specifically the rugged, resource-heavy foothills of the Cascade Range that abruptly meet the flood-prone alluvial fan of the Cedar River—strictly dictated the initial margins of pioneer resource extraction. By mapping the immense physical labor required to excavate deep coal seams from the precipitous inland slopes and transport that heavy freight via precarious riparian corridors to urban markets, the narrative highlights the grueling early reliance on the region's raw geological topography. The absolute geographic necessity of expanding this frontier economy eventually forced a monumental reengineering of the landscape itself, as residents aggressively rerouted the volatile river and capitalized on the artificial lowering of the lake's shoreline to forge the massive, flat industrial grid required for modern aerospace manufacturing. Ultimately, this civic and historical record serves as a deeply localized spatial history, demonstrating how the complex hydrological force and steep topographical gradients of the Puget Sound lowlands inherently shaped the fiercely resilient, highly engineered transition of the Renton settlement from a rugged frontier mining camp into a global aviation hub.

[6], 183, [4] pages, 31 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 23 cm

Among all the "food nations" of North America, ranging from Clambake Nation to Chile Pepper Nation, Salmon Nation is the richest in mushrooms, berries, wild roots, fish, and shellfish. Native American traditions are at its core, but other culinary accents — from Spanish to Japanese — have added to the mix. A project of the Renewing America's Food Traditions (RAFT) consortium, this book describes over 180 species of local plants and animals — many now at risk, others recovering, and all deserving of recognition — that have formed the basis of food traditions in the Pacific Northwest. To identify the traditional foods of Salmon Nation, RAFT brought together farmers, chefs, fisherfolk, food historians, orchardists, ethnobotanists, conservation activists, nutrition educators, and wild foragers in an unprecedented effort to assess the current state of foods unique to the Pacific Northwest. The result is, for the first ever, a comprehensive list of the foods that have nurtured the cultures of Salmon Nation over the centuries. Renewing Salmon Nation's Food Traditions encourages readers and eaters to familiarize themselves with the rich histories, ecologies, and recipes of these local foods. This beautifully illustrated handbook describes the appearance and taste of each species, as well as its origin and history, geographic range, and culinary uses. Foods on the list range from domesticated crops such as the Bing cherry, Hood strawberry, and Nez Perce bean to sea foods such as Chinook salmon, candlefish smelt, and geoduck, and wild foods such as Oregon black truffle, wapato, and blackcap raspberry. A resource list at the back of the book identifies nurseries, seed companies, and suppliers working to safeguard and revitalize the heritage foods of Salmon Nation.

v, 66 pages : illustrations, color map ; 22 cm

Renegade Tribe: The Palouse Indians and the Invasion of the Inland Pacific Northwest by Clifford E. Trafzer and Richard D. Scheuerman is a seminal 1986 ethnohistory published by Washington State University Press that chronicles the complex heritage and fierce resistance of the Palus people. The book meticulously details the traditional culture of this often-misunderstood Indigenous group and their pivotal role in defending their ancestral homelands across the Columbia Plateau against the rapid influx of white miners, settlers, and the U.S. military. By focusing on the mid-19th-century conflicts—particularly the Yakima War and the devastating 1858 punitive campaigns led by Colonel George Wright—the authors dismantle the federal government's historical labeling of the Palouse as mere "renegades," instead framing their actions as a desperate and deeply rooted defense of their sovereignty. Ultimately, it serves as an essential, critically acclaimed scholarly resource that provides a crucial Indigenous perspective on the violent colonization and subsequent displacement that reshaped the Inland Pacific Northwest.

xv, 224 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

"When DJ Lee's dear friend vanishes in the vast Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness of Idaho and Montana, she travels there to seek answers. The journey unexpectedly brings to an end her fifteen-year quest to uncover the buried history of her family in this remote place. Although Lee doesn't find all the answers, she comes away with a penetrating memoir that weaves her present-day story with past excursions into the region, wilderness history, and family secrets. As she grapples with wild animal stand-offs, bush plane flights in dense fog, raging forest fires, and strange characters who have come to the wilderness to seek or hide, Lee learns how she can survive emotionally and how the wilderness survives as an ecosystem. Her growing knowledge of the life cycles of salmon and wolverine, the regenerative role of fire, and Nimíipuu land practices helps her find intimacy in this remote landscape. Skillfully intertwining history, outdoor adventure, and mystery, Lee's memoir is an engaging contribution to the growing body of literature on women and wilderness and a lyrical tribute to the spiritual connection between people and the natural world"-- Provided by publisher

204 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Reminiscences of Washington Territory examines the pioneering journalism, foundational civic organizing, and early urban development situated across the rapidly evolving, heavily timbered maritime macro-geography of the Puget Sound basin. Prosch details how the region's formidable topography—specifically the dense, old-growth forests that choked the shoreline, the vast, intricate network of deep-water marine highways, and the profound physical isolation from eastern commercial centers—strictly dictated the margins of early press operations, political institution-building, and localized community survival. By mapping the establishment of territorial newspapers and the arduous efforts to link scattered frontier settlements through primitive trails and coastal steam navigation, the narrative highlights how this specific challenging, water-bound geography anchored a profoundly communicative, politically ambitious pioneer society. Ultimately, this historical and autobiographical record serves as a localized spatial history, demonstrating how the severe overland barriers, vital marine waterways, and immense botanical scale of this Pacific Northwest landscape fundamentally shaped the highly connected, civic-minded character of early Washington Territory.

128 pages, 26 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm

Remembering the Power of Words recounts the personal and professional journey of Avel Gordly, the first African-American woman elected to the Oregon State Senate. The book is a brave and honest telling of Gordly’s life. She shares the challenges and struggles she faced growing up black in Portland in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as her determination to attend college, the dedication to activism that took her from Portland to Africa, and her eventual decision to run for a seat in the state legislature. That words have power is a constant undercurrent in Gordly’s account and a truth she learned early in life. “Growing up, finding my own voice,” she writes, “was tied up with denying my voice or having it forcefully rejected and in all of that the memory of my father is very strong. To this day—and I am today a very experienced public speaker—preparation to speak takes a great deal of energy.” That this memoir has its origins as an oral history is fitting since Gordly has used her voice, out loud, to teach and inspire others for so many years. Important as a biographical account of one significant Oregonian’s story, the book also contributes “broader narratives touching on Black history (and Oregon’s place within it), and most particularly the politics associated with being an African American woman,” according to series editor Melody Rose.

176 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.