Catalog of British Columbiana and Pacific Northwest Americana

Edited by C. Brewster Coulter and Bert Webber, The Pig War and Other Experiences of William Peck, Soldier 1858-1862 presents the remarkable personal journal of a U.S. Army engineer stationed in the Pacific Northwest during a tense geopolitical standoff. The book chronicles Private William A. Peck's daily life, military duties, and keen observations surrounding the infamous 1859 San Juan Island boundary dispute between the United States and Great Britain. Through these rare primary documents, the text captures the stark isolation, raw camp conditions, and quiet diplomacy that characterized an uneasy international borderlands garrison. A keen insight drawn from the work is how military journals humanize imperial brinkmanship; by filtering an international crisis through the mundane daily chores and reflective musings of an ordinary soldier, the narrative reveals that historical flashpoints are often lived not as grand historical dramas, but as tedious, freezing waits in remote wilderness outposts.

x, 236 pages : illustrations, maps ; 21 cm

The lighthouses of the inside passage, many of them built to guide prospectors on their way to the Klondike, stretch from sheltered stations on the Gulf Islands to stark, storm-swept Triple Island and Langara, south of Alaska. Feel the fury of destructive North Pacific gales and tidal waves that ravage the coast; ponder the unsolved murder of Addenbrooke's keeper, and the mysterious disappearances on Egg Island; witness the insanity caused by isolation -and enjoy the contentment and peace that many keepers found on their solitary stations. Don Graham, keeper at Vancouver's Point Atkinson light, tells the stories of individual lighthouses, then brings the history of lightkeepers in general into the present. The century-old tradition of service that has insured the safety of West Coast mariners and ships is currently threatened by automation, and Graham presents a persuasive case against unmanning the lights through his account of the dedication and endurance of pioneer keepers.

269 str. : ilustr. ; 25 cm

A collection of history, biographies and tales of what makes the eastern side of Oregon unique. The Other Side of Oregon is filled with stories about people and places that make the state special, spiced with philosophical tidbits from the author.

xii, 425 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

In the winter of 1960, when Keith Clark and Lowell Tiller hit upon the idea of investigating the tragic history of the Meek Cutoff in Oregon, they formulated four goals: To write an investigative if not definitive work on the subject. To lay to rest the mass of misinformation about the route of those lost and wandering pioneers who made up the Meek Train. To narrate the passage of the emigrant train whose tragic experience rivaled - indeed, surpassed, in the number of deaths -that of the Donner Party of California. To help lay the groundwork for the solution of the Blue Bucket mystery. This book offers the results of the achievement of these goals. In 1845, when emigrant parties reached old Fort Boise on the Snake River, they still faced many tortuous miles through the Blue Mountains and down the Columbia to The Dalles. A shortcut which would avoid this fearsome part of the journey seemed to have been discovered by Stephen H. L. Meek, older brother of Joe Meek. Confident that he could lead wagons through territory where he had trapped, and west across the Cascades through country he knew only by description, Meek, an intrepid mountain man, persuaded two hundred families to follow him through the trackless desert country of central Oregon. The emigrants made their way up the Malheur River, building their road as they went; and the story of their suffering, despair, and eventual rescue is presented in the pages of this book. Somewhere along the route to the Willamette Valley a group of these wandering people stumbled onto gold only to lose sight of it again. Subsequent searchers have traced and retraced the trail for more than a hundred years but to no avail. The book throws new light on the possibility of a rediscovery of the long-lost Blue Bucket gold. There are thirty-three illustrations from photographs, three maps and an endsheet map, a bibliography, an index, and a roster of names of pioneers.

xx, 279 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm

"This guide is intended to acquaint county residents and visitors with some of the more easily accessible landmarks of African-American history. These include works of art and cultural and historical sites which have been passed or driven by, for years while their existence, significance or association with African Americans in King County over the past century and a half has gone unnoted. This book provides information to give the user a sense of the creators and participants, the places and the activities associated with them ... Except for private homes and corporations most of the art and sites included here are accessible to public viewers. They are marked on the maps accompanying each section." from author's preface

xii, 158 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm

Published by local historian Harriet U. Fish, Tracks, Trails, and Tales in Clallam County, State of Washington chronicles the rugged pioneering history and frontier development of the Olympic Peninsula's northernmost reaches. The book captures the arduous experiences of early homesteaders, loggers, and native communities who navigated dense rain forests, uncharted coastal waters, and punishing mountain passes to build isolated settlements. Through first-person accounts, archival records, and local folklore, the text preserves the vanishing daily rhythms of a remote region shaped by timber extraction and maritime trade. A keen insight drawn from the work is how the geographic isolation of the Olympic Peninsula inverted standard settlement patterns; because dense wilderness and fierce coastal weather made overland travel nearly impossible, early Clallam County communities were often more closely tethered by steamship routes to distant Seattle and Victoria than to the rest of their own state.

214 pages : illustrations ; 22 x 28 cm

On November 11, 1919, the citizens of Centralia, Washington, gathered to watch former servicemen, local Boy Scouts, and other community groups march in the Armistice Day parade. When the marchers swung past the meeting hall of the Industrial Workers of the World, a group of veterans broke ranks, charged the hall, and were met by gunshots. Before the day was over, four of the marchers were dead and one of the Wobblies had been lynched by the mob. Through a wealth of newly available primary source material including previously sealed court documents, FBI records released under the Freedom of Information Act, and interviews with surviving witnesses, Tom Copeland has pieced together the events of that day and has traced the fate of the men who were accused and convicted of murdering the marchers. Copeland focuses on Elmer Smith, the local attorney who advised the Wobblies that they had the right to defend their hall against an anticipated attack. Although he never belonged to the I.W.W., Smith sympathized with their interests, championing the rights of working people and speaking on their behalf. He was originally arrested with the Wobblies and then took up their cause in the courts, beginning a life-long struggle to free the men who were charged with murdering the Centralia marchers. The fight lasted for fourteen years, during which Smith endured insults, threats, arrest, disbarment, and reinstatement. Copeland recounts Smith's run for political office, his speeches throughout the Northwest, and his unyielding support for the workers' cause. In 1932 he died at the age of forty-four. The book is a balanced treatment of the Centralia tragedy and its legal repercussions written by a practicing lawyer. It is also a compelling human drama, centering on the marginal life of an industrial frontier labor lawyer; a study of radical politics of the 1920s; and a depiction of conditions of life in the lumber camps and towns. It is thus biography as well as legal, political, and social history

xv, 233 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm

Published by the Washington State University Agricultural Experiment Station and authored by plant pathologist Charles J. Gould, History of the Flower Bulb Industry in Washington State details the remarkable mid-20th-century rise of commercial bulb production in the Pacific Northwest. The text chronicles how immigrant growers and agricultural innovators capitalized on the region's mild, maritime-influenced climate—particularly in the Puget Sound and Skagit valleys—to successfully rival traditional European floral markets. Through detailed historical accounts and horticultural data, the book documents the labor-intensive cultivation of daffodils, tulips, and iris that transformed local farmland into vibrant floral landscapes. A keen insight drawn from the work is how regional agricultural booms often rely on imported microclimates; by identifying that Western Washington's cool, damp springs closely mirrored the prized growing conditions of the Netherlands, the industry proved that niche economic success can be engineered by aligning local ecological quirks with international market demands.

ix, 309 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Published as a regional travel guide by Todd Litman and Suzanne Kort, Washington Off the Beaten Path steers travelers away from crowded metropolitan tourist traps and toward the state's hidden roadside gems, quirky local museums, and secluded natural wonders. The book takes readers on a comprehensive journey across Washington's diverse terrain—from the rain-drenched coastal forests of the Olympic Peninsula to the high-desert canyons of the Inland Empire—highlighting lesser-known historical sites and eccentric community landmarks. Through descriptive entries and practical travel tips, the authors champion the curious explorer willing to trade interstate highways for winding rural backroads. A keen insight drawn from the work is how alternative travel guides subvert standard tourism economies; by assigning cultural and recreational value to overlooked rural outposts, the book reframes geographic isolation and quirky local character not as economic liabilities, but as precious antidotes to mass-market commercialization.

xii, 180 pages : illustrations, maps ; 21 cm

Published by regional presses, The White Tide by Ruth Dunbar explores the dramatic social and environmental transformations accompanying early settlement and resource exploitation in the Pacific Northwest. The book traces the rapid influx of pioneers, industrial loggers, and speculators whose arrival fundamentally altered indigenous landscapes and traditional ways of life across the region's river valleys and coastal frontiers. Through narrative character studies and historical context, the text highlights the heavy human and ecological costs borne by a rapidly commercialized wilderness. A keen insight drawn from the work is how the metaphor of a "white tide" captures the overwhelming, impersonal force of frontier expansion; settlement was experienced not merely as a gradual migration, but as an encroaching, high-tide wave that permanently submerged native ecosystems and historical land-use patterns under an unyielding tide of industrial modernity.

v, 248 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Published by Seattle Public Schools and authored by educator Ruth Pelz, The Washington Story: A History of Our State provides an engaging regional overview designed to introduce students to the complex political, economic, and social heritage of the Pacific Northwest. The book traces the region's trajectory from ancestral Indigenous stewardship and the maritime fur trade through the eras of industrial logging, hydroelectric dam construction, and the rise of modern aerospace and technology hubs. By centering diverse voices and grassroots perspectives, the text moves beyond traditional pioneer narratives to examine how ordinary workers, immigrants, and native nations shaped local communities. A keen insight drawn from the work is how civic education textbooks function as blueprints for regional identity; by intentionally highlighting labor strikes, environmental struggles, and social justice milestones alongside economic triumphs, the book teaches young citizens that Washington's modern prosperity is inextricably tied to an ongoing, contentious negotiation between corporate ambition and grassroots resistance.

303 pages : illustrations, maps ; 27 cm

The stories and legends of the Lushootseed-speaking people of Puget Sound represent an important part of the oral tradition by which one generation hands down beliefs, values, and customs to another. Vi Hilbert grew up when many of the old social patterns survived and everyone spoke the ancestral language. Haboo, Hilbert's collection of thirty-three stories, features tales mostly set in the Myth Age, before the world transformed. Animals, plants, trees, and even rocks had human attributes. Prominent characters like Wolf, Salmon, and Changer and tricksters like Mink, Raven, and Coyote populate humorous, earthy stories that reflect foibles of human nature, convey serious moral instruction, and comically detail the unfortunate, even disastrous consequences of breaking taboos. Beautifully redesigned and with a new foreword by Jill La Pointe, Haboo offers a vivid and invaluable resource for linguists, anthropologists, folklorists, future generations of Lushootseed-speaking people, and others interested in Native languages and cultures.

XXIII, 204 Seiten : Illustrationen ; 28 cm

Place names are like the historical markers past which we all speed in our cars, too preoccupied to stop and enjoy them. The Strait of Juan de Fuca, Puyallup, Anacortes, Walla Walla these are some of the place names of Washington State. Scratch the surface and spend a little time wondering from whence they came and you will uncover a wealth of lore, legend, and local flavor.

291 pages : illustrations, map ; 25 cm

Man's age-old struggle with the sea comes historically alive in these true stories of shipwrecks off the Oregon and Washington coasts -- all near the mouth of the Columbia River. Dramatic photos of disaster and rescue at sea are placed with the stories they illustrate. Narrative appendix lists all wrecks; pictorial map gives locations. Fourth edition. 5 1/2 x 8 1/2. Highlighted by over 100 superb photos. Index. 304 pages. Companion to "Pacific Graveyard Shipwrecks Chart."

302 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm

Demonstrates that the railroads profoundly affected the way people lived, how they adjusted to the new opportunities or threats that swift and cheap transportation provided. In short, how they viewed the world.This book is for everyone fascinated by trains and their nineteenth-century opening of the great Northwest. With cases of pictures never before published this book tracks the stories of families lured to settle in the west, revelations about railroad buccaneers, and breathtaking engineering feats of bridges over daunting gorges - Gene Shalit, The Today Show, NBC

359 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 26 x 27 cm

Published by local historian Junius Rochester, Lakelure: A Tale of Medina, Washington chronicles the colorful transformation of an exclusive eastern shore community along Lake Washington. The book traces Medina's evolution from a dense, stump-strewn wilderness and early 20th-century strawberry-farming enclave into one of the most affluent residential suburbs in the Pacific Northwest. Through historical photographs and engaging local archives, the text captures the summer-resort origins of families who fled the urban clamor of Seattle via the historic mosquito fleet ferries long before the floating bridges spanned the lake. A keen insight drawn from the work is how suburban wealth in the Seattle region repurposed geographical sanctuary into exclusivity; the transition of Medina from a quiet agrarian refuge into a fortress of tech barons and elites illustrates how pristine lakeside isolation is ultimately commodified and walled off from the very metropolitan core it once sought to escape.

ii, 42 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Published by the Vancouver Natural History Society and authored by Jim Peacock, The Vancouver Natural History Society, 1918–1993 chronicles seventy-five years of grassroots ecological stewardship, amateur scientific research, and outdoor exploration in southwestern British Columbia. The book details the organization's instrumental role in advocating for provincial parks, documenting regional flora and fauna, and fostering a community-wide appreciation for the natural landscapes surrounding a rapidly expanding urban center. Through archival logs, club newsletters, and biographical sketches, the text highlights how dedicated citizen scientists successfully pushed back against unbridled resource extraction to protect local wilderness. A keen insight drawn from the work is how amateur natural history societies functioned as the vanguard of early environmentalism; by mobilizing urban citizens into weekend field trips and systematic species observation, the society turned ordinary nature enthusiasts into passionate political defenders of British Columbia's imperiled ecosystems.

104 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

In this darkly comic short story collection, Sherman Alexie, a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian, brilliantly weaves memory, fantasy, and stark realism to paint a complex, grimly ironic portrait of life in and around the Spokane Indian Reservation. These twenty-two interlinked tales are narrated by characters raised on humiliation and government-issue cheese, and yet are filled with passion and affection, myth and dream. There is Victor, who as a nine-year-old crawled between his unconscious parents hoping that the alcohol seeping through their skins might help him sleep, Thomas Builds-the-Fire, who tells his stories long after people stop listening, and Jimmy Many Horses, dying of cancer, who writes letters on stationary that reads "From the Death Bed of Jimmy Many Horses III," even though he actually writes then on his kitchen table. Against a backdrop of alcohol, car accidents, laughter, and basketball, Alexie depicts the distances between Indians and whites, reservation Indians and urban Indians, men and women, and mostly poetically between modern Indians and the traditions of the past

x, [2], 223 pages ; 24 cm

"In 1860 on the South Alternate Route of the Oregon Trail in the Snake River Country of present day Idaho and Oregon. A rare instance when Indians not only attempted but maintained a successful attack on encircled emigrant wagons. Attacks on the Utter wagon train and then on the survivors resulted in the greatest loss of life to an emigrant train and to the attacking Indians, of any such encounters. Survivors' starvation camp on the Owyhee River and eventual rescue by an army expedition commanded by Captain Frederick T. Dent (his sister married U.S. Grant). Discovery of the Van Ornum massacre -- the bodies "gleaming in the moonlight"--By a fast-moving dragoon force led by Lieutenant Marcus A. Reno (later with Custer at the Little Big Horn). Two-year attempt to rescue children held captive by the Shoshoni as the US Army disintegrated at the onset of the Civil War."--Cover

xvii, 218 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm.

Even though they were key figures in the development of western mining, mining engineers have received little attention until publication of Dr. Clark Spence's volume. At once a technological and social history, Dr. Spence examines the professional mining engineer in terms of his education, lifestyle, actual work, and impact on the environment beyond the Mississippi.

xii, 407 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Linwood Laughy’s compiled narrative In pursuit of the Nez Perces: the Nez Perce War of 1877—featuring the diverse historical perspectives of General O. O. Howard, Duncan McDonald, and Chief Joseph—explores the tragic collision of indigenous spatial sovereignty and expanding military infrastructure across the rugged interior of the Pacific Northwest. The narrative illustrates how the profound environmental realities of this vast topography—spanning the fertile, ancestral grazing lands of Oregon's Wallowa Valley, the grueling alpine passes of the Bitterroot Mountains, and the harsh expanses of the Montana plains—required immense physical resilience and masterful tactical adaptation from the fleeing Nez Perce communities. By detailing the harrowing transition from a deeply rooted, cooperative indigenous presence to a desperate, mobile resistance against the structured forces of a growing nation, the text highlights the complex, violent realities of frontier expansion. Ultimately, the multi-perspective account demonstrates that navigating these severe geographical barriers and fighting to preserve collective cultural identity amidst the coercive imposition of federal boundaries were profound acts of communal endurance, marking a deeply painful but pivotal chapter in the spatial reorganization of the American West.

Three contradicting accounts concerning the military campaign of the Nez Perce War of 1877

x, 307 pages : map ; 22 cm

On the northern Pacific coast, from Monterey Bay to Vancouver Island, zoologist Eugene Kozloff explores the rich variety of seashore life of the northern Pacific coast. Hundreds of plants and animals that inhabit the rocky shores, sandy beaches, and quiet bays and estuaries are described and illustrated with encyclopedic thoroughness. Two hundred and ninety-nine color illustrations and nearly 400 black-and-white photographs and line drawings show sponges, molluscs, crustaceans, comb jellies, flatworms, seaweeds, and many other kinds of seashore life, making for easy identification. The text, cross-referenced with figures and plates, describes in precise terms the size, color, activities, and peculiarities of the plants and animals most likely to be encountered. This book is a greatly expanded version of the author’s popular Seashore Life of Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia, and the San Juan Archipelago, published in 1973. It includes much new material on marine life along the open coast and in coastal bays, and extends the coverage to Oregon and northern California. Years of additional study make this the definitive work on the common seashore life of the northern Pacific coast. Kozloff discusses the geology and geography of the area, and gives the reader “some instant zoology and botany” with which to make the most of seashore exploration. He presents more than 650 species of plants and animals, each in its individual habitat, in chapters dealing with “Floating Docks and Pilings,” “Rocky Shores of the Puget Sound Region,” “Rocky Shores of the Open Coast,” “Sandy Beaches,” and “Quiet Bays and Salt Marshes.” He also explains the laws and customs governing the collection of biological material and how animals respond to changes in their environment. Clearly and convincingly, he communicates pleasure in, and respect for, diverse marine habitats. This book is not only for the use of professional biologists and students; it will add to the pleasure of all who visit the Pacific seashores, ranging from secluded inlets in the San Juan Islands to the magnificent rocky outer coast and tidal estuary of San Francisco Bay.

viii, 373 pages, 40 pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm

"NEW LAND, NEW LIVES tells in their own words the experiences of 45 immigrants (28 of them women) in the early years of the 20th century. Rasmussen's selections capture the textures and tones of ordinary life. They show how the cultures the immigrants had known in the Old World influenced . . . life in the Pacific Northwest".--TACOMA NEWS TRIBUNE. 41 photos

xiii, 320 pages : illustrations, 2 maps ; 25 cm

William S. Stone’s The Cross in the Middle of Nowhere: The History of the Catholic Church in Eastern Oregon chronicles the institutional, missionary, and parish development of the Roman Catholic Church across the arid expanses of the Columbia Plateau, the Blue Mountains, and the Great Basin interior. The narrative traces how itinerant missionary stations, rural chapels, and reservation boarding schools were superimposed directly onto the seasonal gathering roots, river fisheries, and ancestral homelands of the Cayuse, Umatilla, Walla Walla, and Northern Paiute peoples. Stone details the demanding logistical mechanics of early religious administration, illustrating how circuit-riding clergy traversed rugged stagecoach trails, pack routes, and emergent rail corridors to bind isolated livestock ranches, transient mining camps like Auburn and Canyon City, and railhead communities to regional centers at The Dalles and the diocesan see at Baker City. Ultimately, the chronicle demonstrates how ecclesiastical outposts and parochial networks functioned as durable instruments of social and civic infrastructure, permanently anchoring settler colonial governance across the high desert landscape.

xi, 372 pages : illustrations, portrait, map ; 23 cm

Arvid Seward’s Blaeberry Homesteaders is an illustrated local and spatial record of pioneer agricultural settlement along the Blaeberry River drainage, a major glacial tributary of the upper Columbia River north of Golden. Seward documents how early twentieth-century settlers staked land pre-emptions along the historic overland route blazed by David Thompson over Howse Pass, clearing bottomland spruce forests to build hand-hewn log homesteads and establish family dairy and hay ranches. The text details the logistical hurdles of pioneer survival in a remote mountain valley, including the construction of improvised timber flumes, cable car river crossings, and seasonal wagon trails connecting Blaeberry to the CPR mainline at Donald and Golden. Filled with personal reminiscences, cadastral surveys, and family photographs, the volume captures the everyday realities of rural community formation in the northern Columbia-Shuswap region.

128 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 28 cm