Catalog of British Columbiana and Pacific Northwest Americana

Ocean Shores, Washington, the exciting growth years examines the rapid, master-planned coastal development situated on the sandy, wind-swept Point Brown peninsula that divides the pounding Pacific Ocean from the sheltered waters of Grays Harbor. Rasmussen details how the region's dynamic coastal topography—specifically the shifting sand dunes, the dense tracts of stunted coastal pine, and the low-lying estuarine margins—strictly dictated the limitations of early access and subsequent resort engineering. By mapping the aggressive mid-century transformation of this isolated coastal spit through the dredging of extensive freshwater canal networks and the stabilization of shifting sands for gridded expansion, the narrative highlights how the specific peninsular geography was forcibly molded to anchor a recreational economy. Ultimately, this local historical record serves as a localized spatial history, demonstrating how the fragile dune ecology, pervasive maritime exposure, and distinct estuarine boundaries of this Pacific Northwest coastline fundamentally shaped the highly engineered, recreation-dependent character of modern Ocean Shores.

104 pages : illustrations, 1 map (folded color in pocket) ; 22 cm

Obstinate Hope studies Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth who is not numbered among America’s greatest heroes. The successful Boston ice merchant is considered a failure in the fur trade. Yet Wyeth was a practical businessman with an adventurous Yankee spirit that led him twice across the continent and back, in 1832 and again in 1834, prior to the development of reliable maps or emigrant trails. Wyeth’s contributions to westward expansion have been largely overlooked by historians. Obstinate Hope is part one of a two part examination of the life of Nathaniel J. Wyeth. The book begins with a look at Wyeth's pre-fur trade life including his heritage, operation of the family's Fresh Pond Hotel and his early career in the ice industry. The bulk of the book details his first expedition to the west (1832-1833) using his letters and journals as its base. The narrative follows Wyeth on his trip to the fur trade rendezvous in Pierre's Hole, on to the Pacific Northw...est and then back to the East coast. Each of Wyeth's journal entries are accompanied by the author's commentary, providing insight into Wyeth's experiences. The story is supplemented with information from the journals and letters of other people who were with him for all or part of the trip. The commentary also compares what Wyeth encountered in the west with events and occurrences from other trapper diaries. Ten maps and more than three dozen images illustrate the text. Jim Hardee is the editor of the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade Journal, published by the Sublette County Historical Society and the Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale, Wyoming. Jim is the author of Pierre’s The Fur Trade History of Teton Valley, Idaho. He is also the director of the Fur Trade Research Center and is a presenter for many conferences and symposiums. He has published numerous articles on various fur trade topics, and lives in Pierre's Hole, Idaho.

v. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.

Nu·tka· Captain Cook and the Spanish explorers on the Coast examines the pivotal maritime encounters that unfolded within the deep, sheltered fjords of Vancouver Island's rugged western seaboard. The authors detail how the treacherous, storm-battered Pacific coastline made the protected anchorages of Nootka Sound a highly strategic—and fiercely contested—geographic prize for late-eighteenth-century European empires seeking dominance over the Northwest Coast. By mapping the arrival of British and Spanish expeditions into this complex marine topography, the narrative highlights the profound physical isolation of these early imperial outposts and their absolute reliance on the navigable inlets for survival and resupply. Furthermore, the text anchors these early contact accounts to the specific aquatic environment mastered by the Indigenous Nuu-chah-nulth people. Ultimately, the book provides a localized spatial history, demonstrating how the formidable coastal geography of this remote Pacific Northwest inlet briefly became the focal point of global maritime conflict.

101 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 27 cm.

"This is the first collection of essays, articles and interviews about the Nuu-chah-nulth people, who live along the west coast of Vancouver Island (Canada) and the Olympic Peninsula (U.S.A.). Alan L. Hoover has assembled a balance of views from inside and outside Nuu-chah-nulth history, culture and art. He presents the collection in four parts." "In "Voices", the Mowachaht-Muchalaht and Huu-ay-aht nations recount their own histories, and describe who and where they are today. "Histories" offers fascinating accounts of recent history from outside the Nuu-chah-nulth culture, and ancient histories and legends from inside. "Objects" highlights the different interests of those who create objects and those who collect them: are these objects art? Finally, 'Journeys' relates the personal and spiritual growth of three Nuu-chah-nulth artists, and how their creations speak about where they came from and where they are now."--Jacket

vii, 389 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm

Euro-American Priest River Valley settlers turned acres of sagebrush into fruit orchards. Although farm life required hard work and modern conveniences were often spare, many former residents remember idyllic, close-knit communities where neighbors helped neighbors. Then, in 1943, families received forced evacuation notices. "Fruit farmers had to leave their crops on their trees. And that was very hard on them, no future, no money...they moved wherever they could get a place to live," Catherine Finley recalled. Some were given just thirty days, and Manhattan Project restrictions meant they could not return. Drawn from Hanford History Project personal narratives, Nowhere to Remember highlights life in Hanford, White Bluffs, and Richland--three small agricultural communities in eastern Washington's mid-Columbia region. It covers their late 1800s to early 1900s origins, settlement and development, the arrival of irrigation, dependence on railroads, Great Depression struggles, and finally, their unique experiences in the early years of World War II. David W. Harvey examines the impact of wagon trade, steamships, and railroads, grounding local history within the context of American West history. Robert Franklin details the tight bonds between early residents as they labored to transform scrubland into an agricultural Eden. Laura Arata considers the early twentieth century experiences of women who lived and worked in the region. Robert Bauman utilizes oral histories to tell forced removal stories. Finally, Bauman and Franklin convey displaced occupants' reactions to their lost spaces and places of meaning--and explore ways they sought to honor their heritage.

xvi,196 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 23 cm

iv, 92 pages : illustrations maps, portraits ; 27 cm.

Now Go Home tells the story of how a quintessential California girl ended up earning her living in the Pacific Northwest with a crosscut saw. Ana Maria Spagna came of age in southern California in the "hot-pink eighties." By the time she turned 19, she had visited Disneyland 37 times and was ready to hit the road. In these finely edged essays, she takes her readers along. With candor, wit, and hard-earned wisdom, Spagna reflects on the journey that took her from a childhood in the suburbs of LA to a trail crew in the North Cascades, where she falls in love with a place and, unexpectedly, with a woman. With days spent laboring as the only woman on a trail crew and evenings in a cabin no larger than Thoreau's, she has world enough and time to wrestle with the compromises and contradictions of making "a life in the woods." From the work she does and the people she meets, she comes to see the nuances, and occasionally the humor, of big ideas like wilderness and environmentalism. And she decides this is the place she must call home. About the author: Ana Maria Spagna lives in Stehekin, Washington, where she works on a National Park Service trail crew. Her essays have appeared in Orion, Utne Reader, Open Spaces, Backpacker, and Best Essays NW.

166 pages ; 22 cm

Account by botanist on expedition of Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra of the Nootka Indians on Vancouver Island, their environment and adaptation to it. Introduction by Iris Wislon giving historical and anthropological background. This volume, long out of print, is now reissued in a new edition with the approval and support of the hereditary chiefs and elders of the Mowachaht, one of the Nuu-chah-nulth tribes. Included are Mozino's catalog of flora and fauna, his dictionary of the Nootka language, and reproductions of the drawings made by Atanasio Echeverria, the artists who accompanied the expedition

liv, 142 pages, 24 pages of plates : illustrations ; 22 cm

Della Gould Emmons’s Nothing in Life is Free: Through Naches Pass to Puget Sound chronicles the desperate, brute-force overland subjugation of the Cascade Range, focusing on the grueling pioneer penetration of a violently fractured alpine transit corridor. The narrative maps how the severe environmental realities of this formidable mountain barricade—defined by towering, sheer granite drop-offs, impenetrable old-growth timber stands, and plunging riverine gorges—initially paralyzed direct wagon migration to the inland sea of Puget Sound, forcing early settlers into a highly precarious, near-fatal struggle against the untamed topography. By detailing the massive physical engineering required by the first overland emigrant train to manually hack a crude terrestrial route through colossal coastal forests and literally lower heavy, reinforced wagon chassis by rope down sheer basalt cliffs, the text illustrates how basic survival was strictly dictated by the urgent necessity to breach these continental extremes before the onset of crippling alpine winters. Ultimately, the account demonstrates that violently carving this precarious overland vector through an unforgiving wilderness and deploying raw human labor to conquer the profound geographical isolation of the mountains were the absolute prerequisites for establishing a direct, unbroken pioneer link between the arid inland plateau and the maritime anchor of the Pacific edge.

315 pages 23 cm

Compiled by geologist George M. Dawson during his late nineteenth-century government field surveys of southern interior British Columbia, Notes on the Shuswap People of British Columbia provides valuable firsthand scientific, geographical, and ethnographic observations of Secwépemc territories. Dawson records Indigenous village sites, place names, seasonal fishing camps, and overland trail corridors along the Shuswap Lakes and the mouth of the Salmon River. The monograph documents material technology, linguistic vocabularies, and territorial limits, serving as an important nineteenth-century source for identifying Indigenous cultural geography prior to major rail-driven settler influx.

pages 3-44 : map ; 31 cm

Published in 1897 within the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, Charles Hill-Tout’s ethnographic monograph provides an early, detailed record of the oral traditions, creation myths, and social structures of the Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh) people of British Columbia. A keen insight drawn from the text is how Hill-Tout’s underlying framework of "salvage anthropology"—the assumption that he was documenting a doomed, vanishing race—inadvertently highlights the immense, destructive pressure that colonial assimilation policies were already exerting upon Indigenous communities at the turn of the century. The work meticulously catalogs their ancestral stories, complex cosmology, and historical origins in a dedicated effort to preserve their cultural heritage. Despite being heavily filtered through the paternalistic academic lens of its era, the publication remains a crucial archival resource for understanding the early linguistic and cultural history of the Coast Salish peoples.

85-90 pages 25 cm

272 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Beatrice L. Bliss White’s Not on a silver platter: settling the Willamette Valley and Salem, Oregon, 1858-1904 chronicles the grueling agrarian labor and civic perseverance required to cultivate the fertile floodplains and dense woodlands of central Oregon. Set against the defining waterways of the Willamette River and the distant backdrop of the Cascade foothills, the narrative details how subsequent waves of pioneer families navigated the physical hardships of clearing untamed acreage to establish viable farming claims. By chronicling the shared seasonal harvests and the collaborative construction of early Salem's commercial and educational institutions, the text reveals how these dispersed rural homesteaders forged tight-knit kinship networks to survive the demanding transition from frontier subsistence to agricultural prosperity. Ultimately, this local history documents how the cooperative stewardship of the valley floor and deeply rooted family alliances successfully transformed a rugged pioneer territory into the enduring, cohesive civic center that anchored Oregon's early statehood.

"The Adams family's new life in Oregon, the Territory and the new state."

498 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Northwest Women features concise descriptions of more than 700 books and articles that examine the contributions of Washington and Oregon women -- bringing to light generations of scholarship about celebrated and anonymous women, from Native American basket makers to Japanese-Americans interned during World War II

x, 134 pages : illustrations ; 28 cm

The Pacific Northwest has long been a linguistically rich region, yet there are few books devoted its unique linguistic heritage. The essays collected in Northwest Voices examine the historical background of the Pacific Northwest, the contributions of indigenous languages, the regional legacy of English, and the relationship between our perceptions of people and the languages they speak. Although not often considered a bastion of diversity, linguistic or otherwise, in fact the Pacific Northwest has had a surprising number of influences on the English language, and a great number of other languages have left their mark on the region in a variety of ways. Individual essays examine the region’s linguistic diversity, explore the origins and use of place names, and detail efforts to revive indigenous languages. Written for both general readers and language scholars, Northwest Voices brings together research and perspectives from linguistics, history, and cultural studies to help readers understand how and why the language of our region is of utmost importance to our pasts, presents, and futures.

192 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

In this new edition of Northwest Passage , Dietrich updates the status of the mighty Columbia River, discussing the health of its salmon runs, the state of its dams, and the river’s growing importance in light of climate change.

448 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Learn how to draw the Wolf, the Eagle, the Killer Whale and other powerful illustrations of the native arts with help from this step-by-step guide. The second coloring book in the Northwest Indigenous Arts Series. Learn about some of the real and legendary creatures revered by the natives of the West Coast by using these templates to create spectacular pictures. Over 80 instructional drawings of indigenous art. Learn to draw indigenous art! First Nations artist Robert E. Stanley Sr. shares his knowledge and technique in rendering classic northwest native drawings. Now you too, can learn to draw some of the legendary animals of the First Nations tribes, by learning Robert's techniques passed down to him from generation to generation.

64 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 28 cm

Authored by regional historian Jerome Peltier, Northwest History Articles from the Pacific Northwesterner Quarterly compiles a diverse collection of scholarly essays exploring the colorful characters, military engagements, and economic milestones of the inland Pacific Northwest. The volume draws upon meticulous archival research to examine forgotten pioneer trails, early territorial politics, and the complex interactions between native populations and American settlers across Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Through these rigorously detailed historical vignettes, the text preserves the intricate texture of frontier life beyond the Cascade Mountains. A keen insight drawn from the work is how regional historical journals serve as vital repositories for the micro-histories that grand national narratives routinely overlook; by rescuing obscure local disputes and personal journals from archival obscurity, the collection demonstrates that the true fabric of westward expansion was woven from countless localized conflicts and compromises rather than sweeping political decrees.

vxiii, 164 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm

ix, 313 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (black and white), map (on lining papers), portrait ; 24 cm

Gives a narrative history of 2 separate disasters that happened in the northwest US in 1910. One was an avalanche that killed 96 people at Wellington, Washington. The other was the huge forest fires of 1910 in Montana and Idaho. The emphasis on the fire portion of this book is on the fires in Idaho

228 S., Taf. Ill.

"The masterworks of Northwest Coast Native artists are admired today as among the great achievemments of the world's artists. The painted and carved wooden screens, chests and boxes, rattles, crest hats, and other artworks display the complex and sophisticated northern Northwest Coast style of art that is the visual language used to illustrate inherited crests and tell family stories. In the 1950s Bill Holm, a graduate student of Dr. Erna Gunther, former director of the Burke Museum, began a systematic study of northern Northwest Coast art. In 1965, after studying hundreds of bentwood boxes and chests, he published Northwest Coast Indian Art: An Analysis of Form, a foundational reference on northern Northwest coast Native art. Through his careful studies, Holm described this visual language using terminology that has become part of the established vocabularly that allows us to talk about works like these and understand changes in style both through time and among individual artists' styles. Holm examines how these pieces, although varied in origin, material, size, and purpose, are related to a surprising degree in the organization and form of their two-dimensional surface decoration. Holm presents an incisive analysis of the use of color, line, and texture; the organization of space; and such typical forms as ovoids, eyelids, U forms, and hands and feet. The evidence on which he based his conclusions constitutes a repository of valuable information for all succeeding researchers in the field." --Inside front cover

xxvii, 114 pages : illustrations (some color), color map ; 24 cm.

Observing birds in the Pacific Northwest in winter is both challenging and rewarding. Despite the weather and the fact that many birds are not in their brightest plumage, winter birding is growing increasingly popular. Unlike the breeding season, when many birds are territorial and observers must travel widely to see them, in winter many birds concentrate and a field trip can find amazing densities and species variety in a small area. Northwest Birds in Winter is the first guide to the distribution and abundance of birds that winter in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and southern British Columbia. It offers a summary of winter status and distribution information for the nearly 380 regularly occurring species in the region. Detailed winter range maps and 30-year population trend data are provided for many of the species. In addition, the book includes suggestions as to the best winter birding sites in the Pacific Northwest and photographs of the region's most unusual winter birds. This seasonal guide is an essential addition to the literature on Northwest birds and a valuable new resource for birders in the Pacific Northwest.

xxiv, 264 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm

The U.S. Army, obeying the command, arrived May 13, 1849, to establish a military presence north of the Columbia River. The Hudson's Bay Co. moved from the Bastion to Victoria on Vancouver Island and slowly sold or abandoned its holding below the 49th parallel. A new chapter began in American history that year, as the bugle call was heard up and down the Columbia River. The United States extended from "sea to shining sea" and the country began to develop fully its economic, social, and cultural identity. Ch. 1 speaks of the Ninth Regiment stationed at Fort Vancouver and the famous Shanghai drill that was performed daily. The Indian Frontier (1849-1860) is the title of the first chapter. Ch. 2 talks of Volunteers Take Over (1861-1866) because the Civil War was beginning, and an early effect of that war was the removal of most regular Army units. Trained soldiers were required in the East. Some officers resigned and joined the Confede rates. This era at the fort was called the volunteer era. They had to let go of men like Sheridan, Augur, an Ingalls, and a Grant. Ch. 3 is about Pacifying The Natives (1867-1882) and the worry for Indian Tribes in the area. The troops at Vancouver were called out to curb tribes in the surrounding area. By 1882 the last Indian war of the Pacific NW was fought, and transition was under way into a different era. Ch. 4 speaks of Marking Time (1883-1898) because during this time the life of the fort was a round of dinner parties, dances, and theatricals. Ch. 5 is all about preparing troops for overseas duty, hence, Troops For Overseas (1898-1906). They were going "to the front" - artillery troops were leaving for Cuba from Vancouver. And later for the Philippines. Ch. 6 is called, Heading to Armageddon (1907-1916). Germany was exercising an expanding role in Europe at this time. Initially there were no big concerns about building up armed forces. 7 yrs. later this all changed.

xii, 110 pages : illustrations, facsimiles, map ; 22 x 28 cm

"In Northern Paiutes of the Malheur, David H. Wilson Jr. recounts the epic story of settler colonialism and protracted periods of warfare between Northern Paiutes and White settlers in the Oregon Country from the early 1850's to the Indian New Deal in the 1930s. The engaging narrative of Northern Paiute survivance in the face of 19th-Century war, population decline, and eventual tribal resurgence is a tale of resistance, adaptation, and tribal strategies to retain land and sovereignty"-- Provided by publisher

xxiii, 305 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Published circa 1922 by the North Idaho Chamber of Commerce, Northern Idaho: Resources & Opportunities functions as a classic example of aggressive civic boosterism designed to lure Eastern capital, agricultural settlers, and corporate investment to the rugged Idaho Panhandle. The promotional pamphlet meticulously inventories the region's vast timber reserves, lucrative mining districts, and fertile river valleys, marketing the Inland Northwest as an untapped utopia of unlimited economic potential. Operating simultaneously as a geographic catalog and a capitalist manifesto, the booklet reflects the organized efforts of local commercial elites to accelerate northern Idaho's transition from a remote frontier into a highly structured, resource-extraction economy.

A keen insight drawn from the work is how civic promotional literature operated as a profound mechanism of both ecological and cultural erasure; by exclusively framing the complex natural landscapes of the Panhandle as a blank slate of commodified raw materials awaiting Anglo-American harvest, the Chamber of Commerce actively marketed a vision of the region that structurally erased the ongoing presence and sovereignty of Indigenous peoples such as the Coeur d'Alene and Nez Perce. This rhetorical strategy successfully sanitized the colonial project, presenting the imminent, large-scale industrial logging and mining of the territory not as a devastating ecological rupture or an act of territorial dispossession, but as the righteous, inevitable manifestation of modern progress.

40 pages : illustrations, 1 map ; 23 cm