Catalog of British Columbiana and Pacific Northwest Americana

"With gorgeous imagery, visual artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas brings to life the tumultuous history of first contact between Europeans and Indigenous peoples and the early colonization by the Europeans of the northern West Coast. Yahgulanaas uses a blend of traditional and modern art, eschewing the traditional boxes of comic books for the flowing shapes of North Pacific iconography. The panels are filled with colourful and expressive watercolour paintings. The panels of each page, if removed and assembled into one whole image, form a large image reminiscent of a woven robe. The story follows several historical figures, including Johan Adrian Jacobsen (JAJ), who comes to the Haida village of Masset to collect specimens for a German museum, through a time span that includes first contact, the devastation of the smallpox epidemic, and the mass resettlement of disenfranchised peoples, both Indigenous and European."-- Provided by the Publisher

116 pages : chiefly color illustrations ; 27 cm

Jack Ward Thomas, an eminent wildlife biologist and U.S. Forest Service career scientist, was drafted in the late 1980s to head teams of scientists developing strategies for managing the habitat of the northern spotted owl. That assignment led to his selection as Forest Service chief during the early years of the Clinton administration. It is history’s good fortune that Thomas kept journals of his thoughts and daily experiences, and that he is a superb writer able to capture the moment with clarity and grace. The issues Thomas dealt with in office and noted in his journals lie at the heart of recent Forest Service policy and controversy, starting with President Clinton’s Timber Summit in Portland, Oregon, dealing with the spotted owl issue, and the 1994 loss of fourteen firefighters in the Storm King Mountain fire in Colorado. Against a constant backdrop of partisan politics in the White House and Congress, Thomas discusses issues ranging from grazing in the national forests, long-term pulp timber sales in Alaska, and the Forest Service Law Enforcement Division to the New World Mine near Yellowstone National Park. He considers the timber salvage rider and its linkage to forest health, the Department of Justice and Counsel on Environmental Quality influence on Forest Service policies, and interagency management for the Columbia River Basin. Woven throughout these excerpts from his diary is Thomas’s conviction that the effective, ethical management of wildlife depends on how the management effort is situated within the broader human context, with all its intransigence and unpredictability. Writing in 1995, Thomas says, "Things simply don’t work the way that students are taught in natural resources policy classes--not even close. . . .There is simply no way that scholars of the subject can understand the ad hoc processes that go on within only loosely defined boundaries.” Wildlife management, he says, is "90 percent about people and 10 percent about animals," and when it comes to learning about people, wildlife managers are on their own. This book is the record of how one man met that challenge.

417 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

This is the story of a kid from Declo, Idaho who parlayed a few "bum" lambs into one of the largest privately held companies in America. J.R. Simplot is one of the last of the classic Horatio Alger success stories - a man who spent seventy-five years building an international empire.

xxxii, 251 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

"Here is a look at the Puget Sound islands throughout history -- the San Juan Islands, Whidbey Island, Bainbridge and Vashon Islands, and many others. Featured are the people who have come to the islands: Native Americans, explorers, entrepreneurs, settlers and visitors. We learn of the Native peoples' traditional ways of life and the changes that the new settlers brought. The islands saw small pioneer farms and, later, very successful strawberry fields. Industries emerged, from lumber mills large and small to boat construction and even ski design and production. National defense installations have also been on the islands, and wartime policies have had a strong impact on Bainbridge and Vashon. Yet the islands have also hosted many summer camps, resorts and the parks that islanders and visitors today enjoy. We learn about the boats that brought people to the islands before the age of motor vehicles. More recently, how have automobile ferries and bridges impacted the islands? Here, too, is the story of the bridges to the islands that have not been built. Finally, what are the challenges these islands may face in the future?" -- Publisher description

xv, 349 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Gone Fishin' is a two-volume set that is hardbound and coffee-table quality. It is filled with superb historical photographs of the recreational and commercial fisheries in the rivers and bays of southwestern Oregon. Volume 1 (182 pages) pays tribute through stories and photographs of the five species of the Pacific Salmon, how they arrived and evolved in the rivers of Oregon. Its title It Takes a River to Make a Fish. Volume 2 (382 pages) pays tribute to the individual rivers from the Umpqua river on the north and the Winchuck on the south near the California border and everything in between. It is filled with stories about Zane Grey and Ginger Rogers, Glen Woolridge and other famous fishermen on each river. Its title It Takes a Watershed to Make a River. Both books the scientific jargon and only have enough statistics to help tell the story. The ocean fishery was omitted.

382 pages : illustrations, maps ; 29 cm

Gone Fishin' is a two-volume set that is hardbound and coffee-table quality. It is filled with superb historical photographs of the recreational and commercial fisheries in the rivers and bays of southwestern Oregon. Volume 1 (182 pages) pays tribute through stories and photographs of the five species of the Pacific Salmon, how they arrived and evolved in the rivers of Oregon. Its title It Takes a River to Make a Fish. Volume 2 (382 pages) pays tribute to the individual rivers from the Umpqua river on the north and the Winchuck on the south near the California border and everything in between. It is filled with stories about Zane Grey and Ginger Rogers, Glen Woolridge and other famous fishermen on each river. Its title It Takes a Watershed to Make a River. Both books the scientific jargon and only have enough statistics to help tell the story. The ocean fishery was omitted.

182 pages : illustrations, maps ; 29 cm

"A personal account of one man's confrontation with colonization that illuminates the philosophy and values of a First Nation threatened by the Trans Mountain pipeline. It Stops Here is the story of the spiritual, cultural, and political resurgence of a nation taking action to reclaim their lands, waters, law, and food systems in face of colonization. The book recounts the intergenerational struggle of the Tsleil-Waututh to overcome the harms of colonization and the powerful stance they have taken against the expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline--a fossil fuel megaproject that would triple the capacity of tar sands bitumen piped to tidewater on their unceded territory and result in a sevenfold increase in oil tankers moving through their waters. The book provides a firsthand account of this resurgence as told by one of the most prominent leaders of the widespread opposition to the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion--Rueben George of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. He has devoted more than a decade of his life to fighting this project and shares stories about his family's deep ancestral connections to these waters that have provided the Tsleil-Waututh with a rich abundance of foods and medicines since time immemorial. Despite the systematic attempts at cultural genocide enacted by the colonial state, Rueben recounts how key leaders of the community, such as his grandfather, Chief Dan George, always taught the younger generations to be proud of who they were and to remember the importance of their connection to the inlet. Part memoir, part call to action, It Stops Here urges policy makers to prioritize sacred territory over oil profits and insists that colonial Canada change its perspective from bending natural resources to their will to respecting this territory and those who inhabit it."-- Provided by publisher

xxiii, 258 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

"It Happened on the Oregon Trail [Second edition] takes readers on a rollicking, behind-the-scenes look at some of the characters and episodes from the Oregon Trail's storied past. Including both famous tales, and famous names--and little-known heroes, heroines, and happenings"--Provided by publisher

xiii, 205 pages : map ; 23 cm

"Portland, Oregon, 1988. The brutal murder of Ethiopian immigrant Mulugeta Seraw by racist skinheads shocked the city. In response disparate groups quickly came together to organize against white nationalist violence and right wing organizing throughout the Rose City and the Pacific Northwest. It Did Happen Here compiles interviews with dozens of people who worked together during the waning decades of the 20th century to reveal an inspiring collaboration between groups of immigrants, civil rights activists, militant youth, and queer organizers. This oral history focuses on participants in three core groups: the Portland chapters of Anti Racist Action and Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice, and the Coalition for Human Dignity. Using a diversity of tactics-from out-and-out brawls on the streets and at punk shows, to behind-the-scenes intelligence gathering-brave antiracists unified on their home ground over and over, directly attacking right wing fascists and exposing white nationalist organizations and neo-Nazi skinheads. Embattled by police and unsupported by the city, these citizen activists eventually drove the boneheads out of the music scene and off the streets of Portland. This book shares their stories about what worked, what didn't, and ideas on how to continue the fight"-- Provided by publisher

xiii, 282 pages : illustrations, map ; 23 cm

It Came to Pass in the San Juan Islands captures the pioneer history and unique maritime culture of the sprawling, rugged archipelago situated at the turbulent junction of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait of Georgia in northwestern Washington. Olzendam and Keith detail how the isolated, rocky, and heavily timbered topography of these landmasses—ranging from the steep, mountainous slopes of Orcas Island to the more pastoral valleys of Lopez and San Juan—dictated a fiercely independent settler lifestyle reliant on small-scale farming, fishing, and the exploitation of the nearby water boundary with Canada. By highlighting the early communities' complete dependence on the Mosquito Fleet and emerging regional ferry networks to navigate the treacherous tidal currents of the Salish Sea, the narrative underscores the profound physical barriers that separated these remote outposts from the mainland. Ultimately, the book serves as a deeply localized spatial history, demonstrating how the formidable marine geography of this Pacific Northwest archipelago fundamentally forged the enduring self-reliance of its island inhabitants.

ix, 139 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Published in local editions by Meredith Moench, Isleward Bound: A Lummi Island Reader compiles a rich anthology of essays, oral histories, and reflections capturing the unique communal and ecological rhythm of life on one of Washington's most distinct Salish Sea islands. The book explores the quiet realities of island isolation, the challenges of ferry-dependent infrastructure, and the deep-seated bonds among residents who choose to live off the beaten path. Through diverse personal narratives, the text preserves the vanishing traditions of local fishermen, artists, and long-time homesteaders while grappling with the pressures of modern mainland encroachment. A keen insight drawn from the work is how insular community literature functions as a defensive cultural shield; by celebrating the hyper-local eccentricities and mutual interdependence required to sustain life on a small island, the text resists the homogenization of the modern Pacific Northwest.

v, 142 p. : ill. ; 27 cm.

Isle of the sea breezers examines the precarious pioneer settlement and gradual civic development across the heavily forested, deeply indented landmass of Vashon Island in central Puget Sound. Carey details how the region's formidable physical barriers—specifically the steep, heavily timbered coastal bluffs and the deep, tide-swept marine channels permanently severing the island from the mainland—strictly dictated the margins of early human survival and economic expansion. By mapping the immense physical labor required to carve landlocked agricultural communities from the dense upland plateaus and establish vital deepwater docks along the sheltered shores of Quartermaster Harbor, the narrative highlights the monumental logistical effort necessary to anchor a permanent society in this demanding maritime environment. The absolute geographic isolation from viable overland routes initially forced these remote homesteaders into a strict reliance on the deepwater marine highway, completely anchoring their commercial and communication lifelines to the perilous, weather-dependent navigation of the Puget Sound "mosquito fleet" steamboats. Ultimately, this historical record serves as a deeply localized spatial history, demonstrating how the severe aquatic isolation and complex island topography of this Pacific Northwest frontier fundamentally shaped the fiercely resilient, strictly maritime-dependent character of the Vashon community.

135 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Gorgeous, fascinating and unconventional, the Islands in the Salish Sea show aspects of the Gulf Islands that are most beloved by the residents, from heritage orchards, fishing spots and patches of endangered wild orchids to ancient First Nations' sites and bird colonies. The community on each island decided what elements should be depicted, and local artists then created each of the magnificent and wildly different maps. This volume is a treasure-trove of cherished information that could have been lost, presented with imagination and great beauty. The Islands in the Salish Sea Community Mapping Project was coordinated by Sheila Harrington and Judi Stevenson, who live on Salt Spring Island

159 Seiten : zahlreiche Illustrationen und Karten

In her first book, Island in the Sound, Heckman brought to life Anderson Island in Puget Sound, its people, its history, and its sadly vanishing way of life. Now, in this book, she brings the same clarity of vision, warmth, and insight to the natural life of her island, recording the cycle of the seasons as an appreciative and articulate observer. This is a diary of the natural world where the same things happen again and again but are always new. Each month brings surprises, expected or not: the blossoming of the wild red flower currant in March, the appearance of a pod of killer whales in July. Mrs. Heckman’s gift to the reader, as in all of the best nature writing, is to let us see it through her eyes, as if never seen before. But the developers have arrived, and the natural world of the Island is as threatened as the way of life of its people. Mrs. Heckman knows that Anderson Island is not the Grand Canyon, that its destruction will never arouse great public indignation, but while it exists as one of the ‘little wild places’ she is able to share it and her love for it.

xi, 255 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Island Origins: Trappers, Traders & Settlers by J. D. Cleaver is a 1986 regional history, published by the Oregon Historical Society Press as the inaugural volume of the Sauvie Island Heritage Series. The book meticulously examines the early history and geological formation of this significant river island—located at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers near Portland—during the initial stages of Euro-American contact and settlement from 1792 to 1865. Cleaver chronicles the era of early maritime explorers, the establishment of the region's lucrative fur trade, and the arrival of the first pioneer homesteaders who began transforming the landscape. Ultimately, it serves as a foundational and highly focused resource for understanding the complex ecological and colonial forces that shaped one of Oregon's most historically vital trading and agricultural hubs.

vii, 40 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Bessie Cammon's who, what, when, where and why on Anderson Island demonstrates that the history of the West is the history of people... Her book is people, the Christensens, Ekenstams, Johnsons, and the other pioneer settlers of Anderson Island... These settlers typified the national groups who found homes in the western wilderness and who successfully adapted to the rigors of frontier life. --Bruce LeRoy, Director Washington State Historical Society

228 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Anderson Island in Puget Sound exists as a kind of tiny, autonomous world. Sharply defined by bitterly cold water, deep enough to float a destroyer; by dense fog; and by dangerous tide rips caused by the narrow channels, it is a community without an officer of the law, a minister of the gospel, or a doctor of medicine. Nevertheless, it is a tightly knit and well-organized microcosm in its wilderness environment. Hailed as a ‘local classic’ by Murray Morgan and Wallace Stegner, Hazel Heckman’s story of this Northwest island will have strong appeal for devotees of island life anywhere. The Pacific Northwesterner will learn much about his native soil, but this book will find an audience far beyond the shadows of Mount Rainier and the wild Olympics. It will be especially treasured by those who feel deep nostalgia for the leisurely pace of life in a small community. Wit, depth of perception, engaging literary style -- all are warmly present in this saga of a Midwestern woman’s experience with a new homeland, an environment strange and very different from the dusty Oklahoma country where she had lived for the previous twenty years. Feeling at first that the perpetual rain and gray skies were a high price to pay for a relatively comfortable year-round climate, Mrs. Heckman came to like, and eventually to love, the Northwest only after she discovered Anderson Island. Located near McNeil Island in upper Puget Sound, Anderson has approximately ninety permanent residents. Most of them are descendants of the original Scandinavian settlers of the Island, and they seem to have inherited the individualism and self-reliance necessary to survive in a hostile environment. Thus, ‘modern’ innovations, such as regular ferry service and electricity, are comparatively recent developments. This book is the lively chronicle of Anderson Island -- its history, its residents, its idiosyncrasies, its commonplaces. Mrs. Heckman’s lyrical evocations of the natural life have captured the essence of Anderson Island.

xii, 284 pages illustrations, map 23 cm

The San Juan Islands, in the heart of the Salish Sea, have been a fishing destination since time immemorial. From Coast Salish reef netting and tideland harvesting to the era of fish traps, purse seining, and gill netting, follow the many communities of fishers and their catches to understand the present-day seascape of the San Juan Archipelago. (from the back cover)

ix, 390 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm

A free-ranging pig that caused an international war; a year's crop of ginseng that paid off a mortgage; and a breachy cow that led to a bloody murder. Farming in the San Juan Islands has always presented challenges and opportunities. From Coast Salish camas cultivation through homesteading to commercial farming, explore the islands' rich agricultural history in the landscape and farms of today. -- from publisher's description

vi, 222 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm

Island Ebb & Flow: A Pioneer's Journal of Life on Waldron Island by Frances K. Lovering is a 1985 autobiographical memoir that intimately chronicles daily life on one of the most remote, non-ferry-served communities in Washington's San Juan archipelago. Spanning from the 1930s through the 1970s, the book offers a deeply personal account of the extreme self-reliance required to survive and thrive on Waldron Island, detailing the author's efforts to build cabins and barns, operate a commercial egg business, and navigate the severe logistical challenges of transportation and medical isolation. Lovering also highlights community efforts, such as maintaining the island's tiny, one-room schoolhouse. Ultimately, it serves as a valuable, grassroots record of mid-20th-century island homesteading and an engaging, humorous tribute to the resilient, independent spirit that defines the secluded pioneer communities of the Pacific Northwest.

x, 211 pages, 6 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 22 cm

E.M. Hawes and Lou Clark’s Island County: A World Beater serves as a vivid promotional and historical portrait of this unique geography nestled in the heart of Washington State's Puget Sound. The narrative focuses extensively on the prominent landmasses of Whidbey Island and Camano Island, detailing their extensive shorelines and vital maritime waterways. By highlighting the region's exceptionally fertile agricultural valleys and historic coastal settlements, the text underscores the economic potential drawn directly from the local terrain. Ultimately, the book captures the distinct, isolated beauty and natural abundance of this vital marine enclave within the Pacific Northwest.

First published and written by E.M. Hawees and Lou Clark, 1911

iii, 55 pages illustrations, map, portraits 17 x 25 cm

Washington Territory's first governor remains as controversial today as he was to his frontier contemporaries during the Pacific Northwest's most turbulent era -- the mid-1850s. Indian wars, martial law, and bitter political disputes, as well as the establishment of a new, sound governmental system, characterized Isaac I. Stevens' years as governor (1853-1857). History professor Kent Richards counters the popular misconception that Stevens acted with haste in forcing treaties on regional tribes, thus precipitating hostilities in 1855. Richards argues that this was in fact not the case, with the possible exception of the Flathead Council. An 1839 West Point graduate, Stevens pursued an exciting and useful career for his country, being as much at ease on horseback in the wilderness as in the halls of government at the nation's capital. In addition to serving as Washington's territorial governor, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and, eventually, delegate to the U.S. Congress, Stevens also distinguished himself in the Mexican War, the Coast Survey, and as head of the Northern Pacific transcontinental railroad survey. In the early years of the Civil War, he was appointed a major general in the Union Army. Dying as flamboyantly as he had lived, Stevens was stricken down in 1862 while charging with banner in hand toward rebel fortifications on the same battlefield where his son lay wounded. Cut short in mid-career, Stevens nonetheless left an indelible mark on the destiny of the nation's great Northwest region

xv, 451 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Prehistoric houses on the Northwest Coast were built from wood, often within piles of discarded shells, leaving little archaeological evidence from which to confirm their presence. Is It a House? uses multiple lines of evidence to investigate whether the U-shaped depression surrounded by shells at the English Camp site on San Juan Island was originally a house constructed by native peoples. Each chapter addresses a different kind of evidence, including artifacts, sediment, faunal remains, and stratigraphy. The quantitative and qualitative analyses used to examine the evidence reveal new directions and insights for identifying houses in similar contexts. The editors introduce the research in the context of current and past Gulf of Georgia (Coast Salish) archaeology, and end by synthesizing the research evidence.

x, 170 pages : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm.

Irrigation came to the arid West in a wave of optimism about the power of water to make the desert bloom. Mark Fiege’s fascinating and innovative study of irrigation in southern Idaho’s Snake River valley describes a complex interplay of human and natural systems. Using vast quantities of labor, irrigators built dams, excavated canals, laid out farms, and brought millions of acres into cultivation. But at each step, nature rebounded and compromised the intended agricultural order. The result was a new and richly textured landscape made of layer upon layer of technology and intractable natural forces—one that engineers and farmers did not control with the precision they had anticipated. Irrigated Eden vividly portrays how human actions inadvertently helped to create a strange and sometimes baffling ecology.

xv, 323 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm.

"Irene Kelleher lived all her life in the shadow of her inheritance. Her local community in British Columbia's Fraser Valley all too often treated her as if she was invisible. The combination of white and Indigenous descent that Irene embodied was beyond the bounds of acceptability by a dominant white society. To be mixed was to not belong. Attracted to the future British Columbia by a gold rush beginning in 1858, Irene's white grandfathers had families with Indigenous women. Theirs was not an uncommon story. Some of the earliest newcomers to do so were in the employ of the fur trading Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Langley. And yet, more than one hundred and fifty years later, the descendants of these early pioneers are still waiting for their stories to be heard. Through meticulous research, family records and a personal connection to Irene, Governor General award-winning historian Jean Barman explores this aspect of British Columbia's history and the deeply rooted prejudice faced by families who helped to build Canada. Invisible Generations evokes the Catholic residential school that Irene's parents and so many other 'mixed blood' children attended. Among Irene's family and friends we meet Josephine, who was separated as a child from her beloved upwardly mobile politician father. When her presence in his socially charged household became untenable, Josephine was dispatched to the same Fraser Valley boarding school. 'The transition from genteel Victoria to St. Mary's Mission was horrendous, ' she wrote. Yet individuals and families survived as best they could, building good lives for themselves and those around them. Irene was determined to be a schoolteacher and taught across the farthest reaches of the province, including Doukhobor children at a time when the community was vehemently opposed to their offspring attending school. Stories like that of Irene and of her family and friends have been largely forgotten, but in Invisible Generations Barman brings this important conversation into focus, shedding light on a common history across British Columbia and Canada. It is, in Irene's words, 'time to tell the story.'"-- Provided by publisher

174 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm