Catalog of British Columbiana and Pacific Northwest Americana

The Selkirks: Nelson's Mountains by J. F. Garden, featuring an introduction by mountaineering historian William Lowell Putnam, is a lavishly illustrated 1984 alpine history and geographical survey published by Footprint Publishing in Revelstoke, British Columbia. The volume serves as a spectacular visual tribute to the rugged Selkirk mountain range in southeastern British Columbia. Garden, a former locomotive engineer for the Canadian Pacific Railway, pairs his extensive regional knowledge with breathtaking color photography to document the area's towering peaks, dramatic glaciers, and rich mountaineering legacy. By chronicling early alpine explorations, standard climbing routes, and the formidable logistics of navigating the Columbia Mountains, the book captures the fierce, untamed beauty of the region. Ultimately, it functions as an engaging, coffee-table-style resource for climbing enthusiasts and regional historians seeking to explore the majestic, high-altitude wilderness and pioneering alpine heritage of the Canadian Pacific Northwest.

143 pages : chiefly color illustrations ; 31 cm

Voices of British Columbia presents the firsthand stories of the people with the courage, the dreams – and the plain stubbornness – to settle the Canadian frontier when it was still wild. These people talk candidly about the tragedy and the comedy, the good times and the rough times. Their authentic voices reveal what it was really like in those early days. Beginning with the legends and true stories of the native peoples, as well as the sagas of the early missionaries, this book tells tales all the way up to the lives and times of modern settlers on the frontier. This book is a collection of stories that appeared in BC’s oral history quarterly, Sound Heritage.

276 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 26 cm

232 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 26 cm

76 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm

93, [1] pages : chiefly illustrations ; 29 cm

Terence O'Donnell and Thomas Vaughan’s Portland: An Informal History & Guide chronicles the rapid municipal transformation of "The Clearing" into the Pacific Northwest’s preeminent deep-water river port on the lower Willamette. The narrative documents the systematic superimposition of an orthogonal street grid, timber wharves, and early commercial storefronts directly over the riparian bottomlands and sloughs stewarded by Upper Chinookan communities, including the Multnomah and Clackamas peoples. By cutting plank roads through the rugged Tualatin Mountains and capitalizing on the natural head of deep-draft navigation, early entrepreneurs engineered a vital transshipment hub linking interior agricultural valleys to Pacific maritime routes. Ultimately, the work captures how municipal expansion and commercial capital permanently restructured an ancient Indigenous riverine crossroads into an American mercantile center.

x, 211 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Publisher description: Rising above the northern part of the Cascades is the magnificent bulk of Mt. Baker - "Koma Kulshan" (the steep white mountain) to the early Nooksack Indians. Long a focal point of human interest, this slumbering volcano has been seen in many different lights - as a sacred object (Indians), a great challenge (mountaineers, explorers), a stimulus for creativity (poets, painters, photographers), a playground (marathon runners, skiers), and as a resource (entrepreneurs, loggers, miners, developers, park administrators). Yet, despite all human actions and aspirations over the years, the mountain retains its majesty, power and mystery. This is the story of man and Mt. Baker, complete with engaging first-hand tales and a wealth of rare historic photos

232 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 23 cm

183 pages ; 23 cm

South on the Sound: An Illustrated History of Tacoma and Pierce County chronicles the evolution of Washington’s "City of Destiny" and its surrounding region from Indigenous roots and early European settlement through its late-twentieth-century industrial growth. Written by celebrated Pacific Northwest historian Murray Morgan alongside Rosa Morgan and Rita Happy, the book combines engaging narrative with a rich archive of historical photographs, maps, and archival imagery. It highlights major regional milestones, including Tacoma's pivotal selection as the Northern Pacific Railroad’s western terminus, the rise of timber and maritime shipping, and local community life. The volume stands as an accessible, visually driven portrait of the South Sound's cultural and economic heritage.

199 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 29 cm

approximately 200 pages : illustrations ; 29 cm

ix, 149 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

181, [20] pages, [40], 18 pages of plates (some folded) : illustrations, maps (some color), portraits ; 18 cm

A retelling of the familiar story of the expedition of Lewis and Clark, but told as a complex human story -- the story of a diverse human community moving through the lands and lives of other communities, where pilgrims made their way by the kindness of strangers

xv, 310 pages, 1 unnumbered leaf of plates : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 24 cm

x, 117 pages ; 23 cm.

Robert Crouch’s Enderby: Past to Present serves as the primary municipal and industrial history of the settlement nestled along the lower navigable reaches of the Shuswap River. Crouch chronicles how early cattle ranchers and milling pioneers established outposts at "Fortune’s Landing" directly within the traditional territory of the Splatsin people. The work details the establishment of A.L. Fortune’s grist mill and the Lambly Brothers' sawmills, which utilized river log drives from Mabel Lake and Kingfisher to anchor early civic expansion. Crouch traces the construction of the Shuswap and Okanagan Railway, which stimulated agrarian settlement along the river benches of Grindrod, Mara, and Ashton Creek, while documenting the municipal incorporation of Enderby in 1905 and its enduring role as a regional lumber and agricultural processing center.

264 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 29 cm

Constable John Kirkup was called to a 'gambling and whiskey drive' in Yale, B.C. He wound up arresting the nude hostess. Kirkup, the local newspaper editor, and the pastor fought for abstinence while the unruly workers fought and laid railway tracks. Further up the canyon, the great railwayman Andrew Onderdonk was daring the little steamship Kuzzy through the impenetrable Hell's Gate. Don Waite also recounts the adventures of the gold rush, the fur brigade trails, and Cariboo wagon road.

96 p. : ill., ports. ; 22 cm.

A rare collection of the early history of the Stehekin valley, head of Lake Chelan, in Washington’s North Cascades. Lively narratives describe adventures of early explorers with pack trains, and accounts of riding the first steam boats on Lake Chelan. Writing styles of the 1900’s paint vivid and enticing pictures of exciting journeys to the upper mining holds in Horseshoe Basin, the presence of Native Americans, and the influence of the railroad bringing visitors clear across the country to relax and recreate in glorious mountain surroundings. Republished by Stehekin Heritage, Carol Stone’s collection of stories are gathered from early local newspaper articles and explorer’s journals. For those that know and love Stehekin, or wish to know how settlement began in this remote community, Glimpses of the Past is a worthy compilation and reference of accurate history of the Chelan area.

xi, 248 pages : illustrations, map, portrait ; 22 cm

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

223 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 21 cm

xiii, 126 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm.

Here you will recapture the Shaniko of pioneer days through the eyes of old-timers who have shared with the author their memories, records and photographs. There are interviews with more than fifty long-time residents, with colorful, firsthand accounts of living at the close of the pioneer period. It is written with folksy insights into the daily lives of the people whose town, for a few years, became a wool empire in the wilderness. Nearly one hundred fifty previously unpublished photos; map and chart locating homes and buildings; comprehensive index. 256 pages.

ix, 245 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

xxv, 305, [2] pages : illustrations ; 28 cm

volumes : illustrations, map, portraits ; 24 cm

128 pages : color illustrations ; 35 cm

Transcribed and contextualized by Ruth Stoller, Mrs. Butler's 1853 Diary of Columbia County, Oregon provides an early firsthand pioneer record of settler arrival and homestead survival along the sloughs of the lower Columbia. Ann Butler’s daily entries chronicle her family’s donation land claim located on the fertile alluvial bottomlands of Scappoose Plains, detailing how immigrant cabins and livestock pastures were superimposed onto lands long stewarded by the Multnomah people. The narrative captures the arduous logistics of clearing thick timber, hand-rowing skiffs across Scappoose Bay to reach river steamers at Saint Helens, and establishing basic family networks with neighboring settlers at Warren, Chapman Landing, and South Scappoose. Stoller’s accompanying historical notes provide vital cadastral and spatial context documenting the pioneer transition of the region.

52 pages : illustrations, map ; 22 cm