Catalog of British Columbiana and Pacific Northwest Americana

A story of the deepest canyon on the North American continent, together with historical sketches of Idaho, interesting information of the state, Indian Wars and mythology, poetry and stories. You asked for it. Here it is, a reprint of the revised edition of “Hell’s Canyon”. I hope you will find it just as valuable as the original printing. The Publisher

575 p. illus., ports., maps. 24 cm.

As we enter the 1990s, we mark the 100th anniversary of the decade which saw the establishment of a white settlement at Sechelt, British Columbia. The first of those settlers, Thomas John Cook, was the grandfather of Helen Dawe, who established for herself a reputation as the foremost chronicler of Sechelt history. Helen Dawe's Sechelt brings together her work on the founding and development of a community that has since become the hub of the Sunshine Coast. The book features a personal and anecdotal view of many of Secheit's founders, both white and Indian, and contains over 120 vintage photographs, taken from one of the most impressive private collections in the province. The result is much more than a local history. It is both a case study of how modem British Columbia was built, and a personal introduction to some of the people who were its builders.

150 pages : illustrations ; 29 cm

Heaven on the Half Shell offers a thoroughly researched and richly illustrated history of the Pacific Northwest’s beloved bivalve, the oyster. Starting with the earliest evidence of sea gardens and clam beds from 11,500 years ago, this book covers the history of oyster cultivation through contemporary aquaculture in coastal Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, northern California, and southeastern Alaska. Generations of oyster farmers, Native and non-Native, have weathered many challenges to continue the harvest. Their vivid individual accounts are braided together with significant history, such as the major contributions of Japanese immigrants prior to World War II and the 1994 Rafeedie decision that affirmed shellfish harvesting rights held by Northwest tribes. The book also sheds light on the innovations that made oysters an enduringly popular food, from the creation of so-called sexless oysters that could be consumed year-round to breakthroughs in contemporary oyster cuisine. Now fully updated and expanded—and chock-full of “oysterabilia”—this classic text shares new insights on emerging challenges to the oyster farmer’s life as well as increased coverage of the roles of women and contemporary tribes in building this cultural tradition, past and present. Newcomers and aficionados alike will also be delighted by the carefully selected recipes, both historic and contemporary, from the region’s top chefs. As the old saying goes, when the tide is out, the table is set.

xiii, 228 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), maps, 19 x 23 cm

ix, 149 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

"Broadcaster and bestselling author Mike McCardell haunts British Columbia's past in order to summon spellbinding tales of Western Canada. Reprising his 2013 bestseller Haunting Vancouver, Mike McCardell summons the ghost of real-life pioneer Jock Linn to provide hair-raising and humorous versions of what really happened during some of the formative events that shaped British Columbia. In Haunting British Columbia, McCardell's ghostly narrator explains how Victoria became BC's capital (spoiler, it's all because Governor James Douglas couldn't stand waiting for a ferry); how Gassy Jack gave birth to Vancouver by running a beloved saloon, and more importantly how gassy he really was; and much, much more. As the thousands who follow McCardell's long-running human-interest features on the evening news know, he has a fascination with the provincial past as well as an uncanny ability to unearth captivating and forgotten stories. Richly illustrated with archival photos and ghostly doodles, Haunting British Columbia is as fun to read as it is a revealing tour of what really happened in those bygone days. And it's all true... well, almost."-- Provided by publisher

224 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm

"In the summer of 1865 when Captain Edward Stamp began to organize the construction of a small sawmilling operation on the south shore of Burrard Inlet, he likely never realized that a future metropolis was in the making. The fledgling Stamp's Mill, later to become known as Hastings Mill, was Vancouver's first community -- a townsite inhabited by an eclectic mix of colourful characters from widely diverse backgrounds. Life centered on the iconic Hastings Mill Store, where one came to obtain groceries, hardware, mail and the warmth of human interaction around an oil drum fire. Historic times aplenty unfolded at Hastings Mill. Here residents rallied to assist victims of the Great Vancouver Fire in 1886. Cargo loads of lumber of legendary size and quality were shipped to markets near and far. Dominion Day festivities were celebrated in fine style on a sports field of mill sawdust. Indigenous occupants of the region engaged in mill employment and commerce. Chinook jargon was widely spoken, the multi-lingual trade language of the era. When time and local demographics ultimately spelled the death knell for the sawmill and its weathered structures in 1930, an unlikely group of determined ladies rose to the challenge of saving the Hastings Mill Store, Vancouver's oldest building."-- Back cover

xiii, 329 pages : illustrations, map ; 23 cm

Increased Mechanization and the expansion of new markets transformed the face of American farming in the early decades of the twentieth century, especially in the American West. These changes demanded a new kind of agricultural worker--gone was the local farmhand, replaced by a cheap and temporary labor force of migrant and seasonal workers. Greg Hall's fascinating book analyzes how "harvest Wobblies," members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), organized these men, women, and sometimes children who had become so essential and yet so exploited on the farms of the West. Although harvest Wobblies worked in nearly all the western states, their stongholds were the Great Plains, California, and the Pacific Northwest, regions where harmers developed monocrop agriculture and where seasonal labor was indispensable come harvest time. Like their IWW brethren in logging camps and mines, the harvest Wobblies combined an effort to improve the lives of workers with harger revolutionary goals. Harvest Wobblies personified most of the indelible features of IWW membership: they were the militant casual laborers of the American West, riding the rails, living in hobo jungles, preaching revolution, and facing repression with innovative strategies, impassioned speech, humor, and song. Through trial and error, Wobbly organizers eventually implemented the idea of an industrial union in agriculture and helped the IWW to establish itself as a powerful force to be reckoned with by employers in the West. In tracing the rise and the eventual fall of the harvest Wobblies, Greg Hall examines the diverse and changing nature of the agricultural work force. He offers a social and cultural history of a union uniquely suited to organizing tens of thousands of migrant and seasonal workers. Harvest Wobblies will appeal to a broad audience of readers interested in labor history, the American West, U.S. agricultural history, and the history of the WWI.

279 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm

"Using imported heirloom grains and fruits, Spanish explorers, fur traders, missionaries, and some Native Americans planted subsistence gardens in the Pacific Northwest. After immigration surged in 1843, it took a surprisingly short time for the region's fertile lands to become a commercial agricultural powerhouse. Demand for food exploded with the industrial revolution as well as the urbanization of Europe and eastern America, and the doors of international export opened wide. Agribusiness expanded to meet the need. By 1890, advancements in mechanization, seed quality, irrigation and sustainable practices had spurred a farming boom. Columbia Basin irrigation and the development of synthetic fertilizers, as well as Cooperative Extension efforts and impressive work by agricultural researchers, greatly boosted regional production. This text explores the people, history, and major influences that shaped and transformed the Pacific Northwest's flourishing agrarian economy." Provided by publisher

xiii, 186 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 28 cm

George Francis Brimlow’s Harney County, Oregon, and its range land chronicles the arduous pioneer colonization and massive terrestrial subjugation of a vast, unforgiving high-desert expanse trapped within the arid extremes of the northern Great Basin. The narrative maps how the severe environmental realities of this profoundly isolated inland topography—defined by sprawling, sun-baked sagebrush steppes, the sheer fault-block barricade of Steens Mountain, and highly volatile, terminal hydrological sinks—initially paralyzed permanent settlement and dictated a brutal struggle for survival. By detailing the grueling transition from vulnerable, open-range cattle drives to the aggressive deployment of heavy barbed-wire enclosures and localized irrigation infrastructure, the text illustrates how the economic mastery of the region was strictly governed by the urgent necessity to artificially capture and monopolize the desert's scarce, hyper-concentrated water sources. Ultimately, the account demonstrates that violently fencing this immense geographic void and systematically engineering a robust, mechanized livestock industry to conquer the profound continental detachment of southeastern Oregon were the absolute prerequisites for binding a desolate wasteland to the broader commercial markets of the Pacific edge.

316 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Harney County: An historical inventory provides a comprehensive architectural and spatial catalog of pioneer settlement across the vast, arid expanses of the high desert in southeastern Oregon. Jackson and Lee detail how the sprawling, unforgiving topography of the Harney Basin—dominated by sweeping sagebrush steppes, shallow alkaline lakes, and the towering fault-block escarpment of Steens Mountain—strictly dictated the placement and survival of early communities. By mapping the scattered remnants of remote homesteads, isolated stage stops, and massive cattle empires, the narrative highlights how the severe lack of surface water and extreme inland climate precluded traditional small-scale agriculture. Instead, settlers were forced to adapt their livelihoods to the immense scale of the landscape, relying on vast grazing allotments that stretched across the open terrain. Ultimately, this localized historical record demonstrates how the profound physical isolation and stark environmental extremes of this immense Great Basin frontier inherently forged the fiercely resilient character of Oregon's largest and most sparsely populated county.

200 pages : illustrations, folded map ; 21 cm

Blessed with vast expanses of virgin timber, a good harbor, and a San Francisco market for its lumber, the Coos Bay area once dubbed itself "a poor man's paradise." A new Prologue and Epilogue by the author bring this story of gyppo loggers, longshoremen, millwrights, and whistle punks into the twenty-first century, describing Coos Bay’s transition from timber town to a retirement and tourist community, where the site of a former Weyerhaeuser complex is now home to the Coquille Indian Tribe’s The Mill Casino.

xiv, 194 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 23 cm

"In Hard is the Journey, award-winning historian and researcher Lily Chow shares the difficult history of Chinese Canadians in the Kootenay. She unearths the racism of early newspapers that portrayed Chinese immigrants as dirty, sinister, and lethargic people not fit to live in BC and uncovers the history of the Chinese labourers who completed the deadly work of blazing the Dewdney Trail from Hope to Kootenay only to be dismissed, without any compensation, as soon as the project was completed. She also offers an intimate and inspiring look into the many ways Chinese immigrants survived, finding community, building resilience, and preserving their culture. Piecing together interviews with Kootenay residents and descendents of Chinese immigrants, government records and documents, and early newspaper articles, Chow bravely exposes dark parts of BC's history while shedding light on the struggles but also resilience and untold accomplishments of the Chinese immigrants who risked everything and often lost their lives in building the Canada we know today. Hard is the Journey is Chow's fourth book on the history of Chinese Canadians."-- Provided by publisher

222 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Handbook of Oregon Birds is a portable, field-friendly guide to the seasonal status and distribution of Oregon birds. A condensation of the status and distribution material from Birds of Oregon: A General Reference, the definitive source for Oregon ornithology, the book provides a quick but detailed field reference for birders who want to know a bird’s status, seasonal patterns of occurrence, basic habitat information, and movements. The Handbook also includes comprehensive new breeding and winter maps, as well as the most up-to-date status of vagrants, displaying their seasonality and geographic occurrence in graphs and maps. Although not an introductory identification book, Handbook of Oregon Birds includes many features that newer birders will appreciate, including the maps, short summaries, and ID notes for difficult-to-identify species. A specially commissioned set of paintings by wildlife artist Ramiel Papish and a selection of color photographs provide identification aids that are an improvement on standard field guides for such challenges as flying alcids and immature swallows.

287 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 22 cm

The Handbook of Northwestern Plants has long been one of the most respected and widely used guides for identifying the plants of western Washington and Oregon. Earlier editions of this book have been used by thousands of botany students and other interested individuals to identify hundreds of different species of plants, while learning how to use analytical plant keys and the basic botanical terminology necessary to understand and accurately identify plants in the field. Intended for use by teachers, students, scientists, amateur botanists, and outdoor enthusiasts, the Handbook of Northwestern Plants brings together in one comprehensive but convenient volume the information necessary to identify the amazing variety of plants found between the Cascade mountains and Pacific Coast in Washington and Oregon as far south as the Umpqua divide. The glossary of botanical terms, illustrations of different types of leaves and flowers, and hundreds of line drawings that highlight the identifying features of various plants will be especially valuable to students and beginners. To make this new edition as accurate and up-to-date as possible, author La Rea J. Dennis has updated the nomenclature to conform to the latest scientific literature, added species, and revised some plant descriptions and keys. To make the book easier to use, the genera and species have bee arranged alphabetically within families, and the longer keys have been numbered. As in earlier editions, hundreds of excellent line drawings illustrate the key characteristics of various plants

494 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

This volume is part of the Smithsonian Institution’s Handbook of North American Indians series, the ultimate resource for Native American history across various regions of North America. The set is intended to give an encyclopedic summary of what is know about the prehistory, history, and cultures of the aboriginal peoples of North America north of the urban civilizations of central Mexico. Volume 17 provides a basic reference work on the Native languages of North America, their characteristics and uses, their historical relationships, and the history of research on these languages. Contains copyrighted material. 10th volume to be published in a 20 volume set.

xiii, 957 pages : illustrations, maps ; 29 cm

Volume 11 covers the history and culture of the original inhabitants of the area which is now Nevada, Utah, western Colorado, portions of southern Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, eastern California, Arizona and New Mexico.

xvi, 852 pages

Wayne P. Suttles and William C. Sturtevant’s edited collection, Handbook of North American Indians Volume 7, Northwest Coast, serves as an exhaustive encyclopedic summary of the prehistory, languages, and cultures of the region's indigenous peoples. Moving beyond broad overviews, the volume is structured into rigorous ethnographic chapters that document the specific histories and cooperative networks of a vast array of sovereign nations—from the Eyak, Tlingit, and Haida in the north, through the Tsimshian, Kwakwaka'wakw, and Nuu-chah-nulth, down to the Coast Salish, Makah, Chinookans, Tillamook, and Coos along the southern shorelines. By synthesizing regional demography with specialized studies on mythology, material art, and the Indian Shaker Church, the Smithsonian reference work catalogs how these distinct communities utilized sophisticated maritime technologies and complex kinship alliances to actively manage their environments. Through its comprehensive indexing of shared economic institutions like the potlatch and diverse linguistic families, the text reveals how intricate social structures were inextricably tied to the material survival of the coastal peoples. Ultimately, this monumental collection functions as a vital repository of anthropological research, documenting the immense resourcefulness of these specific nations and demonstrating how they built complex, enduring cultures long before Euro-American contact.

xv, 777 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 29 cm

This is part of the Smithsonian Institution’s Handbook of North American Indians series, the ultimate resource for Native American history across various regions of North America. The set is intended to give an encyclopedic summary of what is know about the prehistory, history, and cultures of the aboriginal peoples of North America north of the urban civilizations of central Mexico. Volume 12 provides a summary of what is known about the prehistory, history, and culture of the American Indians of the Plateau Culture area. This area is defined by the region in northwestern United States and southwestern Canada drained by the Columbia and Fraser rivers. The Plateau culture area includes the Interior Salishan peoples, the Sahaptian peoples, and several cultural isolates, Athapaskan outliers, and the Kootenai and Cayuse.

xvi, 791 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 29 cm

"For locals and visitors alike, these sketches and stories highlight both the historic monuments and everyday moments that make Victoria shine. You never know quite what you'll come across in British Columbia's capital city. With its unmissable landmarks that attract people from around the world, Victoria is also rich in forested beauty, charming houses, and curious people, and is steeped in local history. Following the charm of her previous book, Hand Drawn Vancouver, in this memorable book, Emma FitzGerald captures the coastal city of Victoria and its surrounding communities in over 100 sketches of: iconic landmarks: It wouldn't be a visit to Victoria without stopping by the Empress, Munro's, or Butchart Gardens ; local favourites: the longstanding Beacon Drive In and James Bay's Birdcage Confectionary are some beloved spots honoured within these pages ; beautiful architecture: journey back in time by admiring historic buildings, like Queen Anne-style homes and the spiraling Belfry Theatre ; stunning west coast landscape: explore natural wonders, from culturally significant fields of camas flowers to Mystic Beach's stunning shoreline ; overheard conversations: what really makes a city are the people who live there--Emma documents snippets of passersby's conversations as she sketches. Structured by neighbourhood, Hand Drawn Victoria is a beautiful keepsake for both locals and visitors, and a lovely way to celebrate the city--its buildings, its people, and its essence"--Amazon.com

151 pages : color illustrations ; 21 cm

Lorraine Harris’s Halfway to the Goldfields: A History of Lillooet provides a comprehensive historical study of the strategic crossroads situated along the Fraser River canyon at the junction of Cayoosh Creek and Seton River. Harris documents how the ancient river fisheries, village terraces, and trade junctions of the St'át'imc Nation were entered by thousands of prospectors during the 1858 Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. The narrative traces Lillooet’s designation as "Mile 0" of the original Cariboo Wagon Road, chronicling the construction of Sgt. Major John McMurphy’s military road and the establishment of freight-team packing depots. Harris examines early agricultural pre-emptions on the arid benches of Fountain, Fountain Valley, and Pavilion, while recording the multi-ethnic commercial presence of Chinese miners, European storekeepers, and St'át'imc pack-train operators who anchored the district’s enduring civic infrastructure.

176 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 23 cm

On the first day of October 1787, captains John Kendrick and Robert Gray, along with fifty other men - sailors and tradesmen alike - set sail from Boston, soon to be the first Yankees to lay eyes on the lush and resource-rich Northwest Coast of North America. This journey, and Gray's subsequent voyage in 1790, were trading ventures that would lead to little wealth for anyone involved, but would supply future generations with rich stories of encounters between the Native Americans and the traders, of desperate escapades along the coast, and, eventually, the reward to the United States of the Columbia River. Kendrick, on board the Columbia Rediviva, and Gray, on the Lady Washington, maneuvered around treacherous Cape Horn, then sailed north up the western coasts to present-day Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. There they traded with the Indians for the prized sea-otter pelts (called by the Russians "soft gold"). Finally, they would sail for the China ports of Macao and Canton, where they traded the skins for tea and fine china. The American ships had joined a contingent of international vessels (mostly British and Spanish) assembled at Nootka Sound, some to trade, others on voyages of exploration. The two captains eventually would switch ships, and Kendrick would remain on the Northwest Coast, while Gray sailed on to China and to Boston - then back once again. These were the first citizens of the new nation to sail into the Pacific, and the repercussion of their voyages would ring loudly for years to come. The dreamer Kendrick would never return to Boston, choosing to remain on the other side of the world until his death in the Sandwich Islands, late in 1794. The more pragmatic Gray would continue his career as a sea captain into the nineteenth century.

xx, 378 pages : illustrations, maps ; 26 cm.

George Sundborg’s Hail Columbia: The thirty-year struggle for Grand Coulee Dam chronicles the monumental political crusade and unprecedented industrial subjugation of the Pacific Northwest's most powerful hydrological artery, situated within the massive, arid expanse of the Columbia Basin. The narrative maps how the severe environmental realities of this unforgiving inland topography—defined by the raw, untamed kinetic energy of the Columbia River trapped deep within a sheer basalt trench, juxtaposed against millions of acres of sun-baked, rain-starved sagebrush steppe—initially paralyzed large-scale agrarian settlement. By detailing the grueling, decades-long legislative warfare and the ultimate deployment of colossal, mechanized engineering required to pour the largest concrete gravity structure on Earth, the text illustrates how the economic salvation of the inland empire was strictly dictated by the necessity of artificially lifting this massive water volume out of its gorge. Ultimately, the account demonstrates that permanently domesticating the volatile hydrology of the Columbia and deploying this mammoth hydroelectric infrastructure to both artificially irrigate the desert and generate massive industrial wattage were the absolute prerequisites for transforming a barren, landlocked wasteland into the electrified powerhouse of the modern Pacific seaboard.

467 pages 22 cm

"This volume is designed to illustrate Haida argillite carvings. The illustrations are mostly, but not exclusively, in argillite. A few wood carvings happened to bear so aptly on the same mythological themes that they could not fairly be left out."-- Preface, vii

ix, 417 pages : illustrations, map on end sheets ; 26 cm

"The Haida of the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia constructed some of the most magnificent houses and erected some of the most beautifully carved totem poles on the Northwest Coast. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, images of the Haida's immense cedar houses and soaring totem poles were captured, first on glass plates and later on film, by photographers who travelled to then-remote villages such as Masset and Skidegate to marvel at, and record, what they saw there." "Haida Monumental Art ... includes a large number of these remarkable photographs, selected from a collection of over 10,000 original prints and photographic plates. They depict the Haida villages at the height of their glory and record their tragic deterioration only a few decades later. ... By combining archaeology and ethnohistory, George MacDonald presents an integrated framework for understanding the physical structure of a Haida village. He explains how the houses and poles are part of a fascinating web of myth, family history, and Haida cosmology, which provides a unique insight into Haida culture."--Back cover

218 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 31 cm

Native artist Bill Reid once called Haida Gwaii, home to the Haida people, the "Shining Islands." This revised edition in Raincoast's popular Journeys series shows why. Known also as "Canada’s Galápagos," these islands are a natural marvel, featuring awesome vistas and a rich ecosystem. The islands also offer more than 400 cultural sites, including the UNESCO World Heritage village of Ninstints. Ian Gill's lively text and David Nunuk's dramatic photographs celebrate this unique, still relatively unspoiled place.

vii, 149 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), map ; 26 cm