Catalog of British Columbiana and Pacific Northwest Americana

Good Wood is a clear-eyed, finely hewed collection of personal essays on farming, forestry, and family in the Pacific Northwest. As a young man, Steve Radosevich learned to prune trees by watching his grandfather. Working in the apple orchards of the struggling family farm, he saw that "every cut was a decision, conscious and deliberate, about the health of the trees and their coming crops." In Good Wood, Radosevich examines the choices we make in life and how those choices affect the health of people and places. Radosevich draws on his experiences on two farms-the "homeplace," a family farm in Washington's Yakima Valley, and Kla-kla-nee, his small vineyard in Oregon's Willamette Valley. Radosevich is also a professor of forestry, and his commitment to sustainable forestry informs his writings. His book seamlessly combines recollections of tending smudge pots on freezing spring nights east of the Cascades with discussions about the flooding of Native fishing grounds at Celilo Falls and clearcuts in the Oregon Coast Range. "All these losses," writes Radosevich, "have been decisions too, made consciously I think, but with less deliberation than the forethought of a farmer pruning his orchard." As keeper of the old family orchard and tender of a new family farm, Radosevich reveals in these stories his deliberate choices and his hopes for the world of his children and grandchildren.

xii, 136 pages ; 22 cm

It's a personal and historical recollection of Genesee, Idaho from a former resident, a trip in time to his childhood ranch and beyond, back to the pioneers, in the Genesee valley of North-Central Idaho. It's a visit to Old Genesee, a small community deep in the winter snows and summer grains where his family found a place for themselves. The book covers the period from the first settlers of the 1870s to World War II. It describes the natural history of the area, the early town, and the farming and country life of the early pioneers and those who followed, as engines replaced horses out in the fields. With help from his granddaughter Tea Joe, Gerald Hickman shares his love of Western U.S. history in Good Times in Old Genesee. It's a trip in time to his childhood ranch and beyond, back to the pioneers, in the Genesee valley of North-Central Idaho. It's a visit to Old Genesee, a small community deep in the winter snows and summer grains where his family found a place for themselves. The book covers the period from the first settlers of the 1870s to World War II. It describes the natural history of the area, the early town, and the farming and country life of the early pioneers and those who followed, as engines replaced horses out in the fields. Gerald lives in Eastern Washington near the rolling Palouse hills that stretch out southward to Genesee, with Micky, his childhood bride of 47 years. They have three grown daughters, a dog named Spot, and a cat named Lilly. He is preparing another book on the Indian Wars 1850 through 1865.

107 pages : illustrations, map ; 20 cm

As more and more pioneers braved the harsh, unforgiving conditions of moving West, prostitution grew and flourished within the mining camps, small towns, and cities of the nineteenth-century Pacific Northwest. Oregon, Alaska, and Washington State had their share of working girls and madams like Nellie Curtis and Klondike Kate who remain notorious celebrities in the annals of history, but Collins also includes the stories of lesser-known women whose roles in this illicit trade help shape our understanding of the American West

xiv, 257 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Compiled by the Golden and District Historical Society, Golden Memories: Golden City 1882 stands as the primary regional encyclopedia documenting the settlement history of the upper Columbia River and lower Kicking Horse river valleys. The volume details how nineteenth-century railway construction camps, timber operations, and homestead parcels were superimposed upon the traditional hunting and travel lands of the Ktunaxa and Secwépemc nations. The chronicle explores the bitter rivalry between Golden City and the downstream railway division terminal at Donald, tracing how Golden eventually consolidated regional dominance through the operations of the Columbia River Lumber Company and Upper Columbia steamboat navigation. Detailed family and property histories document rural settlement across the river benches and tributary valleys of Blaeberry, Nicholson, Harrogate, Parson, Castledale, and Forde.

400 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 29 cm

Published in 1934 by Ruth Pfefferle, Golden Days and Pioneer Ways is a localized chronicle of early settlement and domestic life in the Pacific Northwest, heavily focused on the intimate, day-to-day realities of homesteading. Drawing from family lore, pioneer letters, and community reminiscences, the text shifts away from grand geopolitical maneuvering to spotlight the domestic labor, social bonds, and domestic resilience of early families. Through a collection of homespun anecdotes and localized histories, the book paints an idyllic portrait of frontier community-building, celebrating the endurance and adaptability required to establish permanent roots in an isolated and demanding environment.

vi, 128 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 28 cm

James Blower’s Gold Rush: A Pictorial History of the Southern Lakes and the Atlin Gold Rush documents the logistical corridors connecting the Chilkoot and White Pass trails to the subarctic goldfields of northern British Columbia. Blower details the rapid rise of tent cities and boatyards along the shores of Lake Bennett and Lake Lindeman, where thousands of stampeders built improvised wooden flotillas to navigate the upper Yukon and Southern Lakes waterways. The narrative captures the construction of the White Pass and Yukon Route railway and the unique portage railroad at Taku that moved freight between Graham Inlet and Scotia Bay on Atlin Lake. Through archival photographs, the volume illustrates the grueling labor, sternwheeler operations, and spatial evolution of these subarctic transit hubs.

236 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 28 cm

Branwen C. Patenaude’s Gold Creek: The Story of Stanley, British Columbia provides a granular micro-history of the vibrant mining town of Stanley, situated along the productive gravels of Lightning Creek. Patenaude documents how Stanley briefly rivaled Barkerville in commercial prominence and population during the 1860s and 1870s, as mining syndicates developed sophisticated drift works and deep-shaft hydraulic operations to tap buried ancient river channels. The narrative details the multi-ethnic social fabric of Lightning Creek, illustrating how European pre-emptors, American prospectors, and a substantial community of Chinese merchants and miners established hotels, general stores, and hydraulic ditch lines across the valley. Patenaude also traces the technological struggles at neighboring Wingdam and Beaver Pass House, chronicling how treacherous water seepages and shifting quicksands ultimately brought about the decline of the Lightning Creek settlements.

128 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 22 cm

The cry of "gold along the Fraser!" Hured men from around the world. By 1858, 25000 had swarmed into the new colony of British Columbia. Some were experienced prospectors, some dreamers; all were hoping for instant wealth.

Gold Along the Fraser details the experiences-the successes and failures-of these adventurers.

64 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

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

"B.J. Hollars and his son strike out on a two-week, 2,500-mile road trip to retrace the Oregon Trail. Their mission: to rediscover America--and Americans--along the way"-- Provided by publisher

xiv, 232 pages : illustrations, map ; 22 cm

William O. Douglas’s Go East, Young Man: The Early Years provides an evocative personal and geographic record of central Washington during its early twentieth-century industrial and agricultural transformation. Growing up in the Yakima Valley, Douglas details how his physical recovery from childhood illness unfolded across the rugged trails and ridgelines of the Cascade foothills surrounding Mount Adams (Pahto)—a mountainous landscape whose alpine meadows and river valleys had long been stewarded by the Yakama Nation. The narrative documents the rapid superimposition of federal reclamation projects, extensive irrigation canal systems, and transcontinental rail corridors onto ancestral Yakama territory, fundamentally converting native sagebrush rangelands and seasonal root-gathering grounds into intensive commercial fruit orchards. Douglas’s accounts of working the local hop yards and harvest fields alongside Yakama families, itinerant farmhands, and Industrial Workers of the World organizers highlight the shared physical labor and complex social interdependencies that anchored the valley’s resource economy. Ultimately, the autobiography illustrates how this intimate immersion in an engineered Western landscape—caught between corporate agricultural expansion and an enduring Indigenous plateau geography—fundamentally forged the environmental ethic and defense of Indigenous treaty rights that Douglas would later champion on the United States Supreme Court.

xv, 493 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Go Do Some Great Thing: The Black Pioneers of British Columbia examines the migration and settlement of African Americans who sought refuge and economic opportunity across the rugged coastal and inland landscapes of the British Columbian frontier during the mid-nineteenth-century gold rushes. Kilian details how the expansive marine highway of the Pacific seaboard channeled these pioneers away from an increasingly oppressive California to the strategically sheltered deepwater port of Victoria on Vancouver Island. The narrative highlights how the formidable physical barriers of the region—from the treacherous, rapid-choked gorges of the Fraser River canyon to the dense, heavily timbered slopes of Salt Spring Island—dictated the grueling physical labor required to carve out permanent agricultural homesteads and mercantile networks. By mapping their adaptation to this challenging environment, the book illustrates how the profound geographic isolation of these northern island and riverine outposts provided a vital spatial sanctuary from American institutionalized racism. Ultimately, this foundational record serves as a deeply localized spatial history, demonstrating how the unforgiving marine and mountainous topography of the Pacific Northwest fundamentally shaped the resilient, independent character of British Columbia's earliest Black communities.

188 pages, 4 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

A collection of forty oral history interviews conducted by Ruth Busse Allingham with residents of the rural Naselle Valley in Washington State. Between 1890 to 1990, this largely immigrant community was mainly comprised of Finnish and other Scandinavian immigrants

216 pages : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm

Roy F. Mayo’s Give me Liberty examines the rugged prospector settlement and subsequent community evolution of Liberty, one of Washington’s oldest surviving gold-mining towns, nestled in the Swauk Creek basin on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Range. Set against the steep, pine-forested terrain of the Blewett Pass corridor, the narrative details how early prospectors and pioneer families converged on the isolated valley during the late nineteenth-century gold rushes. By tracing the shared physical labor of placer mining and the establishment of cooperative mining districts, the text reveals how these geographically secluded camps forged tight-knit kinship networks to survive the demanding, boom-and-bust frontier environment. Ultimately, this local history documents how the collaborative extraction of the region's unique wire gold and deeply rooted family alliances successfully transformed a transient tent camp into a cohesive, enduring civic community that outlasted the initial mineral rush.

45 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm

Gifted Earth features traditional Native American plant knowledge, detailing the use of plants for food, medicines, and materials. It presents a rich and living tradition of plant use within the Quinault Indian Nation in a volume collaboratively developed and endorsed by that tribe. The Quinault Reservation on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state is a diverse tribal community, embodying the traditional knowledge of tribes along the entire Pacific Northwest coast. Its membership consists of descendants of many tribes—from the northwestern Olympic Peninsula to the northern Oregon coast—including the Quinault, but also many others who were relocated to the reservation in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Individuals descended from these tribal communities, including Chinook, Chehalis, Hoh, Quileute, Queets, Cowlitz, Tillamook, Clatsop, and others, have contributed to Gifted Earth, giving it remarkable breadth and representation. A celebration of enduring Native American knowledge, this book will help non-specialists as they discover the potential of the region’s wild plants, learning how to identify, gather, and use many of the plants that they encounter in the Northwestern landscape. Part ethnobotanical guide and part “how-to” manual, Gifted Earth also prepares plant users for the minor hazards and pitfalls that accompany their quest—from how to avoid accidentally eating a bug hidden within a salal berry to how to prevent blisters when peeling the tender stalks of cow parsnip. As beautiful as it is informative, Gifted Earth sets the standard for a new generation of ethnobotanical guides informed by the values, vision, and voice of Native American communities eager to promote a sustainable, balanced relationship between plant users and the rich plant communities of traditional tribal lands. About the author: Douglas Deur is an associate research professor of anthropology at Portland State University and an adjunct professor of environmental studies at the University of Victoria. He is the author of Pacific Northwest Foraging and many other writings that explore the traditions, values, and ecological logic of Native American plant use. Gifted Earth is a product of his long-term collaboration with the Quinault Indian Nation to record plant knowledge of tribal members in order to guide modern land-use planning, ensure that this knowledge is passed on to future generations of tribal members, and share as appropriate with the outside world.

xx, 250 pages : color illustrations, color map ; 23 cm

"Seattle is built on booms--logging, fishing, aerospace, and now tech. This anthology gathers essays, interviews, photography, and comix to reconstruct community hubs lost to growth. From the settlements of Native American tribes to the incubators of grunge, from a foxxxy cabaret to an Old Spaghetti Factory, Ghosts of Seattle Past provides an eyes-on-the-street view of a city in flux. The Ghosts of Seattle Past anthology comes at a critical point: Seattle had the country's steepest rent hikes in 2015. The city is becoming a national focal point for issues of development. Both recent transplants and the old guard are trying to figure out how to live in the new landscape. Through their warm, conversational, whip-smart voices, the city speaks not only to the current boom, but also to longer-brewing problems of segregation, queer erasure, and colonization. Tracing the issues across six hand-drawn maps, Seattle's best-known artists (including Elissa Washuta, Kate Lebo, and Paul Constant) join community lynchpins (including Chief Seattle's great-great-great-great grandson) in a dialogue as incisively political as it is richly human. Anthology curator Jaimee Garbacik is a book editor, writer, artist, youth equity advocate, and the owner and founder of Footnote Editorial. She previously authored Gender and Sexuality for Beginners, currently on curricula at more than a dozen universities. Josh Powell, artist behind the anthology's hand-drawn maps, is the former director of all-ages youth-led music and arts organization The Vera Project and co-founder of Seattle nonprofit The Bikery. He currently works at Seattle's largest environmental remediation firm"--Provided by publisher

xxxvi, 318 pages : illustrations (some color), 4 folded maps ; 26 cm

The largest, most detailed collection of Yakima lore ever. Introductory notes and numerous photographs provide historical and cultural context. Tribal Myths and Legends explain the origin of the tribes, of fire, or the origins of landmarks, also mysterious, haunted lakes. Humorous Tales relate the ridiculous, often earthy antics of Coyote. Hunting Stories reveal the techniques, the terrors of the hunt for the ferocious grizzly, treacherous black bear, or deer, and more.

435 pages, 26 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 22 cm

Presents a collection of illustrated photographs depicting the ghost towns, mining camps, and historic forts of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia; and includes travel information, maps, and more

160 pages : color illustrations, maps ; 28 cm.

Sixty-two ghost towns from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana are individually described with the history of each town and specific directions on how to find them. Nearly twenty are unknown to the general public. The author has given you a head start in your quest, having explored new angles for information on some of the more familiar ghost towns, or visiting with old timers for an offbeat story or two.

xviii, 319 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.

110 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 22 cm

104 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 28 cm

Published by Washington State University Extension and the WSU Beach Watchers, Getting to the Water’s Edge on Whidbey & Camano Islands serves as an exhaustive field guide to public shoreline access, marine life, and coastal trails across Island County. Compiled through extensive community research, the book details dozens of specific beaches, boat launches, and parks while weaving in rich context on local geology, natural history, and indigenous heritage. It bridges the gap between a practical recreational map and an environmental manual by emphasizing responsible stewardship of the fragile Salish Sea ecosystem. A keen insight drawn from the work is how citizen-science guidebooks function as powerful grassroots conservation tools; by meticulously cataloging public access points and educating visitors on local ecological sensitivities, the text transforms recreational day-trippers into active defenders of the regional shoreline.

ix, 166 pages : color illustrations, color maps ; 22 cm

Across the nation every two years, first-time lawmakers enter state legislatures--institutions steeped in tradition, arcane procedures, and unwritten rules. Although dozens of publications advise candidates on how to run and win campaigns, for those elected, few resources exist. After more than twenty years in the Washington State Legislature, Senator Karen Keiser realized she could address that knowledge gap. Written for legislative newcomers and others interested in state government, her book blends documented research with her personal experiences and observations about how to succeed and achieve real change. She focuses on the culture adjustment and challenges many newly elected lawmakers face, and offers tips and advice to help them achieve their legislative goals

xiv, 155 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Although George Washington has been in the public eye since facing a racially-charged court case in the 1840s and a quick vote of support by the Missouri Legislature, his full life’s story has never been completely told — until now. Local historians Brian Mittge and Kerry MacGregor Serl have pulled together public documents, little-known archival materials and oral histories into a 200-page story that reads like the full history of the 19th century. From slavery to the frontier, from the Oregon Trail to the Pacific Northwest, this is a story that is sweeping in its scope but human to its core. You’ll read about the ways that George Washington nurtured ties during a time of division, creating unity in the community he created and sustaining his neighbors through the depth of dire economic depression.

xviii, 198 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

"One of the leading Northwest artists of his generation, George Tsutakawa (1910-97) is internationally known for his sculpture and fountain designs. However, a lesser-known aspect of his career was the production of blockprints, watercolors, and works on paper that began in the 1920s and continued throughout his career. Born in Seattle and educated in Japan, Tsutakawa had early success while still in high school. He attended the University of Washington, where he received an MFA in sculpture in 1950, and became an influential instructor at the university's School of Art from 1947 to 1976. Drawn from the Tsutakawa estate, most of the works shown here have never been seen previously by the public. These early works display concepts and inspirations that would inform Tsutakawa's aesthetic throughout a long and distinguished career. Contextual works by Tsutakawa's instructors and contemporaries provides a broader understanding of his oeuvre."--Provided by distributor

143 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 29 cm