Catalog of British Columbiana and Pacific Northwest Americana

The promise of opportunity drew twenty-seven-year-old Illinois schoolteacher William Winlock Miller west to the future Washington Territory in 1850. Like so many other Oregon Trail emigrants Miller arrived cash-poor and ambitious, but unlike most he fulfilled his grandest ambitions. By the time of his death in 1876, Miller had amassed one of the largest private fortunes in the territory and had used it creatively in developing the region’s assets, leaving a significant mark on the territory’s political and economic history. Appointed Surveyor of Customs at the newly created Port of Nisqually in 1851, Miller was the first federal official north of the Columbia River. Two years later he helped organize the new territory‘s Democratic Party and quickly became a political and financial confidant of governor Isaac Stevens. His involvement in the Indian conflict in 1855–56, a term in the territorial legislature, and his bankrolling of key politicians made him the territory’s most effective political networker. His role as a “hip-pocket banker” in a region without established banks made him a powerful financial broker and a major player in territorial affairs. But in his pursuit of success Miller compromised another ambition he carried west from Illinois. He postponed marriage and family until only a few years before his death and agonized about relationships with his family in Illinois. His experience reminds us that the pioneer settlement era was a period of social dislocation and that public economic and political success could mask personal disappointment. Lang’s biography takes readers into the heart of Washington territorial politics, where alliances often hinged more on mutual economic interest than political principles and nearly all agreed that government should encourage ambitious and energetic men. In this world, Lang argues, Miller succeeded because he parlayed his talents in camaraderie politics and sharp-pencil business affairs with an unabashed mining of governmental opportunities. William Lang’s account of William Winlock Miller and the first quarter century of Washington’s history offers a new view of the pioneer era, emphasizing that the West was developed in large measure by men like Miller who manipulated government and its resources to their own and the region’s advantage.

xiii, 310 pages : illustrations, map ; 23 cm

Visionary. Iconoclast. Rebel. William Trufant Foster set out in 1911 to launch the “ideal college,” and succeeded in building an intellectual liberal arts powerhouse that over the next one hundred years would perpetually seek to break the hard crust of custom and orthodoxy. Foster’s quest for excellence and truth generated a steady yield of students – ranging from poet Gary Snyder to muckraker Barbara Ehrenreich to Apple founder Steve Jobs – who left Reed College eager to challenge society’s dominant paradigms. Comrades of the Quest chronicles the colorful cultural and social history of this band of young and fiercely unorthodox West Coast intellectuals, and of the institution that nurtured them. Drawing from interviews with more than 1,400 people and from unpublished memoirs stretching back to the college’s first decades, John Sheehy weaves together a riveting story told from first-hand perspectives of this unique community’s ongoing efforts to bring Foster’s vision to life. With a punch considerably mightier than its weight, the Reed community undertakes an arduous journey through the political and educational developments of the past century— from the progressive education movement in the 1910s, the general education programs between the two world wars, scientific methodology in the 1950s, political relevance in the 1960s, theories of structuralism and deconstruction in the 1970s, the cultural wars in the 1980s, political correctness in the 1990s, to ideological bias in the 2000s—while keeping its founding ideals largely intact. At a time when America is struggling to sustain its innovative edge, Reed College remains an iconic model, equipping students with a rigorous set of skills and attitudes possible for questioning status quo thinking in a rapidly changing world. Its story, populated with a rich cast of characters, and marked by intense focus, demanding social freedom, and unconventional creativity, is no customary college history, but rather an intellectual thriller of American idealism played out against the hard world of social, religious, and political conformity, ascending great heights and persevering through near-fatal confrontations.

561 pages : illustrations ; 27 cm

Competitive Struggle recounts the 101-year history of Americas western fur trade: from the founding of St. Louis in 1764 through 1865, the demand for beaver pelts and buffalo robes spawned a competitive fervor that enveloped mountain men, fur trading companies, national governments, and Native Americans.The book includes a series of easy-to-read flowcharts showing the evolution of the various fur companies. Extensive endnotes, an index, a glossary of terms, and a list of modern-day trading post replicas and their photographs make Competitive Struggle a musthave reference on America s fur trade.

xxi, 330 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Trading companies played a vital role in colonial endeavour. The great English, Dutch and French merchant companies took the risks of trade and travel in a dangerous world, opening up trading routes to the Farthest corners of the globe. The Hudson's Bay Company was just such an enterprise. Established under a charter granted by Charles II in 1670, with Prince Rupert, the king's cousin, as one of its directors, the company was granted 4m square kilometres of what was to become Canada, over which huge territory they were given sole trading rights

304 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Company Town: Potlatch, Idaho, and the Potlatch Lumber Company by Keith Petersen is a 1987 historical study published in association with the Latah County Historical Society that examines one of the American West's most meticulously planned corporate communities. The book chronicles the establishment and daily life of the lumber town, detailing the Weyerhaeuser syndicate's paternalistic control over its workers' housing, commerce, and social institutions from 1905 until the town's privatization in the 1950s. Ultimately, it serves as a compelling case study of industrial capitalism, labor relations, and the unique socio-economic dynamics that defined early 20th-century timber operations in the Pacific Northwest.

xix, 284 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Joseph Taylor Hazard’s Companion of Adventure: A Biography of Isaac Ingalls Stevens chronicles the aggressive political and cartographic subjugation of a massively fractured, untamed territorial expanse spanning from the towering alpine barricades of the northern Rockies to the deep-water maritime enclaves of Puget Sound. The narrative maps how the severe environmental realities of this formidable western frontier—defined by impassable, snow-choked mountain passes, sprawling arid high-desert steppes, and impenetrable coastal rainforests—initially paralyzed large-scale overland migration and dictated a profound continental isolation. By detailing Stevens’s grueling deployment as both territorial governor and commander of the northern transcontinental railroad surveys, the text illustrates how the violent imposition of imperial sovereignty and the aggressive execution of indigenous treaties were strictly governed by the urgent necessity to engineer a mechanized terrestrial transit corridor directly through these geographical extremes. Ultimately, the account demonstrates that systematically calculating the physical vectors of this forbidding topography and legally clearing the massive terrestrial right-of-ways for heavy rail infrastructure were the absolute prerequisites for shattering the territory's geographic detachment and firmly anchoring the raw Pacific edge to an expanding industrial empire.

[16], 238 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map, portraits ; 22 cm

Missionary Henry Spalding shipped two barrels of "Indian curiosities" to Ohio in 1847. The author delves into the story of the exquisite Nez Perce shirts, dresses, baskets, and horse regalia, the tribe's grassroots campaign to restore their exploited cultural heritage, and the ethics of acquiring and selling Native cultural history- In 1847, two barrels of “Indian curiosities” were shipped by missionary Henry Spalding to Dr. Dudley Allen in Kinsman, Ohio. The items inside included exquisite Nez Perce shirts, dresses, baskets, and horse regalia—some decorated with porcupine quills and others with precious dentalium shells and rare elk teeth. Donated to Oberlin College in 1893 and transferred to the Ohio Historical Society (OHS) in 1942, the Spalding-Allen Collection languished in storage until Nez Perce National Historic Park curators rediscovered it in 1976. The OHS loaned most of the artifacts to the National Park Service, where they received conservation treatment and were displayed in climate-controlled cases. Josiah Pinkham, Nez Perce cultural specialist, notes that they embody “the earliest and greatest centralization of ethnographic objects for the Nez Perce people. You don’t have a collection of this size, this age, anywhere else in the world.” Twelve years later, the OHS abruptly recalled the collection, but after public pressure and extended negotiations, agreed to sell the articles to the Nez Perce at their full appraised value of $608,100 and a six-month deadline. The tribe formed the Nez Perce Heritage Quest Alliance and mounted a brilliant grassroots fundraising campaign. One day before the deadline, they met their goal. The author draws on interviews with Nez Perce experts and extensive archival research to tell the Spalding-Allen Collection story. He also examines the ethics of acquiring, bartering, owning, and selling Native cultural history, as Native American, First Nation, and Indigenous communities continue their efforts to restore their exploited cultural heritage from collectors and museums—pieces that are living, breathing, intimately connected to their home region, and inspirational for sustaining cultural traditions.- Provided by publisher

206 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 23 cm

An anecdotal history of Cannon Beach, Oregon, written by someone who has been there for sixty years. Witness the beginnings, the character and the characters of this timeless ocean community.

170 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Covers the voyages of Robert Gray from 1787 to 1793 along the Pacific Northwest coast. The two voyages of the American Robert Gray, one began in 1787 and the other in 1790. In 1787, he was captain of the sloop Lady Washington, and entailed trade and discovery in the Pacific Northwest. He switched to captaining the Columbia which he took back to Boston by crossing the Pacific to China, thus becoming the first American to circumnavigating the globe. In 1790 he sailed the Columbia from Boston, around Cape Horn and up the west coast of South and North Americas to the Pacific Northwest.

xviii, 352 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

The Columbia River Gorge is a land of scenic wonder, revered by tourists for its beauty and by recreationalists for its fishing, windsurfing, hiking, and rafting. The region is also a major transportation corridor, home to two vital east-west railroad routes: Burlington Northern Santa Fe on the Washington side of the Columbia River and Union Pacific on the Oregon side. Every day, dozens of freight trains, as well as Amtrak passenger trains, snake along on opposite banks of the wide river, and rail operations have become an integral part of the heartbeat of the gorge. The colorful images in this work celebrate the art and magic of the trains that move goods and passengers through this striking, rugged landscape

95 pages : color illustrations, color maps ; 24 cm.

Columbia River Gorge history. Volume two chronicles the grueling infrastructural expansion and precarious pioneer settlement situated within the massive, sheer-walled basalt chasm that forcefully bisects the Cascade Range. Attwell details how the region's formidable physical barriers—specifically the towering, impenetrable basalt cliffs, the violent, gale-force wind tunnels channeling directly through the canyon, and the treacherous, rapid-choked currents of the Columbia River—strictly dictated the margins of early human survival, overland migration, and commercial navigation. By mapping the immense physical labor required to blast precarious railway grades and early highway routes directly into the unyielding bedrock, and to engineer complex wooden portages and lock systems to safely bypass the lethal river cascades, the narrative highlights the monumental effort necessary to anchor a permanent transit corridor and industrial presence in this demanding, sublime riverine environment. The sheer impossibility of alternate cross-mountain routes forced early pioneers, riverboat captains, and remote settlements into a strict reliance on the precise topography of the narrow river channel, completely anchoring their physical survival and economic existence to the severe hydrological forces of the Columbia and the perilous navigation of its deepwater currents. Ultimately, this local historical record serves as a deeply localized spatial history, demonstrating how the immense geological scale, extreme riverine geography, and harsh atmospheric forces of this Pacific Northwest frontier fundamentally shaped the fiercely resilient, strictly transportation-dependent character of the Columbia River Gorge communities.

210 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm

This is some of the history of the early days in the Columbia River Gorge. The Indians were her many, many moons before the white people came, but they left no written history. This writer did not come with the first explorers so must depend on some of the history left by them, however he was a descendant of some of the early settlers and friends of others, who have given him stories which he wishes to pass on. -- Amazon

150 pages : illustrations, maps ; 21 cm

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

The beauty of the Columbia Highlands is subtle. It's measured by rays of sunlight filtering through a cathedral forest of ancient pines; a golden hillside teeming with deer; in the soft breezes that whistle through shiny snags. It's cherished for its vastness, its lack of human intervention, its rejuvenating properties, and its abundant wildlife. Columbia Highlands is a portrait of this-little known corner of the American West. It reveals its function as an important wildlife bridge between the Rockies and the Cascades for animals- including wolves, bears, moose, and lynx-who must roam to survive. It reveals the surprising coalition of people- hunters, hikers, loggers, business owners, Native people, and more-united in their love of the land and working to protect and restore it. Theirs is a new kind of conservation plan, one that preserves the health of the ecosystem while sustaining a viable rural economy and lifestyle

124 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), color maps ; 23 cm

The Columbia County Historical Society’s Columbia County, Oregon provides an archival photographic and spatial record of the lower Columbia River shorelines and interior Nehalem Valley timberlands. The narrative documents how nineteenth-century logging camps, river landings, and agricultural clearings were established across lands traditionally stewarded by the Multnomah and Clatskanie Chinookan peoples. The volume details the rise of the historic river ports of Saint Helens, Columbia City, Prescott, Rainier, and Goble, examining their transition from steamship fuel docks into industrialized sawmill and papermaking centers. Detailed photo essays record early railroad corridors, school districts, and community hubs spanning Scappoose, Warren, Deer Island, Yankton, Apiary, and the interior logging communities of Vernonia and Mist.

128 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 24 cm

"Written to encourage emigrants to obtain land from the Hudson's Bay Company for settlement, the work outlines conditions of land purchase and quotes published sources as to the suitability of Vancouver Island for colonization." -- Lowther, B. J., & Laing, M. (1968). A bibliography of British Columbia: Laying the foundations, 1849-1899. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria, p. 2.

28 pages map 22 cm

In the story of how campus architecture evolved in the nation, and in microcosm at Willamette University speciƯfically, we see a rich reflection of our society and of education in general. We see how the building of a campus not only reflects the educational aims and culture of a period, but also impacts the future educational missions of an institution. From the wood-framed Oregon Institute through the creation of the LEED Gold CertiƯfied Ford Hall, the captivating details behind the formation of today's beautiful campus show how intricately the physical plant is intertwined with the work, the institutional mission, the Ưfinances, and the individuals who shaped the progress of the University.0While there is plenty to satisfy those with an architectural bent, there is much here for the general reader as well. Generations of people come to life, people from whom we are separated not only by time, but by 'the times'. And yet, in their humanity and deep commitment, we can catch glimpses of who we are today. Willamette University literally inhabits the visions of those who came before. We also see that in a very real way, the challenges, disappointments, and triumphs of people who no longer walk these grounds are built into the Willamette physical plant. Once one has been through this journey, the reader will never look at the built environment of Willamette, or of any campus, in the same way again

234 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), maps (some color), portraits, plans ; 23 x 26 cm

“Just as the humans involved in the wolf debate deserve to be seen as individuals, not stereotypes, so do the wolves. They are not the boogeyman, or storybook monsters aiming to prey upon the young and old. They aren’t cuddly pets or religious icons. They are Canis lupus. Wolves.” —from the Introduction. Teeming with the tension and passion that accompany one of North America’s most controversial apex predators, Collared tracks the events that unfolded when wolves from the reintroduced population of the northern Rocky Mountains dispersed west across state lines into Oregon. In a forthright and personal style, Aimee Lyn Eaton takes readers from meeting rooms in the state capitol to ranching communities in the rural northeast corner of the state. Using on-the-ground inquiry, field interviews, and in-depth research, she shares the story of how wolves returned to Oregon and the repercussions of their presence in the state. Collared: Politics and Personalities in Oregon’s Wolf Country introduces readers to the biologists, ranchers, conservationists, state employees, and lawyers on the front lines, encouraging a deeper, multifaceted understanding of the controversial and storied presence of wolves in Oregon.

135 pages : map ; 23 cm

[6], 286 pages : illustrations, map, portraits ; 28 cm

Margaret A. Ormsby’s Coldstream: Nulli Secundus provides a comprehensive spatial and institutional chronicle of the Coldstream Valley and its surrounding municipality east of Vernon. Ormsby details how the foundational 1860s cattle pre-emptions of Charles Houghton and Forbes George Vernon were established across ancestral Syilx and Secwépemc territories, later evolving into the legendary Coldstream Ranch under the ownership of the Earl of Aberdeen. The narrative documents the transition of pastoral benchlands into commercial orchards and hop yards, analyzing the engineering of private irrigation ditches and flumes that preceded formal municipal incorporation in 1906. Ormsby highlights the social stratification of English gentry settlement throughout Lavington and Coldstream, recording how corporate agricultural capital and cooperative packing houses established the community as an economic cornerstone of the North Okanagan.

335 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 24 cm

In 1940, the Grays Harbor Post in Aberdeen, Washington, introduced its readers to "The Kitchen Critic," a new column chronicling life in nearby Cohassett Beach. Within a year the U.S. was at war, and columnist Kathy Hogan's weekly dispatches turned to soldiers, rationing, and the barbed wire that lined the sand dunes around her weathered cottage. 50 years later, Kathy Hogan's writings provide a window onto how one Pacific Northwest community responded to World War II. Cohassett Beach Chronicles, a collection of Hogan's columns from the war years, offers a remarkable social history of the war at home. The attack on Pearl Harbor brought U.S. troops to Cohassett Beach and to towns up and down the West Coast. With wit and perception, Hogan writes of civilians valiantly coping with this friendly occupation and wartime scarcity. Her neighbors — loggers, commercial fishermen, Finnish cranberry farmers — learn to live with blackouts, blimps, and a ban on beachcombing. Hogan's weekly descriptions of life on the home front capture America's wartime mood. Together, her columns document the war's tremendous impact at home, from the internment of Japanese Americans and the spread of government regulations to the changing role of women. They also reveal that in spite of the war effort life, in many ways, continued as it always had. There was still time to pick blackberries, gossip at the local tavern, and attend the occasional Friday night dance. As children, the editors spent summers in the Cohassett Beach cottages that still, in the late 1940s, bore scars of the Army's occupation.

xxx, 290 pages : illustrations, maps ; 27 cm

Robert Ballard Whitebrook’s Coastal Exploration of Washington provides a meticulous maritime chronicle of the initial European efforts to chart the treacherous and highly complex oceanic edge of the Pacific Northwest. The narrative maps how the formidable physical realities of the region—including dense, disorienting coastal fogs, violent Pacific surf, and an impenetrable coastal barrier of temperate rainforests—completely precluded overland discovery, forcing Spanish and British expeditions to rely entirely on vulnerable sailing vessels. By detailing the painstaking cartographic mastery of the labyrinthine, deep-water glacial fjords of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound, the text illustrates how early imperial strategies were strictly dictated by the severe environmental constraints of this volatile marine topography. Ultimately, the account demonstrates that navigating and documenting these dangerous aquatic highways was the absolute prerequisite for breaching the region's profound physical isolation and opening the untamed western frontier to global maritime commerce.

xxv, 146 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Coast Salish: Their Art, Culture and Legends explores the rich heritage of the Indigenous peoples who have long inhabited the sheltered, island-dotted marine waterways of the Salish Sea across present-day Washington and British Columbia. Ashwell details how the region's dense temperate rainforests and deep coastal estuaries provided the absolute material foundation for this maritime culture, specifically through the immense western red cedars utilized for monumental carvings, longhouses, and the massive canoes required to navigate the expansive inland sea. By anchoring their vibrant mythology and seasonal subsistence cycles directly to the turbulent tidal currents and salmon-choked river basins of the Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound, the narrative illustrates a society inextricably bound to its aquatic environment. Ultimately, the book serves as a localized cultural geography, demonstrating how the complex coastal topography and abundant marine resources of the Pacific Northwest seaboard fundamentally shaped the unique artistic and spiritual identity of the Coast Salish people.

86 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Lucile Saunders McDonald’s Coast Country: A History of Southwest Washington chronicles the maritime and pioneer history of the rugged, windswept coastline stretching north of the Columbia River's treacherous mouth. The narrative meticulously maps the challenging topography of this distinct Pacific environment, focusing on the shallow, tidal expanses of Willapa Bay, the dense temperate rainforests surrounding Grays Harbor, and the shifting sands of the Long Beach Peninsula. By detailing the booming nineteenth-century oyster industry that thrived within these sheltered estuarine mudflats, alongside perilous coastal shipping operations and early timber harvesting, the book illustrates how early settlers exploited the region's rich aquatic and arboreal resources despite severe navigational hazards. Ultimately, the text captures the formidable geographical realities of southwestern Washington, highlighting how its unique marine inlets and punishing oceanic weather dictated the economic survival of its most isolated pioneer communities.

v, 184 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map (on lining paper) ; 23 cm

Strikes were a way of life for central Washington coal miners and their families, but Tuesday, April 3, 1934, was different. This time, people were afraid. Wives and mothers pelted cars with rocks, rotten eggs, and cow pies. They cursed and assaulted anyone who dared to cross their picket line. On a normal shift, the striking laborers spent ten or more hours at the workplace. Dressing, preparing lights and equipment, and traveling into the mine shaft--as much as an hour each way--were all done on their own time. The miners and their families wanted safer working conditions, fair wages, and a six-hour workday. So when leaders of their national union, the United Mine Workers of America, seemed indifferent to their concerns, some local members created a new organization, the Western Miners Union of America, and decided to strike. But this time, conflicting union alliances turned residents of Roslyn, Cle Elem, and Ronald against each other, and the heated, violent battle left deep and lasting scars. A refreshingly balanced account, Coal Wars captures the drama surrounding a dual union movement in the 1930s American West while portraying the region's melting pot of working families and the sociopolitical impacts of New Deal policies. Author David Bullock witnessed the bitter emotions first hand. His grandfather, a Roslyn miner, lived through the events depicted in Coal Wars.

vii, 211 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm