Catalog of British Columbiana and Pacific Northwest Americana

Blakely Island is typical of many other islands in the San Juans and adjacent Gulf Islands of Canada. What is fascinating is that pioneers found them in their isolated maritime settings, made homes and schools, and developed a living for families. In the late 20th century, several of the islands such as Blakely have become sites for vacation homes, as well. The author tells a lively tale of the people, both pioneers and modern dwellers, who have dealt with the problems inherent in island life, especialy an island accessed only by air or sea. Read about the Spencer Mill, winter storms, humorous interactions with animals, pranks, early air services, and environmental and political issues--P. [4] of cover

v, 151 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Arvid Seward’s Blaeberry Homesteaders is an illustrated local and spatial record of pioneer agricultural settlement along the Blaeberry River drainage, a major glacial tributary of the upper Columbia River north of Golden. Seward documents how early twentieth-century settlers staked land pre-emptions along the historic overland route blazed by David Thompson over Howse Pass, clearing bottomland spruce forests to build hand-hewn log homesteads and establish family dairy and hay ranches. The text details the logistical hurdles of pioneer survival in a remote mountain valley, including the construction of improvised timber flumes, cable car river crossings, and seasonal wagon trails connecting Blaeberry to the CPR mainline at Donald and Golden. Filled with personal reminiscences, cadastral surveys, and family photographs, the volume captures the everyday realities of rural community formation in the northern Columbia-Shuswap region.

128 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 28 cm

"Black Woman in Green tells the story of a young widow who left the urban East for the forested West seeking a better life for her children. It highlights Gloria Brown's determination and grit in working her way up in a primarily white, male organization to become the first female African American forest supervisor in the US Forest Service. From raising children alone to conducting civil rights trainings to breaking glass ceilings, Gloria Brown's humor and willingness to believe in the basic goodness of humanity makes possible a powerful and instructive leadership journey. Black Woman in Green provides a case study for public administration, contributes to understanding the overlapping environmental and civil rights movements of the twentieth century, and highlights issues of representation in the federal government, women's history, the history of the American West, and literature associated with African American experiences in predominately white societies"-- Provided by publisher

1 online resource

Published by Diane Olson, Cory Olson, and the Black Diamond Historical Society, Black Diamond: Mining the Memories chronicles the rich, coal-fuelled history of a historic Washington company town situated in the shadow of the Cascade foothills. The book draws on extensive archival photographs, oral histories, and company records to detail the dangerous underground labor, multi-ethnic immigrant communities, and daily hardships of families who worked the rich seams for the Pacific Coast Company. Through these intimate vignettes, the text preserves the vanishing social fabric of a bustling industrial hub that once supplied coal across the entire Puget Sound. A keen insight drawn from the work is how company-owned mining towns functioned as isolated, corporate-feudal microcosms; by controlling everything from housing to currency, the coal company engineered a fragile social stability that ultimately fractured the moment laborers sought independent political and economic autonomy.

xvi, 274 pages : illustrations, map ; 28 cm

Bittersweet Oasis: A History of Ashcroft and District, 1885-2002, originally authored by Brian Belton, provides a comprehensive historical account of the development of the village of Ashcroft in British Columbia's Thompson region. The book chronicles Ashcroft's foundational years as the bustling "Gateway to the Cariboo," detailing how its position at the intersection of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Cariboo Wagon Road fueled its early economic boom. It further explores the community's cultural and economic evolution, highlighting the vital contributions of early pioneers, Chinese laborers, and a thriving agricultural sector famous for its tomatoes and potatoes. Ultimately, the narrative captures the enduring resilience of the district's residents as they successfully navigated devastating fires, shifts in regional transportation routes, and changing industries over more than a century.

160 pages : illustrations, facsimiles, portraits ; 29 cm

When author Diane Josephy Peavey first arrived in south-central Idaho twenty years ago, she did not know it was possible to become as connected to a place as she is now, nor, she claims, did she understand the "meaning of love, of home, of commitment. That would come to me here, 24 dirt-road miles from town." Story by story, readers will pass through the seasons of a ranching life, discovering the power of a landscape that inspires passion in so many. Book jacket

xvi, 239 pages ; 23 cm

Birds of Oregon is the first complete reference work on Oregon's birds to be published since Gabrielson and Jewett's landmark book in 1940. This comprehensive volume includes individual accounts of the approximately 500 species now known to occur in Oregon (about 150 more than in 1940), including detailed accounts of the 353 species that regularly occur and briefer accounts of another 133 species that are considered vagrants. A separate chapter covers extirpated and questionable species as well as those which have been introduced but have not become established. Oregon is long overdue for a book of this kind. Although northern states generally support fewer species of birds than more southerly ones, Oregon ranks fifth behind only Florida, New Mexico, Texas, and California in terms of numbers of species. This is due to its varied climate, its wide range of habitats, and the mild winters over much of the state, which make it an important wintering area. Birds of Oregon is not a field guide for identifying birds, although it describes the appearance and any unique or special characteristics of each species, and approximately 100 species are illustrated with attractive line drawings. Instead, it compiles and presents in a single large volume what is known today about the population status and distribution of each species, as well as their habitat requirements and diet, their seasonal activities and behavior, where and how they might be found, and any conservation problems. It includes about 200 range maps that reflect the work of more than 700 volunteers who participated in the Oregon Breeding Bird Atlas project, as well as other sources. Subspecies--of which Oregon has many because of the variability of the state's avian habitats--are listed with their ranges, thus providing the first accounting of subspecies in the state since 1957. In addition to the species accounts, Birds of Oregon also includes a discussion of changes among Oregon's birds since 1940 and a description of the state's nine ecoregions and how they relate to bird species. Approximately 100 contributing authors volunteered their time and expertise to create Birds of Oregon, and numerous other individuals reviewed drafts of the species accounts to insure that they are as accurate and up-to-date as possible. Although heavily referenced with approximately 4,000 literature citations, Birds of Oregon is written in nontechnical language and will appeal to a broad audience, including birders, wildlife biologists, land managers, conservationists, naturalists, hunters, and wildlife enthusiasts in general. This new paperback edition includes an annotated list of species that have been added to the official state bird list since the book was first published in 2003.

xvi, 752 pages : illustrations, maps ; 29 cm

The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Oregon is internationally known to ornithologists and birders. Throughout the year, but especially during spring and autumn migrations, hundreds of thousands of birds can be seen on the refuge. Birds of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge provides the first exhaustive report on the 312 species recorded here over the last 110 years. For each species you'll learn: how common it is on the refuge; where it is likely to be found on the refuge; dates of its earliest, latest, and most frequent sightings on the refuge. C. D. Littlefield is a legendary figure to western birders and an internationally recognized expert on the birds of Malheur, particularly the Sandhill Crane.

294 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Birds of Lane County is the essential guide for anyone - backyard birder or serious observer - interested in the birds of western Oregon. Lane County's bird life is rich with variety; over three hundred bird species may be found in the county during the year. Within an hour's drive of Eugene, birders may encounter Black Oystercatchers, Pelagic Cormorants, and Snowy Plovers on the coast or Black-backed Woodpeckers, Northern Goshawks, and Mountain Bluebirds in the Cascades. With this comprehensive guide, birders at all levels can enjoy this incredible diversity. In Birds of Lane County, editor Alan Contreras and a team of expert contributors describe the one hundred best birding sites in the county, with detailed information on what may be found, and where and when to seek particular birds. All sites are publicly accessible with clear, easy-to-follow directions and maps, and many of the sites are at least partly wheelchair accessible, provide species accounts with basic information about the status, distribution, abundance, and movements of each species known to have occurred in Lane County. It also offers useful resources for birders including migrant arrival and departure tables, seasonal charts, a gazetteer, contact information for local birding and natural history organizations, and a species checklist.

366 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

"The BC Liberal Party, under Gordon Campbell, won a massive majority in 2001 on the strength of its New Era electoral platform. On his first day in office, Campbell fulfilled the party's campaign pledge to dramatically reduce personal income taxes in British Columbia. "Big Promises, Small Government" demonstrates the integral relationship between effective tax policy and sustainable social programs. In this important and original case study, George Abbott provides a rigorous analysis of an intense and often controversial period in the province's political history. Despite sharply declining economic indices, the new premier expected that lower taxes would spur investment and growth, essentially paying for themselves. Instead, the Campbell government's precipitous and ideological decision to cut taxes and exempt health and education - some 70 percent of the provincial budget - from any decrease in expenditures, left smaller ministries scrambling to save $4.4 billion to meet a balanced budget. Severe budget cuts extended throughout social ministries with direct impact on their often vulnerable clients. "Big Promises, Small Government" demonstrates the inherent difficulties that tax cuts present to small, open trading economies such as British Columbia's, which could not hope to reshape its local fortunes quickly amid broader global shifts. George Abbott's insider perspective and compelling insights on the genesis, implementation, and real-world consequences of a tax policy offer vital lessons to future governments and gripping reading on the effects of short-sighted tax cuts on a province."-- Provided by publisher

xvii, 259 pages ; 23 cm

Big Bend country heritage chronicles the grueling agricultural transformation and precarious pioneer settlement across the sweeping, semi-arid high plains of eastern Washington's vast Columbia River plateau. Thompson details how the region's formidable environmental constraints—specifically the profound lack of surface water across the channeled scablands, the relentless winds, and the massive, impassable basalt gorges carved by the great curve of the Columbia River itself—strictly dictated the margins of early dryland farming and human survival. By mapping the immense physical labor required to carve expansive wheat farms from this unforgiving inland expanse, the narrative highlights the profound geographic isolation of these remote homesteads. The utter lack of natural precipitation and the immense physical distance from navigable waterways or early railheads initially forced these isolated pioneer communities into a fragile existence of extreme self-sufficiency, completely anchoring their survival to the unpredictable climate and the arduous overland transport of harvests across the rugged, deeply coulee-scarred terrain. Ultimately, this historical record serves as a deeply localized spatial history, demonstrating how the severe climatic extremes and vast, isolated topography of this inland Pacific Northwest frontier fundamentally shaped the fiercely resilient, agrarian character of the Big Bend communities.

volumes : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 28 cm

In 2012 author, blogger and long-distance bicyclist Don Weinell undertook a quest to retrace the 2100 miles of the Oregon Trail - on bicycle. Bicycling the Oregon Trail describes, in both word and picture, the history, landscape, landmarks, and people that Weinell encountered along the way. Bicycling the Oregon Trail includes GPS coordinates for important landmarks and maps showing the route Weinell took as he made his way from Missouri to Oregon on bicycle. --Amazon

212 pages : color illustrations, color maps ; 23 cm

Published in 1893 by the Bureau of American Ethnology, James Constantine Pilling’s Bibliography of the Chinookan Languages (Including the Chinook Jargon) provides an exhaustive catalog of early linguistic materials from the Pacific Northwest. The reference volume systematically documents books, articles, and unpublished manuscripts that captured the vocabulary and syntax of these complex regional dialects and their associated trade pidgin. A keen insight drawn from the work is how Pilling's meticulous inclusion of biographical details about the various authors transforms the book from a simple index into a vital historical record of the early missionaries, traders, and anthropologists who first interacted with the region's tribes. Ultimately, this comprehensive bibliography laid the essential academic foundation for all subsequent modern scholarship and dictionary compilation regarding the Chinookan language family.

xiii, 81 pages : facsimiles ; 23 cm

More than a century after their founding in 1905, the Industrial Workers of the World--or Wobblies as they are commonly known--remain a popular subject for study and discussion among students of labor history and social justice. They are often portrayed as lovable underdogs, with their songs and cartoons, generally irreverent attitude, and stalwart courage in the face of systemic persecution from vigilantes, law enforcement, and government officials. In Beyond the Rebel Girl, historian Heather Mayer questions the well-worn vision of Wobblies as young, single, male, itinerant workers. While such workers formed a large portion of the membership, they weren't the whole picture. In small towns across the Northwest, and in the larger cities of Seattle, Portland, and Spokane, women played an integral role in Wobbly life. Single women, but also families--husband and wife Wobbly teams--played important roles in some of the biggest fights for justice. IWW halls in these Northwest cities often functioned as community centers, with family-friendly events and entertainment. Women were drawn to the IWW for its radical vision, inclusionary policies, birth control advocacy, and emphasis on freedom of choice in marriage. The IWW also offered women an avenue for activism that wasn't focused primarily on the fight for suffrage. Beyond the Rebel Girl deepens our understanding of how the WWI functioned and how the union supported women in their fight for birth control, sexual emancipation, and better labor conditions, all while facing persecution at the local, state, and federal levels

204 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

A classic story of a young man's coming of age, set in Eugene and the Willamette Valley in the early part of this century. Sophus K. Winther (1893-1983) was a Danish-American novelist and professor of English at the University of Washington.

x, 289 s

"The essays in Beyond the City Limits, all published here for the first time, challenge traditional readings of BC history. In this wide-ranging collection, R. W. Sandwell draws together a distinguished group of contributors who bring expertise, methodologies, and theoretical perspectives taken from social and political history, environmental studies, cultural geography, and anthropology. They discuss such diverse topics as Aboriginal-White settler relations on Vancouver Island, pimping and violence in northern BC, and the triumph of the codling moth over Okanagan orchardists, to show that a narrow emphasis on resource extraction, capitalist labour relations, and urban society is simply not broad enough to adequately describe those who populated the province's history." --Book Jacket

viii, 293 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Beyond Garibaldi examines the isolated pioneer agricultural settlements and remote gold rush supply corridors situated across the precipitous, mountainous interior north of British Columbia's Howe Sound. Ronayne and Keddell detail how the region's formidable alpine macro-geography—specifically the towering, glaciated volcanic barrier of Mount Garibaldi, the dense, impassable chasms of the Coast Mountains, and the narrow, fertile alluvial bottomlands of the Pemberton Valley—strictly dictated the margins of early homesteading, precarious overland transit, and localized high-valley farming. By mapping the arduous establishment of scattered frontier farms and mining enclaves that carved a highly resilient existence out of the alpine wilderness stretching from Britannia Beach to Lillooet, relying entirely on treacherous mountain passes to navigate the severely restricted inland basin, the narrative highlights how this specific mountainous geography anchored a profoundly rugged, valley-bound pioneer society. Ultimately, this historical record serves as a localized spatial history, demonstrating how the immense alpine barricades, severe winter isolation, and vital riparian flatlands of this Pacific Northwest interior fundamentally shaped the highly self-reliant, geographically constrained character of the early Pemberton and Lillooet corridors.

167 pages illustrations 22 cm.

"In the intertidal zone-the space between low and high tide-a rich and complex ecosystem thrives. It's an easily overlooked space, but the porcelain crabs, ochre stars, and other curious species that call this place home provide a window into the hidden workings of the natural world. Drawing on the authority of two leading scientists and the storytelling power of a science writer, this guidebook to the coasts of Washington and Oregon offers general readers a highly-accessible overview of the rich and surprising ways that water and land interact to create seashore ecologies. The authors systematically take readers along the coast, highlighting what makes each location fascinating and unique. (For example, pointing out where to find bioluminescent dinoflagellates, the single-celled algae that light up and trace any disturbance in the shallow water.) At the heart of this richly-illustrated book is a desire to help readers understand the scientific forces that shape the plants, animals, and landscapes at each location; it's the essential guidebook to keep in the car for the reader who wants to know why."-- Provided by publisher

253 pages : color illustrations, color maps ; 22 cm

Oregon Coast is your personal, portable guide to one of the region's favorite vacation destinations. From whale-watching and beachcombing to fresh oysters and beer, you'll find the best the coast has to offer. Expert opinions, inside information, and honest advice - from the most respected travel series in the Northwest.

xiii, 133 pages : map ; 22 cm

"Bernard Daly escaped the Irish Famine and with his family emigrated to America, where he became the town doctor in Lakeview, Oregon, and then a state legislator, Oregon Agricultural College regent, county judge, rancher, and banker. When he died in 1920, his estate, valued at about a million dollars, established a college scholarship for the youth of Lake County. Daly's scholarship fund would ensure that most of the youth of tiny, remote Lake County could attend college. Drawing on more than a hundred personal interviews, an extensive web-based survey, and archival materials, this book tells the story of Daly's life, the scholarship fund, and its impact on the recipients, who went on to remarkable careers and lives. At a time when almost no one went to college, Daly created a "college for all" possibility in a remote corner of America. The impact of the Daly Fund, one of America's oldest continuously operating place-based scholarship, offers unique insights into the benefits of higher education and how it might best be supported - questions that we are struggling with today"-- Provided by publisher

xii, 149 pages : illustrations, portraits, 23 cm

"In Beneath the Coal Dust, author Wayne Norton digs deep, exploring the fascinating and sometimes sobering stories of the mining communities in the Elk Valley and the Crowsnest Pass. In this new collection, Norton chooses mainly a micro view, focusing on the stories that are specific to this isolated and unique geographic region. These tales span from the notorious red-light district of Fernie to women's ice hockey in the 1920s, to the civic financial crisis caused by the Home Bank collapse, the regional history of breweries and prohibition, and the experiences and amazing fortitude of both Chinese and Syrian immigrants in what was a predominantly white settler town. This is a book about the local past, intended for those interested not necessarily in the broad sweep of national history, but rather in the smaller stories that are specific to this remote and historically rich area. And instead of dealing with the core regional narrative surrounding the coal industry, these explorations reveal some of what has been neglected and hidden "beneath the coal dust," as the title suggests."-- Provided by publisher

207 pages : illustrations (some colour), map ; 23 cm

Beneath Puget Sound a guide to northwest diving examines the submerged marine landscapes and complex aquatic ecosystems situated within the deep, glacially carved fjords of Washington's inland sea. Ward details how the region's formidable underwater topography—specifically the steep, rocky drop-offs, the dense canopies of bull kelp, and the deep, light-starved basins scoured by violent tidal exchanges—strictly dictates the margins of both marine habitation and subaquatic human exploration. By mapping the intricate navigational pathways through these cold-water channels and submerged artificial reefs, the narrative highlights how the specific bathymetry of the Sound anchors the specialized, deeply localized diving culture of the region. Ultimately, this recreational guide serves as a submarine spatial history, demonstrating how the extreme tidal forces, complex glacial bathymetry, and rich ecological density of this Pacific Northwest marine frontier fundamentally shape the immersive, terrain-dependent character of Puget Sound diving.

107 pages illustrations

xiv, 144 pages, 1 unnumbered leaf of plates : illustrations ; 23 cm

The consummate authority on the history of Bellevue, McDonald's book chronicles the struggles of its early settlers, mid-century small-town suburbanites and the establishment of the state's leading edge-city of the 20th century. It is a homey folksy narrative laced with abundant names, anecdotes and pictures that provide a charming read and an excellent historic educational tool. Includes references and index.

[6], 151, [1] pages : illustrations, facsimile, maps, portraits ; 26 cm

Published in 1928 by Franz Boas, the foundational architect of modern American anthropology, Bella Bella Texts is a dense, bilingual ethnographic repository preserving the oral literature of the Heiltsuk (historically referred to by colonists as the Bella Bella) people of the central coast of British Columbia. Relying on Indigenous informants, Boas systematically transcribed creation histories, family crest narratives, and shamanistic lore into rigorous phonetic notation alongside literal English translations. The volume reflects Boas’s massive, career-long mandate of "salvage anthropology"—a scientifically urgent rush to document the complex Indigenous societies of the Pacific Northwest Coast before their anticipated erasure under the intense pressures of Canadian assimilation policies, residential schools, and the strict federal prohibition of the potlatch.

A keen insight drawn from the work is how the supposedly objective methodology of anthropological transcription actively divorced Indigenous oral traditions from their inherent legal and territorial authority. In Heiltsuk society, these narratives were not mere "folklore" or public entertainment; they were highly guarded intellectual property that codified family lineages, governed resource rights, and asserted territorial sovereignty. By extracting these sacred histories, stripping them of their performative and ceremonial contexts, and flattening them into standardized, bilingual data points for Western academic consumption, Boas’s project subtly disarmed them. The text inadvertently functioned as a mechanism of colonial containment, transforming active, legally binding Indigenous constitutional frameworks into static, depoliticized scientific specimens housed safely within the American academic archive.

ix, 291 ; 24 cm