Lewis County County

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

A history of the area from about 14,000 years ago through the present day. The book also presents a chronicle of the early farm community Alpha Prairie, Washington. Many black and white illustrations and some maps. Also includes an events timeline, endnotes, bibliography and an index.

xxiv, 480 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

An excellent and comprehensive historical account of Lewis County history, from the first tribes to the closing of the Trans Alta coal mine in 2006. Wonderful historical photographs and fantastic research. A true Lewis County treasure.

204 pages : illustrations, maps ; 29 cm

Authored by LaVonne M. Sparkman, From Homestead to Lakebed: Kosmos—The Town that Drowned chronicles the rise and deliberate inundation of Kosmos, a small logging and milling community in Washington State that was wiped off the map to make way for the Mayfield Dam. The book utilizes historical records, photographs, and accounts from former residents to trace how a thriving early-twentieth-century industrial settlement was systematically dismantled, evacuated, and submerged beneath the Cowlitz River. Through these local archives, the text preserves the poignant human cost of hydroelectric progress on rural Pacific Northwest ecosystems and neighborhoods. A keen insight drawn from the work is how corporate and state infrastructure projects treat localized working-class history as entirely disposable collateral; by documenting how a self-sustaining town was erased by utility planning, the narrative underscores how modern energy demands have repeatedly required the literal burial of regional heritage.

viii, 242 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 28 cm

On November 11, 1919, the citizens of Centralia, Washington, gathered to watch former servicemen, local Boy Scouts, and other community groups march in the Armistice Day parade. When the marchers swung past the meeting hall of the Industrial Workers of the World, a group of veterans broke ranks, charged the hall, and were met by gunshots. Before the day was over, four of the marchers were dead and one of the Wobblies had been lynched by the mob. Through a wealth of newly available primary source material including previously sealed court documents, FBI records released under the Freedom of Information Act, and interviews with surviving witnesses, Tom Copeland has pieced together the events of that day and has traced the fate of the men who were accused and convicted of murdering the marchers. Copeland focuses on Elmer Smith, the local attorney who advised the Wobblies that they had the right to defend their hall against an anticipated attack. Although he never belonged to the I.W.W., Smith sympathized with their interests, championing the rights of working people and speaking on their behalf. He was originally arrested with the Wobblies and then took up their cause in the courts, beginning a life-long struggle to free the men who were charged with murdering the Centralia marchers. The fight lasted for fourteen years, during which Smith endured insults, threats, arrest, disbarment, and reinstatement. Copeland recounts Smith's run for political office, his speeches throughout the Northwest, and his unyielding support for the workers' cause. In 1932 he died at the age of forty-four. The book is a balanced treatment of the Centralia tragedy and its legal repercussions written by a practicing lawyer. It is also a compelling human drama, centering on the marginal life of an industrial frontier labor lawyer; a study of radical politics of the 1920s; and a depiction of conditions of life in the lumber camps and towns. It is thus biography as well as legal, political, and social history

xv, 233 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm

Postmarked Washington: Lewis and Cowlitz Counties meticulously traces the history of early postal routes and isolated settlements scattered across the heavily timbered river valleys and rugged Cascade foothills of southwestern Washington. Ramsey details how the turbulent, flood-prone watersheds of the Cowlitz and Chehalis rivers dictated the precise placement of pioneer homesteads and remote logging camps, forcing early communication networks to navigate dense old-growth forests and steep ravines. The narrative highlights the profound physical isolation of these early communities, many of which were wedged between the imposing volcanic slopes of Mount St. Helens to the south and Mount Rainier to the north, relying entirely on treacherous overland trails or seasonal river transport. Ultimately, by tracking the rise and subsequent abandonment of dozens of remote post offices, the book provides a deeply localized spatial history of how this formidable inland topography both fostered and eventually erased these fleeting Pacific Northwest outposts.

x, 240 pages : illustrations maps, portraits ; 23 cm

Centralia, the first fifty years, 1845-1900 examines the steady civic expansion and critical overland transit development situated within the broad, fertile prairies and river corridors of the Chehalis River valley in southwestern Washington. Smith and the students of Centralia High School detail how the region's distinct topography—specifically its natural prairie clearings amidst dense lowland forests and its vital position at the confluence of the Chehalis and Skookumchuck rivers—strictly dictated the margins of early pioneer settlement and later rail expansion. By mapping the evolution of this natural terrestrial crossroads into a crucial railway hub connecting the Columbia River to Puget Sound, the narrative highlights how the specific valley geography anchored the town's enduring commercial role. Ultimately, this civic and educational record serves as a localized spatial history, demonstrating how the expansive valley terrain and strategic midpoint geography of this Pacific Northwest landscape fundamentally shaped the highly connected, transit-dependent character of early Centralia.

xvi, 368 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 22 cm