Name: An Environmental History of the Willamette Valley
Brand: Elizabeth Orr
SKU: 9781467141468
Price: 24.99 USD
Availability: InStock

An Environmental History of the Willamette Valley

9781467141468

$24.99

Western Oregon's Willamette Basin, once a vast wilderness, became a thriving community almost overnight. When Oregon territory was opened for homesteading in the early 1800s, most of the intrepid pioneers settled in the valley, spurring rapid changes in the landscape. Heralded as fertile with a mild climate and an abundance of natural resources, the valley enticed farmers, miners and loggers, who were quickly followed by the construction of rail lines and roads. Dams were built to harness the once free-flowing Willamette River and provide power to the growing population. As cities rose, people like Portland architect Edward Bennett and conservationist governor Tom McCall worked to contain urban sprawl. Authors Elizabeth and William Orr bring to life the changes that sculpted Oregon's beloved Willamette Valley.

An Environmental History of the Willamette Valley

Tacoma Curiosities

9781467135535

$21.99

When the Northern Pacific Railroad laid its final tracks within the fledgling hamlet of Tacoma, it brought opportunity and wild characters by the car full. Seemingly overnight, the quiet Puget Sound village transformed into a booming metropolis and eccentric playground with its fair share of growing pains. On one unlucky evening, residents awoke to the cries of a man who fell into the sewers after a road collapsed. Tacoma's first school avoided demolition for a time thanks to a band of enterprising tramps who converted the place of learning into Hotel de Gink, complete with unique minstrel show. Local author and guide Karla Stover explores these and many more stories of the quixotic and curious history of the City of Destiny.

Haunted Snohomish

9781467136976

$21.99

Historic Snohomish has enough ghostly tales for a town twice its size. A policeman named Henry, who died on the floor of the Oxford Tavern, haunts the popular watering hole alongside nearly twenty other impish spirits. Incarcerated for everything from public drunkenness to coldblooded murder, former inmates still crowd the cells of the old county jail on First Street, banging against the metal confines. Locals attribute the faint lilt of a fiddle heard near the railroad tracks to the spirit of the sad, sullen man who committed suicide on the nearby bluff. Author Deborah Cuyle reveals the chilling history, strange stories and wandering souls that refuse to leave their lovely town.

Jailhouse Stories from Early Pacific County

9781467135290

$24.99

Hangings, lynchings and jail breaks are long forgotten in Pacific County, where tourists flock to quaint attractions every season. But back in the early days, when the first jailhouse was built, this was a rough, rustic setting. Popular cannery worker Lum You was hanged here in 1902--the only legal execution in county history. Industrious smugglers and creative entrepreneurs outwitted state-sanctioned prohibition measures, though some still did time in the jailhouse. Historian Sydney Stevens presents a collection of tales culled from a forgotten prison record book. Opium fiends, thieves, military deserters and even wayward girls jailed for incorrigible acts are brought out of the shadows of a wilderness long gone.

Jailhouse Stories from Early Pacific County

Portland's Lost Waterfront

9781609495954

$21.99

Today, Portland, Oregon, is a city of majestic bridges crisscrossing the deep swath of the Willamette River. A century ago, riverboat pilots would have witnessed a flurry of stevedores and longshoremen hurrying along the wharves. Situated as the terminus of sea lanes and railroads, with easy access to the wheat fields, sawmills and dairies of the Willamette Valley, Portland quickly became a rich and powerful seaport. As the city changed, so too did the role of the sailor--once bartered by shanghai masters, later elevated to well-paid and respected mariner. Drawing on primary source material, previously unpublished photographs and thirty-three years of waterfront work, local author Barney Blalock recalls the city's vanished waterfront in these tales of sea dogs, salty days and the river's tides.

Murder & Mayhem in Seattle

9781467136600

$21.99

Seattle harbors a dark and violent history that stretches back to a bloody battle between natives and settlers in 1856. In the early 1900s, Dr. Linda Hazzard stole money from countless patients after starving them to death in her infamous sanitarium. Three robbers opened fire in the notorious Wah Mee gambling club in 1983, killing thirteen people in the state's deadliest mass homicide. Some of America's most notorious serial killers wrought terror in Seattle, including the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway. Ted Bundy's murder spree started in King County before reaching national attention in the 1970s. Local author Teresa Nordheim exposes these and many more gruesome events that scarred the city.

Tacoma Illustrated

9780738594880

$21.99

The work herewith presented needs little introduction to the citizens of Tacoma, but to the public at large, whose hands it is destined to reach, some explanation may not be out of place. The object of the publication is the embodiment, in concise and correct form, of the rise and progress of a city whose growth in population, trade, manufactures, and whose surrounding resources are almost without parallel. The resources of the State of Washington are first given a space in our columns; then a cursory history of Tacoma and her important interests, followed by full descriptions of these interests, and concluding with histories of her leading business houses. The familiar features of some of our prominent and enterprising citizens will also be recognized in its pages; many others are equally deserving a place in our limited gallery, but further space could not be afforded.

Seattle Prohibition

9781467140201

$21.99

Prohibition consumed Seattle, igniting a war that lasted nearly twenty years and played out in the streets, waterways and even town hall. Roy Olmstead, formerly a Seattle police officer, became the King of the Seattle Bootleggers, and Johnny Schnarr, running liquor down from Canada, revolutionized the speedboat industry. Frank Gatt, a south Seattle restaurateur, started the state’s biggest moonshining operation. Skirting around the law, the Coast Guard and the zealous assistant director of the Seattle Prohibition Bureau, William Whitney, was no simple feat, but many rose to the challenge. Author Brad Holden tells the spectacular story of Seattle in the time of Prohibition.

Washington Beer

9781467119085

$24.99

Brewing history touches every corner of Washington. When it was a territory, homesteader operations like Colville Brewery helped establish towns. In 1865, Joseph Meeker planted the state's first hops in Steilacoom. Within a few years, that modest crop became a five-hundred-acre empire, and Washington led the nation in hops production by the turn of the century. Enterprising pioneers like Emil Sick and City Brewery's Catherine Stahl galvanized early Pacific Northwest brewing. In 1982, Bert Grant's Yakima Brewing and Malting Company opened the first brewpub in the country since Prohibition. Soon, Seattle's Independent Ale Brewing Company led a statewide craft tap takeover, and today, nearly three hundred breweries and brewpubs call the Evergreen State home. Author Michael F. Rizzo unveils the epic story of brewing in Washington.

The Everett Massacre

9780738594583

$21.99

Sunday, November 5, 1916 marked the bloodiest battle in Pacific Northwest labor history. On that day, about 300 members of the Industrial Workers of the World (the I.W.W.) boarded the steamers Verona and Calista from Seattle and headed north toward Port Gardner Bay. The I.W.W. (or Wobblies) planned a public demonstration in Everett that afternoon, to be held on the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore, a spot commonly used by street speakers. Hoping to gain converts to their dream of One Big Union, the Wobblies began street speaking in Everett during a local shingle weavers' strike, encountering brutal suppression by local law officers. Free speech soon became the dominant issue. The number of demonstrators and the violence of the response from law enforcement grew as the weeks wore on. On November 5th, word reached Everett that a group of armed anarchists was coming to burn their town. 200 citizen deputies, under the authority of Snohomish County Sheriff Donald McRae, met to repel the invaders. The Verona arrived first, pulling in alongside the dock. McRae asked "Who is your leader?" When he was told "We are all leaders!", he informed passengers they could not land. A single shot was fired, followed by minutes of chaotic shooting. Whether the first shot came from boat or dock was never determined. Passengers aboard the Verona rushed to the opposite side of the ship, nearly capsizing the vessel. Bullets pierced the pilot house, and the Verona's captain struggled to back it out of port. The Calista returned to Seattle, without trying to land.

Tacoma New Herald Annual

9780738594897

$21.99

"Dear Sir--I have found the place that can become the Greatest City of the World. Hold on there! Laugh if you will after you have read this. The biggest folly is to fool yourself. The best authorities agree that as to climatic conditions, life-supporting soil and wealth-producing lands and waters, the Pacific Ocean and lands on each shore half way across the Continent to the Atlantic are more than twice as great and good as those in, and on, the Atlantic half-way across to the Pacific. . . . No part of America is more blessed by grand watersheds than the North Pacific Coast, and no city gets greater benefit from them than Tacoma. This State of Washington, with the beauty of Switzerland and the fertility of ancient Egypt, with its vast and varied resources, with its rich irrigable eastern half and its western half enjoying a semi-tropical climate, owing to the Japan current, will, when the world's population becomes adjusted, support twenty times its present population in comfort; and, if it had thirty times its present population, it would be more self-sustaining than the original thirteen American States are now. This will be conceded when the life-supporting resources of, and external items that contribute to, the respective districts are weighed and balanced. . . ." Donald Fletcher, Nov. 1, 1906

The Murder of JoAnn Dewey in Vancouver, Washington

9781467138857

$23.99

Before midnight on March 19, 1950, several startled bystanders watched two men force a screaming young woman into a car and drive away from Saint Joseph's Hospital in Vancouver. One of them yelled out that she was his wife and was drunk. That was the last time anyone saw JoAnn Dewey alive. Her battered, naked body washed up on the banks of the Wind River seven days later. Suspicion quickly fell on two brothers, Turman and Utah Wilson, who fled town before police caught them in Sacramento. Their arrest and sensational trial captivated and divided the peaceful community. Author Pat Jollota uncovers the chilling details of this tragic story.

The Murder of JoAnn Dewey in Vancouver, Washington

Lake Oswego Vignettes

9781609495534

$21.99

With tales of a mayor who knew the town's cows by name and a singing pig drunk on moonshine, Marylou Colver captures the quirky anecdotes of Lake Oswego's past. In the twentieth century, visionary real estate developers touted Oregon's Lake Oswego as an ideal place to "live where you play," a reputation the city maintains today. But this playful paradise is a far cry from the small town developed by iron company entrepreneurs in the nineteenth century. Colver, founder of the Lake Oswego Preservation Society, chronicles the transition from gritty to pretty by recounting the people and events that shaped Lake Oswego. From bathing suit bans to a robot circus, enjoy the legacy of unusual facts, some recently discovered, that inspired Lake Oswego Vignettes.

Portland Beer Stories:

9781626198999

$21.99

Portlanders have got it made. Not only is the city filled with nearly countless breweries, brewpubs, bottle shops and homebrew supply venues, but also the people who created the community are nothing short of fascinating. Saddle up to the bar and get to know the stories of the men and women brewing some of the country's most exciting beer and cider, from the origin of Ecliptic Brewing to a personal account of a beer truck driver. When you are looking for an adventure outside the city limits, try out one of the seven beer road trips to other Northwest towns (with a designated driver, of course). Join author Steven Shomler for a hop through Brewvana.

Portland in the 1960s

9781609494711

$21.99

In 1968, Newsweek reported an imminent threat of twenty thousand hippies descending on Portland, Oregon. Although the numbers were exaggerated, Portland did boast a vibrant 1960s culture of disenchanted and disenfranchised individuals seeking social and political revolution. Barefoot and bell-bottomed, they hung out in Portland's bohemian underground and devised a better world. What began in coffee shop conversations found its voice in the Willamette Bridge newspaper, KBOO radio station and the Portland State University student strike, resulting in social, artistic and political change in the Rose City. Through these stories from the counterculture, author Polina Olsen brings to life the beat-snapping Caffe Espresso, the incense and black light posters of the Psychedelic Supermarket and the spontaneous concerts and communal soups in Lair Park.

Hidden History of Tacoma

9781609494704

$21.99

The City of Destiny took shape where rails met sails on the shores of Commencement Bay. When Tacoma was chosen as the Northern Pacific Railroad's terminus, the city rose from the mudflats and took the lead as the Northwest's destination for opportunity. In this collection, discover the city's early notables and uncover the stories behind the historic landmarks. Why did city planners abandon Olmsted's vision? How many war bonds did Lana Turner's kisses buy? Why were vegetarians warned, "Don't drink the water"? Who is the tiny figure with coal black hair and bound feet who haunts Old Tacoma? Local author and guide Karla Stover answers these questions and more as she spins stories from the tomes of Tacoma's past.

Hidden History of Portland, Oregon

9781626191983

$21.99

In this engaging narrative, author JD Chandler crafts a people's history of Portland, Oregon, sharing the lesser-known stories of individuals who stood against the tide and fought for liberty and representation: C.E.S. Wood, who documented the conflict between Native Americans and the United States Army; Beatrice Morrow Cannady, founding member of the Portland NAACP and first African American woman to practice law in Oregon; women's rights advocate Dr. Marie Equi, who performed abortions and was an open lesbian; and student athlete Jack Yoshihara, who, in the wake of Pearl Harbor, was barred from participating in the 1942 Rose Bowl. From scandal and oppression to injustice and the brink of revolution, join Chandler as he gives voice to the Rose City's quiet radicals and outspoken activists.

Seattle and the Orient

9780738594835

$21.99

By way of introduction the writer desires to state that Seattle and the Orient is published to act as an opening wedge into a country up to this time very little known to people residing upon Puget Sound. It is for the purpose of introducing ourselves to the people doing business in Siberia, China, Japan, the China Archipelago, the Philippines and Hawaii, and to eventually open a way by which closer trade relations may be promoted, that this book has been published. The subjects treated are in no instance overdrawn, but are secured by direct contact with the people interested, and are plain matter of fact statements of affairs as they exist in Seattle and in Western Washington. The illustrations shown are the best procurable, and will afford the reader a fair idea of what can be found in the metropolis of America's great Mediterranean. Such a showing as the following pages make cannot help but impress even the most casual observer that Seattle has a future before it of very great magnitude. Unquestionably it is destined to become the largest city upon the Pacific Coast. It has every material advantage to make it so; it has almost every imaginable resource upon which to draw for support; it is the center of one of the greatest lumbering sections in the world; it 'has inexhaustible coal mines; it is the central point from which the gold fields of Alaska and the British Northwest Territory are reached; it is practically the center of all the mineral wealth of the Northwest; and it is moreover the natural geographical entrepot for the great Oriental markets, a fact which in time will make it the greatest shipping port in the United States. An attempt has been made to enumerate its varied resources in succeeding pages, and a story has been told which will prove both interesting and instructive. It has been the aim of the writer to take up the industrial side of Seattle and portray a condition as near the actual as possible.

Exploring Camano Island

9781626193642

$21.99

The beaches, forests and wildlife of Washington's Camano Island offer a treasure-trove of natural beauty and endless recreational possibilities. English Boom Historical Park was once a bustling center for logging and is now a peaceful spot with its uplands, salt marsh, shoreline and tidelands. Davis Slough is named after Reuben Davis, who lived on Camano Island before 1880 and was the oldest settler in the area. The island has historically been used by Native Americans, loggers, farmers and fishermen alike but today is enjoyed by Camano Islanders, who have worked hard to protect and preserve the island's cherished nature sites. Discover Camano Island with author Val Schroeder as she takes readers on a trek around the location's best-preserved features while uncovering the unique history behind them.