The story behind the construction of the Oregon scenic highway and the men who made it happen.When nine-hundred-foot ice age floods carved the Columbia River Gorge through the Cascade Mountains to the sea, little space was left for man to form a highway of his own. It took an artist-poet-engineer extraordinaire to conquer this reluctant piece of real estate and produce the nation's first scenic highway. Meet Sam Hill, the mover and shaker, and Samuel Lancaster, the ...

Buckle up for the next installment in our 'Epic' series and the follow-up to Epic Bike Rides of the World. Epic Drives of the World, abeautiful hardback, showcases 50 of the greatest road trips on Earth, from classic routes in America, Australia and Europe, to incredible adventures in Asia and Africa.Organised by continent, each route features a first-hand account, awe-inspiring photographs, illustrated maps and practical advice o...

Post-World War II Oregon was a place of optimism and growth, a spectacular natural region from ocean to high desert that seemingly provided opportunity in abundance. With the passing of time, however, Oregon’s citizens — rural and urban — would find themselves entangled in issues that they had little experience in resolving. The same trees that provided income to timber corporations, small mill owners, loggers, and many small towns in Oregon, also provided a dramatic landscape and a home t...

Fjord-like Hood Canal channels beneath the snowcapped Olympic National Park, creating a summer paradise of warm days and inspiring scenery as well as a haven for marine life and watercraft. For eons, Twana Indians crisscrossed in canoes that sliced through water like salmon. The canal�s first tourist, Captain Vancouver, sailed a launch down the scenic route in 1792. For the next century, a mosquito fleet of tugboats, stern-wheelers, fishing boats, and barges ferried the men who came for lo...

John Butterfield's mail service connected the East and West Coasts in one of the great entrepreneurial and pioneering stories of the American West. Until 1858, California's gold fields were reached only by horseback, wagon or ship around Cape Horn. Congress decided a 2,800-mile, twenty-five-day stagecoach line would roll from St. Louis to San Francisco. Former Utica, New York mayor Butterfield hired one thousand men and bought 1,200 horses, 600 mules and 250 wagons. Surveying the wildernes...

Montgomery's cultural heritage reflects two of America's most transformative struggles: the Civil War and the civil rights movement. On February 18, 1861, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as president of the Confederate States of America on the Alabama Capitol steps. Those same steps marked the final destination of the Selma-Montgomery voting rights march on March 25, 1965. The telegram to fire on Fort Sumter originated from the Winter Building on Court Square on April 11, 1861. Just down t...

Named for the famous Spanish explorer who was said to have discovered the Fountain of Youth, Atlanta's Ponce de Leon Avenue began as a simple country road that conveyed visitors to the famous healing springs. Now, few motorists realize that the avenue, one of Atlanta's major commuter thoroughfares, was a prestigious residential street in Victorian Atlanta, home to mayors and millionaires. An economic turn in the twentieth century transformed the avenue into a crime-ridden commercial corrid...

The 50th anniversary edition of this classic work on the art of Northwest Coast Indians now offers color illustrations for a new generation of readers along with reflections from contemporary Northwest Coast artists about the impact of this book.The masterworks of Northwest Coast Native artists are admired today as among the great achievements of the world’s artists. The painted and carved wooden screens, chests and boxes, rattles, crest hats, and other artworks display the complex...

Morocco- It simmers with exotic sounds, smells, flavors and spices. From its souks (markets) to the medinas (ancient walled cities) to the kasbahs (fortified villages/citadels) to the riads (homes built around a courtyard) and to its unique cuisine. The majesty of the snow- capped High Atlas Mountains; the Palmeraie- acre upon acre of stately date palms; and the pristine, virgin, undulating sands of the Sahara. Journey with me to this exotic land, where ancient medieval sights and traditio...

From the earliest days of settlement, South Temple was Salt Lake's most prestigious street. In 1857, William Staines built the Devereaux House, Salt Lake's first of many mansions. The once-bustling Union Pacific Depot eventually found itself increasingly isolated. Downtown's "gleaming copper landmark" overcame numerous hurdles before its construction was finally finished, and the Steiner American Building helped usher in acceptance of Modernist architecture. Evolving to reflect its continu...

When Allen C. Mason launched his Point Defiance line in the early 1890s, the Proctor area became one of Tacoma�s first streetcar suburbs. Before this time, Tacoma�s North End was a remote, unsettled region populated only by those visiting the city�s horseracing track. After Mason established a streetcar stop at the intersection of North Twenty-sixth and Proctor Streets�near the racetrack�businesses began to line the thoroughfare. By 1900, houses had been constructed within walking distance...

Like many western boomtowns at the turn of the twentieth century, Spokane, Washington, enjoyed a lively theatrical scene, ranging from plays, concerts, and operas to salacious variety and vaudeville shows. Yet even as Spokanites took pride in their city’s reputation as a “good show town,” the more genteel among them worried about its “Wild West” atmosphere. In Show Town, historian Holly George correlates the clash of tastes and sensibilities among Spokane’s theater patrons with a ...