Located at the confluence of three creeks, amid the rich agricultural soil of Eastern Washington�s Palouse region, Pullman seemed destined to flourish. From its founding in the 1880s, growth was spurred by the discovery of artesian wells, its selection as the location of the State Agricultural College, and the building of rail lines through the town. Pullman, named for railroad car manufacturer George Pullman, became a thriving center of commerce, agriculture, and education. Today Pullman ...

Equal parts biography, natural history, and travelogue, Jack Nisbet tells the story of David Douglas, the 19th century Scottish naturalist and botanical explorer—perfect for amateur naturalists and armchair historians of the Pacific NorthwestThe Collector tracks Douglas's fascinating history, from his humble birth in Scotland in 1799 to his botanical training under the famed William Jackson Hooker, and details his adventures in North America discovering exotic new ...

The City of Roses, as natives of Portland, Oregon like to call it, has a long and honorable history of crime and corruption, starting as far back as the post-Civil War frontier days, leading into the mobster-infused decades of the twentieth century when prohibition, prostitution, gambling, and hard drugs besieged the town.The so-called Great Portland Vice Scandal of 1956-57 spilled into national politics, with hearings before the Senate Rackets Committee. When the '70s rolled aroun...

During the 1930s in the United States, the Works Progress Administration developed the Federal Writers’ Project to support writers and artists while making a national effort to document the country’s shared history and culture. The American Guide series consists of individual guides to each of the states. Little-known authors-many of whom would later become celebrated literary figures-were commissioned to write these important books. John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ral...

Discover the rich, turbulent history of Seattle from the 1780s to the 1860s through the story of the Native American war leader who strove to create a peaceful blended community.When the British, Spanish, and then Americans arrived in the Pacific Northwest, it may have appeared to them as an untamed wilderness. In fact, it was a fully settled and populated land. Chief Seattle was a powerful representative from this very ancient world.Here, historian David B...

As the World enters the 20th century, a young boy and his widowed family survive...and thrive...in the primitive wilds of the Oregon Coast. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, always enlightening, this is how our ancestors once lived. A vivid personal account, enriched by detailed ink sketches and photos by the author.Republished and distributed by Nancy Maddux Thornton, his daughter.

Historian Dale L. Walker chronicles the early days of the American Pacific Northwest in two engrossing accounts, now available in one volume: Pacific Destiny and Bear Flag Rising.Pacific Destiny: The Three-Century Journey to the Oregon CountryPacific Destiny chronicles the discovery, exploration, and settlement of America's Pacific Northwest. It is a story of cut-throat competition for control in an expanding Ameri...

Walking Washington’s History: Ten Cities, a follow-up to Judy Bentley’s bestselling Hiking Washington’s History, showcases the state’s engaging urban history through guided walks in ten major cities. Using narrated walks, maps, and historic photographs, Bentley reveals each city’s aspirations.She begins in Vancouver, established as a fur trade emporium on a plain above the Columbia River, and ends with Bellevue, a bedroom community turned edge city. In between, re...

McChord Field, tucked away in the Pacific Northwest, maintains an understated presence. Yet this subdued outpost plays a vital role in major conflicts around the world. On July 3, 1940, McChord officially opened as a training base, developing bomber crews for aircraft such as B-17s, B-18s, B-25s, B26s, and even some of the Doolittle Raiders. Strategically located, McChord functioned as an aircraft modification center, producing P-39s, the Soviet Union�s most venerable aircraft, as well as ...

Take a paranormal tour of this Pacific Northwest town . . . photos included!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 me...

Located midway between Yakima to the northwest and the Tri-Cities of Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland to the east, Grandview is central to the Northwest�s large urban centers of Seattle, Portland, and Spokane. The townsite was chosen in 1905 as the final stop on the Sunnyside branch of the local rail line. Early farmers were met with blowing sand and jackrabbits, but with the addition of irrigation, lush fruit orchards and champion corn soon replaced native sagebrush. In 1910, one year after...

Over the past 150 years, people have flocked to the Pacific Northwest in increasing numbers, in part due to the region’s beauty and one of its most exceptional features: volcanoes. This segment of the Pacific Ring of Fire has shaped not only the physical landscape of the region but also the psychological landscape, and with it the narratives we compose about ourselves. Exceptional Mountains is a cultural history of the Northwest volcanoes and the environmental impact of outdoor re...