Great River Of The West

In the Pacific Northwest, the river of dominance is the Columbia, and in ways both profound and mundane its history is the history of the region. In Great River of the West historians and anthropologists consider a range of topics about the river, from Indian rock art, Chinook Jargon, and ethnobotany on the Columbia to literary and family history, the creation of an engineered river, and the inherent mythic power of place. Since first contact between Euro-Americans and Native peoples during the late 18th century, the river's history has been characterized by dramatic demographic, social, and economic changes. The remarkable set of essays in Great River of the West investigate these changes by highlighting important episodes in the history of the river. Readers meet mariners who challenge the Columbia River bar, a family torn by insanity, Native people who preserve fishing traditions, and dam-builders who radically change the Columbia.

"The Green River runs wild, free and vigourous from southern Wyoming to northeastern Utah. Edward Abbey wrote in these pages in 1975 that Anne Zwinger's account "of the Green River and its subtle forms of life and nonlife may be taken as authoritative. 'Run, River, Run,' should serve as a standard reference work on this part of the American West for many years to come." ÑNew York Times Book Review

A remarkable place where geography has defined history, Wallula Gap is that narrowing of the mighty Columbia River halfway between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. In this book, Bob Carson and his colleagues tell a fascinating story ¿ of a striking land where the forces of geology worked on a spectacular scale, of a desert oasis where Native Americans, explorers, fur traders, promoters and entrepreneurs, and modern-day agriculturalists and wind farmers have all made their mark. Through the prism of Wallula, the historic gateway to the Columbia Plateau, readers learn much about the region.

Provides a portrait of the river and the people who lived and died on its banks, including conquered native peoples, European adventurers, missionaries, and emigrants from the drought-ridden Midwest

"These pages narrate the travels ... of the Alaska exploring expedition of 1883. In April of that year the expedition was organized with seven members at Vancouver Barracks, Washington Territory, and left Portland, Oregon in May ... floated over the great stream for over thirteen hundred miles, the longest raft journey ever made, in the interest of geographical science. The entire river, over two thousand miles, was traversed, the party returning home by way of Bering's Sea, and touching at the Aleutian Islands."--Preface.

NORTHWEST.