Written by two professors with over 20 years of teaching experience, this work introduces the history of the Pacific Northwest in a style that is accessible, relevant, and meaningful for anyone wishing to learn more about the region's recent history. A companion website for students and instructors includes test banks, Power
Trade Review
"The authors use and point readers to Internet resources, including museum collections, which are essential to Northwest history today. The book's text and its many features highlight a more inclusive past than textbooks from previous generations [...] Drawing sometimes from local newspapers and occasionally from interviews brings voices of immediacy from the past to the reader." - Oregon Historical Quarterly (2017)
"My community college students appreciate the storytelling [and] the brief topical narratives touching on the book’s thematic approach. My favorite aspect is the use of primary sources, all of which are footnoted, and the extensive bibliographies at the back of each chapter. The notes are not intrusive, and students come away with a keen sense of how historians think and write [...] Jepsen and Norberg have given us an interesting way to conceptualize invisible borders, and it’s a theme that my students and I can dig into as we share and reflect on the multitude of narratives and competing viewpoints that continue to shape this region." - Anna Booker, Whatcom Community College (2019)
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations xi
Authors’ Biographies xv
Preface and acknowledgments xvii
Introduction xix
Part I Clash of Cultures 1
1 Early Encounters 3
Ships logs tell of a clash of cultures 5
British pursue “every branch” of Puget Sound 6
“Mean huts and wretched sheds” greet explorers 8
Understanding European misconceptions 9
Robert Gray braves entrance to Columbia River 10
Lewis and Clark arrive by land, 1804 to 1806 13
Meeting with Shoshone turns tense 15
Assessing the Corps of Discovery 20
The time of the people 22
Sacagawea: heroism in perspective 27
Explore more 30
Notes 30
2 Trade Among Equals 35
Slow beginning for fur trade 36
An “astronomical” tale 36
‘Single-minded’ pursuit of otter skins 37
Traders establish permanent presence in interior 39
Hudson’s Bay Company takes charge 41
Aggressive tactics create “fur deserts” 42
British diversify beyond furs 44
HBC–Native relations – the ties that bind trade 46
From ‘bad to worse’ and the end of an era 50
Explore more 52
Notes 53
3 Making a Christian Farmer 59
In search of a holy life 60
Seeking the “book of heaven” 61
Promising start in God’s work 64
Protestants and Catholics compete for converts 66
A day of reckoning at Waiilatpu 74
Indian Removal Act of 1830 – a portent of trouble for Northwest natives 78
Beyond the written word – the drawings of Father Nicolas Point 79
Explore more 81
Notes 81
4 Building an American Northwest 87
Americans look West 87
Experiencing the Oregon Trail 89
Forging American institutions in Oregon 93
Taming a ‘wilderness’ 95
Nothing settled – Indian reservations and war 97
“Seeing the Elephant” – the Catherine Sager story 103
Mother Joseph – a Northwest builder 104
Federal boarding schools challenge cultural boundaries 106
Explore more 108
Notes 109
Important Dates and Events 115
Part II People and Place 117
5 Riding the Railroad Rollercoaster 119
Unlimited opportunity, limited markets 121
Frenzy of railroad construction 122
Big ideas from flawed men 124
Marketing the “wasteland” as a “friendly place” 125
Making and breaking cities 128
Extraction industry finally on wheels 131
Not all is rosy in rail town 133
Panic exposes poor management 135
James J. Hill: from empire builder to noxious weed 139
Cashing in on the Klondike Gold Rush 141
Explore more 143
Notes 143
6 Seeking Dignity in Labor 149
Making sense of the Progressive Era 151
Divided union struggles for power 152
At the mercy of predatory “job sharks” 153
A rough and tumble lumber business 155
Arrest and expulsion in Aberdeen 157
Running the gauntlet in Everett 158
A parade of violence in Centralia 160
Looking for answers in a violent past 163
The beginning of the end 165
R.D. Hume, “pygmy monopolist” on the economic frontier 169
Explore more 172
Notes 172
7 Dismantling a Racial Hierarchy 177
African Americans – seeking haven from racial oppression 179
Early industrialization and demand for substitute labor 181
Chinese – the travails of life on “gold mountain” 184
The Tacoma Method – organized vigilantism at gunpoint 186
Clashing with “mongoloid races” in Idaho’s goldfields 187
A century and a half of change 190
European immigration – overlooked stories of the American West 191
Doc Hay and generous medicine – a prescription for cultural acceptance 192
Explore more 194
Notes 194
8 Liberation in the West 197
Women serve as the moral authority 199
Working-class labor in farm yard and factory 200
Challenging long hours and low pay 204
The dual challenge – female and minority 205
Chinese build a presence in a strange land 207
The Irish – moving beyond the domestic 208
African Americans – finding confidence and self-worth 209
Winning the franchise 212
Answering the “why” question 216
Muller v. Oregon 218
Caroline Gleason – debunking the myths of women’s work 220
Explore more 222
Notes 222
Important Dates and Events 227
Part III Crisis and Opportunity 229
9 Beyond Breadlines 231
Returning to the not so “Roaring ‘20s” 232
Going from bad to worse 233
“Let’s call this place Hooverville” 234
Out with the old, and in with the New Deal 237
Putting Americans to work in the city 240
Did the government create a “nation of softies”? 243
Pointing towards a new era 244
Building the “Eighth Wonder of the World” 246
Explore more 249
Notes 249
10 Marching through Global Conflict 255
The winds of war sweep across the Pacific Northwest 256
Northwest industries rise to the challenge 257
A Critical shortage of workers breaks down barriers 262
Japanese Americans challenge new boundaries 266
From a World War to a Cold War 270
A changed Northwest? 272
Women for the defense 273
Maggie, Scoop, and the Federal Northwest 276
Explore more 278
Notes 279
11 El Movimiento: Chicanos Unite to Improve Economic Standing 287
A rights movement that inspires others 288
Braceros, a world war and a war on poverty 289
Federal government enters the war on poverty 292
California’s rising star shines on Yakima Valley 294
Workers fight the “slave bill” in Oregon 296
El Movimiento comes to campus 297
Changing how a university serves its minority communities 300
Radio KDNA links with itinerant audiences 302
Limited victories in Washington and Oregon 303
“Taking off the mask” 306
Movin’ on up…and outside the Central District 313
Explore more 316
Notes 316
12 The Fractured Northwest 321
A new Northwestern economy 322
The big business of outdoor recreation 324
A region divided by uneven growth 328
Politics from left to right 330
Environmental politics: resources vs. recreation 332
An uncertain future 335
From building to breaching dams 337
Standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge 339
Explore more 341
Notes 341
Important Dates and Events 348
Bibliography 349
Index 367
