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Bridges of the Oregon Coast

In the 1920s and 1930s, Oregon's legendary bridge engineer Conde B. McCullough designed a first-rate collection of aesthetic bridges on the Oregon Coast Highway to enhance an already dramatic and beautiful landscape. The six largest of these, at Gold...

Astoria

Astoria is the oldest American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. It began in 1811 as a small but ambitious fur trading venture of New York entrepreneur John Jacob Astor and his Pacific Fur Company. The town has seen the development of commerce and...

Patrol and Rescue Boats on Puget Sound

The history of impressive battleships, aircraft carriers, and submarines on Puget Sound has been well chronicled. However, the story of the smaller, fast patrol and rescue boats that have protected its vast inland waters is largely unknown. This book,...

Olympic Mountains

The Olympic Mountains rise up from the sea with moss-draped forests growing right to the water's edge. Glaciers crown steep slopes while alpine meadows and lush valleys teem with elk, deer, cougars, bears, and species known nowhere else on earth. The...

The Navy in Puget Sound

Roche Harbor

Anacortes

Located on the north shore of Fidalgo Island in Washington State's Puget Sound, Anacortes was founded by railroad surveyor Amos Bowman and named in honor of his wife, Anna Curtis; they promoted Anacortes as the 'New York of the West. ' Thousands of years...

Friday Harbor

When Friday Harbor, Washington, was incorporated in 1909, some wanted the town’s name changed. In a misunderstanding, the British had named it in 1858 for a shepherd named “Friday,” who thought they were making introductions, not asking...

Tugboats on Puget Sound

While square-rigged sailing ships, steamboats and ferries, and ever-larger cruise and cargo-carrying vessels have made their mark on Puget Sound's maritime history, no other vessels have captured the imagination of shore-bound seafarers like tugboats...

Lighthouses & Lifesaving on Washington's Outer Coast

Washington's storm-ridden outer coast stretches from Cape Disappointment, at the mouth of the Columbia River, to Cape Flattery, at the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, a distance of about 150 miles. Historians have labeled these waters "the...

The Pig War

San Juan Island is well known for its splendid vistas, saltwater shore, quiet woodlands, and orca whales. But it was also here, in 1859, that the United States and Great Britain nearly went to war over a dead pig. On July 18 of that year, Capt. George E...

Port Townsend

On Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, at the entrance to Puget Sound, the Port Townsend of the 1850s was perfectly situated for sailing vessels. By 1880, thousands of ships from all over the world were passing through. Optimistic investors sought fortunes...