Books

Portland's Pearl District

The Pearl District, located in Portland's northwest province, was originally home to timber, lakes, and streams and was occupied by Native Americans. With the arrival of pioneers, its landscape gave way to an industrial scene, which quickly included the...

Portland Fire & Rescue

Firefighting in Portland boasts many proud traditions and a long and storied history. In 1851, Col. Thomas Dryer, editor of the Oregonian newspaper, decided that it was in the best interest of the city to establish a firefighting force, and with that, he...

Portland Rose Festival

At the end of the Lewis and Clark Exposition in 1905, the president of the Portland Street Fair and Carnival Association, E.W. Rowe, presented the idea of an annual festival to Portland mayor Harry Lane. From that idea came the first Rose Festival,...

Iditarod

For sled dogracing fans worldwide, the most important calendar day is the first Saturday in March, when teams convene for the start of mushings Superbowlthe Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race®. Every year, as it has since 1973, this ultimate challenge...

Alaska's Whaling Coast

In 1850, commercial whaling ships entered the Bering Sea for the first time. There, they found the summer grounds of bowhead whales, as well as local Inuit people who had been whaling the Alaskan coast for 2,000 years. Within a few years, almost the...

Mount St. Helens

The story of Mount St. Helens is that of an active volcano and human interaction with it. The mountain is culturally important to the regional native people. Its Cowlitz name, Lawetlatla, means Person From Whom Smoke Comes. Early European settlers saw...

Oregon Surfing: Central Coast

Surfing came to the central Oregon coast in the early 1960s. Mostly young boys from Newport and the Agate Beach area took to the waves, without wetsuits or leashes, and taught themselves how to surf in the forbidding cold waters. Eventually forming the...

Point Arena Lighthouse

The low rumbles of the fog signal and flashing beam of light from the powerful lens have guided mariners away from the perilous waters surrounding Point Arena Lighthouse since 1870. After the great earthquake in 1906 and the rebuilding of the tower in...

The 1964 Flood of Humboldt and Del Norte

The 1964 flood in the Eel and Klamath Rivers drainages represents an extreme weather event. Both the Northern California and Southern OR coasts are host to many floods, but the 1964 flood stands out as a representation of the "perfect storm." Three...

Portland's Maritime History

San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf

Fisherman's Wharf is San Francisco's top tourist destination, but its history is much richer and more important than today's quaint attractions suggest. Indeed, many of these well-known sights were developed only in the last few decades. The early wharf,...

VANISHING VANCOUVER

Stretching along the north shore of the Columbia River, Vancouver, Washington, is the gateway to the state of Washington. Beginning as a wilderness outpost for the Hudson’s Bay Company, Vancouver has seen many, often rapid changes. In its early years...