Bibliography: Columbia Slough | Center for Columbia River History

Books, Reports, Dissertations, and Theses

Annual Report of the Park Board, Portland, Oregon, 1903: With the Report os Messrs. Olmsted Bros., Landscape Architects, Outlining a System of Parkways, Boulevards and Parks for the City of Portland.
This report outlines the desirability of many of Portland’s city parks and places that ultimately have become part of the Metro Greenspaces program. Available through Portland Parks and Recreation Department.

Chronicle of St. Johns Shipyards. Portland, Oregon: Grant Smith-Porter Ship Company, 1918.

Final report, Japanese evacuation from the West coast, 1942. Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1943.

Indian Claims Commission, Northwest Coast and Plateau Tribes [Index]. New York: Clearwater Pub. Co., 1980.

Abbott, Carl. Portland: Planning, Politics, and Growth in a Twentieth-Century City.Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983.
Highlights the politics and planning of urbanization in the city of Portland.

Barber, Lawrence. Columbia Slough. Portland, Oregon: Columbia Slough Development Corporation, 1977.

Beckham, Stephen Dow. Chinook Indian Tribe: Petition for Federal Acknowledgment.Lake Oswego, Or.: USA Research, 1987.

Boas, Franz. Chinook Texts. Washington: GPO, 1894.
Chinook stories.

Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1962.
A landmark book of the twentieth century — awakened American society to the dangers posed by poisoning the earth with chemicals.

City of Portland. Bureau of Environmental Services. .Choices for the Slough Handbook. Portland, Oregon: The Bureau, 1989.

_____. Columbia Slough Planning Study, Background Report. Portland, Oregon: The Bureau, 1989.

_____. Columbia Slough sediment remedial investigation/feasibility study. Portland, Oregon: The Bureau, 1995.

_____. Focused Remedial Investigation Report for Buffalo Slough and Reference Sites Columbia Slough Sediment RI/FS. Portland, Oregon: The Bureau, 1996.

_____. St. Johns Landfill End Use Plan. Portland, Oregon: The Bureau, 1987.

_____. Water Body Assessment: pollutant sources and controls, Columbia Slough TMDL development. Portland, Oregon: The Bureau, 1995

_____. Bureau of Planning. Adopted Albina Community Plan. October 1993.

_____. Cultural Resources Protection for the Columbia South Shore: recommended draft. Portland, Oregon: Bureau of Planning, 1995.

_____. Portland’s Albina Community: The History of Portland’s African American Community (1805 to the Present). Portland: Bureau of Planning, February 1993.
Outlines African American history in the city of Portland, including Jim Crow laws, the labor movement, Vanport City, and legislative progress. Includes maps and tables and a bibliography.

_____. St. Johns Area: a plan for the development of a north Portland community: a unit of the Portland Comprehensive development plan. Portland, Oregon: The Bureau, 1959.

Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission. Wana Chinook Tymoo. Summer 1991 – present.
A publication of CRITFC highlighting native issues, especially those related to Indian fishing rights.

Columbia Slough Environmental Improvement Task Force. A Plan for the North Portland Peninsula. Portland, OR: The Task Force, 1972.

Dornbusch, David M. and Company. Columbia Slough navigation project: economic feasibility study. Portland, Oregon: The District, 1977.

Ellis, David. Columbia Slough/St. Johns Landfill Cultural Resources Survey. Portland, Oregon: Archaeological Investigations Northwest, 1998.

Hamilton, James Thompson. Vanport: an experimental approach to a school-community situation. June 1950.

Houck, Michael and Mary Jane Cody. Wild in the City: A Guide to Portland’s Natural Areas. Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press, 2000.

Jacobs, Melville. Texts in Chinook Jargon. Seattle, Wash: University of Washington, 1936.

Jerrick, Nancy. The Lower Columbia River Estuary Program Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan. Vol. 1. Portland, Oregon: The Lower Columbia River Estuary Program, June 1999.
Profiles physical geography, social and cultural heritage, land use and population of Oregon and Washington, environment, economy, aesthetic and recreational resources of the Lower Columbia River estuary, which includes the Columbia Slough watershed. In addition to an action plan and implementation strategies for the Estuary program, includes sections on public policy, priority issues, impacts of human activity and growth, habitat loss and modification, conventional pollutants, toxic contaminants, institutional constraints, and public awareness and stewardship.

Jessett, Thomas E., ed. Reports and Letters of Herbert Beaver, 1836-1838, Chaplain to the Hudson’s Bay Company and Missionary to the Indians at Fort Vancouver. Portland, Oregon: Champoeg Press, 1959.
Most of the letters and reports contained in this book focus on the conflict between Herbert Beaver and John McLoughlin. Beaver provides some insight into Chinookan practices as well as Anglo attitudes.

Jones, Roy F. Wappato Indians of the Lower Columbia River Valley. Roy Franklin Jones, 1972.
Covers a 75 mile stretch of the river, but centers on Sauvie’s Island. Not an academic work, but includes primary sources and an arcaeological section with datea and illustrations from Screenings, the publication of the Oregon Archaeological Society.

Kane, Paul. The Chinook Indians. Toronto, 1857.

Krenzke, Theodore C. Evidence for Proposed Finding Against Federal Acknowledgment of the Tchinouk Indians of Oregon. Washington, DC: Federal Acknowledgement Project, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1985.

Maben, Manly. Vanport. Portland, OR: OHS Press, 1987.
A history of the city of Vanport, public housing in Portland, and the Vanport Flood. Based on Maben’s Portland State University MA thesis.

MacColl, E. Kimbark. The Shaping of a City: Business and Politics in Portland, Oregon 1885 to 1915. Portland, Oregon: The Georgian Press Company, 1976.
A political and social history of Portland, 1885 to 1915. Includes images, maps, and primary documents.

MacLagan, Elizabeth. A Peculiar Paradise: a History of Blacks in Oregon, 1788-1940. Portland, Oregon: The Georgian Press, 1980.
Explains discriminatory practices in Oregon from the first appearance of African Americans in Oregon to the original slave debates and exclusion laws through attempts to pass civil rights legislation. Includes a bibliography, appendix and notes, and an epilogue describing the period after 1940.

Metropolitan Regional Services. Metropolitan Greenspaces: Master Plan. Portland, Oregon: Metro, 1992.

_____. Metropolitan Greenspaces: Master Plan Summary. Portland, Oregon: Metro, 1992.

_____. Growth Management Services Department. “Policy Analysis and Scientific Literature Review For Title 3 of the Urban Growth Management Functional Plan: Water Quality and Floodplain Management Conservation. Portland, Oregon: Metro Regional Services, 1997.
Introduces the nature of water resource problems in the Portland Metro region, their background, policy and legal considerations, flood area management, water quality protection, and erosion and sediment control. Includes two appendices — Urban Growth Management Functional Plan Title 3 and DEQ (D) LIst for the Metro Region.

_____. “Protecting Our Region’s Rivers, Floodplains and Wetlands: An Introduction to regional water quality and floodplain issues and policies.” Portland, Oregon: Metro Regional Services, 1998.
Provides an overview of Metro functions in conserving and protecting the Portland floodplain, river systems, and wetlands.

_____. Streamside CPR: Development of measures to conserve, protect and restore riparian corridors in the Metro region/discussion draft. December 1999.

Miller, Jr., Tyler G. Living in the Environment: An Introduction to Environmental Science. Sixth Edition. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1990.
Introduces students to key concepts and principles of environmental science.

Mitchell Associates Planning. Forty Mile Loop Recreation System: Columbia Slough Section. Portland, Oregon, 1978.

Mitchoff, Alta. History of the Kenton Neighborhood. Portland, Oregon: Kenton Neighborhood Association, 1997.
A local history including the history of Portland and the Kenton Neighborhood. Includes oral history excerpts.

McChesney, et. al. The Rolls of Certain Indian Tribes in Washington and Oregon.Fairfield, WA: Ye Galleon Press, 1969.
Contains the results, including affidavits, of McChesney’s 1905 survey of the Lower Chinook, Clatsop, Tillamook, and Cathlamet Indians in addition to other primary documents and a photo section.

Portland City Club Bulletin. “The Negro in Portland, 1945.” Vol. 26, 12. Portland, Oregon, July 20, 1948.
A social and demographic report of African Americans in the city of Portland and in the United States completed for the Board of Governors of the Portland City Club. Very clear about discriminatory practices and the need for integration.

Portland City Club Bulletin. “The Negro in Portland: A Progress Report, 1945-1957.” Vol. 37, 46. April, 1957.

Portland Development Commission. St. Johns Riverfront urban renewal plan. Portland, Oregon: The Commission, 1979.
Illustrated, with maps.

Portland Public Schools. Vanport City, “6000 kids from 46 states.” Portland, Oregon: Portland Public Schools, 1946.

Ray, Verne Frederick. Lower Chinook Ethnographic Notes. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1938.

Richmond, Henry R. III. The History of the Portland District Corps of Engineers, 1871-1969. Portland, Oregon: The District, March 1970.

Ross, Alexander. Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River.Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986.
First hand account of Chinookan peoples by fur trader and explorer Alexander Ross.

Rubin, Rick. Naked Against the Rain: the People of the Lower Columbia River, 1770-1830. Portland, Or.: Far Shore Press, 1999.
Not academic, but includes a wide range of primary source materials.

Ruby, Robert, M.D., and John Brown. fwd. Reverend Stephen A. Meriwether. Intro. Deward E. Walker, Jr. The Chinook Indians: Traders of the Lower Columbia River. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1976.
A history of the Chinook Indians from contact through the treaty era. Includes notes, bibliography, images, and index.

Souza, Bonnie Jean. Justice or Ecocide: The Challenge Facing the Environmental Movement and Opportunities for Organizing in the Pacific Northwest. M.A. Thesis, University of Oregon, 1992.

St. Johns Heritage Association. St. Johns Heritage. Vols. 1-5. Portland, Oregon: The Association.

_____. Spanning the Decades: St. Johns Bridge Diamond Jubilee. Portland, Oregon: The Association, 1991.

Stroud, Ellen. “A Slough of Troubles: An Environmental and Social History of the Columbia Slough.” M.A. Thesis, University of Oregon, 1995.
Highlights the environmental degradation of the Lower Columbia Slough. Touches on issues of social justice.

Sturtevant, William C. and Wayne P. Suttles, eds. Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 7. Northwest Coast. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1990.

Taylor, Quintard. The Forging of a Black Community: Seattle’s Central District from 1870 through the Civil Rights Era. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.
Provides comparison in African American history and public housing between the states of Oregon and Washington.

Thwaites, Reuben Gold, LL.D. Original Journals of the Lewis And Clark Expedition, 1804-1806. Vols. 3 and 4. New York: Antiquarian Press, 1959.
These volumes chronicle Lewis and Clark’s journey down the Columbia in 1805, their winter at Fort Clatsop, and their journey up the Columbia to the Snake River.

United States. Army Corps of Engineers. Portland District. Office of the District Engineer. Columbia River Flood: 1948. Portland, Oregon: The District.

_____. Columbia Slough, Oregon, reconnaissance report, general investigation.Portland, Oregon: The District, 1993.

_____. Supplemental feasibility report on Columbia Slough navigation project, Oregon. Portland, Oregon: The District, 1977.

_____. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 Salem (Indians of Grand Ronde and Siletz Reservations and Non-Reservation Indians. Washington, D.C. : The Bureau, 1926, 1939.

_____. Office of Indian Affairs. Oregon Superintendency. Report of Anson Dart, Superintendent, to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs concerning treaties with the Chinook and other Indian Tribes, 1851, Nov. 7.

Wilkes, Charles, U.S.N. Columbia River to the Sacramento. Oakland: Biobooks, 1958.
An edited version of Wilkes’ survey of the Columbia and Sacramento. Pages 3-38 focus on the Columbia region, particularly Chinookan culture.

Willingham, William F. Army Engineers and the Development of Oregon: A History of the Portland District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Portland, Oregon: The District, 1983.

Articles

Kilbourn, Charlotte and Margaret Lantis. “Elements of Tenant Instability in a War Housing Project.” American Sociological Review 11 (February 1946): 57-66.
Available in the Columbia Slough documents archive.

Mearns, Anna. “Pollution Patrol.” Ranger Rick Magazine. National Wildlife Federation. 28, 3 (March 1994): 10-15.

Monteverde, Gay. “Some History About the Portland Area Levees (Dikes): Holding Back the Waters — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers & Flood Control Along the Lower Columbia.” Freshwater News. April, 1997.
A history of flood control in the Portland urban drainage districts from a Corps of Engineers standpoint.

Pancoast, Diane. “Blacks in Oregon (1940-1950)” in Blacks in Oregon: a statistical and historical report. ed. Little, William A., Ph.D. and Weiss, James E., Ph.D. Portland, Oregon: Black Studies Center and the Center for Population Research and Census, Portland State University, 1978.
Includes historical and demographic information about African Americans in Portland between 1940 and 1950.

Stroud, Ellen. “Troubled Waters in Ecotopia: Environmental Racism in Portland, Oregon.” Radical History Review. 74 (Spring, 1999).

Taylor, Quintard. “Slaves and Free Men: Blacks in the Oregon Country, 1840-1860.” Oregon Historical Quarterly 83, 2 (Summer, 1982): 153-170.
Chronicles settlement differences in the territories of Washington and Oregon due to Oregon’s exclusionary laws.

Walters, Judy. “The Vanport Flood.” Clark County History 31 (1990): 71-77.
A brief history of post-war Vanport and the flood, including snippets of interviews with Vancouver residents.

Newspapers and Newsletters

Audubon Warbler
Columbia Slough News
Freshwater News
The Oregon Journal
The Portland Alliance
The Portland Oregonian
The Press
The Skanner
Neighbors Between the Rivers
Northwest Clarion
Shorelines
St. Johns Review
Waterways

Unpublished Materials

Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon

American Red Cross. Portland-Multnomah County Chapter. “Vanport City flood, May 30, 1948, preliminary disaster committee report.” Portland, Oregon: American Red Cross, 1948.

Portside: News from the Port of Portland, Oregon. Quarterly. 1976-1994.

Vanport, Flood, folder 1.

Vanport, Flood, 1948, folder 2.

Stanley Parr Archives and Records Center

15-06-14/3. File#25068; #7200-1. Folder 53/8.
Columbia Slough Trail Development.

15-606-14/3. File #25068; #7200-1. Folder 53/9.
League of Women Voters — Columbia Slough Environmental Improvement Task Force.

16-04-01. “Columbia Slough Environmental Improvement.”

17-02-43. File #15241

31-17-02. File #15868. “Columbia Slough Trail Project.”

35-05-07. “Columbia Slough Closure 68/69.” File # 82622.

_____. “Columbia Slough Closure 70/71; 72/73.” File #12622.

_____. “Columbia Slough Navigation Project, 1978.” File #12622

“From Roses to Rivets: Being an Account of the Housing Authority of Portland.” Submitted to Mayor Earl Riley, 1 July 1946. Housing Authority of Portland Collection.

Housing Authority of Portland Files, 1942-1948.

Sanders, Richard. “Glimpses From the Past: The Housing Authority of Portland: fifty years of building a better community. Housing Authority of Portland Collection.

Videos

Genasci, Karen, et. al. The Water In Our Backyard. 27 min. Ben Lomond, CA: The Video Project, 1996. Videocassette.
The national issue of water pollution is discussed with the specific example of the Columbia Slough in Oregon.

KUSM-TV Montana Public Television. Women, War, and Work: shaping space for productivity in the shipyards during the Second World War. Bozeman, MT, 1994. Videocassette.

Oregon Historical Society. Vanport Flood, Memorial Day, 1948. 20 min. Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society, 1983.

University of Maine and the Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History. An Oral Historian’s Work. With University of Main Folklore Professor Edward D. (Sandy) Ives. 33 min. Blue Hill Falls, Maine: Sheldon Weiss Productions, 1987.

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