Daniel Macnee 1829. Portrait of David Douglas. Linnean Society, London
During Scottish naturalist David Douglas’s years of travel to the far corners of the Pacific Northwest, his base of operations always remained at Fort Vancouver. The people he met there influenced his every move, and the changes he witnessed during his visits mark significant turning points for the social, economic, scientific, and environmental stories of the region.
David Douglas was the premier botanical explorer in the Pacific Northwest and throughout western North America in the 19th century. Douglas’ discoveries include hundreds of western plants, most notably the iconic Douglas Fir.
Each year during the annual Birdfest & Bluegrass weekend at the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge, the Friends of the Cathlapotle Plankhouse sponsor a day of Chinookan culture.
The world’s largest hydroelectric dam, the Three Gorges Dam was scheduled for completion in 2009. The size of the project and its potential destruction of cultural resources and communities have sparked many debates about the project’s impact on the natural environment and human populations.
To learn more about the history of Hawaiians at Fort Vancouver, see this site bulletin, produced for the City of Vancouver by the Center for Columbia River History in partnership with the National Park Service at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, www.nps.gov/fova/.
This article discussing the history of Hawaiians in Vancouver was produced for the Vancouver Voice July 2009, and was reprinted by the Ke Kukui Foundation for its Hoike & Hawaiian Festival program on July 25, 2009. Click here to learn more about the Owyhee Legacy at Fort Vancouver.
Block house, upper Cascades, Columbia River, May 1860. Image LC-USZC4-11412 from British Northwest Boundary Commission, courtesy of Library of Congress
Philip Sheridan, a Union General instrumental in forcing Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, gained fame in the Northwest during the 1850s by capturing 13 local Cascades Indians near present-day Stevenson. Colonel George Wright ordered nine of them hung — without a trial and despite evidence of outside responsibility for the deaths of 12 settlers. Sheridan, who served under Gabriel Rains during the Yakima Indian Wars, received military commendation. He served in the Northwest from 1854-1861, when called east to join the Civil War.
Promoting the study of Columbia River Basin history
