When we are finally a people of the land, we will know how to speak and what words to use. Until then, let’s celebrate those who live this life already. The ones […]
59. Jason Lee: The Wrong Man at the Right Time
Sometimes, prophecy comes from a crow, telling the news. Town Crier in a City of Crows. Photo by Harold Rhenisch Sometimes, it’s a man. Even if it isn’t his choice. One was […]
58. The Catholics Come to Town
After the mountain men from St. Louis braided themselves into Cascadia and competition between the USA and Britain cloaked itself in the form of mercantile competition between the American Fur Company of […]
57. The Pacific Northwest War Today
So, let’s add something important to the history of Cascadia, the bioregion known in humanist tradition as The Pacific Northwest. This stuff: The Central Cascadian Coast, with Fires from its Fire Forests […]
56. Missionary Failures in the Pacific Northwest
I have been following the story of the development of the Pacific Northwest as a local story. That’s to say, one that includes all of the region’s people. It’s who we are […]
55. Pierre’s Hole 7: A Slave Culture Evolves
In this final visit to Pierre’s Hole, I hope to show how Sioux (and later Blackfoot) attempts to keep Europeans out of the Pacific Northwest through diplomatic slavery became over time an […]
54. Pierre’s Hole 6: War By Other Means, Sometimes Headless
In the last episode of this exploration of the end of the Old West, I showed how international diplomacy and trade are poor partners. I was talking about Peter Skene Ogden’s expeditions […]
53. Pierre’s Hole 5: The War of 1812 in the Far West
The War of 1812, eh. William Pitt the Younger, British Prime Minister, left, and Napoleon of France carving up the globe. National Portrait Gallery, London “The two greatest Commercial Nations in the […]
52. Pierre’s Hole 4: Some Problems With Using Business to Conduct Diplomacy
Business has always been a primary foundation of the development of the West of North America, with diplomacy being subordinated to it. The development of Cascadia is no exception. It was an […]
51. Pierre’s Hole 3: The Iroquois Road to Pierre’s Hole
Back in the spring I pointed out that during the dominance of New France over the West, the Iroquois trafficked in slaves between the Sioux and the French. This transfer of Indigenous […]