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 […]
56. Missionary Failures in the Pacific Northwest
32. The Land Talks
Technology that works with the land is not one of force. This is not always immediately obvious in a culture built around action. This action includes the obvious, such as the active […]
30. Weaponizing the West: Part 2
The Americans who arrived on the Columbia in the 1830s and 1840s said that their power came from their God. The power was certainly there, and the zeal. From 1790 through 1840, […]
24. A Caution from The Two Cayuse Sisters
So, let’s take a step back and see what we missed by being fully “modern” people looking at the Columbia River. Here we are… …looking south through Wallula Gap, pretty much as […]
22. Keeping the Catholics at Arms Length
Here’s a question we can ask: If Chief Peopeomoxmox of Waillatpu, “The Village of Wild Rye Grass,” had installed the new Catholic arrivals of November 6, 1847 on his side of the […]
21. Father Pandosy, Slave-in-the-Making and White Poster Boy
On November 5, 1847, a year after the end of the Mexican-American War, a young Oblate Catholic acolyte, Charles Pandosy, stepped into this story of water at Fort Nez Perce, at the […]
Race and Apples 1: Mixed Beginnings
In the last week, an important discussion has gained some traction: race and environment. https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/environmental-racism-bill-c-230-1.5954082. In short, media is reporting on how the effects of climate change and environmental damage are born […]
Crazy for Wine
The Penticton Western News is really into wine these days. Here’s a screenshot from an article from May: How great is that. Pandosy arrived in 1859, camped at Ellison, froze in the […]
The Lost Mission of the Manastash
Ah, to be a young Oblate missionary in Washington Territory before the Indian Wars, when you were the only educated man for a thousand miles, and all you wanted was to stop […]
A Mission of Peace
In 1848 Father Charles Marie Pandosy was ordained on the Oregon Trail when news that the Whitman family had been massacred at Walla Walla, in the Columbia Plateau. Fear led to the […]
Okanagan Okanogan 