Kirjahaku

Winner of the 2007 Washington State Book Award for General NonfictionFinalist in the Western Writers of America 2007 Spur Award competition for the Best Western Nonfiction - Contemporary categoryThe Columbia River of today bears little resemblance to the river Native peoples and settlers knew in the early twentieth century. Between 1933 and 1984, an unparalleled fervor of engineering transformed much of the river into a series of large reservoirs contained by fourteen hydroelectric dams. While many mourned the loss of the freeflowing river, others embraced a newly tamed waterway that could control floods, irrigate desert lands, and supply electrical power for the growing region.River of Memory honors a place and time now gone from view. It restores an unfettered Columbia through more than ninety historical photographs that capture the river as it once appeared. This extraordinary visual record is complemented with the words of early explorers, surveyors, and naturalists who wrote about specific places along the river and with new works by contemporary American and Canadian writers and poets.Organized to carry the reader from the mouth of the Columbia where it enters the ocean to its source in eastern British Columbia, the narrative follows the natural history of the river through the archetypal journey of salmon returning to the river's headwaters in Columbia Lake. Introducing each section are illustrations of salmon and other indigenous fish by artists Joseph Tomelleri and Dan McConnell.River of Memory encourages readers to linger along the river's shores and spend time reflecting on its dramatic mountain and plateau landscapes. It fosters connections between the river's natural and human histories through the words of the distinguished writers represented throughout, including Jeannette Armstrong, Gloria Bird, Peter Christensen, Tim McNulty, Kathleen Dean Moore, Eileen Delehanty Pearkes, Theodore Roethke, Kim Stafford, William Stafford, Robert Sund, David Wagoner, Elizabeth Woody, and many more.

In images and narratives, Native River recreates a vision of the mighty Columbia River as it appeared when it ran wild and free. Featuring a wealth of illustrations, maps, and photographs, many never before published, this finely crafted book focuses on the 350-mile reach of the middle Columbia River-from Priest Rapids in south-central Washington to the U.S.-Canadian border. Layman gives us the unique opportunity of picturing the great river, and humankind's relationship to it, prior to the building of seven major dams that now harness the Columbia's power and obscure its former features under reservoirs. The author affords each segment of this waterway its own unique rich visual documentation. This forms a backdrop to compelling river stories, told in a variety of perspectives and voices. Included are Native American legends and lore, the cryptic messages of ancient rock art, accounts of white explorers and immigrants, and Layman's own insightful observations. In his research, Layman forged a special, cooperative relationship with the indigenous peoples who still call the Columbia River valley their home. The artful blending of geological, cultural, and historical story telling in Native River unifies the reader's experience of the untamed Columbia.