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To the Pacific — Bill Gulick
In the most comprehensive historical novel ever written about the Columbia River and the Great Northwest, author Bill Gulick tells the story of the Columbia River basin - from the establishment of Fort Astoria in 1811 to the building of Grand Coulee Dam and the disastrous flood of 1948. The story is told through five generations of the Warrens - a sprawling family of river bar pilots, steamboat captains, and geologists whose own history is integrally entwined with that of the river. The first volume of this epic trilogy, To the Pacific, begins in 1811 with Thomas Warren and his sixteen-year-old son Ben embarking on the Tonquin, John Jacob Astor's ship bound for the Northwest via the perilous Cape Horn route to establish Fort Astoria and a fur empire at the mouth of the Columbia River.
The journey is fraught with danger as the Warrens navigate not only the treacherous waters of Cape Horn, but also prowling British warships. While trying to enter the Columbia, young Ben witnesses the death of his father as the ship attempts to cross the storm-wracked bar at the river's mouth.
Now the only American settler left in the area, Ben joins Conco, a young Chinook Indian, to establish the first bar pilot service on the lower river. As they escort ships across the most dangerous bar in the world, Ben and Conco are privy to the ongoing battle between the British and Americans for control of the fur empire and the Northwest itself. As steamboats come to the river, Ben and Conco's sons, Tommy and Sitkum, become captain and engineer on the lower river then as traffic develops through the Cascades, on the middle river.
Roll On, Columbia flows like the river itself, blending actual events with the Warren family history. The Native Americans, British, seafarers, mountain men, and fur-trappers all come alive in this story. Extensive research, in addition to the author's forty years of living near and writing about the watersheds of the Columbia, all contribute to this highly accurate portrayal of the Great Northwest.
The journey is fraught with danger as the Warrens navigate not only the treacherous waters of Cape Horn, but also prowling British warships. While trying to enter the Columbia, young Ben witnesses the death of his father as the ship attempts to cross the storm-wracked bar at the river's mouth.
Now the only American settler left in the area, Ben joins Conco, a young Chinook Indian, to establish the first bar pilot service on the lower river. As they escort ships across the most dangerous bar in the world, Ben and Conco are privy to the ongoing battle between the British and Americans for control of the fur empire and the Northwest itself. As steamboats come to the river, Ben and Conco's sons, Tommy and Sitkum, become captain and engineer on the lower river then as traffic develops through the Cascades, on the middle river.
Roll On, Columbia flows like the river itself, blending actual events with the Warren family history. The Native Americans, British, seafarers, mountain men, and fur-trappers all come alive in this story. Extensive research, in addition to the author's forty years of living near and writing about the watersheds of the Columbia, all contribute to this highly accurate portrayal of the Great Northwest.
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