The Great Columbia Plain: A Historical Geography, 1805-1910

by Donald W. Meinig

Overview

Dismissed in early years as a wasteland, the rolling open country that covers the interior parts of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho is today one of the richest farmlands in the nation. This work is the story of its transformation. Meinig traces all of the aspects of its development by combining geographic description with historical narrative.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780295974859
Publisher:	University of Washington Press
Publication date:	10/01/1995
Series:	Emil and Kathleen Sick Book Series in Western History and Biography
Edition description:	Revised Edition
Pages:	598
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.34(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

Table of Contents

Foreword: Ghost Region

A Retrospective Preface

Preface to the Original Edition

Acknowledgments

Setting: Landscapes, Seasons, and People, ca. 1800

Entry: By East and By North

Competition: By Land and by Sea

Monopoly: London Rules the Columbia

Matrix: American Visions and Ventures

Missions: Protestants and Priests

Preparation: Clearing, Organizing, and Evaluating the Land

Colonization: Gold, Grass, and Grain

Strategy: Settlers and Railroads, 1870-90

Conquest: Some Pattersn, Methods and Ideas, 1870-90

Empire: Town and Country, ca. 1890

Elaboration: Some Patterns and methods

Inquiry: The Farmer and the Scientist, ca. 1890-1910

Culmination: The Great Columbia Plain, ca. 1910

Appendix: Populations and Facilities of Tows, 1890 and 1910 (Table 2)

Bibliography

Index

What People are Saying About This

William Cronon

By offering so richly textured a description of the region he knows and loves so well, Meinig reminds us how the meaning of a place can only be understood in time. The deeper lesson of this book is that history and geography yield some of their greatest insights when they make common cause and work together. To understand a place, we must know its history; to understand history, we must know the place in which it has occurred..

Editorial Reviews

"This is a regional historical geography of exceptional quality. Regional studies, Carl Sauer once remarked in a seminar, involve judgement and perspective, insight and talent, and therefore should be attempted only by the mature practitioner. Donald Meinig qualifies on all counts. His excellent book makes us painfully aware of how little really good and readable work has been done in this genre."

Geographical Review

"From the Indians who roamed the desert and grasslands, to the farmers who came to raise cattle and wheat, Meinig has mapped and written the changing attitudes towards the area and the changing economic patterns. . . . This is an outstanding contribution to our knowledge of history, geography, and economics."

Pacific Historian

A finely drawn and richly documented geography.

-- "Pacific Historical Review"

From the Indians who roamed the desert and grasslands, to the farmers who came to raise cattle and wheat, Meinig has mapped and written the changing attitudes towards the area and the changing economic patterns. . . . This is an outstanding contribution to our knowledge of history, geography, and economics.

-- "Pacific Historian"

Meinig's approach emphasizes not dramatic personalities or events but the lay of the land, the sweep of seasons, and certain early perceptions of the area that influenced its development.

-- "Pacific Northwest Quarterly"

This is a regional historical geography of exceptional quality. Regional studies, Carl Sauer once remarked in a seminar, involve judgement and perspective, insight and talent, and therefore should be attempted only by the mature practitioner. Donald Meinig qualifies on all counts. His excellent book makes us painfully aware of how little really good and readable work has been done in this genre.

-- "Geographical Review"

This study proves that regional history can have significance as well as genuine vitality. . . . The work is imaginative in theme, well organized, and ambitious in scope.

-- "The Journal of American History"

From the Publisher

Meinig’s approach emphasizes not dramatic personalities or events but the lay of the land, the sweep of seasons, and certain early perceptions of the area that influenced its development.

Pacific Northwest Quarterly

This study proves that regional history can have significance as well as genuine vitality.... The work is imaginative in theme, well organized, and ambitious in scope.

The Journal of American History

A finely drawn and richly documented geography.

Pacific Historical Review

****Reprint of the classic that was originally published in 1968 (and cited in BCL3). This edition has been inserted into the Weyerhaeuser Environmental Classics series and contains both a new foreword and preface. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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