In the 1880's, artist James Everett Stuart visited Celilo Falls where he met "an old Indian" Who told him of an island five miles upriver that showed a great chief who had been turned to stone. The Elder called it "The Ruling Spirit of the Columbia" and related that Indians throughout the Columbia Basin once gathered there to worship the rock. Intrigued, Stuart proceeded to travel to the island to create his own interpretation of The Great Chief. Stuart's...

In images and narratives, Native River recreates the untamed Mid-Columbia--the river as it once was, before the building of seven major dams. 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. William Layman affords each segment of this waterway with its...