Liberty Mountain, North Cascades National Park. Photo by Jim Culp. Used by permission.

Selected Resources

National Park Service

2016 marks the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service. “That’s 100 years of protecting America’s natural, historical and cultural treasures from all over the United States. These more than 400 beautiful, historic and exquisite sites cover over 80 million acres consisting of approximately 18,000 miles of trails, more than 75,000 archaeological sites and at least 247 species of threatened or endangered plants and animals.” (Text from http://bit.ly/2allmnJ.)

Interior Department National Park System. National Park System (Wall Map Poster). Interior Department National Park System, Print.

A beautiful wall map of the National Parks is available from the Government Printing Office Bookstore, https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/024-005-01274-5?ctid=507. “Handsome color map showing the locations of parks in National Park System; suitable for large wall map displays … the map shows all 392 authorized units of the park system. It measures 39 by 29 inches and is of display quality.

Washington State

“National Historic Landmarks Survey / Washington.” NPS.gov Homepage (U.S. National Park Service). N.p., n.d. Web. 21 July 2016. Available online: <https://www.nps.gov/nhl/find/statelists/wa/WA.pdf.>

“National Parks Road Trip: Pacific Northwest.” National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 July 2016.  Available online: <http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/road-trips/united-states/washington-national-parks/>.

Covers North Cascades, Mount Ranier and Olympic national parks.

Working with Washington by the Numbers National Park Service

“NHLs in National Parks | National Historic Landmarks Program.” NPS.gov Homepage (U.S. National Park Service). N.p., n.d. Web. 21 July 2016. <https://www.nps.gov/nhl/find/nhlsinparks.htm#WA>.
“Northwest · National Parks Conservation Association.” National Parks Conservation Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 July 2016. <https://www.npca.org/regions/northwest>.

“Working with Washington by the numbers.” NPS.gov Homepage (U.S. National Park Service). N.p., n.d. Web. 14 July 2016. <http://bit.ly/2a4PHoO>.

How many national parks are there in Washington State?

National Trails?

National Register of Historic Places?

National Historic Landmarks?

National Natural Landmarks?

World Heritage Sites?

“Want to Browse Some National Park Maps? There’s a Site For That | Smart News.” Smithsonian. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 July 2016. <http://bit.ly/2a4SS0o>. 

Check National Park Maps. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 July 2016, http://npmaps.com/. Free maps of national parks. Check by state.

“Washington: National Register of Historic Places listings in the state of Washington.” Flickr. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 July 2016. <https://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalregister/albums/72157620544261128>.

“Washington (U.S. National Park Service).” NPS.gov Homepage (U.S. National Park Service). N.p., n.d. Web. 14 July 2016. <https://www.nps.gov/state/wa/index.htm>.  Find a list of National Park Service designations, a description and a photo.

National Park Service brochures. Listed in the Washington State Library catalog.

Publications

Braille Books: The National Park Service publishes a series of visitor information brochures in Braille for most of the NPS designated areas in the United States. They are included in this resource list with the designation Print (Braille).

Ebey’s Landing

Ebey’s Landing. Photo by James Marvin Phelps.

Evans-Hatch, Gail E. H. Evans-Hatch, D. Michael. Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve: Historic Resources Study. Washington: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, National Park Service, 2005. Print. Available at WSL: I 29.58/3:W 57.

Polenz, Michael. Slaughter, Stephen L. Dragovich, Joe D. Thorsen, Gerald W. Geologic Map of the Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve, Island County, Washington. Olympia N.p., Washington State Dept. Print. Available at WSL: 2 copies, one in library use only WA 33.7 G291ope 2005-2 2005 c.1 ; available for circulation  WA 333.7G291ope 2005-2 2005 c.2.

United States. National Park Service. Ebey’s Landing: Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve, Washington. Washington: National Park Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 2008. Print (map). Available at WSL: I 29.2:EB 3/2.

United States. National Park Service, author. Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve, Washington. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 2015. Print (Braille). Available at WSL: I 29.155:EB 3.

Gilbert, Cathy. Reading the Cultural Landscape: Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve. Seattle: National Park Service, Pacific Northwest Regional Office, Cultural Resource Division, 1985. Print. Online at: http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS115589.

Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, Officers Row, Vancouver, WA

Fort Vancouver

Hussey, John A. Fort Vancouver National Historic Site/washington. Denver: Denver Service Center, National Park Service, 1972-1976. Print. Available at WSL: I 29.2:F77.

United States. National Park Service, author. Fort Vancouver: Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 2013. Print (Braille).
Available at WSL! I 29.2:F 77 v/2/ v.1, I 29.2:F 77 v/2/ v.2.

Tip: check our catalog for author John A. Hussey to find other studies he did of Fort Vancouver.

Lake Chelan

Northwest Interpretive Association. North Cascades National Park Service Complex (Agency : U.S.). Imus Creek Nature Trail, Lake Chelan National Recreation Area. Seattle: The Assn., 1998. Print. WSL Northwest Collection NW 917.975 IMUS 1998?

Tip: See also North Cascades National Park.

“Welcome to Stehekin.” NPS.gov Homepage (U.S. National Park Service). N.p., n.d. Web. 7 July 2016. <https://www.nps.gov/noca/upload/Stehekin-Map-2010.pdf>.

Lake Roosevelt

Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, Washington. Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 2005. Print (map). Available at WSL: I 29.39:R 67.

 Mount Rainier

“An icon on the horizon.” NPS.gov Homepage (U.S. National Park Service). N.p., n.d. Web. 21 July 2016. <https://www.nps.gov/mora/index.htm>.

Mount Rainier National Park: Washington. Washington, D.C.: The Service, 1973. Print (Maps). Available at WSL: Historic Research R 912.7977 United 1973.

 “Publications – Mount Rainier National Park (U.S. National Park Service).” NPS.gov Homepage (U.S. National Park Service). N.p., n.d. Web. 21 July 2016. <https://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/publications.htm>.

Tahoma News
The Mount Rainier National Park “Tahoma News” is printed each winter, spring, summer and fall. Look inside for descriptions of seasonal activities, current events and facility hours … read the most recent edition on-line or receive a printed copy when you arrive at the entrance gate to the park.

United States. National Park Service, author. Mount Rainier, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 2016. Print (Braille). Available at WSL! Call No. I 29.155:M 86 R/2.

North Cascades National Park (and surounding areas)

Johannessen, Tracie B, Wendy Scherrer, Saul Weisberg, and Nikki McClure. North Cascades National Park: A Living Classroom : a Guide to Field Trips and Activities in Ross Lake National Recreation Area and North Cascades National Park. Sedro-Wooley: North Cascades Institute, 1996. Print. Available at WSL: NW OVERSIZ 917.9773 JOHANNE 19.

“North Cascades are calling.” NPS.gov Homepage (U.S. National Park Service). N.p., n.d. Web. 21 July 2016. <https://www.nps.gov/noca/index.htm>.

“North Cascades National Park Complex.” NPS.gov Homepage (U.S. National Park Service). N.p., n.d. Web. 7 July 2016. Available online at <https://www.nps.gov/noca/planyourvisit/upload/NOCAmap1.pdf>.

“North Cascades National Park Complex Stephen Mather Wilderness.” NPS.gov Homepage (U.S. National Park Service). N.p., n.d. Web. 7 July 2016. <https://www.nps.gov/noca/planyourvisit/upload/Wilderness-Trip-Planner-2016-05-06_01-for-web.pdf>.

 North Cascades National Park Service Complex. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 July 2016. <https://www.facebook.com/NorthCascadesNationalPark/>.

Popular Trails: Featuring Trails in North Cascades National Park & Ross Lake National Recreation Area. Seattle: Northwest Interpretive Assn., 2000. Print. Available at WSL: NW 917.975 POPULAR 200-?.

“Surrounding region.” NPS.gov Homepage (U.S. National Park Service). N.p., n.d. Web. 7 July 2016. Available online at: https://www.nps.gov/noca/planyourvisit/upload/NOCAmap2.pdf.

“State route 20 detail map.” NPS.gov Homepage (U.S. National Park Service). N.p., n.d. Web. 7 July 2016. https://www.nps.gov/noca/planyourvisit/upload/SR-20-Detail.pdf.

Rain Forest Greenery along the shores of the Quinalt River. Photograph by Alan posted to Flickr. Used by copyright permission.

Olympic Mountains

 “Olympic National Forest – Maps & Publications.” US Forest Service. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 July 2016.

Olympic National Park, Washington. Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 1939- . Print (Maps). Available at WSL: I 29.6OI 9/3 1939-2003 some issues missing.

“Olympic National Park Guide.” Sunset. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 July 2016. <http://www.sunset.com/travel/northwest/olympic-national-park-washington>.

United States. National Park Service, author. Olympic: Olympic National Park, Washington. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 2015. Print (Braille). Available at WSL! Call No. I 29.155:OL 9.

Ross Lake National Recreation Area

“Ross Lake National Recreation Area.” NPS.gov Homepage (U.S. National Park Service). N.p., n.d. Web. 7 July 2016. <https://www.nps.gov/noca/planyourvisit/upload/rosslake_6-08.pdf>.

Tip: See also North Cascades National Park

Crook House historic structures. English Camp, San Juan Island National Historical Park, San Juan Island, Washington

San Juan Island

Erigero, Patricia, and Barry Schnoll. Crook House Historic Structures Report: English Camp, San Juan Island National Historical Park, San Juan Island, Washington. Seattle: Cultural Resources Division, Pacific Northwest Region, National Park Service, 1984. Web.  Available at WSL:  I 29.88:C 88. Available online through the Library’s Washington Rural Heritage project: bit.ly/29X2ZEs

United States. National Park Service, author. San Juan Island National Historical Park, Washington. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 2014. Print (Braille). Available at WSL! Call No. I 29.155:SA 5 J/2.

Whitman Mission

United States. National Park Service, author. Whitman Mission National Historic Site, Washington. National Park Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 2014. Print (Braille). Available at WSL: I 29.155:W 59.

United States. National Park Service. Whitman Mission, Sitio Histórico Nacional, Washington.  N.p.,  Print. Available at WSL:
I 29.6/6:W 59/SPAN.

Site of the Whitman Mission National Historic Site. Photograph by Glenn Scofield Williams as found on Flickr. Used by copyright permission.

Washington and Other States

Klondike Gold Rush

United States. National Park Service. Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, Seattle, Washington. Washington: National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1981. Print (map). Available at WSL: I 29.6:K 69/W 27.

United States. National Park Service, author. Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, Skagway, Alaska. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 2014. Print (Braille). Available at WSL! I 29.155:K 69

United States. National Park Service, author. Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, Skagway, Alaska. N.p., 2014. Print (Braille). Available at WSL: I 29.155.G29.

Lewis and Clark

United States. National Park Service, author. Lewis and Clark National and State Historical Parks, Oregon / washington. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 2014. Print (Braille). Available at WSL! I 29.155:L 58

Mcloughlin House Fort Vancouver

United States. National Park Service, author. Mcloughlin House Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, Oregon/washington. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 2013. Print (Braille). Available at WSL! Call No. I 29.155:M 22

Manhatten Project National Historical Park (Oak Ridge, TN, Los Alamos, NM, and Hanford, WA)

United States. Congress. House. Committee on Natural Resources. Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation, author. H.r. 1208, to Establish the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Oak Ridge, Tn, Los Alamos, Nm, and Hanford, Wa: Legislative Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation of the Committee on Natural Resources, U.s. House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, Friday, April 12, 2013. N.p., 2014. Web. Available at WSL: WSL Annex (Call ahead) Y 4.R 31/3:113-10, MICRO Y 4.R 31/3:113-10 ; Available online at <http://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo47105> <http://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo47106>.

Manzanar

United States. National Park Service, author. Manzanar, Manzanar National Historic Site, California. National Park Service US Department of this Interior, 2016. Print (Braille). Available at WSL! Call No. I 29.155:M 31/2

Minidoka

United States. National Park Service, author. Minidoka, Minidoka National Historic Site, Idaho/washington. National Park Service, US Department of the Interior, 2016. Print (Braille). Available at WSL! I 29.155:M 66/2

Nez Perce

United States. National Park Service. Visitor Guide: Nez Perce National Historical Park, Big Hole National Battlefield, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington.  Lapwai: Nez Perce National Historical Park, 2009.  Print.  Available at WSL: I 29.2:N 49/2 2009

Listen Up! North Olympic Library System. Oral histories from the Washington Northwest corner. Used by permission of the North Olympic Library System. Project supported by the Washington State Library Washington Rural Heritage Project using federal Library Services and Technology Act funds administered by the Institute for Museum and Library Services.

 Oral History

Listen up! Stories from the Northwest corner. A series of oral histories collected by staff of the North Olympic Library System from residents of Clallam County sharing their stories about National Parks. There are 16 recorded interviews plus a compilation video.

Washington State Library continues to celebrate Native American Heritage month by focusing on the history of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce.

The Nimi’ipuu (meaning “The Real People”) founded their villages in a 17 million acre swath of land that extended from the Bitteroot to the Blue mountains, especially along the banks of the Clearwater, Salmon, and Snake River drainages.  Their language is a part of the Sahaptian sub division of the Penutian linguistic family found  in the Western Plateau of North America. They had a wealth of resources in their mountainous home region but often migrated outside of ancestral lands to gather and hunt during certain seasonal cycles.

The Nimi’ipuu were dubbed Nez Perce (“pierced nose”) by French Candaian Fur Traders in the late 18th Century.  The Nez Perce witnessed the explosion of European settlement that occurred in the very brief half century since their interactions with traders and explorers such as Lewis and Clark.  With the Nez Perce Treaty of June 11, 1855, a portion of the Nez Perce leadership gathered at the Walla Walla Council signed away roughly 9.5 million acres of traditional lands (the treaty was ratified by the federal government March 8th and proclaimed on April 29th 1959), that relegated the tribes to the remaining 7.5 million acre reservation that spanned portions of the Idaho, Oregon and Washington Territories.

When gold was discovered in the region now known as Lewiston, ID, in 1860, the United States failed to maintain the terms of the treaty, leading to an influx of white settlers into Nez Perce Treaty lands.  Three years later, a splinter group of the Nez Perce leadership signed away all but 75,000 acres of their ancestral lands.  A large portion of the Nez Perce did not accept the validity of the treaty and refused to relocate to the acreage, located in Idaho, that was set aside.  These non-treaty Indians included Chief Joseph, who stayed near his ancestral lands in Oregon’s Wallowa Valley.  Tensions and violence between non-treaty Nez Perce and European settlers arose from the refusal of treaty demands for relocation.  In June of 1877 Chief Joseph and other non-treaty leaders agreed to relocate to Fort Lapwai, ID, but a group of tribal members, outraged at past wrongs, attacked Idaho settlers in the Camas Prairie region.  When Joseph arrived to the encampment and saw the devestation, he understood it as a declaration of war, realized an appeal for peace was futile, and began a fighting retreat across Idaho, Wyoming and Montana that ultimately deposited the fighting Nez Perce in Bear’s Paw Mountains of Montana, a short distance from the Canadian border.

On September 30, 1877, the United States Army’s Seventh Calvary, led by Gen, Nelson A. Miles, intercepted Joseph and the Nez Perce at Snake Creek in a surprise attack.  The two forces fiercely fought throughout the three day stand-off until General Oliver Howard and his soldiers arrived, throwing the balance of forces off.  On October 5, 1877 Chief Joseph surrendered, and in doing so, delivered a speech that, through interpretation by C.E.S. Wood, immortalized him.  Instead of being sent to the Idaho reservation as promised by Gen. Miles, the non-treaty Nez Perce were sent to Fort Buford, KS under orders from commanding Army General William Tecumseh Sherman.  Later they were transferred to live in a swampy section of Fort Leavenworth, KS and many tribe members contracted and perished from malaria.  In 1879 Chief Joseph petitioned the President Rutherford B. Hayes and the Congress for relocation to Idaho or Indian Territory in present day Oklahoma.  Due to rejection by Idahoans the band moved to Tonkawa, OK, where they remained until 1885 when they finally returned to the Pacific Northwest to join the Colville Reservation in Washington Territory.  It is in the Collville lands that Chief Joseph passed away September 21, 1904.

The story of Chief Joseph : from where the sun now stands / by Bruce A. Wilson. Okanogan, WA : Okanogan County Historical Society, [2006], c1960. R OVERSIZ 979.5004 WILSON 2006. In Library use only.

Eliza Spalding Warren

Perhaps the most poignant accounts of both life and death on those remote mission stations come from the women who were most intimately involved. In Memoirs of the West: the Spaldings,  Eliza Spalding, the daughter of Rev. Spalding, looks back at an idyllic childhood at Lapwai, the Spaldings mission. She helps her mother, travels with her father, and grows up among the Nez Perce Indians. She often stays at the Whitman mission for months at a time in order to attend school with other mission and immigrant children, and is there on Nov. 29, 1847. Her account is harrowing, as the 10-year-old child witnesses death and terror, and then serves as interpreter between the Indians and their captives. The book also includes excerpts from her mother’s diary and some of her father’s letters that speak of the unrelenting labor that he and his wife undertake.

Finally, three fascinating collections of letters by Narcissa Prentiss Whitman were gathered and published in the late nineteenth century by the Oregon Pioneer Association. The first covers their journey across the country to the Oregon Territory in 1836. The others include Narcissa’s letters to her family back east and correspondence with other missionaries in the West. They can be found in Classics in Washington History as Journey across the plains in 1836.

Sketch of Narcissa Whitman

The letters reveal a woman who is determined to live up to her religious ideals. She accepts the loss of home and her extended family. She accepts her husband’s frequent absences and the physical hardships of frontier living. Yet, she continually begs her family to write more often, and is without any letters from home for two years due to long distances. She is never quite at home with the Indians and has difficulty learning the language. There are hints in her narratives about the tensions among the missionaries and the discouragement when few others arrive to join the mission effort.

Narcissa bears a child at Waiilatpu, Alice Clarissa, that is the light of her life until she drowns at the age of “two years, three months, and nine days.” At the same time she takes on the care of children in need, having as many as eleven children in her home at once and writes, “I am sometimes about ready to sink under the weight of responsibility resting on me…” The letters, though relentlessly optimistic, create a portrait of an intensely social and conventional woman laboring in isolation and surrounded by a culture that remains foreign to her.