Pacific Destiny: The Three-Century Journey to the Oregon Country [Hardcover]

Dale L. Walker (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312869339 | ISBN-13: 978-0312869335 | Publication Date: August 19, 2000 | Edition: 1st

This book chronicles the discovery, exploration, and settlement of America's Pacific Northwest, the area that was known in the first half of the nineteenth century as "Oregon Country."It tells the story of an expanding America, an America whose history would also include eccentrics like Hall Jackson Kelley, who followed his vision by walking across Mexico and Mexican California to get to Oregon, the land of his dreams.He returned home to Cambridge Massachusetts quite mad writing about Oregon Country for the rest of his life

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this melancholy, engrossing narrative, historian Walker (Bear Flag Rising: The Conquest of California, 1846) tells the story of early emigration to the Pacific Northwest (from the 1810s to 1848, when America acquired most of the Western territories). "My ambition," Walker writes, was "to answer the questions I imagined the Platte River natives asking: Where were all these people going and why?" Proceeding chronologically, Walker looks for answers in pioneers' biographies. Drawing from the writings of well-known figures (like Washington Irving and Francis Parkman) and the letters of common travelers (mountain men seeking their fortune west of St. Louis, missionaries who aimed to convert reluctant Blackfeet and civilians traveling in overloaded caravans), he recounts not only the harrowing conditions on the Oregon Trail but the economic, geopolitical and personal reasons for westward migration. John Jacob Astor sent traders to the Columbia River basin in hopes of establishing a fur-trading empire; countless numbers went in search of gold; a few eccentrics went to find spiritual meaning. But they all got more than they bargained for in the way of Indian raids, mountain climbs, flooding rapids, desert heat, drifting snow and difficult terrain. Their journeys, he argues, did shape international politics, however. Not only did settlers' conflicts with (and betrayals of) Indians determine the future of the domestic frontier, the Oregon Trail eventually lured enough settlers to force Britain into an accommodation on boundaries with Canada. Walker constructs a compelling narrative that is a string of unusual profiles rather than an analytic account of a major event in American history. (Aug.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The story of the European settlement of the Oregon Country (modern-day Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and western Wyoming) probably starts as early as 1543, when a Spanish explorer is supposed to have reached as far north as Klamath, CA. Walker, however, pays attention primarily to post-1800 efforts, briefly noting that, by the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition, fur trappers had been visiting the area for two centuries. This popular history covers the role of the Hudson Bay Company, John Jacob Astor, and a raft of missionaries, adventurers, lunatics, visionaries, explorers, thieves, and conquerors. Walker is the author of the more satisfactory The Boys of '98, which is considerably more accessible than this rather confusingly organized history of a much more complex subject. For public libraries with regional history collections or seeking tie-ins to the upcoming Lewis and Clark bicentennial.DEdwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, KS
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (August 19, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312869339
• ISBN-13: 978-0312869335
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,159,559 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A well-told story, July 25, 2001

By 

jjo (Chicago, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pacific Destiny: The Three-Century Journey to the Oregon Country (Hardcover)

This book attempts to trace the history of the Oregon territory by stringing together the stories of various pioneers. The book's strength is that Walker is a wonderful story teller and you can't help but be hooked by his tales of mountain men and emigrants wandering around a vast wildnerness. Walker has a keen eye for the look and feel of the times. The book is a bit light on context with only a few brief discussions of the politics of the period, but that'a probably an unfair criticism because that isn't what the book sets out to do. I read this because I'm going to the Northwest for a vacation in a few weeks and Walker's book will greatly enrich that trip.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A breathtaking and brilliant study, December 12, 2000

By 

Richard S. Wheeler - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pacific Destiny: The Three-Century Journey to the Oregon Country (Hardcover)

Dale L. Walker has written a magnificent and penetrating history of Oregon. This book is unique because it explores the personalities of those who made history, and integrates these biographical insights into the whole fabric of history. Walker is the peer of Bernard DeVoto and David Lavender, the other great chroniclers of the American West. For anyone seeking the history of the Northwest, and all those who shaped it, this is the best and most authoritative book in the field. Walker's research is amazing, and his ability to integrate diverse materials is outstanding. Walker's other great gift is lucidity. This book is a great read, clear, transparent, and brimming with anecdote.

I recommend this as one of the great histories written in modern times.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spur Award, February 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Pacific Destiny: The Three-Century Journey to the Oregon Country (Hardcover)

PACIFIC DESTINY has received the Spur Award from Western Writers of America, Inc. as Best Nonfiction Historical Book for the year 2000. The award will be presented to the author at the WWA annual convention, to be held the last week of June, 2001, in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Last year, WWA awarded to author Dale L. Walker its Owen Wister Award, given for lifetime achievement in Western history and literature.