Montana: A History of Two Centuries

History

Malone, Michael P.

Lang, William L.

Roeder, Richard B.

Americas

University of Washington Press

Montana: A History of Two Centuries first appeared in 1976 and immediately became the standard work in its field. In this thoroughgoing revision, William L. Lang has joined Michael P. Malone and Richard B. Roeder in carrying forward the narrative to the 1990s. Fully twenty percent of the text is new or revised, incorporating the results of new research and new interpretations dealing with pre-history, Native American studies, ethnic history, women's studies, oral history, and recent political history. In addition, the bibliography has been updated and greatly expanded, new maps have been drawn, and new photographs have been selected.

Univ of Washington Pr

Montana: A History of Two Centuries first appeared in 1976 and immediately became the standard work in its field. In this thoroughgoing revision, William L. Lang has joined Michael P. Malone and Richard B. Roeder in carrying forward the narrative to the 1990s. Fully twenty percent of the text is new or revised, incorporating the results of new research and new interpretations dealing with pre-history, Native American studies, ethnic history, women's studies, oral history, and recent political history. In addition, the bibliography has been updated and greatly expanded, new maps have been drawn, and new photographs have been selected.

The promise of opportunity drew twenty-seven-year-old Illinois schoolteacher William Winlock Miller west to the future Washington Territory in 1850. Like so many other Oregon Trail emigrants Miller arrived cash-poor and ambitious, but unlike most he fulfilled his grandest ambitions. By the time of his death in 1876, Miller had amassed one of the largest private fortunes in the territory and had used it creatively in developing the region's assets, leaving a significant mark on the territory's political and economic history.
Appointed Surveyor of Customs at the newly created Port of Nisqually in 1851, Miller was the first federal official north of the Columbia River. Two years later he helped organize the new territory's Democratic Party and quickly became a political and financial confidant of governor Isaac Stevens. His involvement in the Indian conflict in 1855-56, a term in the territorial legislature, and his bankrolling of key politicians made him the territory's most effective political networker. His role as a "hip-pocket banker" in a region without established banks made him a powerful financial broker and a major player in territorial affairs.
But in his pursuit of success Miller compromised another ambition he carried west from Illinois. He postponed marriage and family until only a few years before his death and agonized about relationships with his family in Illinois. His experience reminds us that the pioneer settlement era was a period of social dislocation and that public economic and political success could mask personal disappointment.
Lang's biography takes readers into the heart of Washington territorial politics, where alliances often hinged more on mutual economic interest than political principles and nearly all agreed that government should encourage ambitious and energetic men. In this world, Lang argues, Miller succeeded because he parlayed his talents in camaraderie politics and sharp-pencil business affairs with an unabashed mining of governmental opportunities. William Lang's account of William Winlock Miller and the first quarter century of Washington's history offers a new view of the pioneer era, emphasizing that the West was developed in large measure by men like Miller who manipulated government and its resources to their own and the region's advantage.

Confederacy of Ambition: William Winlock Miller and the Making of Washington Territory

Biographies & Memoirs

With the same ability to make personalities and events come alive that characterizes his classic Skid Road, Murray Morgan here tells the colorful story of southern Puget Sound, where major events of Washington's history took place, and of Tacoma, the area's principal city. Drawing upon the original journals and reports, Morgan tells his story largely in terms of individuals, interweaving portraits of well-known historical figures with those who are more obscure but who have a special significance.
Journalist and historian Murray Morgan (1916-2000) was the author of more than twenty books, including Skid Road: An Informal Portrait of Seattle and The Last Wilderness. He worked for Time magazine, the New York Herald Tribune, and CBS News before returning to Washington where he taught at Tacoma Community College and for fifteen years hosted the early morning radio show "Our Town, Our World."

Puget's Sound (Columbia Northwest Classics)

Morgan, Murray

The promise of opportunity drew twenty-seven-year-old Illinois schoolteacher William Winlock Miller west to the future Washington Territory in 1850. Like so many other Oregon Trail emigrants Miller arrived cash-poor and ambitious, but unlike most he fulfilled his grandest ambitions. By the time of his death in 1876, Miller had amassed one of the largest private fortunes in the territory and had used it creatively in developing the region’s assets, leaving a significant mark on the territory’s political and economic history.Appointed Surveyor of Customs at the newly created Port of Nisqually in 1851, Miller was the first federal official north of the Columbia River. Two years later he helped organize the new territory‘s Democratic Party and quickly became a political and financial confidant of governor Isaac Stevens. His involvement in the Indian conflict in 1855–56, a term in the territorial legislature, and his bankrolling of key politicians made him the territory’s most effective political networker. His role as a “hip-pocket banker” in a region without established banks made him a powerful financial broker and a major player in territorial affairs.But in his pursuit of success Miller compromised another ambition he carried west from Illinois. He postponed marriage and family until only a few years before his death and agonized about relationships with his family in Illinois. His experience reminds us that the pioneer settlement era was a period of social dislocation and that public economic and political success could mask personal disappointment.Lang’s biography takes readers into the heart of Washington territorial politics, where alliances often hinged more on mutual economic interest than political principles and nearly all agreed that government should encourage ambitious and energetic men. In this world, Lang argues, Miller succeeded because he parlayed his talents in camaraderie politics and sharp-pencil business affairs with an unabashed mining of governmental opportunities. William Lang’s account of William Winlock Miller and the first quarter century of Washington’s history offers a new view of the pioneer era, emphasizing that the West was developed in large measure by men like Miller who manipulated government and its resources to their own and the region’s advantage.

Historical

University of Washington

A junior-high level history of the state of Montana.

Montana Our Land and People

Pruett Pub. Co

A junior-high level history of the state of Montana.

Montana, Our Land and People

The landscape encountered by the Corps of Discovery during their multi-year, cross- country trek to the Pacific was dramatically different from the one that greeted visitors attending Portland’s Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in 1905 or the one that exists in the Pacific Northwest today. On the occasion of the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition and the centennial of the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, the time is ripe for reconciling those earlier events with present-day activities. In Two Centuries of Lewis and Clark, William L. Lang and Carl Abbott have collaborated to address those issues. Lang scrutinizes the motivations for the Lewis and Clark expedition and the environmental ramifications of its discoveries on the people and the landscape of the Columbia River Basin. Abbott examines the ways in which the Lewis and Clark Exposition advanced President Jefferson’s goal of developing the economic potential of the Pacific Northwest, particularly through the exploitation of the region’s abundant natural resources.

Two Centuries of Lewis and Clark: Reflections on the Voyage of Discovery

Abbott, Carl

Travel

Oregon Historical Society

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lang, William L.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Lang, William L.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lang, William L.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Montana: A History of Two Centuries

Montana: A History of Two Centuries

Montana: A History of Two Centuries

Confederacy of Ambition: William Winlock Miller and the Making of Washington Territory

Puget's Sound (Columbia Northwest Classics)

Confederacy of Ambition: William Winlock Miller and the Making of Washington Territory

Montana Our Land and People

Montana, Our Land and People

Two Centuries of Lewis and Clark: Reflections on the Voyage of Discovery