This is a solid, well researched and beautifully written history of white man’s discovery of the Pacific Northwest. I’ve been living in the Willamette Valley for over forty years and I had no idea. This seems a fair telling of the hardships, sacrifices and sheer guts it took to get to the West Coast. Many Native Americans helped this endeavor...probably now to their horror.

Couldn’t put it down!

Exciting adventure based on fact. Many characters-written so well the reader can keep track of them all.

OUTSTANDING! Great writing, fabulous history lesson, terrific and expansive epilogue. Oh...and a very captivating story...I cried, I laughed.....much better than "Cats"! Well done Peter Stark!

I worked for a medical staffing company in the Tri-Cities area of WA and lived within walking distance of the Columbia River for 6 months this past year. Had I known about this book I'd have done more exploring than I did and would have certainly visited Astoria. Even so, the book greatly increased my appreciation of the area where I lived. Thank you for a wonderful book.

Unless you are from the Pacific Northwest (my wife is from Portland), you, like me, have probably never heard much about this aspect of American history. This book gives a good lesson in how that area became essential to the expansionist policies of Jefferson and Astor. It also laid the goundwork for ongoing hostilities between British and American interests, that did not really get resolved until the administration of President Polk. The writing can be a bit ponderous at times, but the subject is endlessly fascinating. The hardships endured by those early settlers far exceeds anything we would go through today.

Fascinating account of an oddly forgotten chapter in American exploration.

I really enjoyed this novel. Although non-fiction it reads like a fictional novel of survival and the struggles of early American life in the west. Highly recommend.