Mt. Mazama Blast

A look back on the very best of Mossback's Northwest.

If finding the river’s mouth was difficult, so too was locating the river’s remote origins in British Columbia. It wasn’t followed from headwaters-to mouth by explorers until 1811. The river has been tamed by dams.  Fed by rain, ice and snowmelt, one wonders with climate change, will the Columbia “roll on” in more than song?

Who was the self-professed “Psycho” who inspired Around the World in 80 Days and vowed to beat that record and make Tacoma world-famous? He was an energetic millionaire traveler, writer and activist who believed he could make the “city of destiny” the greatest Pacific port. And he ridiculed “Seattle” by saying it rhymed with “death rattle.”