Heritage Tours
CHINESE HERITAGE TOUR
OF THE AMERICAN WEST
July 20–26, 2010
Not able to go in 2010 in person? Follow along the Tour through daily postings by writer Brad Wong, chronicling the journey to Asian Pacific American historic sites in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Nevada.
MONTE CRISTO
August 24–25, 2012
With the discovery of gold and silver bearing ores in 1889, Monte Cristo became the center of a mining boom. Thousands of miners, businessmen, laborers and settlers poured into the rugged Cascade Mountains. A railway line was built to move the massive ore and concentrates to the nearby developing city of Everett. A group loaded on a bus at The Wing to travel to the trailhead and hike up to Monte Cristo to explore the site in 2012.
IRON GOAT
September 8, 2012 & September 6, 2014
The Iron Goat Trail follows the abandoned Great Northern Railway with easy grades, accessible trails, beautiful views of surrounding mountains, educational interpretive signs and comfortable trailside benches. The Great Northern route was the best engineered of the transcontinental railways. The project employed nearly 800 workers, mostly immigrants, including Japanese. Visitors traveled to the site on two sunny September days to explore with Forest Service archaeologist Jan Hollenbeck.
HAWAIIAN FESTIVAL
AND KANAKA VILLAGE TOUR
July 25–26, 2014
The historic Kanaka Village was established with Fort Vancouver in 1829 as one of the largest settlements in the West during its time. Initially, it housed settlers related to the fur brigades but eventually the population shifted to more land-based mercantile employees of Hawaiian descent. By the 1850s, the village became known as "Kanaka Town" or "Kanaka Village," referring to the Hawaiian word for "person." Tour participants explored Kanaka Village and Fort Vancouver with NPS archaeologist Bob Cromwell. Then they joined the celebration and hoopla at the annual two-day Hawaiian Festival in Vancouver, WA. From workshops to concerts to food, the rich culture of the Islands comes to the Pacific Northwest.