In her latest book, Rebecca Harrison takes you back in time over 150 years to ride the grand Columbia and Willamette Rivers on the sternwheelers of the mid 1800s. Essential for transportation in the newly founded northwest region of the United States, by the 1840s, both the rivers were becoming the main thoroughfare for the growing farms, businesses and cities. Portland, Oregon's location at the confluence of these rivers established it as the shipping center for the Pacific Northwest. By the 1880s, the steam sternwheelers were overtaking sidewheelers and paddlewheelers on the rivers. Meticulously researched, Aboard the Portland: A History of the Northwest Steamers tells the exciting story of these trade and transport ships, and explores how the Portland survived time and harsh work to become one of the last operating steam sternwheelers in America. Robert Lewis Knecht Historian and Treasure Hunter$19.99