NW Passages-September #1: The Canoe and the Saddle by Theodore Winthrop

Notes by Northwest · Sep 2, 2022 · 3m

Theodore Winthrop was a New Haven, CT dandy who ventured west to California, the Oregon and Washington Territories, and British Columbia in 1853 to explore the Pacific NW, its natural beauty, and its native peoples.

The story of his journey, The Canoe and The Saddle, was first published in 1862, a year after the death of Winthrop in one of the early skirmishes of the civil war.

Winthrop’s depiction of the Northwest, particularly Washington Territory, earned the book great popularity. The town of Winthrop, Washington took on his name in 1890 and Mount Rainier’s Winthrop Glacier is also named…