Book Notes Compiled and written by Ken DuBois Indian Legends of thePacificNorthwest, by Ella E. Clark, illustrationsbyRobert Bruce Inverarity(UniversityofCalifornia Press, Berkeley,2003. Illustrations,glossary,bibliogra phy, source notes. 225pages. $16.95 paper) Ella Clark was aU.S. Forest Service lookout intheearly1950s when shefirst heard theKlickitat myth about a volcanic strugglebetweenMount Adams andMount Hood forthe loveof Sleeping BeautyMountain. Over one hundred such sto riesfill thisvolume, originallypublished in 1953, which includes sectionson "Legends of theLakes," "Myths of the Mountains," and "Myths ofCre ation, the Sky, and Storms." The Pacific Slope:A History ofCalifornia, Oregon,Washington, Idaho, Utah, andNevada, by Earl Pomeroy, forewordby ElliotWest (UniversityofNevada Press,Reno and Las Vegas, 2003. Photographs, map, index, notes on furtherreading. 488 pages. $21.95paper) Pomeroy's study, firstpublished in 1965,cov ers 125years of change and growth in the West and details theeventsand people thatshaped the region. California dominates thenarrative, but Pomeroy covers a broad range of topics inall six states, with an emphasis on the sources ofWest ernopportunityand theresultantchanges inboth citiesand thehinterland. Letters To theEditor: Inmy article on Edward Bellamy's influence in Oregon (OHQ 104:1,Spring2003), I mentioned ads for theNehalem Valley Cooperative Colony that appeared in theWeeklyNationalist of Los Angeles in 1890 (p. 84). I suggested that littlein formation is available on this colony. Some clari fication of this is required, as additional infor mation has come to light. As early as 1901, theNehalem Valley Coop erativeColony was identifiedamong Utopian ex periments inAmerica. In an examination of "Co operativeCommunities inthe United States" that appeared interestinglyin theBulletin of the De partment ofLabor (No. 35,July1901, pp. 563-646), Rev.Alexander Kent isone of thefirstto include thiscolony among lists of much more well-known communities. In particular, Kent focuses on a number of communities that were established in the lastdecade or so of thenineteenth century,a period he describes as being "more prolific of schemes and effortstogetout of thecompetitive struggle, with itspitiful extremes ofwealth and poverty,intothecooperative life, with itspromise of freedom from these ills,thananyprior period inour history." (565)Kent includes several Uto pian experiments that were not examined in the early surveys of such communities, including those by Charles Nordhoff, JohnHumphrey Noyes, andWilliam Hinds (Charles Nordhoff, JohnHumphrey Noyes, History ofAmerican Socialisms [1870]; The Communistic Societies of the United States [1875]; William A. Hinds, Ameri can Communities [1878]). One of these settle ments isthe Nehalem Valley Cooperative Colony. The entryreads: This became the corporate name of the Co lumbia Cooperative Colony, organized at Mist, Columbia County, Oreg., on Decem ber 5, 1886. Its principal objective was "homes and employment for members," with "justice toall." It was socialistic inaim, and held property collectively.The mem bership fee was $500 inmoney or material. Ithad about fifty members, of various na tionalities, representing many laboring trades,but engaged chiefly in lumbering. Men worked eighthours a day and showed no disposition to shirk or lean. Sex rela tions were normal. The causes given for 6i6 OHQ vol. 104, no. 4 dissensions and withdrawals were "inex perience" and "other interests." The colony issaid tohave failedbecause of "surrounding opposition and lack of funds." (642) This basic description, with some variations in dates, has been repeated in various modern com pilations ofAmerican communal experiments, including Robert S. Fogarty's Dictionary of American Communal and UtopianHistory (1980), where it is listedunder Columbia Co-operative Colony (p. 214), and Foster Stockwell's Encyclo pedia of American Communes, 1663-1963 (1998,p. 143).That thecolony adopted Bellamy's beliefs is not clear,and furtherinvestigation isneeded not only on thataspect but on the colony overall. In addition to the Nehalem Valley Coopera tiveColony, Kent also listsanother similar ex periment inOregon in the latenineteenth cen tury.The Union Mill Company isdescribed by Kent in this way: The Union Mill Company was organized in 1892, atNehalem, Tillamook County, Oreg. Itwas socialistic in aim, but made all workers equal in regard to salary. All prop ertyoutside of stockwas held in common. Stock was $100 per share, and only stock holders could be members. The principal industry was lumbering, carried on coop eratively under the eight-hour rule. There was no infringement on the familylife. Failure is attributedto "a stringencyin the money market." No information has been...