Julian Smith
Julian Smith is an award-winning nonfiction journalist specializing in history, science, and travel. His work appears in Smithsonian, Wired, Outside, National Geographic Traveler, and the Washington Post. His most recent book, Aloha Rodeo: Three Hawaiian Cowboys, the World’s Greatest Rodeo, and a Hidden History of the American West, won the 2020 Oregon Book Award. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his family.
When Democracy Fails
The counties of eastern Oregon are tired of the big liberal cities setting state policy. Their solution: secede and join Idaho.
The Next Great California Flood
The deluge of 1862 turned the Central Valley into a lake and destroyed nearly every bridge in the region. Spurred by climate change, the conditions are ripe for an even worse inundation.
‘Agua, Agua’
In 1905, prospector Pablo Valencia survived a week without water as he walked—and stumbled, and crawled—more than 100 miles in the Sonoran Desert. Seventy-five years later, high school teacher Bill Broyles retraced his route and lived to talk about it.
Miracle on the Mountain
Deep in California’s Trinity Alps, two firefighters battling a fast-moving blaze were gravely injured by a falling boulder. Their best option for survival: a four-person Coast Guard team adept at sea rescues.
The Lady and the Mountain Man
She was one of the most widely traveled women of the 19th century. He was a half-wild, one-eyed scoundrel. In the mountains of Colorado, they had a moment.
The Uraniumaire
Written off by government geologists, blackballed by the oil and gas industry, and nearly broke, Charlie Steen had something to prove: that huge deposits of radioactive uranium could be found near Moab, Utah. The mines he drilled would change his life—and the surrounding area—forever.
The Search of a Lifetime
In 1952, a vicious double murder at Crater Lake stunned the nation. The FBI and the Oregon State Police came up empty-handed. Then, 26 years ago, the granddaughter of one of the victims picked up the case.
Buster Keaton’s Last Stand
Production for The General involved guns, bombs, fires, and the blowing up of a bridge in a tiny Oregon town. When the filming was over, the comedic legend’s career was in tatters. Forty years later, the movie was hailed as a masterpiece.