Mossback
The Tree Stump Craze That Swept the Northwest
During the timber boom, opportunists turned the remains of old-growth trees into homes and postcard spectacles.
Knute Berger
Knute “Mossback” Berger is an editor-at-large and host of "Mossback’s Northwest" at Cascade PBS. He writes about politics and regional heritage.
Latest work
Mossback
Mossback's Northwest: In the 1940s, Seattle embraced the Confederacy
Rebel flags once flew over Fifth Avenue — and it wasn't just about the 'Gone With the Wind' premiere.
Mossback
When the Confederacy Came to Seattle
Decades after the Civil War, southern sympathizers sought to rewrite history. Knute Berger explains how those efforts were received in the Northwest.
Mossback
The Case of the Pickled Orca
Long before an industry was built around capturing orcas, a tragic encounter between a wayward whale and humanity foretold decades of exploitation.
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Mossback's Northwest: How the New Deal dealt our region a new hand
Washington is still impacted by the 1933 decision, which brought the West from the frontier period into a new, modern century.