David Douglas’s Nine Lives

Date/Time
Apr/14/2014
6:00 pm

Location
Spokane Public Library, South Hill Branch

Between 1823-1835, Scottish naturalist David Douglas traveled all over the western hemisphere collecting flora and fauna for the London Horticultural Society. He did much of his best work in the Pacific Northwest, including around Spokane, where his contacts with local fur traders and tribal families resulted in a flood of key information about our native landscape.

Douglas met his demise in a spectacular and mysterious manner while on the big island of Hawaii, but he had several close calls in our region as well. This slide presentation will focus on why he managed to stay alive here, what his collections mean to us today, and the search to find out what really happened at the scene of his death.