Lacey Parks Events
The Evolution of the Northwest Passage as a Cartographic Image: 1753-1853
November 13 | 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Lacey,
WA, USA
Nov. 13, 2025 6:30 pm
Nov. 13, 2025 7:30 pm
America/Los_Angeles
Lacey Parks Events
Join Dave Nicandri for a presentation about the Northwest Passage as a Cartographic Image from 1753 – 1853. After centuries of failure to discover long-sought-for-passage, the following generation built the equivalent, in the form of the Northern Pacific and Canadian Pacific railroads. Hybrid Format: Come in person to Lacey City Hall, Council Chambers or join online. Registration required for online attendance only. Doors open at 6:00 p.m.
Lacey City Hall, Council Chambers
Hybrid Format: Come in person to Lacey City Hall, Council Chambers or join online. Registration required for online attendance only. Doors open at 6:00 p.m.
Program Description
After centuries of failure in the attempt to discover the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic side of North America, in 1776 the British Admiralty commissioned Captain Cook’s third voyage to look for this fabled gateway from the “backside” of the continent, that is, via the Pacific Ocean. Cook “failed” to find an Arctic passage, but the concept had such a grip on the popular imagination that a series of maritime and terrestrial explorers (including George Vancouver and Lewis & Clark) tried their hands at several successor versions, which also came to naught. When nature refused to provide the long-sought-for-passage, the following generation built the equivalent, in the form of the Northern Pacific and Canadian Pacific railroads.
Speaker
David Nicandri is the former director of the Washington State Historical Society, having served in that capacity from 1987 to 2011, when he retired from that position. The Washington State History Museum in downtown Tacoma, which opened in 1996, was his signature achievement.
In recent years Dave has authored several books that inform his talk: River of Promise: Lewis and Clark on the Columbia (2009); Lewis and Clark Reframed: Examining Ties to Cook, Vancouver, and Mackenzie (2020); Captain Cook Rediscovered: Voyaging to the Icy Latitudes (2020); and Discovering Nothing: In Pursuit of an Elusive Northwest Passage (2024).
Dave has two more books in development: “From Juan de Fuca to John C. Fremont: Exploring Northwest Geography, Real and Imagined;” and “The Northwest and Other Passages: Tales from the North.”