Mossback's Northwest

Mossback's Northwest

History Series / 6 Seasons

In each episode of “Mossback’s Northwest,” Knute Berger mines a particular Seattle historical or cultural nugget, and we learn about the hidden backstory behind it and why it’s still relevant today.

Watch Latest: S6 E8

5m 42s

Frank Waldron & the Jackson Street Jazz Scene

S6 E8 / 5m 42s

Frank Waldron was a fixture of Seattle’s Jazz Age Jackson Street scene. He taught trumpet as his studio near Rainier and Boren where his students included many jazz greats and Quincy Jones. He composed original music being rediscovered today. And he was a featured on the first Black music group to be allowed to play in downtown Seattle for white audiences, the Whangdoodle Orchestra.

Chief Joseph in Seattle

S6 E6 / 7m 16s

In 1903, Chief Joseph made a visit to Seattle at the request of his friend University of Washington professor Edmond Meany. The trip included a tour of Seattle, an epic UW football game, an iconic photograph taken by Edward Curtis and a plea to be allowed to return to his ancestral lands.

The Pig War

S6 E5 / 7m 7s

The killing of a British pig by an American settler triggered an international confrontation that almost set the U.S. and Britain to war in the 1850s. Did one soldier, who later became a Confederate general George Pickett, have an ulterior motive in the conflict?

Wyatt Earp

S6 E4 / 6m 37s

The West’s most famous lawman worked both sides of the street. He was a sheriff, but also a gambler. Earp soon found there were local rules he needed to play by if he wanted to stake a claim in Seattle.

Amundsen's Snowshoes

S6 E2 / 7m 11s

Norwegian Roald Amundsen was perhaps the greatest star of the so-called “golden age” of Arctic and Antarctic exploration and he used Seattle as a base for his efforts in the Arctic. And he left artifacts behind: parts of the airship and, at the National Nordic Museum, his snowshoes, are relics of his expedition.

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