At first glance, Rex Ziak—a former logger with a high school education—seems an unlikely belle of a literary ball. But the first-time author's unconventional view of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's final approach to the Pacific Ocean stirred up a palpable buzz in Portland last month. At Holiday Cheer, the Oregon Historical Society's annual book fair, he more than held his own among local celebrities Jean Auel, Chuck Palahniuk and Ursula LeGuin.
With the four year-long Lewis and Clark bicentennial celebration kicking off this month, the timing for Ziak's self-published book, In Full View, couldn't be better. Fueled in part by splashy feature articles in the Oregonian and the Seattle Times, sales of the attractively designed, oversized hardcover have been brisk. "In the four years that I have been here, we've not had a book that has generated this kind of interest," said Lilia Villasenor, manager of the Oregon Historical Society museum store. "The phone rang off the hook for a full two weeks after Holiday Cheer, and 99% of the calls were to request the book, often sight unseen!"
Since the book's December 7 release, Ziak has criss-crossed the Northwest in his pickup truck, blowing through a third of his initial 6,000-copy print run in less than two months while traveling from store to store. "I can't keep it in stock, it's flying out the door," said Paul Merz, owner of Sandpiper Books in Long Beach, Wash. He added that he expects the first edition to become a collector's item.
"It's a beautiful book," agreed Jay Weaver, a buyer at Seattle's University Bookstore. "For a $35 hardcover that's not from a major publisher, we've sold it well." So has Powell's, according to backlist inventory supervisor Gerry Donaghy, who noted, "The word of mouth is really strong and is sustaining sales."
Ziak's maverick publishing journey is a tale of serendipity and chutzpah that's in keeping with the spirit of the original Corps of Discovery. But then, this freelance photographer and self-taught cinematographer, who won an Emmy for his work on the 1992 documentary Tall Ship: High Seas Adventure, is used to going his own way.
It all began when Ziak, who had always been fascinated by Lewis and Clark, stumbled on what he calls a "mathematical puzzle" related to the final leg of their expedition. Late in the fall of 1805, the explorers set out on their two-month journey by water from the Rockies to Fort Clatsop, Ore. But while they covered 500 miles of the distance in the first month, the remaining 20 miles took the entire second month.
"That's what pulled me in," said Ziak with a passion that makes it apparent why he's in demand as a lecturer and tour guide for such institutions as the Smithsonian. "Why did they spend 30 days going just this short little distance?" And why had no history books focused on this? He became doubly intrigued when he discovered that this final month—so fraught with danger that Clark himself called it "the most disagreeable time I have experienced"—was spent practically in Ziak's own backyard, along the lower Columbia River.
Working with British admiralty navigational charts of the period and relying on his own close scrutiny of text and terrain, he became convinced that conventional historical wisdom—which holds that Clark blundered when he wrote "Great joy in camp we are in View of the Ocean" in his journal on November 7—was just plain wrong. The geography at the mouth of the Columbia has changed over the centuries, he contends, and the Corps of Discovery could and did first see the ocean from their campsites along the Washington border. "In Full View," said Ziak, "is my attempt to reveal this hidden portion of Lewis and Clark's history."
Ziak is also spearheading a lobbying effort to re-route part of Highway 101 in order to preserve this slice of Lewis and Clark lore. "Here are two of the most famous people in American history, who camped in at least six different campsites in this area as near as I can tell, and there are no signs, no markers," he said.
Although he received expressions of serious interest from several publishers, including Sasquatch Books in Seattle, Ziak hesitated when they projected publication in fall 2003—long after he was scheduled to speak at the Lewis and Clark bicentennial commemoration hosted by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello on January 18. "All my friends said, 'You have to find a way to take the book to Monticello,' " said Ziak. The solution, he decided, was to borrow funds, enlist the aid of graphic designer and old friend Kate Hawley, and launch Moffitt House Press (866-9711-0240; www.moffitthousepress.com).
While gratified with his endeavor's success so far, Ziak is open to the possibility of handing the project over to another publisher. "I would be more at liberty to take advantage of the speaking opportunities coming my way," he said, remaining philosophical about what may be around the next bend. "This is all unknown territory."
