'The Log School-House on the Columbia' is a semi-fictional novel about the American Settlers era by Hezekiah Butterworth. The author used information from interviews that he did with early pioneers who settled in the Rockies and on to the Columbia River to create an entirely new story that is meant to convey the relationship between the European settlers and the Native Americans during that time. Several characters that play a major part in the book are Gretchen, a German orphan girl; Mrs. Woods, who takes care of her; and Marlowe Mann, the schoolmaster who intends to assist the Native Americans by being a missionary.