What are you reading?

[Seeker]

I just picked up an autographed 1908 version (5th printing?) of Dillon Wallace's "Lure of the Labrador Wild", concerning the fate of Leonidas Hubbard. Wow, what a sad story. I'm only a quarter of the way through... we are SO lucky to have satellite photography, SPOT, freeze dried rations, modern fabrics, and carbon fiber canoes... at this point, they've been out 15 days, have covered 80 miles (basically lining up what turns out to be the wrong river), and are both sick. I know Hubbard dies in the end. Wallace wrote a couple books (Packing and Portaging is another good one)... not sure what happened to their hired guy, George... Very good reading so far.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I know I know!!!! But it would spoil your reading.

No peeking

http://arctic.synergiesprairies.ca/arctic/index.php/arctic/article/view/1751

 

[Seeker]

I peeked anyway! Thanks Kim... I enjoyed that... I already knew how the expedition turned out from having first read Wallace's other book, Packing and Portaging. But as I was reading 'Lure', even I, inexperienced as I am (or maybe not) got concerned over their lack of spare moccasins, shotgun, and small size of the party... However, Wallace points out a lot of that sort of thing as it went, deliberately foreshadowing the disaster... still unpleasant to read... almost like a horror movie ("no, don't open that door." "don't go outside." killer strikes. "see? told you so.") I couldn't put the book down last night... finally fell asleep over it at around midnight (2 hours past bedtime!)

I had always thought both of them were fairly seasoned wilderness veterans, but I guess not. Can't really understand why Wallace and Elson lasted so much longer than Hubbard... but I guess maybe his being sick so much didn't help matters... Elson's endurance amazes me... he worked harder than either of the other two, did most of the scouting, apparently all of the cooking (wonder if he was sneaking a little extra food there), and most of the canoe carrying, at least at first.

Now I'm kind of interested in reading "Return to the Labrador Wild" and Mina Hubbard's account of her trip as well. Good stuff.

 

[memaquay]

I've read The Woman Who Mapped Labrador,a most excellent read. The difference between Mina's successful trip and her husband's disaster was that Mina hired Native guides and seldom questioned their judgement. The British and the Americans often met with disaster because they wouldn't adopt the Native ways of travel back in the day. I can't remember the name of the head guide, think it might have been Iserhoff....we have quite a few iserhoff's around here, descendants of Russian fur traders and the Cree, usually big strong good looking fellows. One of the writers intimates that Mina might have gotten jiggy with the head guide. She certainly kept in touch with him for many years afterward.

I've read some opinions somewhere, can't remember where, that some people now believe that Hubbard might have ultimately succumbed to beaver fever.

 

[Seeker]

I've read The Woman Who Mapped Labrador,a most excellent read. The difference between Mina's successful trip and her husband's disaster was that Mina hired Native guides and seldom questioned their judgement.

That's the book. thanks. Her guide, if I understand it right, was the same George Elson who went with her husband. Check out yellowcanoe's link, which gives the story. Mina started earlier in the year than her husband had and, in concert with what you said about listening to her guides, probably took an easier (the correct) route and adequate supplies. I never could figure out why they didn't take 4 men and 2 canoes... anyway, they didn't, and the rest is tragedy.

I've read some opinions somewhere, can't remember where, that some people now believe that Hubbard might have ultimately succumbed to beaver fever.

I started to wonder about his frequent bouts with diarrhea as the story went on... he must have been so much weaker than the other two (Elson and Wallace) for them to have done so much more work during the trek out, as well as their ultimate survival and his death. Never thought about it being giardia.

 

[roadends]

Ok we need to stop this thread. My amazon wishlist is growing faster with every post you folks make here . Currently for me I have been reading "True North" by Elliot Merrick and recently finished "The Lure of Faraway Places: Reflections on Wilderness and Solitude" by herb Pohl.

 

[Guest]

I found this in a gift shop at Cape Hatteras this past summer. “The Hattersman” by Ben Dixon MacNeill, is a fascinating book. It covers the history of this section of the Outer Banks, told by someone who moved to this part of America, and was captured by its folk history, people, and its charms.
“Ben Dixon MacNeill knew the real Cape Hatteras – a skinny, wind scoured strip of sand with a few fishing enclaves. It’s always been a place of strange stories and stranger characters, although nowadays you have to look harder to find them.”
Although much of this region has been won over by tourism of different sorts, such as fishing charters, rental beach houses, and restaurants; on my next trip back, I’m going to look harder to find the fading cultural history the author speaks of.

 

[Guest]

INDIAN BOYHOOD by Charles Eastman

It's been a while since I read it, but I've long thought it might be of interest here.

During the 1800s Indian Wars in the western US, Eastman's father was captured and imprisoned. That man's Eastern Dakota community and family, including young Eastman, fled NE, to southern Canadian woodlands, where Eastman grew to about age 15 without connection to the larger American culture.

After release the boy's father located his family and told his son to prepare himself for what was to come. Following instruction the boy walked hundreds of miles to what is now South Dakota, and he enrolled in a missionary school. Some years and schools later he graduated from Dartmouth College, where he became, among other things, a track star. Then it was off to Boston College for a medical degree.

The new and newly married doctor was the resident doctor at the Pine Ridge Reservation's at the time of the early 1890s Wounded Knee Massacre.

Subsequently he practiced medicine privately, became a lobbyist in Washington, DC and established a summer camp for boys in the northern midwest US.

Along the way he wrote a series of books about his life before formal education. More likely he wrote them with his wife, Elaine Goodale Eastman of Northampton(MA), a talented writer.

These books still breath life into the pretty rigid popular conception of traditional Indians and Indian life. IB has plenty of adventure and action. And while anyone who has had something to do with boys and boyhood will find the familiar, there are sides which are not, and these maybe are the most suggestive about the matter which is at the bottom of all all other matters, the human spirit.

 

[Guest]

I love flea markets as much, maybe more than my wife. We spend hours wandering around, she looking at this, me looking at that. We always wind up meeting at the book section. Two hearts the same? She looks for cook books of every pedigree, while I search for lost treasures in fiction. I've found classics, and books that should have been classics. This book fits neither category, but it's a fun and youthful read. "Canoe Mates In Canada or Three Boys Afloat on The Saskatchewan" is a boy's story, and very dated. I can't find a date, but I'd guess it was written and published in the 1920's? I wander from text books to literary classics, and sometimes dip into children's stuff as well. Why pick fruit from only one tree? Here's how Wikipedia describes the author.
St. George Rathborne Prolific American dime novelist and series book author. Likely produced in excess of 330 volumes of fiction in the course of a 60 year career. He had a strong proclivity for and obvious skill in producing outdoor adventure stories, and his best works fall within that category.

 

[oldie moldy]

Well you guy's are so darn smart!! Reading all these big, thick, historical books!
Me? I'm just trying to get through the dark of winter in one piece. I was looking at the new book section in the local library and stumbled across "Something Red" Nicholas Douglas. The guy's a poet and his story telling is so vivid, the scenes he presents, it's almost like you could step into them. 13th century England and a real bloody monster!! WOW! I'm not at all into Hollywood scare movies and the like but this tale is so beyond that rubbish there's no comparison. If you ever want to unbend and give your goose bumps a workout and enjoy a rich 4,000 calorie story this is the one!!

Best Wishes,

Rob

 

[Canoeguitar]

Just finished reading R.M. Patterson's "Trail To The Interior", which is a great portrait of the Cassiar area of B.C. (Stikine River, Liard River, Dease Lake). He weaves together the history of the area, surrounding the fur trade and gold rush era, with his own experiences travelling the region by riverboat and canoe in 1948.

If you haven't yet read his book "The Dangerous River", about his two year stint travelling and living on the Nahanni River in the 1920's, it is a classic.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I am still reading RM Pattersons book "Finlay's River". I promised to recycle it to Robin eons ago.

 

[Canoeguitar]

YC - I've got "Finlay's River" in the collection also, but haven't read it yet. Maybe a good one to bring along on next year's 'season opener'.

I've started into "David Thompson's Narrative", which chronicles his explorations from 1784-1812. At 600 pages or so it's a bit of a daunting book, but perfect to settle into as winter begins to tighten its grip.

 

[Guest]

DECIDUOUS FORESTS of EASTERN NORTH AMERICA by Lucy Braun.
Not a canoe tripping book, but most of us paddle thru the subject at one time or another, and this is one of the best programs you can buy at the gate: here's the players, the teams and the game. After 63 years the book is still called the "bible" in its field, with excellence, comprehensiveness and authority unrivaled.

Only one of Braun's ideas has been successfully challenged. That one was her theory that these forests are very, very, very old. Now we know that in fact they are only pretty old.
The author's own history is one to remember. A botanist and ecologist, in the 1930s and 40s she traveled the vast study area on foot, by car, by coal train, by ox drawn wagon, by boat and by whatever other means were available. These were the days before reasonable long distance travel in difficult regions. They also were the days when almost no other women traveled this way and in these places. More than that, no one else, woman or man, was trying to do what she did, gain wide first hand experience and understanding of the continent's remaining primeval eastern deciduous forests in their last days.

Accompanied by her sister and sister PhD, entomologist Annette, she was a pioneer in both science and personal achievement.

 

[DaveOR]

Cache Lake Country: John Rowlands (1947)
Woman of the Boundary Waters: Canoeing, Guiding, Mushing, Surviving: Justine Kerfoot (1994)

Just finished several by Sigurd Olsen:
Wilderness Days (1972)
The Lonely Land (1961)
Listening Point (1958)

On deck:
Upriver & Down: Stories From The Maine Woods: Edmund Ware Smith (1965)
The Kenai Canoe Trails: Alaska's Premier Hiking and Canoeing System: Daniel Quick

Dave

 

[ppine]

"Six Years with a Government Mule" the story of a packer in OR in the 1950s.
Mike Clelland backpacking books with the cartoons in them. Ultralight backpacking seems foreign at first, but I am warming up to some of the ideas after 50 years of participating in the sport.

 

[ppine]

"Undaunted Courage" is one of the great books every written about the outdoors, exploration, resources, and leadership.

 

[sweeper]

Heading to Algonquin this year I've been reading a few of Kevin Callan's books. I like his style and added humor, he doesn't promoting ultra light or high tech equipment, just common sense gear.

 

[Guest]

"Down the Great Unknown" - John Wesley Powell's 1869 journey through the Grand Canyon…… "Sign-Talker" - The story of George Drouillard, the third most important member of the Lewis & Clark expedition….."A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson - hilarious account on the Appalachian Trail.

 

[Clem]

I have a copy "Chips from a Wilderness Log" by Calvin Rutstrum and am looking for some of his other books. I agree with tech on "A Walk In The Woods" by Bryson, excellent read, as are most of his books.