Adirondack Characters And Campfire Yarns: Early Settlers And Their Traditions - Softcover

O'Hern, William J.

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9780974394312: Adirondack Characters And Campfire Yarns: Early Settlers And Their Traditions

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0974394319 ISBN 13: 9780974394312

Publisher: Forager Pr Llc, 2005

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Brief: Venture into the wilderness with French Louie and Alvah Dunning and learn about lesser known characters such as Old Lobb of Piseco Lake and Moose River Plains guide Slim Murdock. Travel the trapline with Richard Woods, E. J. Dailey and Burt Conklin, "the greatest trapper." Explore the turbulent waters of the West Canada Creek in search of trout, learn about the tools of the spruce gum trade, and find out why "the liars club" of Forestport called their get-togethers "parting with the dog." Adirondack Characters and Campfire Yarns fills a void in the recorded history of a seldom written-about region and the people who settled it.---- Detailed: For Immediate Release 8/1/05 The Forager Press, LLC is pleased to announce our newest publication, Adirondack Characters and Campfire Yarns by William J. O'Hern, a mosaic history of the lives and traditions of the settlers of the southern Adirondacks. The book is available in both the hard cover and perfect bound editions. The handsome 256-page book is a treasury of Adirondack history, folklore, and traditions with over seventy articles by nine different authors, including O'Hern, Lloyd Blankman, Mortimer Norton, and Harvey Dunham, the author of Adirondack French Louie. The book also features more than eighty vintage photographs. The articles are organized into three major “collections” rather than chapters: I) Adirondack Characters, II) Adirondack Traditions and III) Campfire Yarns. The book begins with profiles of “Great Adirondack Guides” and “Old Men of the Woods,” and introduces not-so-famous guides, Slim Murdock and Sam Dunakin, while adding to the legends of extraordinary mountain men such as “French Louie” and Alvah Dunning. A collection called “The Conklins of Wilmurt; A Pioneering North Woods Family,” chronicles the life and struggles of the descendants of Henry Conklin, a Civil War veteran who moved to the southern Adirondacks in 1845 and raised his family there. Their story is told through articles written by Lloyd Blankman, who interviewed the aged grandchildren of Henry in the 1950s and wrote about them, as well as their hunting, trapping and fishing experiences for The Courier, Clinton, NY. Blankman began writing columns for his hometown newspaper in 1953 under the banner “Adirondack Characters” after being inspired by Harvey Dunham’s 1952 book, Adirondack French Louie. The two writers became good friends. At the same time Blankman was writing for The Courier, Clinton, NY, Mortimer Norton was writing articles about fishing for the Utica Observer Dispatch. Coincidentally, Mortimer lived only a mile from Lloyd and they too became good friends. After Dunham and Norton passed away, Blankman dreamt of organizing his newspaper and magazine articles, along with articles by his friends, into a book. Sadly, he died before getting very far into the project. Through a series of coincidences, O’Hern resurrected Blankman’s vision, by joining his original writing with the enduring works of Blankman, Dunham, Norton and several of their contemporaries in Adirondack Characters and Campfire Yarns. Blankman’s articles make up the bulk of the vintage material along with dozens of previously unpublished photographs from his personal collection. In sections of the article “Burt Conklin—the Greatest Trapper,” the struggles of life on the trapline whisk you away into the frozen wilderness. In other articles, traditions lost to time, such as spruce gum picking, are illustrated in detail and we learn why one Adirondack spring got its name “Whiskey Spring!” Mortimer Norton’s contributions include vivid recollections of fishing the turbulent waters of the West Canada Creek and an entertaining sketch about “Old Lobb,” the eccentric hermit of Piseco Lake. Harvey Dunham’s article, “French Louie, an American Character” appeared in New York Folklore Quarterly in 1946, six years before the release of his famous book about the old woodsman. William J. O’Hern’s writing weaves seamlessly between the vintage articles, framing some stories, telling others. His work is clearly that of an aficionado of everything “Adirondack.” The last collection in the book, “Campfire Yarns,” features O’Hern’s colorful interpretations of one of his favorite Adirondack characters, the Rev. A. L. Byron-Curtiss. The stories and journals he wrote over the course of sixty years are a treasure trove which O’Hern has mined for the humorous anecdotes that form the basis for each of his “Campfire Yarns.” Adirondack Characters and Campfire Yarns not only fulfills Blankman’s dream, it fills a void in the recorded history of a seldom written-about region of the Adirondacks and the people who settled it.---- Blurb: Neal Burdick, Editor, Adirondac magazine ...be transported to Adirondack days and ways that will not come around again, except in pages such as these.

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About the Author:

A brief biography of William J. O'Hern Author of Adirondack Characters and Campfire Yarns William J. “Jay” O'Hern lives in rural Camden, New York, where he worked as an elementary school teacher for thirty-five years before retiring. He and his wife Bette have raised five children along with several horses, pigs, geese, dogs and cats. Today, in retirement they enjoy their many grandchildren. Jay is a graduate of SUNY Auburn and SUNY Oswego and did graduate work at SUNY Oswego and the College of St. Rose in Albany. Jay has also worked in the lumber, paper, chemical and metal fabricating industries. Carpentry, handicrafts, gardening, kayaking, backpacking, snowshoeing, mountain biking, and writing are his hobbies. Years of backpacking taught Jay the Adirondack Mountains' nooks and crags not only had natural beauty, but could be interesting historically. Jay became a 46er in the 1980s and has been a member of the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) since 1969. He lectured for Adirondack Discovery for 17 years, for Sagamore Lodge in Raquette Lake for 7 years and occasionally for the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mt. Lake. Jay's previously published books include: Life With Noah: Stories and Adventures of Richard Smith with Noah J. Rondeau (North Country Books); Anyplace Wild in the Adirondacks (a self-published book of postcards); and Adirondack Stories of the Black River Country (North Country Books). Articles written by Jay have appeared in the following magazines: Adirondack Life, Fur, Fish and Game, and Adirondac.

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