Our frontier novels are books describing life and adventures
in a wilderness. The wilderness may be the early 1900's
in Canada or the Wild West, or it may be the early 1800's
in the Appalachian Mountains of Western Pennsylvania. It
could be set in the 1930's in the Rocky Mountains. To be
put on the Frontier Novels shelf, a book can not be completely
set in civilized society, and must describe some aspect
of the history of the American frontier. There must be some
element of "roughing it" within the book so that we, the
readers, can learn how to snow shoe and survive in a blizzard
by building an igloo and digging in with pipe and a good
fire, or how to ford a stream in winter. Imagine living
in a log cabin in the woods, far from others, with hand
hewn log furniture, pictures cut from magazines or calendars
used to humbly decorate, stream water for cooking, and a
long trek out into the wilderness in the hunt for food.
If you ever wanted to know what to do in a forest fire,
or how to build your own log cabin, if you wondered could
you fight off those who would take your land, or how to
help your neighbor during a small pox epidemic - these are
the books to read. And remember, it's Tougher In Alaska!
The
Golden Snare, By
James Oliver Curwood is a tale of high adventure in the Canadian wilderness in the early 1900's. When Seargant Phillip Raine of the Northwest Mounted Police finds the golden snare he embarks on a dangerous journey to discover its origins. From dog sled, to snow shoes, across barrens and through blizzards, he risks his life to track down Bram Johnson and learn the fate of the owner of the golden snare.
Best Selling author, James Oliver Curwood, once again spins a tale that takes the reader through forests and across the vast Northern wilderness of upper Canada. Having lived these stories himself, Curwood authentically writes of the wild ruggedness of the land and the people in his timeless stories and characters.
Over twenty of James Oliver Curwood’s books were made into movies during the 20th Century. This book includes the original photos from the classic movie of the same name, made in in 1921 staring Lewis Stone as Philip Raine, Wallace Beary as Bram and Ruth Renick as Celie. Our version of this book, republished from an original, contains restored images from the movie showing Ruth Renick as Celie on the front cover.
The Flaming Forest by James
Oliver Curwood, is a rip-roaring tale of travel through thousands of miles of Canadian wilderness with a forest fire and of course a love story all combined
to bring a book that you can not put down. A Royal Northwest Canadian Mounty always gets his man. Or does he? Will David Carrigan catch Black Roger Audemard and escape his captors? Read to find out!
Originally printed in 1921, This book captures the spirit of the times and the great Canadian wilderness. It contains lovely, old lithographs that have been restored for lighting and clarity!
The Flaming Forest was made into a movie in 1926 by director Reginald Barker, staring Antonio Moreno as Sergeant David Carrigan, Renée Adorée as Jeanne-Marie, and Gardner James as Roger Audemard. Here you can see the original movie artwork.
The Honor of the Big Snows
Out of the night came Jan and into the lives of all those at the company post in the Canadian Northland. The mystery of Jan unravels as he faces life at the remote outpost, a smallpox outbreak at the camp, and his own hidden past.
This book by
James Oliver Curwood deals with a complex and unorthodox story around Jan. A story known in the backwoods but not talked of then, and the same story not talked of today. Many people will identify with Jan and his search for his honor.
This is the book that inspired
me to take up snow-shoeing. In this book, the main
character Jan is racing through the woods to alert
the frontier inhabitants that a small pox epidemic
is upon them. Curwood writes that his snow shoes went
"zip, zip, zip" through the snow. So, I bought myself a pair of old-fashioned wooden snow
shoes, took them up to the meadows on Mt. Rose (at
about 8,000 ft. altitude) and proceeded to snow shoe
off for the sumit where I could see Lake Tahoe. Well,
my snow shoes did not make the "zip, zip, zip" sound
as described so I thought that Curwood had overstated
the concept. But much to my amazement, after a year
of snow shoeing up to that summit, I finally did hear
the "zip, zip, zip". I just needed to be going fast
enough and by the second year I was zipping away. ~Marcella Parsons
The Country Beyond by James
Oliver Curwood. "A glass of wine once lost a kingdom, a nail turned the tide of a mighty battle, and a woman’s smile once upon a time destroyed the homes of a million people. Thus have trivial things played their potent parts in the history of human lives; yet these things Peter did not know."
. . .
Once again, James Oliver Curwood spins a tale of adventure and romance in the Canadian wilderness with an interesting twist. In this book, the good are not so very good, and the bad becomes the heroe in the end. "The Law" puts Jolly Roger on the run, separating him from his love, Nada. Peter, the half Airedale, half Mackenzie hound called "Pied-Bot" is torn between the two and determined to protect both against all enemies, man or beast. This is a heart-rending tale of love and heroics between a man, a woman and their little dog, Peter.
The beloved story of The Country Beyond was made into a movie in 1926 and again in 1936 with a slightly different story for the 1936 version, but based on the original.
Hello Folks, our frontier books happen to mention the items below, so we thought we would display them as they are now and you can read the books to see how they were over 100 years ago.
The best resource on the web for more information about frontier life in America during the late 1800's or early 1900's is the History Channel website. There you can find books, movies, and other items packed full of information on this time in history.
The Hudson Bay Company was established in 1670 by charter from King Charles II of England extending throughout New World lands which are now Canada and the United States MidWest and Western states. Many of the books that you will find on our Frontier Shelf mention Hudson Bay Company trading posts. You can read the full history of the Hudson Bay Company here and see what the company has become from the link to the right.
Lake Champlain is mentioned many times in James Oliver Curwood's novels as his heroes either trek to or from the great Lake. We thought you might like to try some Lake Champlain chocolates as you read a good Curwood novel. But don't eat too many!
You won't find the characters in Curwood's books wearing jeans, but rather deerskin or leather with fringe. We are working on publishing a series of Harold Bell Wright books that are written at a slightly later time than Curwood's novels. In Harold Bell Wright's novels, no self respecting cowboy would be caught in anything but jeans and chaps when out on the range. One of the oldest companies making jeans is what is known to most as the Lee jeans company, but in actuality is the H.D. Lee Company. Here is a brief history and then you can see the company as it is today from the link to the right. Henry David Lee was born in Vermont on Dec 9, 1849. Moving to Ohio at the age of 16, Lee became a successful merchant in the town of Galion with the Central Oil Co. of Galion. Lee moved to Salina, KS and started the Lee Mercantile Company in 1889. By 1915 he had opened a factory in Kansas City with an clothing line that included overalls, work jackets and blue denim pants. The company became the H.D. Lee Company in 1942.
Our Frontier books describe the beautiful, majestic wilderness of the Canadian and U.S. - mountains, rivers, streams, meadows, plains, and valleys - found across both countries. If you have never seen this wilderness, view the calendars of our National Parks, from the link to the right, to get an idea of the incredible landscape described in our Frontier books. Or, you can find beautiful vintage lithographs of Yosemite National Park at our new site: www.vintage-american.com.
And finally, since many of James Oliver Curwood's and Harold Bell Wright's books were made into movies, we thought you might like to view them before or after reading the book.
The
Golden Snare
The Flaming Forest
The Honor of the Big Snows
This is the book that inspired
me to take up snow-shoeing. In this book, the main
character Jan is racing through the woods to alert
the frontier inhabitants that a small pox epidemic
is upon them. Curwood writes that his snow shoes went
"zip, zip, zip" through the snow. So, I bought myself a pair of old-fashioned wooden snow
shoes, took them up to the meadows on Mt. Rose (at
about 8,000 ft. altitude) and proceeded to snow shoe
off for the sumit where I could see Lake Tahoe. Well,
my snow shoes did not make the "zip, zip, zip" sound
as described so I thought that Curwood had overstated
the concept. But much to my amazement, after a year
of snow shoeing up to that summit, I finally did hear
the "zip, zip, zip". I just needed to be going fast
enough and by the second year I was zipping away. ~Marcella Parsons
The Country Beyond
