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Back to God's Country
Purchase one of 1st World Library's Classic Books and help support our free internet library of downloadable eBooks. Visit us online at www.1stWorldLibrary.ORG - - When Shan Tung, the long-cued Chinaman from Vancouver, started up the Frazer River in the old days when the Telegraph Trail and the headwaters of the Peace were the Meccas of half the gold-hunting population of British Columbia, he did not foresee tragedy ahead of him. He was a clever man, was Shan Tung, a cha-sukeed, a very devil in the collecting of gold, and far-seeing. But he could not look forty years into the future, and when Shan Tung set off into the north, that winter, he was in reality touching fire to the end of a fuse that was to burn through four decades before the explosion came. With Shan Tung went Tao, a Great Dane. The Chinaman had picked him up somewhere on the coast and had trained him as one trains a horse. Tao was the biggest dog ever seen about the Height of Land, the most powerful, and at times the most terrible. Of two things Shan Tung was enormously proud in his silent and mysterious oriental way - of Tao, the dog, and of his long, shining cue which fell to the crook of his knees when he let it down. It had been the longest cue in Vancouver, and therefore it was the longest cue in British Columbia.
- GenresFiction
252 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1920
About the author
James Oliver Curwood
441 books127 followersBorn in Owosso, Michigan he left high school without graduating but was able to pass the entrance exams to the University of Michigan where he studied journalism. In 1900, Curwood sold his first story while working for the Detroit News-Tribune. By 1909 he had saved enough money to travel to the Canadian northwest, a trip that provided the inspiration for his wilderness adventure stories. The success of his novels afforded him the opportunity to return to the Yukon and Alaska for several months each year that allowed him to write more than thirty such books.
By 1922, Curwood's writings had made him a very wealthy man and he fulfilled a childhood fantasy by building Curwood Castle in Owosso. Constructed in the style of an 18th century French chateau, the estate overlooked the Shiawassee River. In one of the home's two large turrets, Curwood set up his writing studio. Curwood also owned a camp in a remote area in Baraga County, Michigan, near the Huron Mountains.
An advocate of environmentalism, Curwood was appointed to the Michigan Conservation Commission in 1926. The following year, while on a Florida fishing trip, Curwood was bitten on the thigh by what was believed to have been a spider and had an immediate allergic reaction. Health problems related to the bite escalated over the next few months and infection set in that led to his death from blood poisoning.
Interred in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Owosso, his Curwood Castle is now a museum. During the first full weekend in June of each year, the city of Owosso holds the Curwood Festival to celebrate the city's heritage . Also in his honor, a mountain in L'Anse Township, Michigan was given the name Mount Curwood, and the L'Anse Township Park was renamed Curwood Park.
By 1922, Curwood's writings had made him a very wealthy man and he fulfilled a childhood fantasy by building Curwood Castle in Owosso. Constructed in the style of an 18th century French chateau, the estate overlooked the Shiawassee River. In one of the home's two large turrets, Curwood set up his writing studio. Curwood also owned a camp in a remote area in Baraga County, Michigan, near the Huron Mountains.
An advocate of environmentalism, Curwood was appointed to the Michigan Conservation Commission in 1926. The following year, while on a Florida fishing trip, Curwood was bitten on the thigh by what was believed to have been a spider and had an immediate allergic reaction. Health problems related to the bite escalated over the next few months and infection set in that led to his death from blood poisoning.
Interred in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Owosso, his Curwood Castle is now a museum. During the first full weekend in June of each year, the city of Owosso holds the Curwood Festival to celebrate the city's heritage . Also in his honor, a mountain in L'Anse Township, Michigan was given the name Mount Curwood, and the L'Anse Township Park was renamed Curwood Park.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 8, 2023
This story seems to be written to fast. At times it felt like a cheap slapstick with lots of drama. Not for me, but okay to read.
December 30, 2025
One of the biggest selling authors in America during his time, James Oliver Curwood is far from being a household name today, whereas Jack London - a contemporary who he obviously owed a significant debt to if this collection is anything to go on - continues to be celebrated.
The title story here is probably his most famous one, helped by various movie adaptations. The similarities to Call of the Wild are too apparent to be accidental, but it has plenty to recommend it on its own merits.
Wapi the Walrus is a ferocious dog descended from a Great Dane and brutalised by mistreatment. Softened by a tenderness of a woman in distress, Dolores Keith, the pugnacious pooch helps the heroine and her sick husband escape the clutches of a wilderness villain who trades women.
What marks the story out is how Dolores effectively plays the man's role in the adventure, using her courage and intelligence to effect an escape across a snow-bound landscape, ably assisted by the smitten Wapi. It's rightly considered a classic.
Most of the stories are based in the rugged country around Reindeer Lake in Western Canada. I enjoyed most of them, although occasionally the heroism was overripe, especially in the coward's revenge yarn 'The Yellow-back,' where the instrument of vengeance made Charles Bronson look like Charles Hawtrey.
The women are all strong-limbed, longhaired lovelies who evoke primal passions and fierce rivalries amongst those flinty frontiersmen. A few featured members of the Royal Mounted Police, not all of them noble of character.
Needless to say, the ignoble don't always get their man.
The title story here is probably his most famous one, helped by various movie adaptations. The similarities to Call of the Wild are too apparent to be accidental, but it has plenty to recommend it on its own merits.
Wapi the Walrus is a ferocious dog descended from a Great Dane and brutalised by mistreatment. Softened by a tenderness of a woman in distress, Dolores Keith, the pugnacious pooch helps the heroine and her sick husband escape the clutches of a wilderness villain who trades women.
What marks the story out is how Dolores effectively plays the man's role in the adventure, using her courage and intelligence to effect an escape across a snow-bound landscape, ably assisted by the smitten Wapi. It's rightly considered a classic.
Most of the stories are based in the rugged country around Reindeer Lake in Western Canada. I enjoyed most of them, although occasionally the heroism was overripe, especially in the coward's revenge yarn 'The Yellow-back,' where the instrument of vengeance made Charles Bronson look like Charles Hawtrey.
The women are all strong-limbed, longhaired lovelies who evoke primal passions and fierce rivalries amongst those flinty frontiersmen. A few featured members of the Royal Mounted Police, not all of them noble of character.
Needless to say, the ignoble don't always get their man.
July 10, 2025
Nice to read when it's hot! Tales of the far far north.
December 9, 2025
Classic. One of the best. Great short stories
November 5, 2013
It started off promising for me; Canadian, adventure, mystery, love and of days gone by. The second story similar to the first with name and scenario changes. Third? Forth? Then I quit reading it... I saw a pattern which I now refer as Northern Canadian harlequin romance novel. Not a fan of Harlequin Romances. Gave the book a 3 since it mentioned my hometown.
March 12, 2010
This is for your lovers of a dramatic treatment, nature lovers, students of the times and the culture in the French Canadian Northwest wilderness, students of the faces of humanity in remote isolation. Black-and-white plates "from the photoplay." (c) 1920.
August 8, 2024
Wonderful tales of the Canadian north
If you have never read anything about the Canadian Northwest this will be a treat and for those of you that have you will love all of these stories and of course the very last one is the best so down load and enjoy.
If you have never read anything about the Canadian Northwest this will be a treat and for those of you that have you will love all of these stories and of course the very last one is the best so down load and enjoy.
April 12, 2021
A dull story that failed to hook me all the way.
Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/20...
Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/20...
May 9, 2017
El cuento El regreso era bien fome, pero La locura de John Harner, de Jack London, era bien bueno.
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June 30, 2017Read this book online for free through Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4539/4...
November 28, 2018
These are very interesting stories, with the life of the backwoods folk in Canada somewhat romanticized, but generally delightful for all that. They're quick reads, and in each one there is an idealized woman with long, shining hair and blue eyes. They are, because of the era in which they were written, a bit heavy on the superiority of the "white" man, and if read with anger or disgust because of their seeming un p.c.ness, will not bring the sense of the joy and hardships of that life so fully to the awareness.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews