Back to God's Country

by James Oliver Curwood, 1st World Library (Editor)

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.

Genres: Fiction

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1920

About the author

Born 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.

Reviews

[Chantal · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice to read when it's hot! Tales of the far far north.

[Pawel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic. One of the best. Great short stories

[Richard Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Alex T. · Rating 2 out of 5]

A dull story that failed to hook me all the way.

Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/20...

[Samantha Glasser]

Read this book online for free through Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4539/4...

[Nancy Davison · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.