Home Below Hell's Canyon

by Grace Jordan

During the depression days of the early 1930s the Jordan family—Len Jordan (later governor of Idaho and a United States senator), his wife Grace, and their three small children—moved to an Idaho sheep ranch in the Snake River gorge just below Hell's Canyon, the deepest scratch on the face of North America. "Cut off from the world for months at a time, the Jordans became virtually self-sufficient. Short of cash but long on courage, they raised and preserved their food, made their own soap, and educated their children."—Sterling North, New York World-Telegram " Home Below Hell's Canyon is valuable because it writes a little-known way of life into the national chronicle. We are put in touch with the kind of people who set the country on its feet and in the generations since have kept it there. . . . Primarily it is a book of courage and effort tempered by the warmth of those who trust in goodness and practice it."— Christian Science Monitor “The thrilling story of a modern pioneer family. . . . An intensely human account filled with fun, courage and rich family life.”— Seattle Post Intelligencer

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction

243 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1962

Reviews

[Vivian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A passing stranger raved about this book, which piqued my curiosity. When I got my hands on the book I settled in for a trip to the past. I was immediately drawn into the narrative as the author described the river journey with her infant and toddler sons and six year old daughter to the sheep ranch in remote Idaho near the Oregon border where her husband was establishing the livelihood they had chosen to weather the depression.

The following eight years brought many challenges and adventures. It is fascinating to read about the region, equipment, challenges, and ingenuity of these people and their neighbors.

I became curious about the place and found that there are lots of photos and some information using "Kirkwood Creek Idaho" as search terms, including these images: https://www.google.com/search?q=kirkw... . Not only that, but I also learned that the author went on to become the 23rd First Lady of Idaho, from 1950 to 1954.

There is so much to learn from and appreciate about this generation of Americans.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published 1954. A memoir about the years (approx 1933?to approx 1941 or 42) that Grace and her husband, Len and family spent in Hells Canyon at Kirkwood Ranch one of the few flat spots in that narrow steep canyon south of Pittsburg Landing on the Snake River. (Len went on to become Governor of Idaho and Senator in Washington.) Len was a sheep farmer who found the weather favorable for sheep in that remote area. The story is told from Grace’s point of view as a woman and mother. She had three children when she moved there, the youngest being about 18 months and the oldest being about 7. There were two ways to get in or out; over the “divide” that separated The Snake River Canyon from the Salmon River Canyon. It required horse ride of a full day to get to Lucille along the Salmon River and the road that would take people into Grangeville. The other way out was on the mail boat that came in once a week from Lewiston, except in high water, low water, and during ice flows. Much of their supplies came on the mail boat including their milk cow. (This was not a modern jet boat that easily goes up and down the river. I wonder how they ever got up the rapids.)

This account is full of charm and wit and motherly concern for all the various people who showed up on the front porch in hope of a meal. There was much ingenuity and self preservation required to exist in such seemingly primitive conditions. The three children were home schooled until the oldest was ready to enter High School when the family moved to Grangeville. Grace not only had to be the teacher to her children but also prepare three meals a day for the family and the swelling ranks of workers that would come at different times during the shearing and lambing season. A large vegetable garden and fruit and nut trees helped sustain them while living along the river, but also required tending and canning. She claims in her book to have canned (bottled) well over 1000 jars of preserves, on a wood stove in the heat of summer, mind you. After a few years, Len was able to devise a small generator that worked in one of the creeks close to the house, which gave them limited electricity for their radio and a couple light bulbs. This is a delightful account and one that will go on my favorites list. Perhaps I liked it because I have been to some of the places she describes. Jake and I visited the Kirkwood Ranch on our Jet Boat ride a couple years ago when he came up to visit during spud harvest.

I liked this quote about her daughter, aged 10, who had been trained to be self sufficient and creative during their years in the “Canyon.” On rare occasions Grace had to leave her daughter in charge of the two younger children and the house. A lady would come in to cook the meals for the ranch hands. “However, if I was obligated to be away, she did up all the ironing to make my absence shorter, and when I returned the house was sure to be in order and she and the boys in fresh clothes. This thoughtfulness I shall remember always. I am sure that if your children love you, that is velvet; and any sign of love should be treasured tenderly. Some children can hardly bear their parents, and it isn’t surprising. Parents can be tiresome, demanding, jealous and—worst of all—they can sometimes be quite false.”

[Cameron Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed Grace Jordan's "Home Below Hell's Canyon" and learned quickly to read between the lines at what was left unsaid as much as what was left said.

For anyone who loves Hell's Canyon, this is a must read. The terrain, the pace of life, the focus, the solitude and friendships. I also found it an interesting read on how Grace and Len ran a sheep ranch and supported a family.

For anyone else, this book is good if you like reading about family or family dynamics, ranching, and living remotely.

A side recommendation: I enjoyed "Temperance Creek" by Pam Royes a bit more, a memoir that also takes place in the same country.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A native Idahoan friend gave me an original 1954 published copy of this book to read after I blazed through Massacred for Gold (about the 1887 murder of 20+ Chinese miners at a camp in Hells Canyon) and The Big Burn by Tim Egan. It was a perfect personalized complement to the stories of big fires, death, cowboys, rural cover-ups, and establishing large federal institutions.

My favorite sections are her pride at white-washing the walls with an inventive talc-flour mixture and the headless deer that she chops into bits on her kitchen table. Dated but still enjoyable is her untiring housewifely-ness; her golly-gee way of thinking about communism, labor unions, and the Works Progress Administration; and her valuation of other women (admires their cooking, mocks the less educated and the very educated).

I wished I had known Grace there and then.

[CindySR · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a true account of a sheep herding family living on the border of Idaho and Oregon in the 1930s.
It's well written by the mother using diaries and memories. I couldn't decide if I liked the father, sometimes he was sweet, sometimes too wrapped up in his business. The many characters who passed through or worked for the family and the many friends and neighbors they had made their life lively and interesting. I liked how I could pick up this book and read a few chapters, then leave it for a week or two, then jump into it again like no time had passed.

[S.B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully Well-Written Account

Grace Jordan’s writing style is eloquent, with a strong voice. Her asides and descriptive language made me feel as though I was sitting down in a living room, listening to a grandmother recount her depression-era stories.

I’ve read truly terribly-written Idahoan memoirs, but this was fantastic. I will likely read this again.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young family’s adventure on a sheep ranch

A young couple with3 children take on a rugged sheep ranch in Hell’s Canyon in the 30’s during the depression. They’re remarkably hard working and resourceful. I particularly enjoyed their emphasis on education of their children with the correspondence classes and their travel in and out of the canyon.

[Joy Hubbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

These people had so much ... I just don't know the one word I'm looking for: guts, bravery, perserverance, drive, determination, ability, self-confidence, creativity, hospitality....maybe a bit of gall? ... to make such a life "work." This wonderfully-written story shares a bit of what it was like to live in the Snake River Canyon in the 1930s.
Thank you Diana for recommending this book.

[Kevin Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unbelievable story, what an author with vivid descriptions, hard to believe this wasn’t the 1800’s.

[Carolyn Pina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true story about the lives of a depression era sheep ranching family. Did it hold my interest? Very much! It was a well-told and interesting story.

[Susana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating local history. Engaging writer. Page turner.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

In spring 2013 I had my first opportunity to hike into Hells Canyon. In convoy with some backpacking friends, I drove over the somewhat harrowing Whitebird Summit and down the far side, dropping into the Snake River valley at Pittsburg Landing. From there we hiked the seven miles along the trail that winds along the cliff face, sometimes passing the little flat areas between the cliff and river that make the "bars," or only habitable areas along this vast stretch of the river. Finally we switchbacked down the steep grade to Kirkwood Bar, which during the 1930s was the home of the Jordan family.

Grace Jordan and her three small children came to Kirkwood in 1932, after her husband Len had bought the sheep ranch there that had been started by David Kirk in 1855, when there were almost no white men living in what was to become Idaho. Working hard to make a home there for her family while her husband ran herds of sheep between the river and Grangeville, Idaho, Grace oversaw the building of a new kitchen, the expansion of the house, and the hospitality extended to dozens, if not hundreds, of shepherds, cowboys, itinerants looking for work, census takers, forest rangers, and even a few newlyweds.

Grace made a home for her family at Kirkwood bar for almost 10 years, until the summer of 1941, when the US was on the brink of entering World War II and the oldest Jordan child, Patsy, was ready to start high school (Grace had home-schooled her children herself up to that point, using the "Calvert method"). The book ends at that point, which means that the reader only finds out by accident--like I did--that her sheepherding, ranching husband Len later became a United States Senator, and Governor of Idaho!

The book is very beautifully written; Grace Jordan had a very evocative way with the English language, and I think even someone who had not visited and camped at Kirkwood Ranch would be able to visualize "the canyon," as she often called it. Having been there I'm appalled at the thought of living there for the better part of a decade, your only connection with the outside world being by boat to Lewiston part of the year, or an arduous horse ride over "the divide" to the Salmon River town of Lucile and thence to Grangeville; fortunately there was a tenuous telephone party line connection to the latter town, and when the batteries could be charged, the Jordans had a radio which they could use for a little while each day. No doctors, no grocery stores, no roads--just livestock, predators, wanderers, and the white noise of the Snake River.

The main house at Kirkwood Ranch is now used as a residence by the National Park Service rangers who are stationed there; and the old bunkhouse is a museum to canyon life in the early 20th Century. I visited the latter with great interest while I was camped on the bar, but I lacked the context that this book gave me. Now I can't wait to go back and enjoy a richer experience of time travel back to the days when the Jordan family called Kirkwood their home.

[Cass · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1932, Len and Grace Jordan moved to a sheep ranch in Hell's Canyon and lived by the banks of the Snake River where they raised their three young children. Grace moved into a small log cabin with no electricity or any modern conveniences of the time. The running water into the house was piped in from a spring further up the mountain, washing was done on a wash board, and all cooking was done on a wood cook stove. Beside raising and home schooling her three children, she also prepared three meals a day for the hired help and sheep herders. She canned over 1000 jars of fruit, vegetables and meat each summer-boiling the meat and vegetables for 3 or more hours on the stove because this was before pressure cookers. Mail was brought in once a week by boat and they stayed connected with neighbors by visiting and with the use of a telephone. The only way in and out of their place was by boat down the Snake River to Lewiston or over high mountains to the Salmon River and Grangeville. Once when Grace had fallen and hit her head suffering from a serious injury, the family traveled up over the mountain and down to a neighbor's place by horse in deep snow in the middle of winter. There the neighbor took Grace and the children in his pickup to the bus in Lucille, ID which took them to Grace's parents house in Pendleton, OR. and a doctor. Len traveled back over the mountain to the lonely cabin with the horses. They had to plan the trip back to the ranch when the weather was clear enough to make the journey back between storms.

The Jordan's lived on their sheep ranch until 1940 when WWII started and they had trouble finding herders for their sheep. All the young men were going to war. Also their oldest child was old enough for high school so they sold the ranch and built a home in Grangeville. Len Jordan later became the 23rd governor of Idaho and US Senator in the 1950's.

This was a really interesting story.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting memoir of a woman and her three young children who go into the Hell's Canyon wilderness, and with her husband start a sheep ranch during the 1030's Great Depression. Everything had to be packed in by mules and horses with limited river access by boat during some seasons of the year. It is an amazing story of resourcefulness,courage and love. With an unusual mix of sheep herders, distant neighbors, and wildlife, and home-schooling. Hell's Canyon is bordered on two sides by Idaho and Oregon with the mighty Snake River running through it. The story begins in 1933 and continues into the early beginnings of WWII.

I recently returned from a rigorous ATV-four-wheeler ride down into Hells Canyon and visited the historic site of the Kirkwood Sheep Ranch and saw first-hand the home, bathtub and washbasin mentioned in the memoir. It was very exciting to see these things and more. It really made the book come "alive" for me. An interesting side note....Glen and Grace Jordan went on to become Governor an First Lady of the state of Idaho, which makes this book all the more amazing. She has written other memoirs of her life as well.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last summer my husband and I took a jet boat cruise along the Snake River through Hell's Canyon, the deepest gorge in the US. We ate lunch at Kirkwood Ranch. This book is about the young family that lived at Kirkwood Ranch--Len and Grace Jordan and their three children--during the Great Depression. It's a fascinating story. I only wish that some of the details were clearer. Grace wrote this memoir in the 1950's and things that her readers still remembered about the 1930's have been all but forgotten now. I also would have liked some photographs, but perhaps they didn't have a camera. Len Jordan later became the governor of Idaho, and a US Senator. My husband met him in Washington, D. C. during the Boy Scout Jamboree of 1964.

[Joyce Reynolds-Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent memoir about isolated ranch life in Hells Canyon during the Great Depression. One thing that Jordan excellently illustrates is the isolation and the challenges that getting in and out of their homestead in such a remote location. If the boat doesn't work, riding the horses or mules out might...if the weather is favorable. Then there's the question of managing young children and home schooling in an era when such education was mostly limited to isolated situations like this, where families lived so far away from a school that they depended on correspondence courses such as the Calvert Home Study Program. Good read.

[Michael Hildrum · Rating 4 out of 5]

An autobiographical piece of a depression era woman while she lived in/near Hell's Canyon, the deepest gorge on earth. What I really liked about it is that it wasn't really about anything in particular. Most autobiographies I have been exposed to deal with a presidential candidate, or a famous physicist or someon who had a main theme running through their lives. The only focus of this book is that she lived in a secluded canyon with perhaps a score of other families.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book about a family who, in the 1930s, moved to a ranch in very rugged terrain in Idaho, and of how they managed in primitive conditions. As a tourist, I travelled in Idaho in the late 1980s, and went on a jet boat trip up the Snake River, exiting the river near where this family had lived, just a bit below an area called Hell's Canyon. The dark, sheer cliffs made for a foreboding feeling!

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really motivated to read Grace Jordan's book because I have hiked the 6.5 mile trail in to the Kirkwood Ranch. I was not disappointed and found it a very interesting look into the the life she and her family lived at a sheep ranch in the isolated Snake River canyon in Idaho during the depression years.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating account of living in some of the most rugged country I can imagine, during the Depression. Since my ancestors lived here, too, I was completely hooked. I will keep this book for reference and inspiration.

[Jami · Rating 3 out of 5]

The whole time I read this I thought about my mother-in-law. Jaylon's family lived a similar story. How would it be to not be able to run to Walmart every week?

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

its about my girlfriend's family!

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

good local history about hard work, doing what's right, and being survivors

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story about a family's life in Hell's Canyons in the 1930's. It was a little dry and boring at times but whose life isn't?

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A favorite book! I loved hearing how this family lived in remote conditions.

[Jennifer-john · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm really enjoying this book. It's great to read about a different time and appreciate what you have now. Also helps you to realize whats important in this world.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read for those in Idaho, who can visualize the terrain and have experienced its beauty.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful story of life on the secluded Snake River below Hells Canyon in the 1930's. The writing brings the story to life.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A unique way of life, lonely and dangerous too!

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting account of an Idaho family