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The Blazed Trail
Action, adventure tale set against 19th century timber industry in Michigan. Individual against company.
413 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1902
About the author
Stewart Edward White
602 books27 followersFrom about 1900 until about 1922, he wrote fiction and non-fiction about adventure and travel, with an emphasis on natural history and outdoor living. Starting in 1922, he and his wife Elizabeth "Betty" Grant White wrote numerous books they claimed were received through channelling with spirits. They also wrote of their travels around the state of California. White died in Hillsborough, California.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 12, 2018
Good adventure story which, as with the other stories by this recently discovered author, provides a host of true-ringing background details - this one is about the (19th-Century) logging industry. Four stars if it had not been for the slightly disappointing happy ending: fortune lost on the ground - the build-up of the entire story; fortune regained in the market place - one paragraph on the last page - disappointingly skimpy.
May 20, 2016
One of my Book Alcove finds. For $5 I was glad to try out a new author.
I was not disappointed in the writing. White's novel offers the scent of the outdoors, the urge to get the logs down the river, the emotions of the men while and after they are cooped up in camp for too long—in short, it's like going back in time and setting foot in a very rough, colorful camp.
I was not disappointed in the writing. White's novel offers the scent of the outdoors, the urge to get the logs down the river, the emotions of the men while and after they are cooped up in camp for too long—in short, it's like going back in time and setting foot in a very rough, colorful camp.
February 12, 2010
My first inclination is to categorize this book as an "epic western." It is written in the style of a western but tells the story of the men who logged the Michigan forests in the 1880's. I was at first daunted by the length of the book, and it does contain entire chapters devoted to the description of specific logging techniques used at the time. However, mid-way the story begins to come into it's own and sweeps one into its own current. It is an interesting depiction of human nature and the spirit of the pioneer that Stewart Edward White explores in the personification of the lumber men.
"In the woods and on the frontier still are many whose powers are greater than their works; whose fame is greater than their deeds. They are men, powerful, virile, even brutal at times; but magnificent with the strength of courage and resource."
"In the woods and on the frontier still are many whose powers are greater than their works; whose fame is greater than their deeds. They are men, powerful, virile, even brutal at times; but magnificent with the strength of courage and resource."
September 19, 2017
The Blazed Trail, by Stewart Edward White, first published in 1902, is the story of Harry Thorpe, an impoverished rich kid who becomes a lumberjack and rises to be the head of his own firm.
This is an old-fashioned and kind of odd book, both in style (way too wordy, though only in spots) and in philosophy. As far as style goes, it does paint a very good picture of lumber camp life in the 1880s,but even that is oddly paced. In many ways it reminded me of Moby Dick, only in that the narrative often stops so the text can explain how certain things about this industry work, tools, meals, business setups, etc. Yet the plot, while embroidered with realism, can also be kind of sentimental. Harry, for example, has a vision of his dream woman. Then she just happens to really exist and whom he just happens to meet. Good capitalists, like Wallace Carpenter, are exalted. Bad capitalists (Thorpe's rivals) are greedy and cowardly and cackle while twisting their moustaches.
I said it was also old-fashioned in philosophy, but I am finding it difficult to pin down exactly what I mean by that. In many ways I was reminded of 19th-century, aristocratic novels, especially in the way servants (even if important) are not really characters. By which I mean that every bit of their personalities are designed around how they serve or hinder the main (upper-class) character. Charley the Ojibwa trapper, for example, is one of the author's favorite characters. He is celebrated for his woodsy knowledge and his loyalty to Harry Thorpe, but we learn very little else about him.
In the Blazed Trail, the author makes a lot of statements about the character of the lumberjacks, whom he admires the hell out of. His picture is not necessarily wrong, per se, but is a picture that was made from the top down. Harry Thorpe isn't an aristocrat, but he was born rich. And even though he starts from the bottom and works his way up to being a capitalist, even though he works alongside many of the rough, illiterate men, he is never really one of them. This is explicitly stated to be a good thing, that the men need someone aloof and hard-hearted to bring out their best. All of this is rather patronizingly paternalistic , and uncomfortably reminiscent of antebellum apologia.
Furthermore, the cutting down of the forests is likened (many times) to a war, and that the lumberjacks are the valiant foot soldiers in that war. Not exactly green, is it? At the same time, the beauty and majesty of the forest is highly celebrated. At the same time, it's inevitable that they must go, and that's sad, but also glorious. This attitude is hard to understand today, but is very much a part of the late 19th century.
I don't know. It's an odd book.
This is an old-fashioned and kind of odd book, both in style (way too wordy, though only in spots) and in philosophy. As far as style goes, it does paint a very good picture of lumber camp life in the 1880s,but even that is oddly paced. In many ways it reminded me of Moby Dick, only in that the narrative often stops so the text can explain how certain things about this industry work, tools, meals, business setups, etc. Yet the plot, while embroidered with realism, can also be kind of sentimental. Harry, for example, has a vision of his dream woman. Then she just happens to really exist and whom he just happens to meet. Good capitalists, like Wallace Carpenter, are exalted. Bad capitalists (Thorpe's rivals) are greedy and cowardly and cackle while twisting their moustaches.
I said it was also old-fashioned in philosophy, but I am finding it difficult to pin down exactly what I mean by that. In many ways I was reminded of 19th-century, aristocratic novels, especially in the way servants (even if important) are not really characters. By which I mean that every bit of their personalities are designed around how they serve or hinder the main (upper-class) character. Charley the Ojibwa trapper, for example, is one of the author's favorite characters. He is celebrated for his woodsy knowledge and his loyalty to Harry Thorpe, but we learn very little else about him.
In the Blazed Trail, the author makes a lot of statements about the character of the lumberjacks, whom he admires the hell out of. His picture is not necessarily wrong, per se, but is a picture that was made from the top down. Harry Thorpe isn't an aristocrat, but he was born rich. And even though he starts from the bottom and works his way up to being a capitalist, even though he works alongside many of the rough, illiterate men, he is never really one of them. This is explicitly stated to be a good thing, that the men need someone aloof and hard-hearted to bring out their best. All of this is rather patronizingly paternalistic , and uncomfortably reminiscent of antebellum apologia.
Furthermore, the cutting down of the forests is likened (many times) to a war, and that the lumberjacks are the valiant foot soldiers in that war. Not exactly green, is it? At the same time, the beauty and majesty of the forest is highly celebrated. At the same time, it's inevitable that they must go, and that's sad, but also glorious. This attitude is hard to understand today, but is very much a part of the late 19th century.
I don't know. It's an odd book.
September 20, 2014
Young man thrust into poverty sets out to earn a living in the logging industry while learning same. Locates and buys government timber with help of acquired partner. Competition and conflict with unscrupulous established company. Lots of description of life and work in the woods and wilds of Michigan. Some romance, book needed more interaction between protagonist and love interest. This book is available at Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3413
December 8, 2018
"I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok..."
This is the story of Harry Thorpe's swift rise as a lumber baron in 19th century America, starting at the bottom clearing ground for the loggers, to his first skilled job with the cant-hook, then logging his own land in competition against an unscrupulous corporation.
White wants you to admire the pioneers who pitted themselves against the wilderness, provide you with a broad knowledge of their woodcraft, understand why the elemental risks they took set them above the common man.
Not that he overlooked their baser characteristics - the drinking, the brawling, the orgies of vice. He doesn't romanticise the woodsman, as countless over writers have done.
Ruthlessness is considered an essential quality; a successful woodsman must be hard and face down opposition with violence where necessary. When a teamster complains about the quality of the camp food Thorpe instantly dismissed him. When the man talked back, he threw an axe at his head:
"the entire crew looked with vast admiration on their boss as a man who intended to have his own way no matter what difficulties or consequences might tend to deter him. And that is the kind of man they liked. This one deed was more effective in cementing their loyalty than any increase of wages would have been.'
As a fictionalised yet in-depth and naturalistic account of an uncompromising industry in its early years, where regulations meant less than rugged individualism, The Blazed Trail makes for essential reading.
As a work of fiction the novel didn't work half as well. The narrative was as stolid as the processes it described, Thorpe as wooden as any of the pines. Subplots about the fractured relationship with his sister and a failed romance only really existed to illustrate how his indomitable drive for success superceded any softer distractions.
A crippled dwarf who became the camp fiddler and a trapper named Injin Charley managed to add a touch of character.
None of the lumberjacks wore women's clothing.
This is the story of Harry Thorpe's swift rise as a lumber baron in 19th century America, starting at the bottom clearing ground for the loggers, to his first skilled job with the cant-hook, then logging his own land in competition against an unscrupulous corporation.
White wants you to admire the pioneers who pitted themselves against the wilderness, provide you with a broad knowledge of their woodcraft, understand why the elemental risks they took set them above the common man.
Not that he overlooked their baser characteristics - the drinking, the brawling, the orgies of vice. He doesn't romanticise the woodsman, as countless over writers have done.
Ruthlessness is considered an essential quality; a successful woodsman must be hard and face down opposition with violence where necessary. When a teamster complains about the quality of the camp food Thorpe instantly dismissed him. When the man talked back, he threw an axe at his head:
"the entire crew looked with vast admiration on their boss as a man who intended to have his own way no matter what difficulties or consequences might tend to deter him. And that is the kind of man they liked. This one deed was more effective in cementing their loyalty than any increase of wages would have been.'
As a fictionalised yet in-depth and naturalistic account of an uncompromising industry in its early years, where regulations meant less than rugged individualism, The Blazed Trail makes for essential reading.
As a work of fiction the novel didn't work half as well. The narrative was as stolid as the processes it described, Thorpe as wooden as any of the pines. Subplots about the fractured relationship with his sister and a failed romance only really existed to illustrate how his indomitable drive for success superceded any softer distractions.
A crippled dwarf who became the camp fiddler and a trapper named Injin Charley managed to add a touch of character.
None of the lumberjacks wore women's clothing.
Want to Read
August 11, 2014Read this book for free through Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3413/3...
May 28, 2015
a style of writing that no longer exists.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews