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A Boy Scout In The Grizzly Country
181 pages, Unknown Binding
Published January 1, 1929
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 8, 2016
First the Author
The author’s recent obituary in my local newspaper drew me to this book. Jr. Douglas (Robert Dick Douglas, Jr.) was born in Greensboro, North Carolina on 7/23/1912, lived a very full life and died at age 103 on 12/23/2015. He became a BSA Eagle Scout on 12/8/1925 and at the time of his death he was the oldest living Eagle Scout in America. In his youth he authored or co-authored a few of his scout expeditions to remote areas.
Jr. Douglas went on to earn 3 degrees from Georgetown including his law degree. Returning to Greensboro to practice law he also argued a case or two before the Supreme Court. Additionally he found time to become an FBI special agent under J. Edgar Hoover.
Review
Jr. Douglas mentions that in the summer of 1928 (a period when he would rise from 15 to 16 years old) he won a BSA contest sponsored by publisher George Palmer Putnam to go on safari in Africa with 2 other scouts. As a North Carolina resident he teamed up with a scout from Minnesota and one from Georgia along with a notorious wild animal guide and photographer.
In the following year Mr. Putnam encouraged Jr. Douglas to venture to Alaska in search of Kodiak grizzly bears. Upon arrival a wilderness guide would provide assistance. This memoir reveals his adventure away from school during the summer of 1929. Jr. Douglas mentioned that it would not be fitting with Boy Scout values to hunt Kodiak and to his appreciation he was told it would take more effort to closely study the bears and not hunt them. He set off to the publishers New York office where Mr. Putnam also assured him that the Alaskan summer days would be void of snow and rather full of lush green fields and flowers. Following the meeting he headed on a true scouting mission to the Pacific Coast via the Canadian National Railway. At one planned stop he departed for a nature trail ride accompanied by a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. While riding on horseback he spotted black bear, moose, mountain sheep, deer and his first beaver, of which he wrote:
“I couldn’t help but smile at the amusing way in which he squatted and held the branch with both his hands, like a musician playing the flute, turning it around and around as he peeled off the delicious bark.
At length I clapped my hands. Like a flash he was gone. But the water was so clear that I could see him swimming underneath its surface – still holding his breakfast tightly in his mouth.
They were interesting creatures. I would have liked to watch them for a long time. But we had other things to do.”
Eventually he boarded a ship for his destination of Kodiak Island. Jr. Douglas describes the daily life in wild nature along with sightings of Kodiak bear well over 1,400 lbs. Towards the end of the summer he details his days aboard a Pacific whaling ship in quest of 80 ton whales. These ventures departed from the commercial whaling station of Port Hobron on the southern tip of the island.
The book is complemented by photographs. I fully enjoyed the memoir for what it was, part Hardy Boy adventure written through the eyes of a very mature and talented 16 year old that turned 17 during his Alaskan sojourn.
My 2 sons are local Eagle Scouts, but their high adventure trips could not compare to the high caliber as witnessed by Jr. Douglas.
The author’s recent obituary in my local newspaper drew me to this book. Jr. Douglas (Robert Dick Douglas, Jr.) was born in Greensboro, North Carolina on 7/23/1912, lived a very full life and died at age 103 on 12/23/2015. He became a BSA Eagle Scout on 12/8/1925 and at the time of his death he was the oldest living Eagle Scout in America. In his youth he authored or co-authored a few of his scout expeditions to remote areas.
Jr. Douglas went on to earn 3 degrees from Georgetown including his law degree. Returning to Greensboro to practice law he also argued a case or two before the Supreme Court. Additionally he found time to become an FBI special agent under J. Edgar Hoover.
Review
Jr. Douglas mentions that in the summer of 1928 (a period when he would rise from 15 to 16 years old) he won a BSA contest sponsored by publisher George Palmer Putnam to go on safari in Africa with 2 other scouts. As a North Carolina resident he teamed up with a scout from Minnesota and one from Georgia along with a notorious wild animal guide and photographer.
In the following year Mr. Putnam encouraged Jr. Douglas to venture to Alaska in search of Kodiak grizzly bears. Upon arrival a wilderness guide would provide assistance. This memoir reveals his adventure away from school during the summer of 1929. Jr. Douglas mentioned that it would not be fitting with Boy Scout values to hunt Kodiak and to his appreciation he was told it would take more effort to closely study the bears and not hunt them. He set off to the publishers New York office where Mr. Putnam also assured him that the Alaskan summer days would be void of snow and rather full of lush green fields and flowers. Following the meeting he headed on a true scouting mission to the Pacific Coast via the Canadian National Railway. At one planned stop he departed for a nature trail ride accompanied by a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. While riding on horseback he spotted black bear, moose, mountain sheep, deer and his first beaver, of which he wrote:
“I couldn’t help but smile at the amusing way in which he squatted and held the branch with both his hands, like a musician playing the flute, turning it around and around as he peeled off the delicious bark.
At length I clapped my hands. Like a flash he was gone. But the water was so clear that I could see him swimming underneath its surface – still holding his breakfast tightly in his mouth.
They were interesting creatures. I would have liked to watch them for a long time. But we had other things to do.”
Eventually he boarded a ship for his destination of Kodiak Island. Jr. Douglas describes the daily life in wild nature along with sightings of Kodiak bear well over 1,400 lbs. Towards the end of the summer he details his days aboard a Pacific whaling ship in quest of 80 ton whales. These ventures departed from the commercial whaling station of Port Hobron on the southern tip of the island.
The book is complemented by photographs. I fully enjoyed the memoir for what it was, part Hardy Boy adventure written through the eyes of a very mature and talented 16 year old that turned 17 during his Alaskan sojourn.
My 2 sons are local Eagle Scouts, but their high adventure trips could not compare to the high caliber as witnessed by Jr. Douglas.
September 6, 2017
I read this as an adult, an interesting look at late 1920's Alaska through a kid's eyes. I'll find the right outdoorsy kid to give it to.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews