Riding the Flume

by Patricia Curtis Pfitsch

Don't tell anyone -- the only safety is in secrecy.
During the summer of 1894 the giant sequoia trees -- the oldest living things on earth -- are being felled for lumber in northern California. When fifteen-year-old Francie finds a note hidden in the stump of an old sequoia, she immediately recognizes her sister's handwriting. But Carrie died in an accident six years ago. Could Carrie's secret still be important?
Francie's search for the truth turns dangerous, and she needs to get to St. Joseph fast. She's faced with the choice of either giving up, or riding the flume, a rickety track that carries lumber from the mills in the mountains to the lumberyard in St. Joseph. Should Francie risk her life for the secret her sister fought to keep?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Historical, Middle Grade, Fiction, Adventure, Mystery

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 23, 2002

About the author

I've always felt I was born into the wrong century. Even when I was little my favorite books were historical fiction: Caddie Woodlawn, Little House in the Big Woods, The Bronze Bow, and Witch of Blackbird Pond. Since I couldn't change the year of my birth, I write historical fiction instead. I live with my husband, my three children and an ever-changing variety of animals and wildlife on a ridgetop farm in southwestern Wisconsin, where sometimes I can pretend I'm living in the olden days. My 100 year old farmhouse is heated with wood, and in the winter I cook on a wood-burning cookstove that's even older than the house. My favorite activities, next to writing, are riding my bike, weeding the garden, and learning to play the guitar (which I usually do when nobody else can hear.)
-Patricia Curtis Pfitsch

Reviews

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my kind of book!
From 1890 to 1903, some of the largest and finest redwood trees in California were cut down, some leaving stumps as big as a 2-car garage, or bigger. This is an exciting fiction story about a logging town where everyone's livelihood depended upon the redwood lumber, and a 15-year-old girl who sets out to save one of the biggest.
The lumber company boss would not believe Francie when she clamed her family's ownership of the tract of land where the towering giant redwood stood, and they planned to start cutting it down in the morning. Her only hope was to get the deed from the land office in St. Joseph, 30 miles away down the mountain, and bring the sheriff to enforce the deed.
But it would take a day to get down the mountain on horseback, and another day to get back up. How could she save her precious tree by tomorrow morning?
To get the logs from high in the mountains down to the lumber mills as much as 50 miles below, the logging companies build flumes -- wooden chutes with water flowing in them several feet deep. The flumes were mounted on a framework or scaffolding so that they could bridge out over ravines and have a somewhat consistent downhill slope. Their appearance was somewhat like a rollercoaster that is all downhill, and the logs floated -- with occasional log jams -- all the way down.
I have seen these majestic redwood giants, and was horrified to read of the destruction of the 2000-year-old forests. The tree Francie protected still stands, though, and can be seen today.
The story of how Francie saved her tree will delight girls ages 10-15 (and older!)

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another one that I remember reading a few times from the school library as a kid. Historical fiction was my absolute favourite thing back in the day. Historical adult fiction doesn’t grab me the way YA historical does. Probably because most adult historical fiction on the market is erotica and focuses more on who’s doing whom than the actual plotline.

But I digress.

For some reason, I remembered this as taking place in Alaska, but nope, California. Which makes sense. California redwoods and all.

It’s such a vivid image—a girl riding what’s essentially a super dangerous water roller-coaster through a huge canyon full of skyscraper-tall redwood trees. Show me another book that has such a unique, memorable scene. It’s no wonder my brain remembered this one from 17-ish years ago. Particularly when the very concept of a “flume” was a brand-new idea to my 9-year-old brain (and quite possibly to many adults’ brains).

The imagery alone makes this a worthwhile book, but the execution is phenomenal. Patricia Curtis Pfitsch is a talented writer. Even just reading the scene in the prologue, which narrates the felling of the first giant sequoia in Connor’s Basin (where the novel takes place), I was struck by how evocative the writing was, how it created a scene around you that you could smell, see, hear, feel.

And, of course, the entire plot is about a race to save a tree. Just one particular tree. Which is the best plot ever. All novels should be about saving a beloved tree. I don’t know why we ever deviate from that plot.

[Kevin Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review by Kevin Bradley

This character that goes by the mane Francie reminds me of myself i would fight for what is mine. This book makes me think of the character Bella in twilight that is how she fought for Edward. This book reminds of the movie avengers they are fighting to save something. this book reminds me of what i saw on TV called the axmen because there cutting down trees. i think the movie was shocking when she found the note and started her journey to save Carrie's tree. I felt nervous when this came down to the end, when she rode the flume. This book was good i enjoyed it, it was interesting how she reached her verdict. This is awesome how close her cousin is two him.How did Carrie die. This are the things you will find out if you read this book. I hope you enjoy this book.

[Jaina Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book that I first read 6/7 years ago, and I have loved it ever since.

Francie lives in a logging town situated by a large forest of sequoia trees which are rapidly being cut down for lumber. Her father runs a hotel that prospers due to the logging, and is all for it. Francie is not as enthusiastic as her father, but there is nothing she can do. She is busy helping at the hotel and counting the tree rings on a dead sequoia for a man who is writing a newspaper article to try to make people see how bad it is to cut down the trees. But Francie also has a ghost to live with - a memory of her older sister Carrie, the headstrong, adventurous girl who died years before in a land slide up on the mountain. As the years have passed Francie has grown to resemble Carrie a great deal, much to the sorrow of her parents. In little things like wearing her hair differently she tries to mask the resemblance, but she knows that every time they look at her, they see her more vibrant, more alive sister - the one she thinks more deserved to live.
This is a touching, sad story about a girl finding her own place in a world that will always remember her vibrant sister, and about learning to step up to the plate and speak your mind about things. Because when Francie and her cousin (Carrie's best friend) find a note Carrie wrote before her death, they uncover a secret - a beautiful tree, a king of the forest, that Carrie claims belonged to her. And the loggers will do anything to bring it down.

Although the actual flume riding is a very small portion of the book, I can't think of any title that would fit this book better. Parents, this book has nothing bad in it whatsoever, except for dealing with Francie and her family's very real pain, and the horror they feel from Carrie's accident. It is not gruesome, it is not vulgar, there is absolutely no romance, and it even mixes in some very real history that makes you want to google the real sequoias! I read it at seven, and absolutely adored it. Of course, don't take this to mean older people won't like it! I started reading very young, and as I get older I discover more layers to the books I read when I was younger, things I skipped as a little girl. This is a wonderful book that will make you cry, and will leave you with a great feeling of finality and triumph.

This review is also on my blog, Read Till Dawn.

[Danae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was a pretty good book. Most people would think of it as a little wierd, but I have a knack for adventure, so it really drew me in. Has a little bit of a weird story line, but over all a pretty good book.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Growing up in the logging country of the California Sierras---complete with greed, intrigue, frontier life, and a mystery left by a dead sister. Real history and issues embedded in a captivating tale.

[Teresa TL Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

1890's California. Conservation versus Progress. Mystery and adventure. One of my daughters had to read it for school and I enjoyed it early this summer.

[Hanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
I really liked this book in middle school. Such a rush with intrigue and adventure that makes you believe that you can survive the highest "splash mountain" known to man.

[Victoria Marie Lees · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patricia Curtis Pfitsch’s YA historical novel Riding the Flume is a terrific book! In it, the strong protagonist Francie Cavanaugh is the younger sister of a family who own a hotel in Connorsville, a logging town in California. Curtis Pfitsch paid attention to detail and brought the pioneer life of the 1890’s alive for the reader. Her world is so vivid that I cried when the loggers cut down the sequoias.

We took our family to visit Kings Canyon National Park out in California and understand the beauty of these precious, gentle giants. If you’d like to read of our adventure camping at Kings Canyon, you can find it here at Camping with Five Kids. http://campingwithfivekids.blogspot.c...

Curtis Pfitsch did not skimp on internal and external drama. Riding the Flume is full of both inner turmoil and exciting action. The author crunches the tension further by compressing the ticking clock. If you’re studying YA adventure as I do, Riding the Flume by Patricia Curtis Pfitsch is a good book to study.

[Simi Sunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading this book when I was in middle school. I have forgotten that THIS was the first book that had enticed me to read. It was interesting how brave Francie was when her parents and people around her discourage Francie. So any girl or woman-- maybe guys-- want a book that's about standing up for what you believe in, I would recommend this book.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need to reread this book.
I first read it in the sixth grade and loved it so much, I purchased it two years later for my birthday.
I loved the mystery of the sister and what happened to her, the letters....
Definitely want to reread it and see if it still holds up as an adult.

[Lilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

honestly i thought it would be a lil cheesy since it's such an old book, and i'm pretty sure i bought it at the scholastic book fair one year, but it actually held up very well. i'd say it's as good a middle-grade(ish) mystery as any!!

[Heather Shembarger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the 1800’s, this historical fiction book engages the reader in a captivating mystery while bringing to light a need and passion for preserving the great sequoias. Logging is a big industry in the area where Francie lives and her parents’ livelihood does depend on the success of the loggers. However, at what point does money allow the justification of destroying trees that have grown for thousands of years? Does greed promote dishonesty and perhaps even murder? You will have to read the book to find out!

[Breann Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun middle-grade mystery set in the mid/late 1800s.
The pacing was perfect for a younger audience that lose interest quickly with too much build and detail. I enjoyed the story immensely and the writing wasn’t too juvenile that I felt like I shouldn’t be enjoying it.

[Katie Blackwell · Rating 1 out of 5]

No one is responsible for anyone else's anger. I couldn't finish the book.

[Lee Holodney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a YA historical novel concerning the logging of the sequoia trees in northern California in the late 19th century. Francie's sister died 6 years ago in a landslide. Of course, the whole family feels the loss, but Francie feels that her parents are never going to get over it. She also feels that she is constantly being comparted with her sister and found wanting.

Although her family has made its living from running a hotel that caters to summer vacationers and the logging industry, Francie isn't sure that she likes the logging. She agrees to count the rings on the first giant sequoia that was logged and, unexpectedly, she finds a small pouch in the ripples of the tree bark with a note that was obviously written by her sister: "Meet me at Turkey Fork half past four on Sunday. Don't tell anyone - the only safety is in secrecy."

Francie can't figure it out but goes to her cousin Charlie two years younger than her sister Carrie and Carrie's best friend. He agrees that it was probably meant for him - they used that spot as a "mail box." But he doesn't know what it is either.

Through perserverance, Francie discovers that the old hermit, Old Robert, has willed Carrie a giant sequoia tree, even larger than the one whose rings she counted - 3,000+. She and Charlie track down the tree, which appears to be on property owned by the logging company.

But is it? The secret gets out and the logging company immediately targets the tree for takedown. Francie can't stand that the last direct link to Carrie - not to mention possibly the oldest tree on earth- will be cut down for stupid houses - if it survives. Many sequoias splinter when cut down and amount to nothing.

Frantically Francie looks for the will. And finds it. Along with the original deed to the land. However, she needs to get help right away to stop the logging company which has set the next day for the cut. She can't run to St. Joseph. She can't ride her father's horse which is lame. And she can't borrow another. She can't telegraph because the logging company will find out. And her father sides with the logging company. What's a girl to do?

So she decides to attempt the impossible. Only 2 men have every ridden the flume from its start in her town all the way down to St. Joseph and lived. (A flume is a bit like a luge slide except it has wooden sides and water. Instead of the luge doing the moving, the water carries logs down the hill.)

Can she get to St. Joseph and back with help in time to stop the logging? She knows if anyone hears about this, the logging company will step up the time for the cutting.....

It's a great read and a great ride.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this historical fiction novel about when, in the 1890's, the lumber companies were cutting down all of the giant sequoia trees in northern California. Both sides of the story were presented. Was it better to give many families an income or to save 3000 year-old trees?

The main character is a 15-year-old girl named Frances. Her sister Carrie had been killed six years previously, and Francie's parents still couldn't get over Carrie's death. Francie felt like she could never be as good as her sister had been and that her parents would never love her as much as they loved her sister.

When she discovers that a man had given Carrie the biggest and oldest tree on earth and that the lumber company was going to cut it down, she knew she had to try to save Carrie's tree--even at the risk of her own life.

I would probably give the book a 3.5 mainly because I didn't like the main character. She was headstrong and disobedient. I also didn't like the characterization of her parents.

[Allie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My third person review:


Riding the Flume is a good book. It's set in the late 1800's, when a lot of tree's were cut down. Francie heard about a giant tree, owned by her sister, and set's out to find it. Once she does, she asks her dad about it. Her dad rejoices and tells the lumber company. They go to cut down the tree. Francie know's the only way to save in time is to ride the flume, a dangerous device no one has survived, and is illegal. Will she sacrifice her life to save the tree, a secret her sister died to keep?



My personal review:
I feel this was a good book, but I feel like it needed more action. I mean, it's a wonderful book, and the plot and setting is a dream. But...it takes a lot of time to get to the point. If it was a little more fast paced, it would be perfect. I loved the book, therefore the five stars, but I was tempted to give it four, because of the slow pace in the book.

[Leeann · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last one third of the book was very exciting. Up until that point I thought the plot moved rather slowly. I also didn't feel that Francie's character was truly developed. She had obviously lived in her older sister's shadow, even after her sister's death, and that seemed to be the main thing that the author revealed about her, other than that Francie was a fast runner. Francie's parents seemed stunted by their grief from losing their daughter, Carrie, but that had happened six years prior to the beginning of this story. Though parents never get over such a loss, most of them get past it after that amount of time has gone by. I thought their continued grief was both oppressive and unlikely.

The log flume ride was exciting and I have to admit that has been a fantasy of mine ever since I saw the remnants of a log flume snaking down the side of the mountains in the Columbia Gorge.

The information about giant sequoias and early logging was very interesting and saddening.

[Rey Gallegos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riding the Flume by: Patricia Curtis Pfitsch This book is about a girl named Franice, who is trying to save her sister Carrie's tree from the log company. Francie is 15 now and it has been six year since Carrie died in a landslide. Since the landslide Francie's parent have been very scared to let her out of the house even mentioning carries name make her parents cry. One day when Francie went out too the woods she found a note is a tree and Carry wrote the note, Francie could tell by the handwriting and that starts the whole adventure of how Francie found Carry's tree and how Francie must save her tree. I like this book because it had a little bit of courage in it, like how francie rode the flume. I would recommend this book to people who like action and courage.

[Shirley Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book at a neat little country store called "Whiskers: It had a little bit of everything -- homemade Watermelon Jelly to blown glass figures of cardinals, which we saw four of on our trip to Missouri -- and even a few used books. I thought this book would be a book to check out before giving to a granddaughter. It turned out to be an engaging read. It was a story of a young girl living in northern California. She finds a hidden note written by her deceased sister, and in her search for the truth she struggles against her father's strictness and her mother's protectiveness. A perfect, safe read for a 11-12 year old.

[Tabitha Lambert · Rating 5 out of 5]

My all time favorite book since elementary school. I can read this book over and over and over. It touches my heart. There's something that just catches you and makes it impossible to put it down. I suggest that everyone read it no matter your age cause this book is truly amazing. It takes you through all emotions and makes you feel like your in the story real life stops and your the characters in the book. When I read this book I see the pictures in my head and you could scream at me and I wouldn't hear you till the book was done.

[Victoria Reynolds · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a quality book about trying to save the environment even if it was for personal reasons. I kept reading because i was furious at all the adults who didn't listen to the protagonist just because she was a child, and I wanted her to win because the antagonist was an easy one to hate. Definitely should've read this years ago when I bought it. I think i would've enjoyed it more as a teen, but it was a quick, easy, still interesting read.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is the late 1800's and people are cutting down all the trees. One girl has to protect what may possibly be the biggest tree because it is all that is left of her dead older sister. She has to investigate and even rides the dangerous flume in order to prove that her family owns that tree and keep them from cutting it down. This was a very heartwarming book.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was the first book that was not historical fiction that I actually liked. This book is perfect for anyone who likes an adventure story with a good mystery included inside. I would read this book again any day. Riding the Flume is about a girl named Francie. This story took place in California in 1894...I read this book in less than 1 day I just couldn't put it down.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really wonderfully written book that avoids the cliches of YA fiction and tells an unpredictable story. I had the opportunity to interview the author when I was working for a weekly Southwestern Wisconsin newspaper, and I am not disappointed now that I finally had the chance to read this book.

[Raissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A historical novel with an exciting plot which at the same time examines various sides of an environmental issue. It has all the elements of a good mystery and the resolution comes as a total surprise. Of course from the beginning you are hanging on waiting for the moment the protagonist will ride that flume, and the ride once described doesn't disappoint.

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was very different from what I thought it would be, but wow! It was great! I loved the main character and the plot was well though of and interesting, keeping you hooked.

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1894, the giant sequoia trees are being cut down by logger. Francie is horrified that people would take the life of something so old. When she discovers that her dead sister might be the rightful owner of the biggest tree of all, she races against time to save the tree.