What do you think?
The Heroine of Cameron Dam: The Annotated 1929 Memoir of Myra Dietz
This 200-page book is a blow-by-blow account of the government corruption that led to the brutal attack on the family of Myra Dietz in the first decade of the 20th century. It is the true account of the mistreatment of a struggling farm family in far northwest Wisconsin by the 8th wealthiest American, Frederick Weyerhaeuser and his corrupted legal authorities. But the memoir vanished before publication. It has now re-surfaced after being lost for most of a century.
Decades ago, a vagabond searching through trash outside a Los Angeles publisher’s office found a rejected 1929 manuscript. The author, Myra Dietz, wrote it 19 years after she, her brother, and father, were shot by gun-toting thugs who served powerful Midwest lumber barons. News of the Winter, Wisconsin, shootings and the mistreatment of the Dietz family went nationwide in 1910 and the John Dietz family came to be regarded as national heroes.
But by 1929, Myra’s memoir sounded like old news to publishers. Then came the Great Depression and an economy unfavorable to publishing new authors. Myra's memoir was discarded and would have been lost forever if not for that vagabond who found it, read it, and realized it should not be destroyed. Somehow, 90 years later, it found its way into the hands of award-winning author, James Brakken, and his wife, Sybil L. Brakken, who edited the manuscript for publication.
Now, nearly a century after she wrote it, the memoir of a young woman caught in the middle of a collision between her steadfast father and the wealthiest-ever lumber baron and his iron-clad lumber trust is finally in print. Learn what happened on the Thornapple River in Myra’s own words.
The Heroine of Cameron Dam … … is Myra’s personal recollection of events leading up to and following the 1910 attack on her family’s farm by more than 100 armed woodsmen. … exposes the graft and corruption that dominated most lumber company towns like Hayward, Wisconsin in 1910. … illuminates both the pleasure and hardship of living on a Northern Wisconsin farm at the turn of the last century. … was edited by Sybil L. Brakken and is available from BadgerValley.com along with Thornapple Girl, James Brakken’s fact-based novel about Myra Dietz and her father’s stand against the lumber trust. The Heroine of Cameron Dam is a touching account of the life of a northern farm family during the first decade of the 20th century. It is illustrated with many images from the time and the perfect companion for James Brakken's Thornapple Girl. Both are available from BadgerValley.com where shipping is free and WI sales tax paid.
Decades ago, a vagabond searching through trash outside a Los Angeles publisher’s office found a rejected 1929 manuscript. The author, Myra Dietz, wrote it 19 years after she, her brother, and father, were shot by gun-toting thugs who served powerful Midwest lumber barons. News of the Winter, Wisconsin, shootings and the mistreatment of the Dietz family went nationwide in 1910 and the John Dietz family came to be regarded as national heroes.
But by 1929, Myra’s memoir sounded like old news to publishers. Then came the Great Depression and an economy unfavorable to publishing new authors. Myra's memoir was discarded and would have been lost forever if not for that vagabond who found it, read it, and realized it should not be destroyed. Somehow, 90 years later, it found its way into the hands of award-winning author, James Brakken, and his wife, Sybil L. Brakken, who edited the manuscript for publication.
Now, nearly a century after she wrote it, the memoir of a young woman caught in the middle of a collision between her steadfast father and the wealthiest-ever lumber baron and his iron-clad lumber trust is finally in print. Learn what happened on the Thornapple River in Myra’s own words.
The Heroine of Cameron Dam … … is Myra’s personal recollection of events leading up to and following the 1910 attack on her family’s farm by more than 100 armed woodsmen. … exposes the graft and corruption that dominated most lumber company towns like Hayward, Wisconsin in 1910. … illuminates both the pleasure and hardship of living on a Northern Wisconsin farm at the turn of the last century. … was edited by Sybil L. Brakken and is available from BadgerValley.com along with Thornapple Girl, James Brakken’s fact-based novel about Myra Dietz and her father’s stand against the lumber trust. The Heroine of Cameron Dam is a touching account of the life of a northern farm family during the first decade of the 20th century. It is illustrated with many images from the time and the perfect companion for James Brakken's Thornapple Girl. Both are available from BadgerValley.com where shipping is free and WI sales tax paid.
212 pages, Paperback
Published November 16, 2020
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
No one has reviewed this book yet.