The Jump-Off Creek: A PEN/Faulkner Finalist – A Modern Western Classic of Survival in the American West

by Molly Gloss

A reading group favorite, The Jump-Off Creek is the unforgettable story of homesteader Lydia Sanderson and her struggles to settle in the mountains of Oregon in the 1890s. The Jump-Off Creek gives readers an intimate look at the hardships of frontier life and a courageous woman determined to survive.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Westerns, Book Club, Historical, Literary Fiction, Novels

208 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1989

About the author

Molly Gloss is a fourth-generation Oregonian who lives in Portland.

Her novel The Jump-Off Creek was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for American Fiction, and a winner of both the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award and the Oregon Book Award. In 1996 Molly was a recipient of a Whiting Writers Award.

The Dazzle of Day was named a New York Times Notable Book and was awarded the PEN Center West Fiction Prize.

Wild Life won the James Tiptree Jr. Award and was chosen as the 2002 selection for "If All Seattle Read the Same Book."

Reviews

[Linda (NOT RECEIVING NOTIFICATIONS) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Have you ever read a story and you didn't want it to end? The Jump-Off Creek was like that for me; it was realistic and interesting. The characters worked their way into my subconscious. I found their plain talk quotable. Often, the weather shaped the historical narrative. Simply said, it reflected depictions of everyday experiences. If I had to use one word to describe my observations, I would say they were earthy.

earthy [ ur-thee ]
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: unsophisticated, down home, folksy, homely, natural, rough, simple, unrefined

~~~~~
The young widow bought two mules with no names and some goats. Freed from an arranged but debilitating marriage, Lydia Sanderson bought the deed to Mr. Claud Angell's land. She intended to farm only what was necessary to avert starvation. She "was quite as thin as six o'clock". The year was 1895; Lydia planned to raise cattle near the Jump-Off Creek in the mountainous terrain of Oregon.

She soon learned that her closest neighbors were the cowpoke bachelors, Tim and Blue. Between the two of them, they owned roughly 1,300 acres with an assortment of cattle. They were men of few words.

When she arrived at her new 'home' and I use that word loosely because it was more or less a shack, she was apprised of two young squatters. And vermin, dirt and a lonely, aching cold. Lydia was a brave soul. I knew I never would have had the courage to do what she did: homesteading in a place and era that was not conducive to single women.

There were "three seasons in these mountains and that's Winter, Thaw and August." A peculiar small group of men were portrayed as the villains: riffraff. But they were not evildoers as much as men who had no purpose. They behaved the way they did to survive even if what they did was wrong.

Sadly, I wish I had read this as a buddy-read. I think this wonderful story was meant to be discussed. The author used aphorisms, cacophonies, various tones and a few foreshadowings as literary devices to relay the plot. Early feminism, prejudices and friendship were just a few of the topics found in The Jump-Off Creek.

[Jesse]

This book is about a woman homesteading alone in the late 19th century in the Pacific Northwest. The writing is quiet, emotionally disciplined, restrained, wasting nothing, without a hint of self-indulgence, like the homesteaders themselves who were able to survive an unforgiving wilderness. If you want to know what these men and women were really like, what kind of personality allowed them to spend two generations simply cutting down trees and hanging onto life by a thread just to call a few acres of land their own, this is the book to read. It takes the romantic fantasy out of pioneering but uncovers the awesome integrity and self-reliance of the pioneers themselves.

[Laurie Notaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book. want to read nothing but stories about lady pioneers from now on. I love Molly Gloss.

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a good choice if you want your historical fiction to be well-researched and to feel authentic in style and voice, which is increasingly a priority for me. Set in the mountains of Oregon in the 1890s, the book focuses on hardscrabble settlers trying to make a life there. In particular, the book follows Lydia Sanderson, a tough new homesteader who buys her own claim and has to contend with an unfamiliar and challenging landscape and climate. But many chapters are also spent with the men she finds in the area, ranchers and those who prey on them.

It’s a short book, but not a fast read; it’s stark and emotionally restrained, largely focusing on the land and the weather and the work and the animals, as the characters’ lives revolve around these things. There is human connection here, but at times it can be bleak. So, a strong sense of place, but not a fun read, and not an especially propulsive one—there’s not a plot, exactly; life is the plot. I suppose I wanted a little bit more from it—from the characters, though they do feel real.

A worthy read, but not my favorite Gloss, or where I’d recommend starting with her work. That would be either The Hearts of Horses or Wild Life.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

 Hard won independence...

THE JUMP-OFF CREEK is the third Molly Gloss tale I've read over the last two days, after "The Hearts of Horses" and "Falling from Horses." That should be your first clue on how highly I am enjoying these books.

Lydia Sanderson, widowed, leaves Pennsylvania and moves across the country with two mules and two goats and all her worldly possessions to homestead a small piece of property in the Blue Mountains of Oregon. It is during the Depression of 1895 and times are very hard for most everyone.

She meets her close neighbors, ranchers Tim Whiteaker and Blue Odell, right away and they are able to help each other out. But Lydia is determined to make it on her own.

Lydia is a strong, determined female protagonist - one who I would love to meet in real life. The details of living in this bygone time are interesting and bring this era to life for the reader. The dialogue flows effortlessly. It is not surprising that this first novel of author Gloss won literary awards.

I highly recommend this unique tale of a single woman, battling the elements and braving life alone in a run-down shanty - to history buffs, lovers of Western dramas and advocates of self-sufficient women.

[Beth Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very random book that I bought in a “blind date with a book”. I had never heard of it before but as soon as I read the synopsis I was intrigued.

And I am so happy that it found me.

This was like no other book I’ve read. It was so simple and yet filled out so much of what life, solitude, survival, and community is. Each of the characters had their own story but it was so beautiful to see how they interacted with one another and how their own histories influenced the interactions and emotions between them.

So straightforward. Sometimes awkward. Just some people surviving and trying to communicate which is hard sometimes.

There were bits when I questioned whether it was gonna be a 5 star for me but by the end, it’s really what the book left me feeling that made me commit to the highest rating.

I feel thankful to read about people who, despite having to survive the extreme, both emotionally and physically, are willing to endure for the sake of a life that is their own.

It is slow. And not a ton a ton happens. But that’s the way I like it.

I’d also like to give an honorary mention of Rollin the mule and Rosy the goat. Animals in literature deserve more of our attention. It’s the way Samwise loves Bill the pony, that’s how it should be.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

2014: After the first twenty pages or so, I didn't expect to like this book. Too stark. But I was sorry to see the story come to an end.

2020: When I re-read a book, I'm always aware of which parts I remember and which seem totally new. This whole story had a comfortably familiar feel, but I had forgotten quite a few of the details.

In the late 1890s, Oregon was settled, sort of. Here we meet a few settlers in a small pocket of the Blue Mountains. Good people, but dealt a rough hand. They didn't fear living off by themselves, left to deal with the elements and the wildness (not wilderness). In fact, most of them aren't all that comfortable with people.

Yes, there's some tension, but there's also a fair amount of character development, and that's the part I enjoyed. And, that's why I wouldn't have minded if the story had continued for another ten or so chapters.

[Karin · Rating 3 out of 5]

During the depression of 1895, Lydia Sanderson, freed from a bad marriage, sells her late husband's things to try ranching in the Oregon mountains as a pioneer; she doesn't build the house on the claim she bought from someone who gave up, but she is largely starting from scratch in a harsh environment. There are others in the general area, some more law abiding than others, but there is nothing easy about this life, nor will you find a glossy version of things a la the Little House books written for adults.

This book is entirely fiction Molly Gloss used diaries and accounts from others including a couple of her female forebears. This book was slow going at first, although that eased up a bit as the story went along.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5. My well-read and thoughtful Aunt Martha sent me this for a birthday (inscription: “Happy Birthday! 1991”). It only took me nearly 30 years to read it but I’m so glad I’ve kept it. I think I tried reading this as a teenager but didn’t have much patience for well-written books at the time. My 40- and 12-year old selves both thank you, Aunt Martha!

[Susanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first I thought this was going to be another woman homesteader story like all of the others with a woman struggling to survive but succeeding and eventually marrying and living happily after. However, this story is more realistic than most and probably more accurate of the experience even though I am not sure how Lydia actually was able to survive the elements. Thanks goodness for her mule and her goats. What I liked best about this story was not only the strong communities of women and of men but also how all of the scattered neighbors kept and eye on each other and helped each other out. I can also understand why Lydia liked her independence and shunned remarriage. However, as much as she boasted that she was never lonely, I think she did discover how alone she was, how important the other women were in her life, and how much she was beginning to appreciate Tim as a neighbor and as a friend. Is marriage in the future for them? Gloss left this open for the reader, but I don't think it really matters as clearly the two will be helping each other survive, whether in their own houses or together for convenience. The violence in the story surprised me, but it was also very realistic and added suspense in the novel. Although the novel started out slowly, it picked up speed until I could not put the book down.

[Beth]

Beautifully written in sparse, deliberate, precise language. If ever a novel utterly draws the reader into the story & the hearts & minds of its characters which include horses, mules & goats, JUMP OFF CREEK does. Lydia is the brave, determined heroine whom I deeply admire & care for but could never be. Tim is a figure right out of the old cowboys movies but with addition of sensitivity & flaws. The historical details & depiction of the lives of homesteaders in the late 1800s was fascinating & presented in such an authentic manner. This is historical fiction at it's very best. Well done MOLLY GLOSS!

[Elinor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel does a wonderful job of portraying the sheer life-threatening hardships of trying to homestead as a woman alone, or for that matter, a man. The main character works from dawn to dusk, subsists on goat's milk and cheese, and endures the most challenging physical conditions — pain, dirt, cold, injuries, hunger — things that would have driven a lesser mortal mad, or back to civilization. So if you're expecting Little House on the Prairie, you will be deeply disappointed. I loved this novel and wished it were longer. I'm deducting one star only because I detest ambiguous endings and I was hoping for a better resolution. But that's just me.

[Andy Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel is set in Oregon's Blue Mountains during the 1890s. La Grande was the closest town but the story's theme is the isolation of the few inhabitants who live by Jump-Off Creek. They help each other with barter and an occasional chore but they are on their own and that is what shapes them.
The novel starts with Tim tracking down stray calves when he sees a solitary women on a mule with trailing goats and carrying limited possessions. The woman is Lydia who had bought a neighboring homestead that had gone to seed, she plans on homesteading.
The author, Molly Gloss, relied on unpublished diaries, letters and journals of women who settled the west in writing the book resulting in focus on everyday life of isolated homesteaders. Pages are spent describing the building of fences, fixing up the rundown home, the care of clothes, the chasing of animals. The importance of barter is shown with her using her goat milk to acquire things from the few neighbors.
Tim and his ranch partner Blue are also described, especially the tension with nearby "wolfers" who use poison to kill and catch wolves for the bounty which results in loss of cattle to the same poison. The tellings of happenings in their past lives, an awkward marriage proposal a trip to La Grande to sell their cattle with excessive drinking and visits to local prostitutes solidifies the isolation and self-reliance of their lives.
There is little plot here, this novel is about a realistic detailed telling of the lives of the time and place, well done enough so that readers will feel like they have been taken back to the 1890s homesteads and cattle ranches of the Blue Mountains

[Maura Heaphy Dutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written, low-key, with the truthfulness of life itself.

Molly Gloss excels at stories of life on the edge: one of my very favorite novels is "The Dazzle of Day," her beautifully written, low-key and truthful story of a group of Quakers who flee political and ecological chaos on Earth in a generation starship headed for a distant star. "The Jump-Off Creek" reverses the polarity of Gloss' imaginative time-machine, and recreates world of the 1890s Oregon frontier, and the life of Lydia Sanderson, a young widow who has sold up all the baggage of her unhappy marriage and bought a smallholding in Oregon, with little more ambition than, for the first time in her life being her own boss, and keeping body and soul together.

Encounters with her neighbours -- fellow smallholders, scraping a living from the land during a depression that is adding to the general struggle to survive, their wives, who raise and bury children, and long for brief opportunities for female companionship, and "wolfers," embittered young cowboys who scrape a living from the bounty they receive for killing the wolves that prey on cattle and sheep -- build up to a narrative of her first year in her new home on the Jump-off Creek.

I can't think of any way to put it better than the late, Blessed Ursula Le Guin, who described it as " ... the West behind the swaggering and hokum." A marvellous story of the quiet courage that went into the settling of America.

[Julie Richert-Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much fiction of the settling of the American West has followed a tiresome, predictable trajectory of saccharine stereotypes... brave and swooning young widow, brave and independent young tomboy, brave and heroic cowboy, brave and principled lawman, brave and (insert cliche . . .)
When we search deeper, and wider, this period of Western history is endlessly more complicated.
THIS NOVEL captures that . . . in a pure and microcosmic way that I will read over and over again for the rest of my life.
It is a great story.
It is populated with intensely complicated human beings.
There is no stereotyping.
There is no glorifying.
It is real, real, real. But also tenderly affectionate of the type of persons who succeeded in making a new life for themselves, in the wilderness. Not for the sake of Manifest Destiny, but for the sake of making a place to be in the world.
Echoes of all the greatest homesteading archives/letters/memoirs and also a tremendous imagining of the feelings of being in an alien environment, choosing one's allies, and contentment or personal satisfaction in the small victories.
So very well done.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book. I found a lot of it quite engrossing, as the writing was so vivid I could imagine the landscapes through which the characters and story passed. It was an unusually told western frontier story, but probably more accurate for it, in that the small cast of main characters live in the middle of nowhere, but close enough to each other to help each other out. It is true that people generally lived within reach or other settlers (something Laura Ingalls Wilder left out of her fictionalized memoirs was all the neighbors). None of them is talkative, and I wonder if that reflects the sort of person who would live way out, or just the world the author imagined. It is a story of some progress made by some people, while others through bad luck, selfishness, or racism, fall ever deeper into crushing poverty. The hard work, poverty, and violence seemed very possible to me from what I know of frontier life, but of course sometimes made it a bit squeamish to read. A good book, but not one I’d read again.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stolid non-glamorous storytelling about homesteading in eastern Oregon in the 1890s. There’s a powerful reserve to most of the characters such that it’s difficult to feel close to them: we are led to surmise their inner selves based on body language and only sparing conversation. The reader gets a compelling picture of what a woman on her own might face in this scenario, but my mind kept wandering to all the points of view not discussed. One main character is indigenous, but otherwise there is no acknowledgement whatsoever that when describing however many thousands of acres the various men are able to call their own, this is due to the displacement, disease, and subjugation of the continents’ first peoples.

[Klynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really nice. Written beautifully. I wasn't sure at first...I found myself thinking it's a bit slow, as none of the characters have much dialogue...but then I realized this slow intensional writing is part of the magic of this prose. Lydia is a strong woman who comes to Oregon to raise cattle. Her steely strength is awe inspiring. Her neighbors, Tim and Blue befriend her (very slowly...with only sideways glances and a minimum of conversation). Their relationships deepen as they help each other out in small ways, as well as big brave gutsy ways. The historical insights were great. An excellent story.

[Trux · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most bluntly elegant things about this book is how hard & deeply-needed simple intimacies were scattered in periods of intense isolation: a look, a hug, an awkward visit ... a very few economical words. And just how inevitable loss is.

It's always good to be reminded of how important being careful with resources is/should/can be too when living mired as we are in waste, abundance, and just shitty fucking quality of life and bought products.

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love books about pioneering people. Especially women. Every time I start to complain about laundry, or the kids are sick, or we have a big storm - I think about these people and I am SO grateful that all I have to do is walk through deep snow to the Haggen, not out to the barn to milk the cows! Still, it sucks when the good people meet bad ends.

[Laura McNeal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historical fiction is so difficult to write, especially if the historical era has been used as a setting for genre fiction so often that the very mention of certain things feels like a cliche. This book about a woman homesteading by herself in Oregon avoids all the easy and predictable routes and manages to be utterly original and beautifully restrained.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Not as good as I'd hoped it would be. I did enjoy the descriptions of Oregon, though. It just seemed like nothing much happened, and while the characters were interesting, we couldn't get into their heads much. For early Oregon stories, I much preferred Anna Keesey's Little Century (disclaimer: she is a colleague of mine).

[Ted Haynes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A highly credible portrayal of settling in a wild and somewhat lawless part of Eastern Oregon wilderness. In the virtually complete lack of government most of the characters treat each other with decency and generosity. But it still takes great determination and hard work for the heroine to succeed at homesteading. Very good writing.

[Kimberly Hallahan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful! So much heart in so few words.

[Alora · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slice of life novel set in the 1890s Blue Mountains of Oregon, The Jump-Off Creek chronicles Lydia Sanderson's first nine months on her newly-purchased homestead. Contrary to the description, the book covers multiple perspectives, mainly that of Lydia and her neighbors Tim Whiteaker and Blue Odell. It's very much a character-driven novel, and despite a certain lack of emotional depth, I was very invested in the characters. And because it's a "slice of life" novel with a seemingly arbitrary beginning and ending, I wanted more at the end. Overall, I enjoyed it. It's an easy read, and it offered a detailed and interesting historical perspective that I don't often read.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the clipped, spare writing in this book. It perfectly suited Gloss' depiction of the rugged lives of Northwest pioneers. There was no fanfare nor foreshadowing before disaster would strike, and isn't that the way it was? Hardscrabble men and women living always with hardship and danger at every turn.

[RJ Gates · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neither overly bleak nor romantic, The Jump Off Creek is the story of Lydia is intertwined with a larger set of characters doing their best to make a life in the Blue mountains of Oregon. Made human and authentic in small moments, manner of speech, and human struggles. Not so much plot driven, which makes sense. I cared more about Lydia and less about the would-be cowboys and ruffians.

[Sarah Flaming · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I have read in a long time! I checked this book out of the library in conjunction with a road trip to Montana and Oregon. Ended up reading it immediately following the trip, and it was so fun to recognize so many regional references after having just experienced the area myself.

This was not the easiest book to read, the way that it was written made everything feel so realistic. For example, I was reading a section about a few of the characters tracking a bear. I’m slowly reading a description of the scenery, and the clues they are hunting for, when all of a sudden a horse is on the ground and someone is pulling out a gun. I had to go back and reread the section to figure out that the bear had attacked! Those types of flash-bang moments where things happen so fast it’s hard to even follow what’s going on are exactly the way they are experienced firsthand.

There really isn’t much of a plot development throughout the book, and it certainly isn’t a start-to-finish novel. It’s just life, hardships, and the people you experience them with.

So well written, fascinating topic, highly recommend.

[Sarah Pascual · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing was well done and the content was really interesting but it left me desiring more — it felt like it started abruptly, ended abruptly, and lacked emotion , though I understand that this was like it the authors intention in order to communicate the culture and personality of the western pioneer culture.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely. Broke my brutal slump.