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Driftwood Valley: A Woman Naturalist in the Northern Wilderness (Northwest Reprints
A pioneering woman naturalist recounts a magnificent story of adventure and survival in northern British Columbia. Winner of the John Burroughs Medal for excellence in nature writing, the book reveals the daily pleasures and insights sparked by living close to the wild, as well as the isolation, hardships, and struggles.
338 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1946
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
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February 21, 2018My parents read this one aloud to us when I was small, and I have such vivid memories of picturing the frozen thermometer, or of a fire sinking into the snow as a night went on.
July 23, 2020
An incredible journey into the British Columbia mountains. A couple from Pennsylvania venture into the Driftwood Range of the Canadian Rockies. Theodora Stanwell - Fletcher and her husband venture into a land seldom visted by the white man. The year is 1937 and with assistance from the British Columbia museum they make their way into the back country.
The book gives great detail into the time period. Though at times the authors praise of her husband J goes a bit far, it likely represents the trust in his ability required to survive such an adventure. This book is detailed and well written. It will immerse you into the beauty and danger of the Driftwood Mountains.
The book gives great detail into the time period. Though at times the authors praise of her husband J goes a bit far, it likely represents the trust in his ability required to survive such an adventure. This book is detailed and well written. It will immerse you into the beauty and danger of the Driftwood Mountains.
September 8, 2021
One of my favorite books. The way Theodora writes makes you feel like you are right there with her, and her story is so incredible. Told from a woman's perspective, I was excited by how much I felt like I related to her. And she definitely got me itching to go see northern Canada :)
May 23, 2024
This book was published in 1946 so ideologies are pretty dated. The way the wrote the Native Americans in this book is racist. Although I do not agree with these aspects of the book, I think if you view it as a sign of the time, it’s a very interesting read. The perspective of a women living with her husband in some of the most remote regions of Canada is very interesting
March 14, 2020
I really enjoyed this book about a naturalist couple who spent over two years in the isolation of northern British Columbia just before WWII. They built a cabin and stocked up food and firewood during the summer in preparation for the winter months. They brought in staples like flour and sugar but depended on hunting and fishing to survive. The book is written by the wife from the diaries she kept. She described their relations with the natives in the area - mostly good but some conflict too.
The couple "collected" and preserved specimens of birds, small animals and insects for an unnamed British Columbia museum. They also noted the different plants and trees in the area. When they first settled in the Tetana Lake area, they were totally by themselves; later they acquired two dogs to help carry supplies on their trips and for a time they also had a couple pack horses. It was a hard life but exhilarating and they found it hard to leave when J had to go back to the US to fight in the war.
The descriptions of their lives, the surrounding mountains, the natives they met, and the wildlife are given in exquisite detail. The reader must remember to suspend judgment remembering the time period in which this book was written.
The couple "collected" and preserved specimens of birds, small animals and insects for an unnamed British Columbia museum. They also noted the different plants and trees in the area. When they first settled in the Tetana Lake area, they were totally by themselves; later they acquired two dogs to help carry supplies on their trips and for a time they also had a couple pack horses. It was a hard life but exhilarating and they found it hard to leave when J had to go back to the US to fight in the war.
The descriptions of their lives, the surrounding mountains, the natives they met, and the wildlife are given in exquisite detail. The reader must remember to suspend judgment remembering the time period in which this book was written.
March 17, 2021
I have no idea where I acquired this book but I’m so happy I did. What a fantastic look at early 20th century naturalism, and from a woman’s point of view no less. The author’s personality shown through and she had me laughing out loud dozens of times. I so wish I could have met her, I’m sure the conversation would be fascinating.
January 30, 2023
Adventure on every page! Beautiful descriptions of the country. The author was a naturalist working for a museum so her job was to collect and prepare samples of small animals and birds, etc. It misses 4 stars due to some graphic animal stories, and the author's white woman attitude towards "these Indians" (as she referred to them) was annoying, even though she was often grateful for their help and amazed at their resilience. Her husband was a trapper who had lived in the Arctic and in her eyes a studly hero. He was always fighting with "these Indians" about money. Had to roll my eyes every time.
Even so, a good read for anyone who ever dreamed of living in the untouched wilderness.
bio of the author:
https://paconservationheritage.org/st...
Even so, a good read for anyone who ever dreamed of living in the untouched wilderness.
bio of the author:
https://paconservationheritage.org/st...
May 23, 2020
I am almost speechless with wonder at Teddy's journey. What as important life she lived. Her writing brings the reader along for the trek. It is at once daunting and incredible. I am so glad that we have had women like her go before us.
June 19, 2021
What an interesting read!
This book was recommended to me by someone I was talking to about my hiking adventures with Shaun. When I looked it up and found that it was no longer in print, well, that only made me want to get my hands on a copy more! After a bit of a search I finally found a copy that wasn't way overpriced.
I immensely enjoyed reading about Teddy & J's life living in the northern B.C Wilderness. Any book about B.C. is going to be awesome, but I was especially impressed by the descriptions of the mountains, lakes, and animals Stanwell-Fletcher provided.
What was probably most noticeable (and sometimes a quite upsetting honestly) to me was the differences between what this type of an experience would look like now as opposed to the late 30's. Firstly, there seemed to be a lot of ignorance about the indigenous people living in the area, and a lot of racial stereotyping. Although this seemed to change towards the end of the book, it bothered me at first. To be honest when I began reading, I completely missed the date the book was set in, and found myself wondering how in the heck they could print a book like this with all the slang terms etc (that I would consider insulting).
Secondly, the treatment of animals reallllllly upset me. Here are these scientists remarking how incredible and rare certain breeds of animals are, describing them in great detail and awe, only to hunt/trap/kill them and preserve their skins for a museum! It was appalling, but I tired to remember that things were a lot different in the 30's. Technology, and acquiring knowledge of animals has come a long way since then. Nevertheless, it was still hard to read. They beat their pet dogs which was also hard to read, as they casually mentioned this a few times nonchalantly and then accuse the indigenous of not taking care of their pets.
In one instance, they rescue a coyote with an injury caused from a trap, a while after it's release they then find the same coyote stuck dead in a trap and Teddy finds it surprising because she figured the coyote was very intelligent and would learn from the first time ... really?! For some reason, I felt compelled to bookmark these pages and the previous owner of the book had also underlined some of these parts along with some feministic remarks which brings me to my last then-and-now comparison point.
Theodora is quite definitely a strong woman who is no doubt remarkable in her abilities to live off the land, camp in the winter ( in northern b.c of all places!) alone, and fend for herself. Points were made about her abilities as a woman to do these things, and I believe she is an exceptional role-model of a woman's true strength. Despite comments made about her sex and ability (things no one would dare say now!) she not only accomplished what she set out to do but did it just as well as any man could in my opinion. It seemed sometimes she didnt even see it like this herself, which I found really interesting to think about since our ways of thinking are so much different in present day.
My favourite part of the book was any mention of the timber wolves. It seemed there was a great respect for these creatures, and reading about the wolf encounters had me on the edge of my seat every time.
This book was incredible, interesting, and easy to read. I'll definitely cherish it and this probably wont be the last time I read it! I feel like I could talk about it so much more!
This book was recommended to me by someone I was talking to about my hiking adventures with Shaun. When I looked it up and found that it was no longer in print, well, that only made me want to get my hands on a copy more! After a bit of a search I finally found a copy that wasn't way overpriced.
I immensely enjoyed reading about Teddy & J's life living in the northern B.C Wilderness. Any book about B.C. is going to be awesome, but I was especially impressed by the descriptions of the mountains, lakes, and animals Stanwell-Fletcher provided.
What was probably most noticeable (and sometimes a quite upsetting honestly) to me was the differences between what this type of an experience would look like now as opposed to the late 30's. Firstly, there seemed to be a lot of ignorance about the indigenous people living in the area, and a lot of racial stereotyping. Although this seemed to change towards the end of the book, it bothered me at first. To be honest when I began reading, I completely missed the date the book was set in, and found myself wondering how in the heck they could print a book like this with all the slang terms etc (that I would consider insulting).
Secondly, the treatment of animals reallllllly upset me. Here are these scientists remarking how incredible and rare certain breeds of animals are, describing them in great detail and awe, only to hunt/trap/kill them and preserve their skins for a museum! It was appalling, but I tired to remember that things were a lot different in the 30's. Technology, and acquiring knowledge of animals has come a long way since then. Nevertheless, it was still hard to read. They beat their pet dogs which was also hard to read, as they casually mentioned this a few times nonchalantly and then accuse the indigenous of not taking care of their pets.
In one instance, they rescue a coyote with an injury caused from a trap, a while after it's release they then find the same coyote stuck dead in a trap and Teddy finds it surprising because she figured the coyote was very intelligent and would learn from the first time ... really?! For some reason, I felt compelled to bookmark these pages and the previous owner of the book had also underlined some of these parts along with some feministic remarks which brings me to my last then-and-now comparison point.
Theodora is quite definitely a strong woman who is no doubt remarkable in her abilities to live off the land, camp in the winter ( in northern b.c of all places!) alone, and fend for herself. Points were made about her abilities as a woman to do these things, and I believe she is an exceptional role-model of a woman's true strength. Despite comments made about her sex and ability (things no one would dare say now!) she not only accomplished what she set out to do but did it just as well as any man could in my opinion. It seemed sometimes she didnt even see it like this herself, which I found really interesting to think about since our ways of thinking are so much different in present day.
My favourite part of the book was any mention of the timber wolves. It seemed there was a great respect for these creatures, and reading about the wolf encounters had me on the edge of my seat every time.
This book was incredible, interesting, and easy to read. I'll definitely cherish it and this probably wont be the last time I read it! I feel like I could talk about it so much more!
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September 10, 2009wow! this book is incredible! for me it was the perfect time to read it, as i was leaving one city for a destination unknown. taken from teddy's journal as her and her husband explore the most northern canada at a time when women were not given much chance to explore other options besides home maker. dealing with isolation, local indians and the weather and building their world around them from all that nature had to offer were some of the challenges and rewards. and it reads like a real modern whitman and thoreau.
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December 10, 2010I can only imagine taking on this kind of adventure. What an amazing tale of two years spent in Northern B.C: living off the land, collecting samples for the natural history museum, traveling where hardly any white people (let alone a woman) had gone. Really an amazing book. She does such a good job of describing the conditions; I felt the bitter cold when I was reading it, and could practically hear the heinous plague of mosquitoes. I think that this should be required reading for everyone.
March 24, 2013
The writing was superb! The descriptions of wildlife and hardships encountered intriguing. Makes me want to go on a wilderness expedition myself and live of the land. The only thing I didn't like about this book was that the couple were financed by an un-named museum to collect specimens of rare or undocumented species of birds and mammals; the couple butchered way too many animals in their adventure.
February 1, 2015
This is one of the most unique and interesting books I have ever read. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that the author grew up a few miles from where I grew up in Northeast PA and that her conservation efforts allowed me to enjoy some of the same places that she did. Her descriptions of the Northern wilderness and the animals that she found there have stirred my curiosity to explore and learn more. The back of my book includes a bibliography and I'm glad it does.
July 20, 2016
Exceptional book. Thoroughly enjoyed the story of their lives in the wilderness. Another reviewer's comment about the way they treated animals... we can't comprehend such behavior as times are so different today. Then, that behavior was normal. I highly recommend this book.
November 5, 2009
what would Teddy think of me if she heard me complaining about "how cold it is in this 40 degree temp. living room"? I mean really, she'd probably poke my eyes out.
Theodora is my new role model!
Theodora is my new role model!
July 27, 2011
really special book. loved it so much. a little known classic that i wish i still owned so i could peruse again.
August 28, 2012
Omenica River country, real pioneer story.
April 22, 2013
An engrossing story of a woman and her husband who chose to live in the wilds of Canada during winter, one year even leaving their infant behind with a grandparent. Couldn't put it down.
August 12, 2016
It was pretty good. The scenery that she paints with her words is great! I loved the animal parts, especially her describing the dogs!
July 20, 2016
Exceptional book. Thoroughly enjoyed the story of their lives in the wilderness. Regarding another reviewer's comment about butchering animals... that was their job that they were hired to do.
July 20, 2016
amazing story of life in the wilderness of British Columbia.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews