Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage Book – serie

A Minnesota canoe enthusiast retraces the routes of the voyageurs.The wilderness of the Boundary Waters is as rich in history as it is in natural beauty. Almost three hundred years ago, French Canadian voyageurs traveled through this area, which straddles the border of the United States and Canada, paddling birch-bark canoes along the St. Lawrence-Superior route to northwestern Canada. In this work of travel and adventure, Bolz recounts a journey he took in 1958, retracing the voyageurs’ route from Grand Portage on Lake Superior through the Quetico-Superior country to Rainy Lake. His canoe and paddle served as a time machine as he re-created a trip first taken centuries ago. Beautifully illustrated by Francis Lee Jaques, Portage into the Past draws from the journals and maps of the early explorers of the region. Today’s adventurers of the north country will treasure this classic, an ideal guidebook to the region’s remarkable past. “At times, the transition is so smooth that it is with a start that we realize we have suddenly been carried two hundred years into the past.” Canoeing ISBN 0-8166-0919-5 Paper £00.00 $14.95192 Pages 6 x 8 1/4 AprilFesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage Book SeriesTranslation inquiries: University of Minnesota Press

A long-awaited paperback edition of this classic bestseller.The Singing Wilderness is Sigurd Olson’s first and best-selling book, with over 70,000 copies sold in hardcover since its release in 1956. Now available in paperback for the first time, this volume established Olson as a major writer renowned for the beauty of his prose and the clarity of his vision.“The singing wilderness has to do with the calling of the loons, northern lights, and the great silences of a land lying northwest of Lake Superior,” Olson writes. “It is concerned with the simple joys, the timelessness and perspective found in a way of life that is close to the past. I have heard the singing in many places, but I seem to hear it best in the wilderness.”Olson tells his story through descriptions of the simple events in nature that bring meaning to his life: picking berries, looking for pine knots, fly-fishing, hiking through the forest, paddling a canoe. “The movement of a canoe is like a reed in the wind,” he writes. “Silence is part of it, and the sounds of lapping water, bird songs, and wind in the trees. It is part of the medium through which it floats, the sky, the water, the shores.” Olson’s insights, sharpened by his knowledge of the natural world and warmed by his passion for the outdoors, challenge the reader to participate in each fulfilling moment. As meaningful today as it was when he wrote it, The Singing Wilderness is an essential antidote to the trials of modern life. This unique volume, beautifully illustrated by Francis Lee Jaques, will be a welcome addition to any nature lover’s bookshelf and backpack.

Olson’s wilderness philosophy, now in paperback for the first time.Written in the last years of his life, Reflections from the North Country is often considered Sigurd Olson’s most intellectually significant work. In an account alive with anecdote and insight, Olson outlines the wilderness philosophy he developed while working as an outspoken advocate for the conservation of America’s natural heritage.Based on speeches delivered at town meetings and government hearings, this book joins The Singing Wilderness and Listening Point as the core of Olson’s work. Upon its initial publication in 1976, Reflections from the North Country, with Olson’s unique combination of lyrical nature writing and activism, became an inspiration to the burgeoning environmental movement, selling over 46,000 copies in hardcover. In this wide-ranging work, Olson evokes the soaring grace of raven, osprey, and eagle, the call of the loon, and the song of the hermit thrush. He challenges the reader to loosen the grasp of technology and the rush of contemporary life and make room for a sense of wonder heightened by being in nature. From evolution to the meaning and power of solitude, Olson meditates on the human condition, offering eloquent testimony to the joys and truths he discovered in his beloved north-country wilderness.ISBN 0-8166-2993-5 Paper $14.95 COBE192 pages 12 line drawings 5 1/2 x 8 1/4 SeptemberFesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage Book SeriesTranslation inquiries: Knopf

Olson’s final work, available in paperback for the first time.Of Time and Place is a legacy from one of the best-loved nature writers of our time. In this, his last book completed just before his death, Sigurd F. Olson guides readers through his wide-ranging memories of a lifetime dedicated to the preservation of the wilderness. Like his other best-selling books, Of Time and Place is filled with beauty, adventure, and wonder.Olson recalls his many friendships of trail and woods and portage, his favorite campsites, the stories behind the artifacts and mementos hanging in his cabin at Listening Point. Whether he is remembering canoe trips with his friends, admiring the playful grace of the otter, or pondering the Earth’s great cycles of climatic change, these moving and evocative essays reaffirm Olson’s stature as one of the greatest nature writers of this century.

"The lonely land lies a thousand miles northwest of Lake Superior in upper Saskatchewan. Here the Churchill River, famed water trail of such early voyageurs as the Hudson’s Bay fur traders, flows in a wandering course through one of the last great wildernesses of the continent. For 500 miles, the author and five Canadian friends retraced the trail of the voyageurs down the Churchill and the Sturgeon Weir rivers to the Saskatchewan. Sigurd F. Olson has added page after page to the lasting literature of the canoe, and the illustrations by Francis Lee Jaques, the canoe-country artist supreme, perfectly complement the text. Mr. Olson writes sensitively but also straight-forwardly, without heroics."—New York Times Book Review"His love for the untouched wild and camaraderie of his fellow canoeists shine through in this classic trip story."—Explore Magazine

Olson’s inspirational life story, told in his own words, now available in paperback.Sigurd Olson’s love affair with the wilderness began in a stream near his house in Wisconsin-he caught his first trout there with a tamarack wand, black thread, and a grasshopper as bait. Open Horizons is his autobiography, and in it he recounts a life lived on and for the land, from the wonder of boyhood fishing expeditions to decades-long conservation battles. Writing always with the sensitive, lyric prose that characterizes his works, Olson recalls his pioneering youth on a remote Wisconsin farm, his summers as a wilderness canoe guide, and his thousands of miles of travel through the wilds of this country and Canada. “Open Horizons is the story of the unknowns I have discovered, and gone through,” he writes. While telling his story, Olson makes a compelling case for preserving the wilderness. He puts forth his own life as an example of how nature can have a spiritual effect on the human soul, and proposes diligence on behalf of those who fight to conserve our forests, wetlands, and dunes. “If we can move into an open horizon where we can live in our modern world with ancient dreams that have always stirred us, then our work will have been done.”ISBN 0-8166-3037-2 Paper $14.95256 pages 12 line drawings 5 1/2 x 8 1/4 SeptemberFesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage Book SeriesTranslation inquiries: University of Minnesota Press

In 1954, Helen Hoover and her husband Adrian left their careers and the big-city life of Chicago to move to a small cabin in the north woods that border Minnesota and Canada. Living without electricity, telephone, or a car, the Hoovers became part of the environment, peacefully coexisting with their wild neighbors. The Long-Shadowed Forest is the amazing record of the Hoovers' relationship with deer, mice, birds, squirrels, moose, and other creatures of the forest. The Long-Shadowed Forest, illustrated throughout with Adrian's charming line drawings, is a welcome treat for Helen Hoover fans and will be compelling reading for nature lovers everywhere.

The captivating history of the world’s largest freshwater lake.This classic history of Lake Superior, from the earliest explorations to the explosion of industry on its shores, takes the reader on a tour from Duluth to Isle Royale, from Thunder Bay to Sault Ste. Marie, from Pictured Rocks to the Apostle Islands. Grace Lee Nute tells the fascinating stories of the Native Americans, voyageurs, missionaries, and others who created the way of life that many generations have known on the edge of this magnificent body of water.

The essential resource on how to canoe, now back in print.Calvin Rutstrum’s fans have long known about his nuts-and-bolts approach to wilderness living. With this reissue of North American Canoe Country, a new generation of readers has the opportunity to learn time-tested secrets of a safe canoe adventure from a master outdoorsman. First published in 1964, North American Canoe Country is a complete treatise on the art of canoeing. Written as a guide for travelers who want to embark on self-sufficient trips deep into the wilderness, this book offers readers all the information they need to plan and undertake a canoe trip. Rutstrum gives the essentials on canoes, comparing birch-bark, wood, wood-and-canvas, and aluminum crafts. His paddling techniques are timeless-he describes strategies for rough waters and rapids, for boating alone or in tandem, including stroke diagrams. Portaging, safety procedures, direction finding, towing, and much more are systematically explained.

Indispensable advice on enjoying the great outdoors in winter.With the public’s growing interest in outdoor adventure and in simple pastimes, winter wilderness camping has again become an exhilarating alternative to sheltered urban life. Originally published in 1968, this classic guide for cold-weather enthusiasts by renowned wilderness expert Calvin Rutstrum is available again, now in an easy-to-pack paperback edition.Paradise Below Zero provides essential information on wilderness adventure in subzero temperatures. Readers benefit from Rutstrum’s knowledge of winter clothing, from choosing the proper mittens to selecting the indispensable footwear; traveling methods, including running a dogsled team; and emergency techniques, such as treating snow blindness and caring for someone who has broken through the ice. Rutstrum affectionately reflects on winter life and enthusiastically gives examples of how native peoples of the north and trappers have fought the cold. This colorful book will be of interest to anyone who has ever survived a northern winter.

Sigurd F. Olson (1899-1982) was one of the greatest environmentalists of the twentieth century. A conservation activist and popular writer, Olson introduced a generation of readers to the importance of wilderness. He served as president of the Wilderness Society and the National Parks Association and as a consultant to the federal government on wilderness preservation and ecological problems. He earned many honors, including the highest possible from the Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, and Izaak Walton League. Olson is perhaps best known, though, for his many books that express the wonder, awe, and peace he found in the wilderness, including the nature classics The Singing Wilderness, Listening Point, and Reflections from the North Country. While these books have greatly influenced subsequent environmentalist movements and writers such as Annie Dillard and Barry Lopez, a major portion of Olson’s wilderness writing-much of it originating as speeches-has been relatively inaccessible, scattered in a number of magazines and obscure books over a period of more than fifty years, or never published at all. The Meaning of Wilderness gathers together the most important of Sigurd Olson’s articles and speeches, making them available for the first time. The book also contains an introduction and chapter-by-chapter commentary by Olson’s authorized biographer, David Backes, that help the reader discover the various facets of Olson’s wilderness philosophy and their development over time. A lively look at the evolution of one of environmentalism’s greatest figures, The Meaning of Wilderness will be essential reading for Olson fans, historians, and outdoors people around the country.

The lively history of this frontier fort.History/RegionalThe lively history of this frontier fort, now back in print!In 1824 Colonel Josiah Snelling erected a stone fortress at the point where the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers merged, on territory secured by Lieutenant Zebulon Pike in a treaty with the Sioux chief Little Crow. Evan Jones describes the intriguing history of Fort Snelling, the Gibraltar of the West, its effect on the Native Americans of the region, and its role in the westward movement.“A story of bitter and complex rivalries. . . . With massive towers and walls capping a limestone cliff, [Fort Snelling] defied attack. But it influenced movements and events hundreds of miles away. The Sioux opposed the Chippewa, the North West Company contended with the Hudson’s Bay outfit, and Astor’s American Fur Company fought them both. . . . This book unfolds a forty-year struggle in the wilderness.” --New York Times Book Review“The author offers here a rollicking tale of high adventure and low shenanigans in and around Fort Snelling. As much the story of the Indians of the region as of the hardy Americans (famous and infamous) who walked inside this fort’s impressive walls, Citadel relays its message of courage and chicanery with a minimum of ‘undying prose’ but a maximum of straightforward and incisive storytelling.” --Library JournalEvan Jones (1915–1996) was born in Le Sueur, Minnesota. A writer of American history and cookbooks, he is the author of The Minnesota (also published in paperback by University of Minnesota Press), Trappers and Mountain Men, Epicurean Delight: The Life and Times of James Beard, and The L. L. Bean Book of New New England Cookery.ISBN 0-8166-3879-9 Paper £10.95 $14.95 256 Pages 23 black-and-white photos 5 3/8 x 8 1/2 MayFesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage SeriesTranslation Inquiries: Penguin Putnam, Inc.

A long-awaited new edition of the steamboating classic.George Byron Merrick chronicles the entire panorama of steamboat life he experienced in the mid-1800s, where he started as a cabin boy and worked up to cub pilot on the mighty Mississippi. Originally published in 1909, Merrick’s narrative matches lively stories about gamblers, shipwrecks, and steamboat races with rich descriptions of river life and steamboat operations.Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage Series

Spirited stories of the heroes and scoundrels who explored the Big Muddy-now back in print!The Mississippi River has intrigued the footloose for centuries. Here, for the first time in paperback, are briskly told biographies of the chief protagonists in the drama, with Old Man River as the constant and invincible antagonist. From conquistadors to nineteenth-century gentlemen explorers, Timothy Severin depicts the disasters and adventures of familiar, but often misunderstood, figures in American history, as well as the chicanery of others, less well known, who used the river for their own purposes.

A dramatic account of three centuries of people and ships that sailed the Great LakesA popular history of navigation on the Great Lakes and life on their shores, The Long Ships Passing brings us aboard the crafts that have plowed the waves of the treacherous "five sisters" carrying the grain, lumber, and minerals that fed and built the cities of America. Walter Havighurst paints vivid pictures of life-and death-on the lakes, mysterious accounts of wooden ships and iron men that sank to freshwater graves, especially along the immigrant route where the wrecks lie thick. In rich and marvelous detail, this classic history recounts the saga of an inland marine empire.

The complete outdoorsman looks back on fifty years of wilderness adventures to find answers to today’s questions.Though he began his life as a Twin Cities resident, Calvin Rutstrum came to see noise, material wealth, and perpetual frenzy as the narcotics of the city dweller. Like Henry David Thoreau, he set out to live a simpler, more meaningful life. In his pursuit, Rutstrum came to appreciate the natural world and the skills necessary to survive in it. Part memoir, part guidebook, and part environmental treatise, Once upon a Wilderness is a treasury of wilderness wisdom.Rutstrum reminisces about lessons that his time in the wilderness has taught him. He writes about a range of backcountry issues, including environmental preservation, cultural sensitivity toward Native Americans, the urban versus the rural, and the artistic value of practical skills. Through his thoughtful consideration of the pleasure and value of wilderness, Rutstrum offers a clarion call for a saner, more socially responsible and environmentally sensitive way of living.

An inspiring guide for true wilderness living-now back in print!In his most personal book, outdoors expert Calvin Rutstrum makes an appeal for a more natural approach to life, one in which wilderness values predominate, and weaves that philosophy with narratives of a lifetime of experience and adventure.Using his vast knowledge of campcraft, Rutstrum describes the wilderness life and details what one can expect from the wild-inspiration from exploring, pleasure from encountering natural settings, satisfaction after gaining experience, and mental stimulation from observation and problem solving. In the process he reveals many adventures, including his first trek into the deep Canadian wilderness, a journey by dogsled to bring out a human body, and a rescue mission to save two lost, inexperienced campers. Always respectful of nature and the skills of his Native American neighbors, Rutstrum argues for a modern esteem for true wilderness and explains what one can do with “all of that leisure time.”

A captivating history of river travelers-now available for the first time in paperback!Voices on the River relates two centuries of tales of famous steamboats and of the men who piloted them, from the renowned Mark Twain to the trailblazing Captain Henry Shreve. The book portrays roustabouts on the main deck, passengers in plush cabins, pilots at the big steering wheel, and government engineers at work in shifting channels. It shows Native American tribes carried to exile; soldiers transported to army posts; artists, scientists, and adventurers on their way to wild country; immigrants thronging river landings where the inland cities rose. Voices on the River follows frontier commerce up the Mississippi River and its two major tributaries, the Ohio and the Missouri. It tells of steamboat speed records, races, and disasters, and of the growing nation in the vast Midwest. This book gathers memories of a wide variety of Mississippi characters to provide an engrossing portrait of the expanse of river life.

The whimsical successor to Millions of CatsThe Funny Thing is GÁg’s follow-up to her well-loved first book, Millions of Cats. It tells the story of a curious dragon-like “aminal” that eats children’s dolls. A kindly old man named Bobo cannot stand by and allow the Funny Thing to steal dolls from children. He entices it to eat “jum-jills,” a concoction he makes up from seven nut cakes, five seed puddings, two cabbage salads, and fifteen little cheeses, all rolled into little balls. A happy ending is assured when the Funny Thing discovers he loves jum-jills and is convinced that they will make his tail grow longer and his blue points grow more beautiful. He returns each day for the treats and never eats another doll.

The classic illustrated folktale by the author of Millions of Cats-now back in print after nearly thirty years!Gone Is Gone addresses an age-old question between couples-who works harder? This long-out-of-print children’s book is based on a charming Bohemian tale recited to Wanda GÁg when she was a child, and is now once again available to enchant audiences of all ages. The tale’s sly peasant humor and conversational style combined with GÁg’s expressive black-and-white illustrations made the book an instant classic. In this delightful story we meet Fritzl, who lives on a farm with his wife Liesi and their baby. Fritzl works hard in the fields every day. Liesi works hard all day, too, but Fritzl somehow feels that he works harder. When he complains about how hard he works and how easy Liesi has it, doing nothing but “putter and potter about the house a bit,” Liesi calls his bluff and suggests they trade places.The hilarious outcomes of Fritzl’s calamitous day at home are portrayed in GÁg’s singular illustrations. In the end Fritzl admits that Liesi’s work is “none too easy” and begs to return to his fields and not do housework another day. “Well then,” says Liesi, “if that’s how it is, we surely can live in peace and happiness for ever and ever.”

A charming tale of two little field mice and their adventure in the big, wide worldIn Snippy and Snappy, we are introduced to brother and sister field mice living with their mother and father in a cozy nook in a hay field. Their father enthralls them with stories about gardens in big fields, houses in big gardens, kitchen cupboards in big houses, and big yellow cheeses in big kitchen cupboards. One day Snippy and Snappy wander away from home while playing with their mother’s yarn ball. Their journey takes them to a large house full of mysterious things, including cupboards full of wonderful-smelling cheese. Just as Snappy begins to nibble at a piece of cheese in a mousetrap, their father jumps down to rescue them and lead them safely back home. GÁg’s delightfully detailed illustrations capture the coziness, wonder, and playfulness of Snippy and Snappy’s adventures.

A Newbery Honor Book (1934)An unfortunate accident with an Apple drives Bunny from Bunnyland to Elsewhere. Every letter in the alphabet is represented in Bunny’s journey, through what he eats (Greens), to whom he meets (Insects, Jay, Kitten, Lizard), and then a little sleep (Nap), to Tripping back to town, right side Up and Up-side-down.The creation of The ABC Bunny was a GÁg family affair, with sister Flavia composing the “ABC Song,” included in this faithful edition; brother Howard penning the lettering; and Wanda writing and illustrating the story.

“Nothing at All” is the name of an orphaned puppy living with his two brothers until two children come to adopt them. Unfortunately, Nothing at All gets inadvertently left behind-not out of cruelty, but because he is invisible!He is horribly lonely until he meets a bird, a Jackdaw, who says that he knows how to make the puppy visible. Nothing at All doesn’t think much of the bird at first, but follows the instructions anyway, and after a little time, hard work, and a lot of dizziness, the puppy becomes visible and is adopted along with his brothers.

The definitive history of one of the nation’s great transcontinental railroadsIn the sprawling Northwest, from the upper Mississippi River valley to Puget Sound, no railroad shaped the landscape and society like the Great Northern Railway Company. This is the complete history of that enterprise, from 1856, when the first charter was granted, through the era of James J. Hill-known as the Empire Builder-to its maturation and eventual merger in 1970, when the eight-thousand-mile Great Northern was incorporated into the massive Burlington Northern.The Great Northern Railway highlights the changes brought on by economic, political, social, and technological advances, including world wars, increased competition from other modes of transportation, and tighter government restrictions. The first part of the book (1856–1916) examines the railway’s early strategies and philosophy, relations with employees, and vigorous campaigns to develop the service area. The second part of the history (1916–1970) offers an assessment of a dramatic period of transition for the railroad-international conflicts, the Great Depression, the rise of motor vehicles, increasing labor costs, and stronger unions.Illustrated with more than two hundred maps, period photographs, and drawings, the volume also includes appendixes listing the original track-laying history, track removals, ruling grades on main freight routes, and main line ruling grades from Minneapolis to Seattle.

In the spring of 1934, a small group of militant union organizers led Minneapolis truckers on a series of strikes that sought to break the city's antiunion grip. The striking truckers, in protest of scab workers, took to the streets of the city's warehouse district where they faced violent opposition from the police and members of the Citizen's Alliance, a group representing Minneapolis's business community. The conflict exploded when police fired on the unarmed strikers, killing four and injuring countless others. The events surrounding Bloody Friday shifted the balance of power between labor and business in Minneapolis and proved to be a significant victory for the labor movement nationwide, contributing to the ratification of the landmark National Labor Relations Act. When first published in 1937, Charles Rumford Walker's American City was praised as an evenhanded portrayal of the truckers' strike. Focusing on the personal experiences of the participants, Walker recounts the interests, motives, and passions on both sides of the conflict, capturing the heated emotions of those involved. He offers a vivid account of a period that transformed Minneapolis and forged the way for workers' rights nationwide.