Yankee Loggers - a Recollection of Woodmen, Cooks and River Drivers
(Wonderful history of logging the north woods, based large...)
Wonderful history of logging the north woods, based largely on conversations with actual woodsmen. With a Loggers Lexicon of noteworthy words and phrases. Illustrated with black and white photos and classic line drawings. 124 pages.
Holy Old Mackinaw: A Natural History of the American Lumberjack
(Holy Old Mackinaw is the rough and lusty story of the Ame...)
Holy Old Mackinaw is the rough and lusty story of the American lumberjack at work and play from Maine to Oregon In these modern days timber is harvested by cigarette-smoking married men, whose children go to school in buses, but for nearly three hundred years the logger was a real pioneer who ranged through the forests of many states, steel calks in his boots and ax in his fist, a plug of chew handy, who emerged at intervals into the towns to call on soft ladies and drink hard liquor.
Machines of Plenty: Pioneering in American Agriculture
(Stewart Holbrook writes about America as few others do, r...)
Stewart Holbrook writes about America as few others do, recreating with warm, human detail the lives of men who helped hew our country out of the wilderness. he has concentrated his knowledge and his talent on an important aspect of our national life -- the American rural scene and the farmer who feeds the nation and a good part of the giant farms of the West, the revolution in farm machinery and methods, as well as in the farmer's life -- these are the elements of one of America's greatest achievements.
The Swamp Fox of the Revolution (Landmark Books) (Landmark books 90)
(VERY NICE BOOK! 1959 SEVENTH PRINTING. PLEASE SEE OUR SCA...)
VERY NICE BOOK! 1959 SEVENTH PRINTING. PLEASE SEE OUR SCAN. MINOR SCUFFING & EDGE WEAR ON COVERS AND SPINE. SMALL BLACKOUT INSIDE FRONT COVER. CLEAN PAGES.
(The Columbia commemorates the disciplining and conversion...)
The Columbia commemorates the disciplining and conversion of a wilderness river from a water passageway to a powerhouse and a source of irrigation. Here is the story of its explorers who came by boat and by foot: the bickering and battles between Hudson's Bay Company and Astor's fur trappers, the settlers that turned politicians to keep the Oregon Territory in the U.S. and to make two states out of it, the coming of steamboats, the potent force of the railways, and later the highways. The Columbia follows the story of the canals, locks, and dams which flooded old landmarks to give new pioneers farm lands and electricity, and the story of the settlement of the Pacific Northwest.
The Story of American Railroads: From the Iron Horse to the Diesel Locomotive
(This richly comprehensive history by a self-proclaimed "l...)
This richly comprehensive history by a self-proclaimed "low-brow" historian features more than 100 photographs and contemporary prints of America's railway system. Stewart H. Holbrook presents a dramatic, highly readable chronicle of the development of the backbone of the country's commerce and industry. Abounding in episodes of ingenuity and achievement, the growth of the railway system required constant improvements in techniques, devices, and machines, from the first wood burner that traveled on wooden rails to modern streamliners and diesel-powered giants.
In addition to technological innovations, the colossal enterprise required courage and resolve to battle challenges posed by nature as well as by political maneuvering and corruption. This fascinating survey draws upon many hitherto unknown original sources and new data, in addition to firsthand accounts from hundreds of brakemen, conductors, engineers, and other railroad employees. Sound and authoritative, it constitutes a definitive history of America's railroads.
Stewart Hall Holbrook was an American historian and journalist. He became a leading American historian by writing what he himself called "lowbrow" or "non-stuffed shirt history. " His writings, sense of humor, and social criticism also made him a sort of combination of Will Rogers, Mark Twain and H. L. Mencken.
Background
Stewart Hall Holbrook was born on August 22, 1893 in Newport, Vermont, United States. He was the son of Jesse William Holbrook, a businessman and logger, and Kate Stewart.
From his early years the forests and rivers of New England and the Pacific Northwest captured Holbrook's imagination. He recalled how every spring as a boy he awakened to the roar of the great loggers' drive down the Connecticut River. "You threw off the heavy quilt and went to the window; and you saw what every boy waited to see in April--the rushing, churning Connecticut River filled with spruce and fir. Yes, the drive was a-comin' down. "
Education
Holbrook went to school in Newport and Lemington, Vermont, and attended Colebrook Academy in Colebrook, New Hampshire.
Career
At eighteen Holbrook moved West, where he worked for the Winnipeg Telegram; joined a stock company and toured the western provinces of Canada with a troupe that included Boris Karloff, a lifelong friend; and played semiprofessional baseball. Holbrook returned to Vermont in 1914 and worked as a logger until he entered the army. During World War I he saw service in France, becoming a first sergeant in the 303rd Field Artillery and winning two battle stars.
Returning in 1919 to logging on the Connecticut River, Holbrook met woods boss "Jigger" Jones, whom he later wrote about in his first book, Holy Old Mackinaw (1938). A year later, "wearing the only derby hat in British Columbia, " he arrived in Victoria, soon taking up the job of "cheater" (timekeeper) in a logging camp. At this time he began contributing articles and essays to magazines. In 1923 he joined the staff of a trade magazine, Lumber News, in Portland, Oregon, serving as editor from 1926 to 1934. From 1930 to 1937 he was a feature writer for the Portland Oregonian.
In 1934 Holbrook resigned his editorship to concentrate on free-lance writing. Beginning in 1938 he published more than thirty books, and the number of his articles defies enumeration because he used pseudonyms.
He once contributed to eleven consecutive issues of Century magazine. He also wrote for the New Yorker, the New York Times, the New York Herald Tribune, the Saturday Evening Post, American Mercury, American Heritage, and American Forests. During two years of temporary residence in Cambridge, Massachussets (1942-1944), Holbrook lectured at Harvard and Boston University. Committed to the conservation movement, during World War II he devoted his summers to directing a program to fight fires with the Division of Forestry in the state of Washington; he also headed the new "Keep Washington Green" program, whose success extended the movement across the nation.
Holbrook wrote for both adults and young readers; his favorite subjects were forests and rivers; heroes of the West, industry, and wars; and popular customs. H. L. Mencken gave him encouragement, and his first check for an article was for $5 from Harold Ross, who later became editor of the New Yorker. Holy Old Mackinaw: A Natural History of the American Lumberjack (1938) established his reputation and was the forerunner of a number of books on loggers and forests. Lost Men of American History, published in 1946, with an introduction by Allan Nevins, won wide notice. Anecdotal in style, the book was unorthodox and fresh, treating themes such as the introduction of the log cabin by the Swedes (not the English) and describing obscure persons like Christopher Ludwick and Lorenzo Coffin.
A reviewer for the Mississippi Valley Historical Review, after making customary academic caveats, acknowledged that "even specialists in United States history will find much that is new in it. " Its success impelled him to write further on matters other than forests and the lumber industry. The following year Holbrook brought out a popular and durable work, The Story of American Railroads. In 1950 Holbrook published The Yankee Exodus: An Account of Migration from New England. More than his other books it bore earmarks of scholarship--investigation of town, county, and state histories, and familiarity with specialized research. In superabundant detail, citing over 2, 000 names, with emphasis upon personality and story, he recounted the movement of Yankees from New England to the Pacific from the eighteenth century to the twentieth century--a migration of which he was a part. Writing with the belief that the Yankee's role in settling the nation had been ignored, he concentrated on the "older stock" that moved not to the eastern cities or the South but to the West.
From 1946 until his death Holbrook published one or more books and about four articles a year. The Age of the Moguls (1953) led Doubleday's Mainstream of America series, to which he also contributed Dreamers of the American Dream (1957). James J. Hill (1955) was a volume in Knopf's Great Lives in Brief series. For Rinehart's Rivers of America series he wrote The Columbia (1956).
In 1962 Holbrook became general editor of a series on historic American and Canadian forts projected by Prentice-Hall. Unlike many free-lance writers, Holbrook made a comfortable living. Advances on The Age of the Moguls amounted to $6, 000; royalties of $31, 683 were paid him in 1954. His unsuccessful effort in 1961 to reduce his income taxes by invoking the "spreadback" provision of the Internal Revenue code (spreading back a large royalty payment over the years of writing) elicited attention and sympathy.
Late in his career Holbrook invented "Mr. Otis, " a "primitive-modern painter" who stealthily painted in Holbrook's attic study while the writer was away. In 1958 Mr. Otis, a book of paintings with an introduction by Stewart H. Holbrook, was published.
Untrained in scholarship, he never engaged in extensive research, grasped the complexities of historical forces, or displayed the depth of understanding that makes a great historian. He died in Portland, Oregon.
Achievements
Holbrook helped record in a readable and colorful manner the lowbrow history of Oregon, which was generally overlooked by many historians during his lifetime. He wrote with gusto, humor, and flavor, turning up neglected places and people, with historical intuition, and telling a good story. His prolific writings made history pleasurable and interesting for a generation of Americans.
In 1963 Holbrook's writings on forests brought him an award from American Forest Products Industries, Inc. The Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award is named after Holbrook and is presented every year "to a person or organization in recognition of significant contributions that have enriched Oregon’s literary community. "
Holbrook believed that Oregon's growing population would damage the state's environment.
Connections
On June 12, 1924, Holbrook married Katherine Stanton Gill. After the death of his first wife, he married Sybil Walker of Portland, a writer, on May 1, 1948. They had two children.
