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description: Franklin Welles Calkins stands without any living superior in depicting scenes and incidents of the frontier life in that section of the West which he has made his special study. In 1884, a competent and well-known literary critic writing from Boston, said: "We have come to regard Calkins as truly the representative of the Great West in literature, as Cable is of Louisiana, or Craddock of the Tennessee Mountains."   Calkins' "Two Wilderness Voyagers" is the true story of two Sioux captured by Assiniboines and afterward sold to the Chippewas. The story is full of adventure and gives a vivid picture of wild Indian life. There is sympathy with the "child of the forest" who is shown to be noble and generous, tho ignorant and unskilled in the arts of civilization.   Calkins was an early explorer of the Black Hills of South Dakota, following closely upon Custer's first expedition in 1874. He traveled by wagon train with several companions, and was among those who in August of that year ran the government blockade upon the Sioux reserve, and succeeded in reaching the heart of the Black Hills country. He and his companions were among those who founded Custer City.   He was acquainted with many Indian tribes and intimately with several historic characters among those of the northwest. Mr. Calkins speaks several Indian tongues and has lived with aborigines in their primitive fashion. During this period he visited many of the states and territories of the West and Southwest. He camped, tramped and hunted over a wide stretch of country between the British possessions and the Gulf of Mexico, the Great Lakes and the western slope of the Rockies. In these journeyings he mingled with all sorts and conditions of frontiersmen, and gained that intimate and varied local knowledge which characterizes his Western sketches.  The free atmosphere of the Great West, in which the incidents of most of his stories have their setting, is the atmosphere in which the forces of his life and character have had their development. They are conditions which produce activity, independence and freedom of thought.  Franklin Welles Calkins (1857 - 1928) was among the better known famous authors living west of the Mississippi River , whose stories may be likened to kodak flashes upon the scenes of early pioneer life on the Western prairies. He has contributed numerous papers with regard to Indian life and habits, including a historical series ("Famous Indians"), to various periodicals; among others the Associated Sunday Magazines; and since the age of 22 was a constant contributor of tales of western life and adventure. Among his books are: Frontier Sketches; Indian Tales: Hunting Stories: The Cougar Tamer: and My Host, the Enemy; and the Wooing of Tokala. In 1902 his book "Two Wilderness Voyagers A True Tale of Indian Life" was published.  Contents:  I. A SPRING AWAKENING II. THE SIOUX SLAVES III. AT THE SUGAR CAMP IV. Into the Unknown Country V. THE DANGER OF DELAYS VI. AS THE RABBITS HIDE VII. INTO THE TAMARACK SWAMP VIII. THE EAGLES PROVIDE IX. THE SPIRIT WOODS X. ETAPA COUNTS A COUP XI. THEY DANCE TO GRANDFATHER INYAN XII. FLIGHT XIII. THE LITTLE NURSE XIV. GOING TO THE ENEMY XV. IN BLACK OTTER'S CAMP XVI. IN THE COUGAR'S LAIR XVII. THE CANOE OF THE WASECUN XVIII. AT THE BIG RIVER XIX. THE PONY STEALERS XX. THE GRIEF OF FIRE CLOUD AND CRANE'S CRY XXI. A STRANGE BUFFALO XXII. A WARRIOR'S DEATH XXIII. THE BIG YELLOW RIVER XXIV. THE BOAT WHICH WAS NOT STRAIGHT TONGUE'S XXV. A Long Trail XXVI. THE VALLEY OF DESOLATION XXVII.
title: Two Wilderness Voyagers: A True Tale of Indian Life