Handloggers by W. H. Jackson, Ethel Dassow (1975)

156 Western American Literature In their Introduction, Professors Harth and Baldwin remark that their “hope is to be as representative as possible, while at the same time whetting the reader’s appetite so that he will seek out and read the complete works of the authors included.” They have succeeded admirably. JAMES K. FOLSOM, University of Colorado Handloggers. By W. H. Jackson with Ethel Dassow. (Anchorage, Alaska: Alaska Northwest Publishing Company, 1974. 251 pages. $4.95.) Handloggers is choice reading for anyone who has worked in the woods, for anyone who has felt the urge to get away from it all as a pioneer, for those who have had a desire to live dangerously, for hunters and fisher­ men, or for lovers of life on the sea, as the coastal water of Alaska is where the action takes place. I accepted the request that I review Handloggers with some doubt as to how anyone could write a book on handlogging. I had spent time in the woods as a logger when there were no chain saws or tractors and we loaded logs on horse-drawn sleighs by hand. But handlogging in Alaska is something else. “Handlogger” Jackson, who earned his title by his longevity and skill, states that the handlogger has only two things working for him: gravity and the sea. Handlogging is felling a tree on a steep enough slope so that gravity will carry the tree into the water below. If the tree reaches the water with no further effort by the faller, it is a “stumper.” But frequently a tree is hung up on its slide to water and the handlogger has to free it with handjacks. “Handlogger” Jackson, once he learned what others could teach him, worked alone. He understates the danger of maneuvering trees six feet in diameter on steep slopes. The ticklish moments, when twenty-ton trees suddenly move out with express train speed, are routine for the handlogger. Jackson is rather matter-of-fact about his skill and coordination as a handlogger, but he is rather proud of his accomplishments as a hunter. His story is of Alaska before and after game laws. He describes his and his wife’s experiences on the trapping line and with grizzlies, black bears, wolves, mountain goats, deer and fish both as a hunter and as a guide. Like the backdrop of the sea against which the story is written, the book is also a love story. “Handlogger” had a difficult and discouraging courtship with his “golden haired girl,” Ruth, but he won her. It is a story Reviews 157 of man and wife living nineteen years in the cramped quarters of a thirtyfoot motor launch and another sixteen years in the spaciousness of a fifty-five foot one. Ruth had been raised in a pioneer environment and could match or excel her brothers in hiking, swimming, and shooting. She took the dangers of her life with “Handlogger” in stride. When he finally had a serious accident in handlogging at age 65, she was able to support them with her trap line during his year of convalescence. It is a story that should challenge many couples and give the psychologists an exercise in under­ standing. T. W. DANIEL, Utah State University Tales of California. By Hector Lee. (Santa Rosa, California: The Letter Shop Press, 1974. 124 pages. $3.50.) This book consists of twelve brief narratives, composed or retold by Hector Lee, a folklorist and emeritus professor of English. Originally they were delivered as radio or television programs. They relate mostly to northern California and range from historical incidents to dramatized inter­ pretations of folk heroes to a brief life summary of Ishi — the last survivor of the Yahi Indians who died in 1916. The subject matter is varied and colorful. Place names of a town and a mountain are explained in narrative or anecdote. Historical figures of California’s past like William B. Ide and John Marsh are recreated and dialogue is supplied for them. Two notorious ladies of the Gold Rush period — Lola Montez and Lotta Crabtree — are specifically and frankly described. Desperadoes like Joaquin Murieta and the shotgun poet Black Bart are succinctly characterized...