James Cummins Bookseller

[N.p., Napa county, California: n.d., 1950s?].

Title leaf and 324 pp., typed rectos only on Southworth Bond paper. Occasional pencil corrections. 1 vols. 4to. Some toning to sheets. Stapled in chapters in upper left corner. Archival card box Item #322958

Extended narrative recollection of an autumn hunting and camping trip in southwestern Missouri (“About 1905” in a pencil addition), in lands first settled after the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812. From Whiting, Danforth and a party of three friends head out to a cabin in the deep woods. Their host was manager of a lumber company, and the party visited Black bayou, Dead Cypress swamp, and St. James bayou, camping and cutting wood for their fires and exploring their surroundings. They hunted goose, squirrel, wild turkey, and other game. They also encounter a moonshining operation. Danforth writes knowledgeably about the terrain and forests through which they roamed.
Part of their occupation was also as an advance crew for logging operations. In a footnote, Danforth notes: “Whiting has changed through the years. The mill is gone. The town, like Goldsmith’s Deserted Village, is marked by only a few houses.”

George W. Danforth (1868-1960), born in southwest Missouri, was a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and naval officer, author of engineering textbooks and of What You Should Know about Snakes (1956), and long resident of Napa county, California. This work is apparently unpublished.

An interesting and evocative account of woodland adventures in the Mississippi floodplain.

Price: $750.00 Free International Delivery