Stump Ranch Pioneer - book

Stump Ranch Pioneer, Nelle Portrey Davis (Dodd, Mead & Co., N.Y., 1942)

Why did I read this book, a book I almost certainly would never have read if left alone to my own tastes? First, I would not have found a book about a stump ranch appealing. Second, I would have assumed it was by a housewife who fancied herself an author or at least aspired to be one. Third, it was published in 1942, not exactly a current title or topic. Fourth, the copy I have was a reprint of the original, published by the Idaho Historical Society and printed by the University of Idaho Press, hardly a source to look for exciting or, generally speaking, even very interesting books. Here again I am forced to admit that my pre-formed opinions and prejudices would have kept me from reading another interesting work, had it not been for my wife and semi-desperation. I found myself with nothing to read. Our local library acquires only a limited number of new books and there was nothing that interested me. I haven’t been to the North Idaho College Library recently. My wife, who has been caught up in an oral history of North Idaho Project through a course she teaches at NIC, suggested this book. Having read it I am both surprised and pleased.

Nelle Portrey Davis was a housewife, it is true, but she was not an aspiring writer, she was an established writer, having published widely in magazines (I, of course, would not have known this). This was her only full-length book, but she obviously used her talent and previous experience to write a compelling and interesting account of her life, and the life and times of many families caught up in the dust bowl years and forced to move elsewhere. In her case, Davis, her husband, and their two children were forced to abandon their home in Colorado and their dreams of a large sheep ranch, when the dust storms and drought became so intense they were unlivable. Through rumors and word-of-mouth they learned that cut-over timberland in North Idaho was cheap and available, and there was no drought. With little real information they migrated 1500 miles to Boundary County, Idaho where, for $100 down they purchased 40 acres of cut-over timberland (the total price was $530). The 40 acres, plus a huge amount of labor, allowed them to establish themselves comfortably, raise their own food, and through an amazing amount of creativity and ingenuity convert the still heavily timbered land into a home and small farm of which they could be proud. With so little money they existed by selling some remaining timber, cutting cordwood, Christmas trees, a bit of outside labor now and then, an occasional short magazine piece, and just “making do.” They slowly and laboriously cleared enough land of stumps and brush to begin a garden and thenceforth raised their own fruit and vegetables, sheep, goats, cows, horses and chickens, supplemented by venison and fish from the lakes and rivers. Although they never gained much materially they flourished and lived a life idyllic when compared to their dust bowl experience.

In addition to her gift for writing prose, Nelle Davis was also a careful and astute observer of the life around her, the weather, the environment, as well as her neighbors and the culture they lived in. She loved the mountains and was conversant with the native trees and plants and writes of this with obvious love and appreciation. Her descriptions of their various activities, lumbering, animal husbandry, gardening, and neighborly affairs are readable, insightful, marvelously descriptive, and informative. She tells us of a time and place and culture that no longer exists except in the memories of a very few elderly survivors, and here in Boundary County at least, a few remnants that show up at auctions and in antique stores. Indeed, the daughter who is featured in the book, still lives, now approaching her eighties, and has lived on and managed, with her husband, a small farm here all her life. They, by dint of daily hard work and dedication, prospered and raised a successful family. Their farm is itself quite a far cry from the one described in the book, what with more modern equipment, more arable land, and the knowledge acquired over the years, has been able to survive and provide their necessities. But it, too, like almost all small farms, will no doubt succumb eventually to the siren song of “progress.” They say people now don’t understand what it’s like to be farmers, to be committed day and night to their crops and animals, to exist at the whims of the weather and the changes of season. They are right.

The culture described by Davis, although it existed fewer than a hundred years ago, when read about now, seems almost as exotic as if from another land entirely. It is completely unknown to most young people, a culture that was but no longer is. Why was a book about a relatively obscure corner of the world, becoming slowly populated by dust bowl survivors and others with limited means, written by a little-known rural housewife, published by a major New York Publishing House? Remember, in 1942 we were beginning a war. Inspirational books were in demand. This is a book about independent minded, resourceful, creative, ambitious, determined, hard-working, enthusiastic, unwilling to give up or fail people, who lived out the courage of their convictions. It was, and is, a book more American even than apple pie (that, by the way is featured prominently).

It is difficult to say anything truly critical about this book. But, playing Devil’s Advocate, one might say Davis took too literally the fact that she was living in “Paradise Valley.” Similarly, because of the overwhelmingly positive tone of the work, you might say it should have been titled “The Joys of Stump Ranching,” as there is virtually no mention of any unpleasantness or potentially negative aspects of life as she describes it. In any case, if you want a sort of mini-ethnography of American life in the west during the 1930’s and 40’s, you should enjoy this interesting book (if, that is, you are fortunate enough to find a copy).