In the Land of the Grasshopper Song: Two Women in the Klamath River Indian Country in 1908-09 [Paperback]

Mary Ellicott Arnold (Author), Mabel Reed (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1980

In 1908 two young women—the authors of this book—accepted Indian Service appointments as field matrons for the Karok Indians in the Klamath and Salmon River country of northern California. Although the area had been the scene of a gold rush some fifty years earlier, they write in the foreword, "the social life of the Indian—what he believed and the way he felt about things—was very little affected by white influence. The older Indians still had the spaced tatoo marks on their forearms, by which they could measure the length of the string of wampum required to buy a wife. . . . The white men we knew on the Rivers were pioneers of the Old West. . . . All around us was gold country, the land of the saloon and of the six-shooter. Our friends and neighbors carried guns as a matter of course, and used them on occasion. But the account given in these pages is not of these occurrences but of everyday life on the frontier in an Indian village, and what Indians and badmen did and said when they were not engaged in wiping out their friends and neighbors. It is also the account of our own two years in Indian country where, in the sixty-mile stretch between Happy Camp and Orleans, we were the only white women, and most of the time quite scared enough to satisfy anybody."

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mary Ellicott Arnold and Mabel Reed, who had met as children, were an adventurous and devoted twosome for nearly seventy years. Most of their papers from which this work was drawn are located at the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College.

Product Details

• Paperback: 313 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books (November 1, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803267037
• ISBN-13: 978-0803267039
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #232,169 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very adventurous women!, January 25, 2000

By 

Diana Hamilton (South Lake Tahoe) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Land of the Grasshopper Song: Two Women in the Klamath River Indian Country in 1908-09 (Paperback)

This is an amazing account, by two very adventurous women, of their time spent in an extremely remote area of this country. Even with the speed of modern automobile travel, the tiny communities along the Klamath River, in Humboldt & Siskiyou Counties of northern California, are still remote. Mary & Mabel's sense of adventure, humor, tolerance & joy radiate from this book. It's been 20 years since I lived near the Company Ranch, in Orleans, and read this story. I'm looking forward to owning my own copy and re-reading it. Another reader recommended a wonderful book of similar format. It's exact title is "Tisha: the story of a young teacher in the Alaskan wilderness". It is available through Amazon. I lent my copy several years ago; it's time to buy another copy and re-read it, too. These books are very difficult to find in bookstores. Thank you, Amazon.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Living with, and learning from, the Karok Indians in 1908., January 30, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: In the Land of the Grasshopper Song: Two Women in the Klamath River Indian Country in 1908-09 (Paperback)

Two white women move to the remote Karok Indian country of Northern California in 1908, to become teachers on the Indian reservation there. They are unique in their curiosity, intelligence and self-reliance. It's rough country, but they enter into a connection with the local native, and white, population that leads to their learning more, perhaps, than they taught. Low key, funny, full of stories, and depicting an era that's past, it's a window on another world. I have a friend who borrowed the book years ago and couldn't find another copy, who recently asked me if she could photocopy the whole book! It's that kind of book

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A One Of A Kind Wonder!, January 22, 1999

By 

puffinswan "puffinswan" (Brigadoon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Land of the Grasshopper Song: Two Women in the Klamath River Indian Country in 1908-09 (Paperback)

A wonderful book, refreshing and entertaining. Written not as a memoir but as though you are there in real time (the ladies wrote their ideas down while living there). There are very few books of this kind which is too bad. If you liked this one, I can also recommend "a school teacher in old alaska", another excellent book.