Customer Reviews

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

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4 star:		(2)
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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.

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

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.

Mary and Mabel wandered into my part of northern california to be schoolteachers. From their story you can see how they knew nothing of what the territory was like, how the people were, or any local customs. They seemed to have a vague sense that it was a 'wild' land. They fit in amazingly well in a land where killing another person meant you had to pay that persons family $100 and law was either non-existant or uneffective. They seem to throughly enjoy themselves and set to learn the culture around them and teach what they can. Surprises are around every corner, from rattlesnakes to mountain lions to injun devils. Surprises such as their trusted friend telling them he couldn't go into one town because he had to 'pay $500 last time.'
A great story that is easy to read and gives a glimpse of the hidden corner of northern california where the hupa, yurok and karuk indians reside.

This book is amazing if you are interested in what Northern California was like at the turn of the 20th century. The details about the Native Americans outlines a life that I did not expect. How amazing it would have been to be these women!

Great book about a great place. Lots of change in a short amount of time.

If you've ever visited extreme northern California you can appreciate their courage even more.

From early in the 20th to the birth of the 21st Century, little changed along the banks of the Klamath in 95 years. The path these women followed remains little altered from when they traveled tho now covered in asphalt, it is still a remote and rough territory for the uninitiated. They stepped off a ship in Humboldt Bay and then walked off the map into the unknown. Surrounded by wilderness, the Marble Mountains and the Trinity Alps, as spectacular and rugged peaks today as they were then. Great Grandchildren of some of those who taught these adventerous ladies the skills to survive in this wild country still live on the same piece of ground. This is the canvas Mary and Mabel painted a wonderful picture of the world they found here. Let them show you the neighborhood and see if you could follow those footsteps down the trail.

Since the world was created at Katimin, the Klamath River has been home to the salmon runs that fed the eagles and fattened bears and filled the smokehouses of the people. The river is the life-blood that flows thru the canyon veins, like a puzzle, each piece necessary to make it complete. A blood transfusion 150 miles away only slowing foreclosure on farmland in another state, no crops must die. Now less water flows downstream and is murky colored and too warm for the salmon to survive in but the life of a potato was saved! A river with no fish is a watershed dying, when the life of the river dies will life along that river follow? These hardy women managed to live without fries, but a river without salmon would be both unbelieveable and inconceivable to them.

Happened upon this book quite by accident but am very glad I did. It is a great read and a window into the life of the Northern California inhabitants in the early 1900's. Wish I could take the ladies our for tea...

This was a charming book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Living in the area it is nice to read about some of the history of the area.

It gives a nice feel for the way the locals lived along the Klamath River. Also, a good view of the Indians lives. I only wish the women had gone back. I came away feeling sad that they left the area when they did.