Walter Arnold Maine Trapper

Walter Arnold (1894-1980) was one of the last in a long line of independent fur trappers from the mountain man era. Living most of his life in the woods of Maine, Arnold spent his early decades guiding sportsmen in the summer and trapping furbearers in winter, on foot out of remote cabins deep in the Maine woods.Arnold built a reputation in the trapping industry through the dozens of articles he wrote in national outdoor magazines, particularly his writings in Fur-Fish-Game magazine from the 1930's to the 1950's. He also manufactured trapping lures and sold scents and ingredients to trappers throughout North America. In his later years, Walter Arnold sold his business and most of his possessions, and retreated to a full time life in the Maine woods, in a trapping cabin only accessible by airplane. It was these years that Arnold gained nationwide popularity as the last woods hermit from a bygone era. In this book, I revisit many of the stories Walter Arnold published in the old days and provide a modern perspective for those of us still fascinated by a traditional lifestyle that's all but gone today.

Known as the Pine Tree State, Maine once led the world in lumber production. It was the first great lumber-producing region, with Bangor at its center. Today, the state has nearly eighteen million acres of timberland, and forest products still make up a major industry. Logging and Lumbering in Maine examines the history from its earliest roots in 1630 to the present, providing a pictorial record of land use and activity in Maine. The state's lumber industry went through several historical periods, beginning with the vast pine and spruce harvests, the organization of major corporate interests, the change from sawlogs to pulpwood, and then to sustained yields, intensive management, and mechanized harvesting. At the beginning, much of the region was inaccessible except by water, so harvesting activities were concentrated on the coast and along the principal rivers. Gradually, as the railroads expanded and roads were constructed into the woods, operations expanded with them and the river systems became vitally important for the transportation of timber out of the woods to the markets downstate. Logging and Lumbering in Maine traces these developments in the industry, taking a close look at the people, places, forests, and machines that made them possible.

“Trapping in itself is an art.” —Elmer Harry Kreps In recent years, the fur trade has experienced a rebirth as nations such as Russia and China demand more and more of these fine pelts. Answering this demand is a growing contingent of modern-day trappers, poised to reap the rewards of this economic boom. While many have the niftiest gadgets and tools at their disposal when capturing animals, others still use time-tested trapping techniques. Such techniques originated and were perfected in the woods of North America. Counted among this previous generation of trappers is Elmer Harry Kreps, a man who grew up in the woods of the Northeast, where he fostered a great passion for nature and its life. Spending countless hours observing these creatures, he quickly learned to trap them. He collected his lessons into the now classic The Science of Trapping, an immensely useful book on the trade of capturing animals for fur. The Science of Trapping describes methods to capture various kinds of animals in both warm and cold months; skunk, fox, bear, mink, and the shy lynx are all covered, among others. Keps ends with a review of the various kinds of traps popular during his day. Interspersed throughout this helpful volume is a unique glimpse into the fur economy of the early twentieth century. Skyhorse Publishing is proud to publish a broad range of books for hunters and firearms enthusiasts. We publish books about shotguns, rifles, handguns, target shooting, gun collecting, self-defense, archery, ammunition, knives, gunsmithing, gun repair, and wilderness survival. We publish books on deer hunting, big game hunting, small game hunting, wing shooting, turkey hunting, deer stands, duck blinds, bowhunting, wing shooting, hunting dogs, and more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

A Mohawk Memoir from the War of 1812 presents the story of John Norton, or Teyoninhokarawen, an important war chief and political figure among the Grand River Haudenosaunee (or Iroquois) in Upper Canada. Norton saw more action during the conflict than almost anyone else, being present at the fall of Detroit; the capture of Fort Niagara; the battles of Queenston Heights, Fort George, Stoney Creek, Chippawa, and Lundy’s Lane; the blockades of Fort George and Fort Erie; and a large number of skirmishes and front-line patrols. His memoir describes the fighting, the stresses suffered by indigenous peoples, and the complex relationships between the Haudenosaunee and both their British allies and other First Nations communities. Norton’s account, written in 1815 and 1816, provides nearly one-third of the book’s content, with the remainder consisting of Carl Benn’s introductions and annotations, which enable readers to understand Norton’s fascinating autobiography within its historical contexts. With the assistance of modern scholarship, A Mohawk Memoir presents an exceptional opportunity to explore the War of 1812 and native-newcomer issues not only through Teyoninhokarawen’s Mohawk perspective but in his own words.

From his phenomenal collection of over 22,000 articles and stories of the Maine Woods, Steve Pinkham has selected many of the most exciting and old hunting and fishing tales, as well as stories of animal encounters, lumbering, canoe trips, and even a few ghost stories for this book. Ranging from 1849 to 1913, the book covers the Maine Woods from Magalloway to Moosehead, and Mopang to Madawaska. Most people know that Thoreau went to Maine several times, wrote eloquently about his travels and coined the phrase "Maine Woods." Now for the first time the reader will get to read stories by many of the other known and unknown men and women who also travelled to northern Maine and wrote about their experiences or penned fictional stories set in the backwoods. Included are brief biographies and portraits of the known writers. For the many anonymous authors, Pinkham has included appropriate pictures of the region where the story took place and other pertinent information from his vast sources. Visit the website at: www.oldtalesofthemainewoods.com Steve Pinkham grew up in western Maine, hearing old stories of hunting and fishing, and has spent much of his life hiking, paddling and discovering the many wonderful places in the backwoods of Maine. Having spent the past ten years searching for articles and books, following up on clues, and spending a vast amount of hours in libraries and historical societies, he published his first book, Mountains of Maine in 2009. Selecting from his vast collection for this book, he now spends his time writing and publishing articles and books about the Maine Woods from his home in Quincy, Massachusetts.

With rare local accounts and historic images, the thrilling early days of Old Sebec jump off the page. Old Sebec Lake is an intriguing look at one of Maine's most beautiful and historically interesting areas, containing a series of photographs as well as accompanying text that document the most colorful era in the lake's history. The photographs, which date from 1860 to 1950 and come mainly from private collections, illustrate a time of steamboats and tenting parties, log drives and spool mills, market hunters and 30-mile traplines. This was also a time of uncertain employment, boom-and-bust economies, and remarkable changes in transportation, all of which profoundly affected the lake and the communities surrounding it. Although the images tell the story, woven through the text are interesting stories about B.M. Packard, Fred Gates, Walter Arnold, and others whose lives contributed to the lake's interesting past. Accounts of the 1936 flood, the scuttling of the Marion, and the construction of The Castle are also included in the text.

Maine has long been a well-known and frequently visited hunting region. Long ago, moose and caribou were abundant and as time passed, trappers have been able to earn a decent living pursuing choice and prized fur-bearing animals. Small game and waterfowl populations remained fairly stable over the years and have continued to increase in popularity. However, as large areas of habitat were cleared for timber, larger animals began to disappear and opulations dwindled. Trapping has since become a less favorable mode of producing income because of the low prices offered for native and raw fur. Maine's Hunting Past captures the pursuit of wild animals through a century of documentation. Since about 1850, animals have been taken for sport, for food, and for their hides. Hunting has long been not only a sport but also an industry, resulting in the increase and growth of sporting camps and an expanding number of guides. Maine's Hunting Past highlights favorite regions, featuring famous sporting camps and well-known guides. Big game, small game, upland birds, waterfowl, furbearers, and numerous photographs of trophy animals and large bag limits are all included.

Tales of Trails in the Far North is a compilation of the time Mike Potts was blessed to follow his vision of the "free" life in the far north - Alaska. A straightforward telling of life in the frontier from 1968 to 1989, Mike takes us through his trials and errors in learning to survive in a wilderness that can be both beautiful and brutal, with temperatures as low as 60 below and summers only three months long. When Mike first arrived in Alaska he didn't know much about wilderness living, but he kept his eyes and ears open, listened when the Indians and old-timers spoke, and quickly learned not merely to survive, but thrive. He married a girl from Eagle Village on the Yukon River and together they raised a family, moving from cabin to cabin hunting and trapping on the trapline. These are their stories as much as his. This book is a precious record of a way of life that is gone forever. Mike's adventures are written so clearly you'll feel like you've lived those years in Alaska and had those adventures on the trapline yourself. But above all, you'll understand one man's love for Alaska and the faith in God it would come to give him.