March 14, 2002

Plains Folk: Rediscovering

Tom Isern, Professor of History
North Dakota State University

The premise of this new book by Norman Henderson, "Rediscovering the Great Plains" (Johns Hopkins University Press), is simple and elegant, as outlined in his subtitle: "Journeys by Dog, Canoe, and Horse." Surely the premise appeals to any true plainsperson. Henderson sets out to travel the Qu'Appelle Valley of Saskatchewan, one of the great scenic enclaves of the North American plains, using three traditional modes of transport: dog travois, canoe, and horse travois.

So this is a travel narrative, unusual not only in its means of transport but also in that it invokes inspirations as diverse as Buffalo Bird Woman and Pierre Trudeau. The dust jacket says Henderson is a policy guy for the government of Saskatchewan and "a leading scholar of the world's great grasslands," but of course you know how dust jackets are.

Let me say near the outset that this is a good book, one I recommend to readers in the region, mainly because most of us have thought about the things that Henderson does but don't have the gumption to try them.

Constructing using a dog travois, for instance. This is the most intriguing of the three journeys. Henderson borrows a husky for the enterprise and makes his travois according to specs set down by the Hidatsa Buffalo Bird Woman. Personally, I think the husky was a poor choice; Henderson seems surprised that the dog keeps collapsing from heat stress. I'm pretty sure I could make out better with my well-conditioned Labrador. Still, the writer's observations about the mutual accommodations, canine and human, entailed by this type of travel are to be savored.

The middle, or canoe, section also holds considerable interest, as Henderson notes not only the changes in the land but also "the richness and diversity of river life." He paddles informed by research in the Hudson Bay Company Archives, and so his lyric voice is grounded in experience predating his own.

The third section, horse travois, seems less inspired, and for reasons that seem plain if you have read the previous parts. Henderson is not unaffected by the equestrian romance of plains peoples around the world, but at heart he is not a horse guy. At heart, in fact, he is at best ambivalent about hoofed animals in general. As hiker, hunter, and historian I am accustomed to hopping fences, traversing pastoral landscapes, and negotiating herds. Henderson seems to have trouble with this, and even seems to fear livestock. Certainly he thinks animals stink, commenting on this several times.

That brings me to another reason plains folk should read Rediscovering the Great Plains. The book emanates the attitudes of many urban North Americans who have lost touch with the land, who seek to reconnect with it, but who don't much like what they find.

Again, livestock is the litmus for the writer's attitudes. He doesn't want any in his plains. This poses an apparent problem because the plains are, historically, pastoral country since long before European occupation. Plains Indians were proficient practitioners of animal husbandry who kept the land well. Henderson's reply to this is that he doesn't like bison, either, because they stink, too. Really, I have to admire the boldness of such a sentiment.

As for people on the plains, they don't figure much in the book, except as foils. Once again I have to mourn the literary conceit of referring to people, citizens, the residents of any land traversed by any narrator as "the locals." This is an arrogance that cannot be cured by a copy editor. It requires a change of heart. An editor finding this phrase in a manuscript should not just strike it. She should back up for a critical look at the author's attitude and require civility of heart, not just language. We stand today in the middle of a renegotiation of the relationship between agriculture, pastoralism, and urban North America. Language has meaning in all this. I say this to all parties.

###

Source: Tom Isern, (701) 799-2941, tom@plainsfolk.com 
Editor: Tom Jirik, (701) 231-9629, tjirik@ndsuext.nodak.edu 

Click here for a TIF photo of Tom Isern that is suitable for printing. 
(1.5MB b&w photo)

Click here for a TIF photo of Tom Isern wearing a hat that is suitable for printing.
(1.3MB b&w photo)