The Snake River (31 page)

Afterword

This book is perhaps as much historical fantasy as historical novel.

The physical settings are real—the Intermountain West, the Pacific Northwest, and California of the 1830s, Fort Vancouver, the Methodist Episcopal mission on the Willamette, and other places. So are some of the characters portrayed in this book—for instance, John McLoughlin, chief factor at the Hudson’s Bay Company establishment. The cultures, both Anglo and Indian, are drawn with what I hope is scrupulous fidelity. (The story of Pachee Goyo is borrowed form Rupert Weeks’s
Pochee Goyo
.)

My missionaries are not historical portraits (since history doesn’t tell lots that’s crucial)—they’re impressions of the sorts of Christians who participated in that well-intended and misguided effort. (One of them actually did try to crucify himself in the horrifying manner described here.) The most important of the evangelicals, my Margaret Jewel, is closely modeled on the mission teacher Margaret Jewett Smith. Her liberated style, her conflicts with the men in charge of the mission, her betrayal by her fiancé—all these are historical. The journal entries and poems attributed to her in this book are the ones she actually wrote and published. (The reader can pursue the people of Mission Bottom further in
The Eden Seekers
, by Malcom Clark, Jr.)

The other characters—Flare, Sima, and the crew—are the children of my imagination and my love. I hope readers have as much fun living with them as I did.

One scalawag, Mr. Barnaby Skye, is borrowed from the books of my friend and colleague Richard S. Wheeler. Thanks for the loan, Dick.

Some readers may get the impression from these pages that of all Americans I’m most fond of the Irish and the Indians.

Sure, them and the Welsh, and all others who see the magic in the world.

—WIN BLEVINS

Jackson Hole, Wyoming

December 1, 1991

Acknowledgments

The Honorable Clyde M. Hall of the Shoshone-Bannock Reservation at Fort Hall, Idaho, has helped me greatly with the matters of Shoshone language, culture, and worldview in this book (for the Shoshone words he used Wick R. Miller’s
Newe Natekwinappeh: Shoshoni Stories and Dictionary
, and his own knowledge of the Shoshone language). Murphy Fox of Helena, Montana, helped me cope with other realities of the historical West, especially mountain men. Both have been my guides in such matters for several books now—my deepest gratitude to them both.

Michael and Kathleen Gear, archaeologists and anthropologists, provided wonderful suggestions. Ian Fallows and Alan Smith, of Kendall, Cumbria, England, helped me with matters of Irish, Scottish, and English speech.

Bob and Inger Koedt came up with something crucial at an urgent time. Bill Gulick walked ahead of me in Snake River country. Dick Wheeler and Lenore Carroll lent their wisdom.

Profound thanks to you all.

About the Author

Win Blevins is the author of thirty-one books. He has received the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Contributions to Western Literature, has twice been named Writer of the Year by Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers, has been selected for the Western Writers Hall of Fame, and has won two Spur Awards for Novel of the West. His novel about Crazy Horse,
Stone Song
, was a candidate for the Pulitzer Prize.

A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, Blevins is of Cherokee and Welsh Irish descent. He received a master’s degree from Columbia University and attended the music conservatory of the University of Southern California. He started his writing career as a music and drama reviewer for the
Los Angeles Times
and then became the entertainment editor and principal theater and movie critic for the
Los Angeles Herald Examiner
. His first book was published in 1973, and since then he has made a living as a freelance writer, publishing essays, articles, and reviews. From 2010 to 2012, Blevins served as Gaylord Family Visiting Professor of Professional Writing at the University of Oklahoma.

Blevins has five children and a growing number of grandchildren. He lives with his wife, the novelist Meredith Blevins, among the Navajos in San Juan County, Utah. He has been a river runner and has climbed mountains on three continents. His greatest loves are his family, music, and the untamed places of the West.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this book or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2012 by Winfred Blevins

Cover design by Mimi Bark

978-1-5040-1287-4

This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

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