John Tan Laban from
Bad land: American romance from
Exquisite and descriptive description of potential farmers and ranchers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries trying to make a living on highly suspicious land. The land, mostly in eastern Montana and western Dakota, may be described as marginal land, but Laban's fact-finding mission has made it very clear that the land is not marginal.
The federal government and railway companies will benefit from having settlers in the area. Their benefits: there will be more products to transport back and forth, and will greatly increase travel to the area. However, as the Laban documents and I have witnessed, the marginal land is shallow, windy, with low precipitation and extremely cold in winter; and efforts to cultivate dry land are rarely rewarded.
The book was written in a casual, graceful way, as the author walked through the area and carefully read some of the failed homes. This is really dramatic because Laban explores the remnants of these many failed homes. He even found a book describing the best ways to thrive on these dry farms. This book has the right from
Campbell's scientific dry farming techniques from
It is a subtitle from
Camels in the Sahara Desert and Campbell Method in the American Desert from
. According to meteorological data, any area with an average annual rainfall of less than 3 inches will be classified as a desert area. The eastern part of Montana is of course considered a desert, as most areas have an average annual rainfall of less than 3 inches.
Like Laban, I have also walked through this land, but I have different reasons for leaving it. I am looking for a pointed grouse and an elusive sage grouse. Years ago, I was surprised to see so many remnants - decaying and collapsed windmill wrecks, outbuildings, broken and gray boards of barns and houses, as well as vacated rock foundations, long rusted barbed wire fences, fence posts Rotten, flat on the ground, spacious space... endless space. Laban's book tells the story of human beings making many brave humans on this endless homeless land. There is no doubt that government pamphlets and railway pamphlets are at least false, even if they are not downright lies.
Laban has an inspiring idea to write this story, and he follows - wonderful inspiration, first-hand research and highly descriptive writing!
Orignal From: Book Review - Bad Land, American Romance
No comments:
Post a Comment