Enos A. MillsRecensioni

An enjoyable read. The chapters on performing 'autopsy s' on trees are interesting. Mills insight on the various animals that live in the area are wonderful. The last two chapters are helping build his case for national parks to preserve areas by comparing the US areas to Switzerland and pushing the idea that parks can be a revenue positive activity.

The first book I read about the Rockies and the area above tree limit was by Bee Willard? and was horticulture and land impact on horticulture. That was 1982 and now I found all the Enos Mills books. If one has never been into this area and around the area of Rocky Mountain National Park, then take the time to read this. It covers the land, plants, birds, trees, various animals in the different areas and the weather. I found it delightful and wish I knew about Mills back in the '80s as I always love a general description of where I'm going and this clearly is one. Just remember Mills is writing in 1910 and a lot of things have changed but many are still as he described. I'm off to read more of his books!

Based on the date this is probably the first book he published. Interesting short descriptions. There is a map tipped in. It will be interesting to see how many of these stories reappear in later books.

I found it to be a well written book by one the prime movers for the creation of Rocky Mountain National Park and a bit of history, natural history, geography, and horticulture of the region. I've been luck enough to go to several of the areas he describes in the park as well as Estes Park and down the Big Thompson Canyon. It's interesting to read something by someone inspired by John Muir.

The opening paragraphs by the Father of Rocky Mountain National Park, detail his pain upon acquiring snow-blindness at the summit of the Continental Divide. In true adventurer’s spirit, he was “only moderately excited, feeling no terror. Less startling incidents have shocked me more, narrow escapes from street automobiles have terrified me.” He lived and worked amongst the Longs Peak region and ultimately fostered its protection in 1915.

Enos Mills was the original nature guide in the United States. Starting at age 14, about 1884, he built a small cabin at the base of Long's Peak and learned his craft the hard way - by doing. There were only a few books from Europe that foreshadowed Mills Work. Mills led over 250 private expeditions up Long's Peak. Mills spent his life in the wilderness, his love and his life.

This book, one of the 16 Mills wrote, and published in 1920, "Adventures of a Nature Guide and Essays in Interpretation" is a selection of his writings and the story of several of his adventures. These range from taking children on hikes, to taking foot players on hikes, to solo excursions into the wilds of both the mountains and the hard open prairies of Western Nebraska. Always apparent is Mill's sheer joy in what he is doing.

The book reads easy and well. Each essay could easily stand alone, and several did as magazine articles. To those who have yearned to explore the wilds, to those who have a wanderlust and feel a kinship with the woods, this book is a breath of fresh air.

Mills was instrumental in the establishment of Rocky Mountain National Park, and in furthering the National Park System in the United States. His name still resonates loudly with those of such greats as John Muir and John Burroughs.

From "In Beaver World";

"As animal life goes, that of the beaver stands among the best. His life is full of industry and is rich in repose. He is home-loving and avoids fighting. His lot is cast in poetic places.

The beaver has a rich birthright, though born in a windowless hut of mud. Close to the primeval place of his birth the wild folk of both woods and water meet and often mingle...Beaver grow up with the many-sided wild, playing amid the brilliant flowers and great boulders, in the piles of driftwood and among the fallen logs on he forest's mysterious edge... living with the stars in the sky and the stars in the pond...beginning serious life while the birds go by for the southland in the reflective autumn days...If Mother Nature would ever call me to live upon another planet, I could wish that I might be born a beaver, to inhabit a house in the water."
p. 15-16

Stories of traveling through the mountains, witnessing all kinds of weather and storms, and wildlife episodes

Signed by author July 14,1918. Brown cloth boards, mountain scene on end pages. In preface dedicated To John Muir . "With Illustrations from Photographs" No date on title page.