The Canoe and the Saddle, Or Klalam and Klickatat...to Which Are Now Added His Western Letters and Journals

by Theodore Winthrop

In 1853, with money in his pocket and elegant clothes in his saddlebags, a twenty-four-year-old New Englander of aristocratic Yankee stock toured the territories of California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. The Canoe and the Saddle recounts Theodore Winthrop’s Northwest tour. A novelized memoir of his travels, it became a bestseller when it was published shortly after the author’s untimely death in the Civil War.

This critical edition of Winthrop’s work, the first in over half a century, offers readers the original text with a narrative overview of the nature and culture of the Pacific Northwest and reflections on the ecological and racial turmoil that gripped the region at the time. It also provides a fresh perspective on the aesthetic, historical, cultural, anthropological, social, and environmental contexts in which Winthrop wrote his sometimes disturbing, sometimes enlightening, and always riveting account. Whether offering portraits of Native American culture—in particular, commenting on the Chinook Jargon—making keen and often prescient observations on nature, or deploying transcendental, animist, or Hudson River School aesthetics (likely learned from his friend Frederick Church), Winthrop develops a clear and compelling picture of a time and place still resonant and relevant today.

Genres: History, Adventure, Travel, Nature, American History, Nonfiction

332 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2001

About the author

1828-1861

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This read to me as more of a comedy than the rousing adventure tale it was written as.

Winthrop's erudition and knowledge of the Chinook jargon is impressive, but he leans on these so heavily in every fragment of his prose that he often sounds completely buffoonish.

His native guides are hilariously superior to him in survival skills and pathfinding even as presented in his own version of events, which always describes himself as the sober, infinitely civilized New England adventurer/gourmand/fighter/trader et cetera - and they as the lazy, loutish, drunks he believed them to be.

A distorted picture of the wild Pacific Northwest in the middle of the 19th century. Distorted - but still highly interesting and entertaining.

[David Kessler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having traveled often to Winthrop,WA, this book gave me the Euro history of Washington State.
Winthrop traveled from the East coast to the NW and then with the aid of Natives toured the State.
He does not have any woodsman skills and of course thought of the natives as they did in the 1800s.
The description of his trips throughout the State are detailed. That may be the only value of the book.
Life was vastly different 150 years ago, but Winthrop persisted to adventure through his travels.

[Lorena · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is historically significant and written in the archaic language of its time. I read it for the stunning descriptions of the Pacific Northwest before the landscape was altered by civilization and modern development. I also got an uncomfortable view of the racism prevalent in the authors own words and in the policies and practices of his peers. Thank you for mentioning this old book, Timothy Egan, in The Good Rain.

[Ken McDouall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Published in 1853, this is certainly a historically significant narration of a voyage from the Olympic Peninsula to the Columbia River Gorge. But the racism, environmental destruction, and ignorance from our narrator is a bit much for 21st-century ears.

[Joal · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting and unique perspective on the northwest before many Euro-Americans arrived. Winthrop's attitudes, while likely representative of many Euro-Americans of the time, were frustrating.