The Last Stand of the Pack: Critical Edition

by Arthur H. Carhart, Stanley Young, Andrew Gulliford (Editor)

This critical edition explores the past and future of wolves in Colorado. Originally published in 1929, The Last Stand of the Pack is a historical account of the extermination of what were then believed to be the last wolves in Colorado. Arthur H. Carhart and Stanley P. Young describe the wolves’ extermination and extoll the bravery of the federal trappers hunting them down while simultaneously characterizing the wolves as cunning individuals and noble adversaries to the growth of the livestock industry and the settlement of the West. This is nature writing at its best, even if the worldview expressed is at times jarring to the twenty-first-century reader. Now, almost 100 years later, much has been learned about ecology and the role of top-tier predators within ecosystems. In this new edition, Carhart and Young’s original text is accompanied by an extensive introduction with biographical details on Arthur Carhart and an overview of the history of wolf eradication in the west; chapters by prominent wildlife biologists, environmentalists, wolf reintroduction activists, and ranchers Tom Compton, Bonnie Brown, Mike Phillips, Norman A. Bishop, and Cheney Gardner; and an epilogue considering current issues surrounding the reintroduction of wolves in Colorado. Presenting a balanced perspective, these additional chapters address views both in support of and opposed to wolf reintroduction. Coloradans are deeply interested in wilderness and the debate surrounding wolf reintroduction, but for wolves to have a future in Colorado we must first understand the past.  The Last Stand of the Critical Edition  presents both important historical scholarship and contemporary ecological ideas, offering a complete picture of the impact of wolves in Colorado.

304 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2017

Reviews

[David Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1929, Arthur Carhart published The Last Stand of the Pack, an account of the extermination of nine of the last gray wolves (Canis lupus) in Colorado during the early 1920s. Carhart began his career in 1919 working as a landscape architect for the U.S. Forest Service, which sent him to Trapper’s Lake in western Colorado’s White River National Forest to map the lake and assess its potential for recreational development. Carhart completed his assignment, but instead of endorsing development around the lake, he advocated strongly for the lake to be set aside in its natural condition; his boss, Aldo Leopold, agreed. (Today, Trapper’s Lake is protected within the Flat Tops Wilderness.) Nevertheless, while Carhart convinced the Forest Service to protect Trapper’s Lake, both he and his supervisors were enthusiastic participants in a federal program designed to eliminate every last wolf in the United States. By 1945 (and perhaps even as early as 1935), wolves had been extirpated from Colorado.

Carhart quit the Forest Service in 1922 after becoming disillusioned by the federal bureaucracy. He began writing The Last Stand of the Pack soon afterward, collaborating with Stanley P. Young, an employee of the federal Bureau of Biological Survey, the forerunner of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Young, thoroughly dedicated to wolf extermination, provided the science and first-hand accounts for the book, while Carhart constructed the narrative.

Because western Colorado contains the largest remaining habitat potentially suitable for gray wolves in the United States, and because this habitat is critical for linking populations in the north with Mexican wolf populations in the south, wolf advocates have proposed reintroducing this endangered species to the extensive public lands in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. In response, the University Press of Colorado reissued Carhart’s book in 2017 in a critical edition edited by Andrew Gulliford and Tom Wolf. This critical edition supplements Carhart’s original text with an introduction that provides background about Carhart as well as four essays examining issues related to wolf reintroduction in Colorado. Historians, endangered species advocates and natural resource professionals working in the policy arena likely would find value in this edition.

Employing language that spares no details, Carhart’s original text describes the persecution and deaths of individual wolves so notorious they were given names by ranchers and wolf hunters. Carhart makes clear the economic losses suffered by ranchers and the ranchers’ visceral animosity toward wolves. However, wolves, always on the run, harassed livestock mainly because market hunting had decimated populations of native elk, deer, antelope, and bison. Often, Carhart’s narrative makes for extremely uncomfortable reading. The narrative highlights attitudes and behaviors that were once commonplace but which contemporary readers might find repugnant.

Carhart’s descriptions of the natural world are evocative, but his writing occasionally veers perilously close to purple prose. In addition, the hunters’ relentless pursuit of each of the wolves follows much the same pattern, so the individual accounts eventually become repetitive and redundant.

Following Carhart’s text, which constitutes two-thirds of the volume, the editors have included four essays examining the prospect of gray wolf recolonization, either through natural migration or intentional reintroduction. Editor Andrew Gulliford contributes an excellent and comprehensive review of the history of wolf control in Colorado. His review, accompanied by historic photographs, recounts the wholescale and relentless slaughter of wolves and other predators from the 1890s through the middle of the 20th century by shooting, trapping, and poisoning. After providing historical context, he goes on to acknowledge that wolves likely will migrate back into the state (several already have), and he reviews the Colorado Wolf Management Working Group’s plans to accommodate recolonization.

Gulliford’s essay is followed by short essays by cattle rancher and biologist Tom Compton and wool growers’ advocate Bonnie Brown. Both these authors raise somewhat cursory arguments against reintroducing wolves. The final essay by Mike Phillips, Norm Bishop, and Cheney Gardner presents detailed scenarios and strategies for allowing wolves to coexist with the agrarian economy and burgeoning human population in Colorado. The contributions by Gulliford and by Phillips, Bishop and Gardner are supported by extensive notes and references.

Fundamentally, The Last Stand of the Pack is a saga about the closing of the American frontier, the human domination of the landscape, and the disappearance of wildness. The pioneers who established homesteads and ranches in the West embraced the economic conservation and wise use philosophy espoused by first Forest Service Chief Gifford Pinchot: natural resources are wasted if not exploited. However, this utilitarian philosophy justified actions solely in terms of economic and tangible benefits, and settlers firmly believed that they had the right to harvest wildlife for profit and to introduce cattle and sheep wherever the land could support livestock. Wolves certainly were fearsome and unpredictable threats to the settlers’ livelihoods, but few if any people considered the ecological, moral, or existential ramifications of their actions on the frontier. This book helps put their actions into perspective and provides some guidance for moving forward.

[Kevin Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book seamlessly combines Carhart’s classic Last Stand of the Pack (originally written in 1929) with more contemporary articles. Carhart’s narrative offers an intimate look at individual wolves that roamed the Colorado wilderness during his time, giving them a sense of identity and individuality. The modern articles featured at the end of the book provide insight into the reintroduction of wolves to Colorado, serving as a kind of epilogue to Carhart’s original defense of these remarkable creatures.
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Full disclosure: wolves are my favorite animal. While I can understand that early ranchers, farmers, and European settlers arriving in Colorado may not have shared the same admiration, I still struggle to comprehend the complete eradication of an entire species. Thankfully, there is now hope for their return.
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I highly recommend this book not only to nature lovers and wolf enthusiasts but also to environmental historians. It serves as an excellent primary source for further research on the topic.

[Mike May · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scored a cheap first edition in an antique/thrift stop, therefore didn’t read the critical edition. Each chapter/section is about a different wolf (9 in total). Each wolf, being the last of their kind to avoid capture, had an exciting story. Displaying impressive resilience and adaptations against humans and their tools and intelligence. As we all know, it has a sad ending. The perspective from the hunters/trappers was told as well. Interesting to read about the techniques used to catch the most elusive wolves. Uncertain on how much was based on fact versus inferred from circumstantial evidence, but that made it more interesting. Only read 7/9 of the stories, I’m saving the last two for future returns home!

[David W Glassmeyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well Written and Captivating!

The vivid descriptions of the beautiful Western Colorado mountains was spot on. So much empathy for the loss of a majestic animal, that was native to Colorado. The information on reintroduction impact of the wolf proves that we need them back!

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, well written history, sad, of the eradication of the wolf in Colrado, the extermination of the last 8 living wolves in the Sate. The book ends with a review of the pros and con of reintroducing the wolf to Colorado.

[David Soule · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great read so far. Learning a lot about the wolf of Colorado