Young Mac of Fort Vancouver

by Mary Jane Carr, Richard Holberg (Illustrator)

Newbery Medal Honor Title (1941)

Traveling west to Fort Vancouver in 1832, Young Mac is determined to become a fur trading Northman and not a full fledged member of the white world. Contact with Dr. McLaughlan, head of the fort, and other white and mixed heritage men causes him to reconsider his decision.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult, Juvenile

238 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1940

About the author

MARY JANE CARR has lived in the Pacific Northwest all her life. She was born and grew up with four sisters and four brothers in Portland, Oregon. She attended both high school and Marylhurst College there.
After college Miss Carr joined The Catholic Sentinel, a weekly newspaper. She began as a proofreader and eventually worked her way up to the job of associate editor. Her feature articles also appeared in the daily papers. Her interest in the obscure history of the Old Oregon Trail led to a series of stories in the Sunday magazine section of The Portland Oregonian. These stories became Children of the Covered Wagon when their enthusiastic reception encouraged Miss Carr to have them published in book form.
Children of the Covered Wagon was first published in 1934. It has since become a children's classic.
(from the back of Children of the Covered Wagon)

Reviews

[Josiah · Rating 3 out of 5]

1941 was a good year for Newbery award candidates. Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry was a deserving Medal winner, and two runners-up, Blue Willow by Doris Gates and The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder, were instant classics. Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss didn't win anything, but in my opinion was the best book of all, and Young Mac of Fort Vancouver by Mary Jane Carr, forgotten as it tends to be, is among the better Newbery Honor books I've read. Thirteen-year-old Donald MacDermott is hopeful as he paddles down the Columbia River with a band of fur-trading voyageurs in 1832. He's nervous about what will happen when they reach Fort Vancouver, where his late father arranged for Donald to attend school under the guardianship of Dr. John McLoughlin, but Donald is encouraged by the comradeship of his adult voyageur friends, in particular Henri LeGrand, who knew Donald's father well. Son of a Cree Indian princess and a Canadian father, Donald welcomed the chance to set out with voyageurs along the river, though his mother, White Cloud, would miss him terribly. Donald misses her too, but senses his destiny is to be a fur tradesman on the Columbia River like his father. Big Mac died when his son was eight, but Donald intends to live up to his legacy. The only obstacle will be suffering through years of school at Fort Vancouver.

Relief sets in when Donald arrives at the fort and discovers there is no school. Now he can resume traveling with Henri and the others, who have formed a strong team bond as Donald progressed from child to young man under their watch. Donald is bewildered to learn that Henri knew there was no school at Fort Vancouver, and so did Big Mac. The voyageurs steal away before dawn, leaving Donald among strangers. Most of the other kids are half Indian like Donald, and Dr. McLoughlin welcomes the boy heartily, informing him that he was friends with Big Mac in the days of yore. McLoughlin requests that Donald voluntarily remain at Fort Vancouver for one year before choosing a career, and Donald grudgingly agrees. After a year he'll catch up with Henri on the Columbia, and trade furs with Indians and white men as Big Mac did. Twelve months in Fort Vancouver should be tolerable.

As much as Donald wishes he weren't here, a few others feel just as strongly about him. Antoine, a half Indian boy who bullies his peers, tries to cow Donald when they meet, but doesn't count on the smaller boy's strength built up over months paddling down the Columbia. Donald easily ends Antoine's reign as the bully of Fort Vancouver, but along with Donald's new status as alpha male among the kids comes resentment from Antoine. His hard feelings further calcify when Donald is put in charge of Bluebelle, a spirited young horse Antoine covets for his own. Donald is an appreciative, sensitive caretaker for Bluebelle, getting the most out of the magnificent horse without shouting or beating her, and the old Scotchman Robert Bruce favors his style over Antoine's. Surrounded by a few friends now, including Dr. McLoughlin's eleven-year-old son David, Donald wonders if he might almost enjoy his mandated year in the Columbia Valley.

Fort Vancouver is filled with opportunities for adventure, none of which seem to pass Donald by. When a group of tradesman finds themselves stuck at Fort Vancouver for the winter, Dr. McLoughlin hires one of them, a Mr. John Ball, as the teacher of a brand-new school. Donald is dismayed; he and David are the only kids who speak fluent English, and are bound to be the top students. What if Dr. McLoughlin sees this as proof that dissuading him from a career as a voyageur was the correct course of action, and he sends Donald to Europe for further schooling? Young Mac remains set on following his father's career path, and wants to avoid an extended academic career. He refuses to set the expected example as the star student in class, but John Ball has enough savvy to draw out the best in the intelligent boy whether or not Donald cooperates. On a fateful day when Donald skips school as a statement to John Ball and Dr. McLoughlin, he wanders well beyond Fort Vancouver and finds a young girl named Mia, held as a slave by Indians. The squaw who owns Mia beats her and forces her to do excruciating labor, and though Dr. McLoughlin has a careful policy of diplomacy toward Indians that hold slaves, Donald runs away with Mia back to Fort Vancouver. This is a troubling breach of relations between the white men and Indians, whom Dr. McLoughlin is gradually weaning off certain morally unacceptable practices such as slavery, but Donald can't be faulted for rescuing Mia. Soothing the outraged Indians will be tricky, maybe dangerous, but Donald is ready to make deep personal sacrifices to spare Mia a return to bondage.

The fort has many other surprises for Donald. Antoine despises him, but so does an old Chinook medicine man named Two Gulls, though Donald doesn't know why. Two Gulls never forgot the prophecy of his mentor, He Who Sees Magic. He predicted that white men would approach their people offering gifts, but ultimately destroy the Indians, and that is what happened when white men unintentionally brought diseases the Indians couldn't fend off. The plague decimated Indian populations despite the best efforts of their medicine men, and to this day, Two Gulls and Dr. McLoughlin are at odds regarding medical techniques. Two Gulls insists on Chinook ceremonial treatments, but these are rarely effective. When Donald first comes to Fort Vancouver, he meets an Indian woman named Yellow Bird grieving for her recently deceased son, and comforts her by drawing on his own mother's teachings about the Spirit Path among the stars, which all good Indians travel to reach the next life. Yellow Bird dubs him "Star Teacher", a name that draws Two Gulls's ire, and from then on the Chinook medicine man lies in wait to eliminate Donald as a threat to his people. The boy seems different than other white men; his blue eyes and blond hair mark him as of their race, but he's immune to tactics of spiritual warfare used by Two Gulls. Donald, Antoine, Mia, Yellow Bird, and Two Gulls are all connected by fate, and the drama begins when Donald is nearly killed by accident while riding Bluebelle, and the unconscious boy falls into the hands of Two Gulls. This is his chance to do away with the enemy, to halt the curse that He Who Sees Magic foresaw long ago, but will the good that Donald has done in Fort Vancouver save his young life and set him back on the path his father wanted for him, a path Donald may see more clearly in light of his experiences in the Columbia Valley?

Donald is too young to comprehend all the pros and cons of the voyageur life as his father did. He has no concept of how he might feel after decades on the river, having forfeited his opportunity for a world-class education. He sees only the romantic figure his father was to him as a child, not Big Mac's persistent regrets at the life he was limited to. Henri knew these aspects of Big Mac's life and gently nudges Donald toward better things, but the boy can only grasp so much at age thirteen. It's better that Henri teach him the code of the Northman voyageur, who bravely navigates wild rivers, and let Donald grow and improve himself from there. "The creed that has made the sons of the fur trade able to look death in the face without flinching: to know fear, as all men must know fear, but not to be conquered by fear. To be able to think clearly and quickly. To keep a high heart." These words echo often in Donald's heart during his year at Fort Vancouver, the words of the man he respects more than anyone but his late father. Henri spoke to guide Donald through the complicated decisions ahead of him, whatever purpose in life he pursues. The creed of the Northman won't let him down.

Dr. McLoughlin lives differently than Henri, but his philosophy of self-reliance and accountability is the same, and Donald recognizes the doctor's steady leadership immediately. Even Antoine, skewed as his attitude is, responds to Dr. McLoughlin's wisdom. "He's got everything," Antoine admits to him at one point, speaking of Donald. "I've got nothing." McLoughlin won't let that go unchallenged. "Nothing?" he counters. "You have youth and strength and a wonderful country to grow up in! There are many in this world who would be glad to have what you have!...You have all that Young Mac has—excepting a sense of honor. You will have to work to develop that, for without it you will be always getting into scrapes like this, and you'll be no good to yourself or to anyone else." A privileged life should make us grateful, but as flawed humans we often go the opposite way, convincing ourselves we're victims of injustice even if we're among the luckiest people on the planet. Antoine has plenty to eat and receives a quality education under safe conditions, but his lack of discipline leads him to dwell on the minor problems in his life. Dr. McLoughlin seeks to refine Antoine's potential, as he wishes to do for every young person at Fort Vancouver. "There was something worthwhile in every boy, and if the something worthwhile could be discovered and developed, it would crowd out the bad." Virtue must be patiently cultivated and vice excised just as patiently for anyone to grow into their potential. Donald and Antoine have their whole futures ahead of them, years waiting to be filled until the day they reunite with loved ones on their own Spirit Path journey among the stars to the afterlife.

Young Mac of Fort Vancouver is a wise and emotional novel. The Indian way of life is contrasted with that of the white man, two roads Donald may choose to take, that of his father or mother. Despite Big Mac's legendary career as a voyageur, he first and foremost was a talented scholar, and wished he had done more with his life than navigate rivers in pursuit of pioneer commerce. Donald's mother, White Cloud, is where the boy gets his free spirit, the urge to eschew formal education and roam the wild earth far from the cities he instinctively fears. Neither lifestyle is wrong, but all of us must prioritize stability or adventure, accepting that regrets are inevitable but shouldn't budge us from the path we've chosen. Donald loves Big Mac and White Cloud, sharing an essential portion of both their personalities, but what direction will he take? You get but one life to satisfy the yearnings of your soul. Young Mac of Fort Vancouver was a superb choice for a 1941 Newbery Honor, an example of literature that will never lose its relevance. Thank you, Mary Jane Carr, for this story.

[Lynette Caulkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific old historical fiction adventure book, somewhat like reading Old Yeller, only without the gut-wrenching death scene. This will give you a look at frontier life on the northwest coast of North America, shortly before the 54-40 or Fight scuffle.

Carr's respectful handling of the Native Americans puts the lie to the racism in other early Newbery books. Shame on the committees who upheld selections like Daugherty's Daniel Boone.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5-4 stars. This entertaining novel features a young mixed-race boy, Donald McDermott (aka Young Mac), during his year at Fort Vancouver where his now deceased father (Big Mac) arranged 'schooling'. Young Mac is 1/4 Cree, 1/4 French, 1/2 Scots and as the book begins wants nothing more than to be a voyageur. His most treasured possessions are a beaver skin robe/blanket and the red voyageur feather he earned on his journey from the north lands to the fort. Once there he learns that the schooling his father intends is one in which he finds himself: is he one of the First Nations or will he be white? The author does seem to have fewer racist prejudices than many of her contemporaries, but ultimately Young Mac who looks white makes the obvious choice. I read this for my 2019 Reading Challenge and for my Newbery Challenge (Honor Book, 1941).

[Amber Scaife · Rating 3 out of 5]

13-year-old Young Mac (Donald MacDermott) travels to Fort Vancouver at his late father's request for an education. When he arrives he learns that there is no school out this far on the frontier, and although he balks at the idea of staying (when what he really wants to do is join the fur traders with whom he travelled there), he remains for a year in which he does in fact receive an education on the ways of the land. He also does a fair amount of growing up at the fort and makes some important life decisions.
Newbery books that focus on the frontier - and there are a fair few from the early years - are usually not my cuppa, but this one was enjoyable. Good characters and a decent story.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a well-written adventure story and an interesting piece of history. The fact that most of the children in this story are mixed race, indigenous and white, makes for some unintentional racism I haven't seen before.

[Alyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Christina Packard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fast read, and totally entertaining with a bit of education.

[Desiree']

1941 Newbery honor book

[Mary Bame · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book, but I thought it was a little boring. I liked the ending. I do recommend this book.

[Thomas Bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was okay. It is a historical fiction about a boy moving to, living in, and moving away from Fort Vancouver - across the river from Portland, Oregon, but before Portland even existed. The writing style is nice, and it is attention grabbing. It is adventuresome. Yet it is lacking in some way that I can't quite put my finger on.

The story seems to be about a boy learning who he is. He is part White and part Indian, and he thinks growing up that he likes the Indian part of himself better. But he learns, all too quickly to be realistic, that he really is better off White.

I feel that the author has some respect for the Indian people of the Pacific Northwest. I also feel however, that she also finds them to be somewhat inferior. It's hard to say though.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this one was awesome. Young Mac has been traveling with voyageurs and wants to continue with them, but it was his father's will that he go to Fort Vancouver to study. He meets a doctor who is trying to help native people abandon impractical and sometimes dangerous medicinal practices. He makes friends and learns a lot, saves a slave, and has a strange encounter with the medicine man. I really liked Young Mac as a character and how he grew and realized he should pursue higher education. I don't usually like final chapters that take place far in the future, but I liked this one.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit too much Native-American spiritualism for my taste.

However, the writing is good and the story definitely grabs your interest.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great Newbery Honor, I'm loving going through these. This was great historical fiction, set in the Pacific Northwest, very coming of age in a wonderfully angst free way.