Gallop Toward the Sun by Peter Stark

Gallop Toward the Sun by Peter Stark is a solid book subtitled Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison's Struggle for the Destiny of a Nation. Stark tells the story of the Indian leader and his efforts to prevent the encroachment of white settlers onto Indian lands, in opposition to Harrison who was attempting to expand American lands further and further west.

Harrison was appointed governor of the Indiana Territory, some 260,000 square miles, in 1800, briefly serving under John Adams as President, followed by Thomas Jefferson, then James Madison. Jefferson relentlessly pursued land acquisition, and was in office for the Louisiana Purchase, where France under Napoleon sold the Louisiana Territory for $15M, or half a billion acres at roughly three cents each. 

Harrison pushed to increase the U.S. footprint, wanting to get the Indiana Territory to 60,000 residents so it could get statehood, with he perhaps a Senator. James Madison became President in 1809 and wanted land acquisition done without conflict, but would rely on Harrison's promises of fairness in dealing with the tribes. Harrison would appease the White House with his statements, but then do whatever it took to get more land, getting tribes to sign agreements that harmed other tribes. 

Tecumseh was a Shawnee warrior and worked to bring together various tribes, attempting to unite them into an alliance against American expansion. There was first negotiations and then armed conflict between Americans and tribes led by Tecumseh. Eventually came the War of 1812 between the U.S. and Britain, with Harrison taking a military command and Tecumseh fighting on the side of the British in an effort to maintain Indian lands. Tecumseh was killed as he advanced on someone he believed to be Harrison, and the territory governor ultimately realized his goal of national office, becoming the (short-lived) ninth U.S. President.

The book is an interesting story of two opposing forces and Stark quotes historian Colin Calloway who described the contest between the leaders as "a war for America's heart and soul."

Astoria by Peter Stark

Astoria by Peter Stark tells the story of millionaire John Jacob Astor's attempt to establish a global trade network with a foothold in the Northwest. The effort, blessed by then President Thomas Jefferson and starting shortly after Lewis and Clark's voyage concluded in 1806, included sea otter pelts from the region and trade with both the East Coast of the U.S. and for goods across the Pacific.

The attempt to create a settlement in modern-day Oregon included an overland party led by Wilson Price Hunt and one via the ship Tonquin and Captain Jonathan Horn sailing from New York around the bottom of South America in the Tonquin. The story of Horn felt the more fascinating of the two, with him being the first to arrive, reaching the Columbia River Bar on March 22, 1811. He faced incredibly dangerous water conditions exiting the Pacific Ocean and eight of the roughly sixty men aboard the Tonquin perished in the water. Thorn later journeyed with a group of around thirty to trade with Pacific Northwest Coast Indians off what is now Vancouver Island, with disastrous results.

Hunt's party travelling overland also experienced an extremely hard path and interesting from Stark was mention of people from both parties suffering from what centuries later would be known as post traumatic stress disorder, brought of by the constant exposure to potential calamity. The two leaders were interesting case studies, with Hunt a consensus seeker, good in some respects, not good in others, and Thorn well equipped for battle as a sea Captain, but without the diplomacy required to interact well with Indian populations.

War between America and Britain with the War of 1812 brought about the end of Astoria, with Astor's plan to fortify and defend the settlement ultimately unsuccessful as a ship he dispatched became disabled off Hawaii and Hunt was away from Astoria at a time leadership desperately needed. While Hunt was gone, those who remained decided to abandon Astoria and sold the remaining furs and goods to the British North West Company for around $.30 on the dollar. The success or failure of the venture is up for debate, with roughly sixty of the hundred and forty men Astor sent losing their lives, but the trip also helped pave the way for a later move westward, with the overland path an important precursor to exploration in large part due in part to them finding the what would become known as the Oregon Trail. Really a compelling story well told in the book.

Outside Magazine Pieces - Mark Sundeen on Noah Pippen / Peter Stark on living abroad / Mark Jenkins on wilderness first aid / "To the Arctic" IMAX

There were a few pieces of note from the May issue of Outside Magazine... including a tremendously good 10,000 word feature on a Marine who went missing in the Montana wilderness.

The Mark Sundeen piece is "Why Noah Went to the Woods" on Noah Pippen and it accomplishes the dual tasks of being thorough (again, 10,000 words) as well as captivating. The story is about a multiple-tour veteran and Sundeen does a very solid job of showing how war can impact someone and compel them to act in ways they wouldn't otherwise. It's also a suspenseful story that leaves one as a reader continually looking for what's next in the story.

Sundeen's writing is the most profound from this issue, but there were also a few other interesting pieces to note. "First, Do a Little Less Harm" was written by Mark Jenkins and this piece struck me from the perspective that Jenkins has been doing adventure activities all his life and just now taking a formal wilderness first aid class such as that he writes about.

Also of interest was a story by Peter Stark titled "Home and Away" on living in a Brazilian village for a year with his wife and two teenage children. It's good writing about a family definitely living different than most. Reading the piece made me interested in both Stark's book The Last Empty Places: A Past and Present Journey Through the Blank Spots on the American Map and the book his wife Amy Ragsdale is noted as writing about living abroad with children.

Finally, this issue also had an interesting interview with Shaun MacGillivray on the IMAX documentary studio founded by his father, Greg MacGillivray, and the new file To the Arctic being released shortly to museums and aquariums.