Short stories on the hunting, fishing and outdoors of Maine abound, and I’m fortunate to live in a place where such sporting literature is so common. Over the course of a few years here at OSL we’ve covered many of Maine’s outdoor writers, both old and new, but not all. If the name Lew Dietz doesn’t appear on your bookshelf, you may be missing out on some quality reading.
“Touch of Wildness” is a collection of Maine outdoor stories written by Lew Dietz and first published in 1957. It includes short stories written by Dietz, many originally published by Field & Stream magazine, covering fishing, upland bird and waterfowl hunting, deer hunting, and special pieces on Maine folk in the Maine woods.
The stories in “Touch of Wildness” remind me a lot of some of my favorites from legendary Maine writer Edmund Ware Smith. Dietz was reminiscent, descriptive and humorous in his writing, and had a knack for crafting a story folks would enjoy reading.
We all like stories about our home turf, which is why I enjoyed Dietz’ piece on goose hunting the crop fields of northern Aroostook County. I also marveled at his description of a trip up the upper St. John River. Dietz, a friend and a few Allagash guides motored up the St. John from Ouellette Farm to Seven Islands, took a ride from there to Umsaskis Lake and travelled the Allagash River down to Allagash Village. His description of the St. John’s beauty and an account of some incredible brook trout fishing is important history. Not two decades later, muskellunge were introduced to the upper St. John and changed the river’s fishery forever.
Outdoor stories may be about a setting, or hunting, or fishing, but above all, they are about the people. Those who have read MacDougall’s Dud Dean stories know that characters, particular Maine folk, are what we really enjoy reading about. Put those characters in the right setting, and a classic story is made. That’s what makes “The Bog” my favorite Lew Dietz story. Beginning with Isaiah Tolman in 1769, ten generations of Tolmans roamed “The Bog” of Knox County, and made their home on its edge. The Tolmans were hunters, and “The Bog” was their hunting grounds. Many were lost in “The Bog”, or intimidated by it, but not Tolmans. Like many of Dietz’ stories, “The Bog” tells how Maine folk are intimately connected to our land.
Lew Dietz wrote 20 books and hundreds of articles in his long career as a Maine writer. Funny thing is, he’s best known not for his outdoor writing, but for “A Seal Called Andre”, his book on a tame orphan seal that became a tourist attraction in his home town of Rockport. Dietz also wrote “The Allagash”, a thorough history of the Allagash River from prehistoric to modern times.
Dietz also authored a small collection of outdoor fiction books known as the Jeff White series, with four titles (Jeff White: Young Guide, Young Lumberjack, Young Trapper, Young Woodsman) that are a challenge to find. It shouldn’t be hard to find “Touch of Wildness”, though, and I think you’ll be glad you did.
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