Camping Out in the Yellowstone, 1882 by Mary Bradshaw Richards (review)

Reviews Camping Out in the Yellowstone, 1882. By Mary Bradshaw Richards. Edited by WilliamW. Slaughter. (SaltLake City: UniversityofUtah Press, 1994.108 pages, $10.95.) InAugustof 1882, MaryBradshawRichards, a57-year-old touristfrom New YorkCity, spentnine daystouringYellowstone Park. She and her husband hired outfitters and “roughed it”in a period between Yellowstone’swildest days and those of improved roads and plentiful hotels. Though not elegantly written, Mrs. Richards’s account reveals much about Yellowstone at the end of its first decade as a park. It is a place still abundant with wildlife, colorful frontier characters, and approachable natural wonders; yet, it has been marked by humans. She finds the trail of discarded cans and other garbage indicative of tourist travels, and Yellowstone “bruins”already foraging for leftovers. Perhaps most striking is both her annoyance with other tourists who spoil the experi­ ence ofpristine solitude, and her sense that a burgeoning tourist economywill further degrade the wilderness experience. Mrs. Richards’s narrative suffers in comparison with several from the late nineteenth century, but few accounts remain in print. Among those out of print, Georgina M. Synge’s A Ride Through Wonderland (London, 1892) offers more detail and a stronger voice. William Slaughter’sedition brings to print a typical account; its strength isin the useful footnotes, period photographs, and an informative introduction. With Slaughter’s careful help, Richards’s sketch reveals a great deal about the Victorian traveler in America’s great “Wonder­ land.” NANCYCOOK University ofMontana Worker-WriterinAmerica:fack Conroy and the Tradition ofLiteraryRadicalism, 18981990 . ByDouglas Wixon. (Urbana: University ofIllinois Press, 1994. 678 pages, $34.95.) Jack Conroywrote a major proletarian novel, TheDisinherited, and as editor of radical magazines such as RebelPoetand Anvil he published earlywritings of RichardWright, Meridel Le Sueur, andTom McGrath, among manyothers. His earlypromise remained unfulfilled, however, andby1950, he lapsed intovirtual ...