Tue 23 May 2017
A Western Review by Dan Stumpf: ERNEST HAYCOX – Alder Gulch.
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western Fiction[8] Comments
ERNEST HAYCOX – Alder Gulch. Little Brown, hardcover, 1941. Paperback reprints include: Dell #317, mapback edition, 1949; Bantam A2287, 1961; Paperback Library, 1971; Pinnacle, 1992.
A superior Western by a master of the form, Alder Gulch starts off in Jack London territory with Jeff Pierce, shanghaied by a brutal sea captain, jumping ship in Portland — or trying to. The captain pulls a gun, Pierce clubs him down and ends up wet and alone, fleeing for his life in a strange city… and wanted for murder.
In the best pulp tradition, he’s rescued by a beautiful woman of mystery, and they end up making a difficult trek to Virginia City, Montana, then on to Alder Gulch, where Pierce intends to try his luck prospecting.
About this time I wasn’t expecting much, but Haycox quickly abandons the Pulp traditions (most of them anyway) and sets about writing a genuine story, filled with real-seeming characters, tense situations, lots of action and even a moral dilemma or two.
Haycox fashions a story that pits the hard-toiling miners of Alder Gulch against the well-entrenched outlaw bands of the area, led by Sheriff Henry Plummer (A real-life character of some controversy. And I should add here that although our hero is named Pierce and he’s been shanghaied, he bears no relation to the Shanghai Pierce of Texas fame.)
A lot of this plot found its way (unaccredited) into Borden Chase’s screenplay for The Far Country (1954) from the outlaws’ habit of picking off miners trying to leave with their profits to the central character who’d rather go it alone than stand up for law and order with the community. And shame on Chase anyway for stealing so shamelessly. But Haycox blends the tale neatly with grungy details of a miner’s life and the progress-or-decline of characters who grow and change as we watch them, wrapping things up with a satisfying conclusion.
Now I’m going to pick a fight with you. There’s a scene in Alder Gulch where the hero, having finally joined the vigilantes, finds his good friend mixed up with the outlaws and facing the wrong end of a rope. This is not a new thing in westerns; it goes back at least as far as Owen Wister’s The Virginian (1902) and there may even be ancient Icelandic sagas about former pardners turned owlhoots. It has appeared in a number of books since then (including Lonesome Dove) and it also shows up in A. B. Guthrie’s These Thosand Hills.
Most of you read my review of Hills and said you never read Guthrie and didn’t think he was worth the trouble, but I’m here to tell you Guthrie took this meme and handled it with originality, tension, and a sure feel for the moral and emotional complexity of the thing. Haycox was good, but Guthrie was brilliant, and I’ll fight any man in the room (at a safe distance, of course) who will read the book and say different.
And meanwhile, don’t forget Haycox’s Alder Gulch; it’s a winner.
May 23rd, 2017 at 12:31 am
I’ve never read this one, but Haycox is one of my favorite western writers, in the top five, at least, starting back with his tons of stories for the pulp magazines. He was one of the best around in terms of combining action with characters who are actually people.
And thanks for the zinger, I guess. You’re starting to convince me that I ought to give Guthrie a try. Go back and take a look. I only said that I’ve never read one of his westerns, not that I never would!
May 23rd, 2017 at 7:44 am
In recent years I’ve become more of a Haycox fan than I used to be. I’ve always admired his skill at plotting and characterization, but in some of his books he goes out of his way to cheat the reader by having all the real conflict and resolution take place off-screen. His novel GUNS UP is the best example of this I’ve read. Sometimes he doesn’t do that and the result is great. This inconsistency bothers me, but the good ones are good enough I’ll keep reading his work anyway.
May 23rd, 2017 at 9:19 am
Haycox is also one of my favorites. I’ve read many of his novelets in the Doubleday pulps(SHORT STORIES and WEST).
My two favorite novels by Haycox are THE BORDER TRUMPET and BUGLES IN THE AFTERNOON. They both give good portraits of life in the cavalry. It was a sad day for western fiction when Haycox died early at age 49 or 50.
May 23rd, 2017 at 3:54 pm
This novel was retitled NO LAW AND ORDER when published in the UK. It’s my favorite among all the Haycox books and stories I’ve read. When I wrote THE LAWMAN AND THE SONGBIRD, a novel about troubleshooter Joshua Dillard also set in Montana, I called a fictitious gold rush settlement Cox City as a nod to my debt to Haycox for its inspiration.
May 23rd, 2017 at 8:20 pm
One of the first of the pulp writers to find his voice in a more novelistic manner, which is why Guthrie is such a good comparison.
I agree with Dan on this particular trope, but damn Haycox could write, so seemingly effortlessly that at times you lose track of how good he is.
Steve,
For my money THESE THOUSAND HILLS ranks with Oakley’s WARLOCK, Lott’s THE LAST HUNT, JUBAL TROOP, SHANE, LONESOME DOVE, and BLOOD MERIDIAN.
May 25th, 2017 at 12:57 am
Jon and I were watching Gunfight at the O.K. Corral last night, and of all things, the name Shanghai Pierce came up. What a small world!
September 9th, 2017 at 8:40 pm
My new book, ERNEST HAYCOX AND THE WESTERN, has just been published by the U of Oklahoma Press.
It’s a study of Haycox’s literary career from pulp stories and slick serials to his historical Westerns and then his break to write historical fiction outside format of the popular or formula
Western.
Dick Etulain, 9 September 2017
September 9th, 2017 at 10:45 pm
Great news, Dick!