Hemingway is probably my favorite writer of all. I love his concise writing style of short declarative sentences and the fact that he felt no need to dazzle his readers with the bullshit of an impressive vocabulary, seemingly used for the purpose of self-aggrandizement.

I’m reading a collection of his short stories right now called, “The Nick Adams Stories.” Nick Adams was a character that Hemingway returned to repeatedly over the years. Scribner Publishing assembled the stories in chronological order.

I’m not familiar with Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), but apparently it is, or at least was plentiful in the forested areas of the East and Great Lakes. Hemingway’s story is set in northern Michigan and he told me that the high value tree for lumber is the White pine (Pinus strobus). The wood from a Hemlock tree is weak and somewhat brittle; it doesn’t make good lumber.

In the 19th century Hemlock had value in the tanning industry. Its bark is very high in tannin, the chemical used to tan leather for thousands of years. Hemingway described stands of timber with acres of Hemlock trees lying on the ground, stripped of the bark, and the tree left to rot on the ground. “Tanbark,” the generic term for any species of tree bark used in the leather tanning process was a new term to me. Hemingway caused me to do further research on Hemlock and why the bark was stripped off them—I had no idea.

Bark is bulky, heavy and hard to ship economically, so tanneries were often built close to the source of the bark. I learned that tanneries were responsible for early growth in cities in Michigan and Wisconsin, and undoubtedly in the Northeast as well.

Around the turn of the century, chrome tanning, which uses metal sulfates rather than natural tannins became the industry standard. Chrome tanning is faster and cheaper but more environmentally hazardous than vegetable tanning.

This was all new to me. My education and work experience is in rangelands, and I’ve never lived and worked were Hemlock is found; I suppose many of you who live in those areas knew this.

This was my new thing learned yesterday; maybe someone in the Forum will find this interesting too.

I actually did find it interesting, thank you. Hemingway is probably my favorite author as well if I had to name one. And Tsuga is Japanese Hemlock, as I recall my biology days.

quote:

Originally posted by kkina:
I actually did find it interesting, thank you. Hemingway is probably my favorite author as well if I had to name one. And Tsuga is Japanese Hemlock, as I recall my biology days.

I’m no forester, but I believe the genus Tsuga means hemlock. The genus of Douglas fir, one of the most valuable conifers, is Pseudotsuga or “false hemlock.” A little research discloses the fact that there is indeed two species of hemlock found on the islands of Japan called “Japanese hemlock.” Tsuga sieboldii (Southern Japanese Hemlock) and Tsuga diversifolia (Northern Japanese Hemlock).

A lot of the creeks and rivers in the UP have brown tinted water. It's not dirty...it's very clean, but it's tinted by the tannin from the surrounding vegetation.

Same with a lot of Florida black water.

I met an old Indian squaw down in Crow Agency (MT) some years ago who used brains to tan hides. Hadn't heard of that method prior to that, but she did some really nice work.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
I met an old Indian squaw down in Crow Agency (MT) some years ago who used brains to tan hides. Hadn't heard of that method prior to that, but she did some really nice work.

I’ve known a few hunters who did their own tanning with brains, seems like they also used ash.

"The Last Good Country".

Big Two Hearted is probably the most well known of the Nick Adams stories.

My wife and I attended an event hosted by the Michigan Hemingway Society, recreating his first marriage to Hadley a couple years ago at Walloon Lake.

I'm kind of a fan myself.

Yes, “The Last Good Country” is the short story that caused me to research downed hemlocks with the bark stripped.

“Big Two Hearted” is found in this compilation I’m reading.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
I met an old Indian squaw down in Crow Agency (MT) some years ago who used brains to tan hides. Hadn't heard of that method prior to that, but she did some really nice work.

Yep, general rule of thumb I remember hearing is each animal has enough brains to tan it's own hide.

Tmats, you might enjoy this book my wife gave me a couple years ago.

I’ll bet I would, Brad, thanks. It’s in the cart.