Wolf Willow: A History, a Story & a Memory of the Last Plains Frontier by Wallace Stegner

Wallace Stegner weaves together fiction and nonfiction, history and impressions, childhood remembrance and adult reflections in this unusual portrait of his boyhood. Set in Cypress Hills in southern Saskatchewan, where Stegner's family homesteaded from 1914 to 1920, Wolf Willow: A History, a Story & a Memory of the Last Plains Frontier brings to life both the pioneer community and the magnificent landscape that surrounds it.

I get the impression from the author that he though his ignorance of the history of the land in which he and his family lived was unique. I would say it’s probably more common than he realized. It certainly was the situation for me.

What does make Stegner’s story unique is that the area he grew up in straddled the line between Canada and the US, sometimes being part of one country, sometimes the other. As he explores the history of the land, going back as far as there were people there, the reader learns how often where the line was could make a huge difference to those people. For the Native Americans, chased from the land in the US, “crossing the line,” got you to a refuge, to a place where treaties were honored, and where all people were treated humanely. Unfortunately, it would be a temporary refuge.

The author’s own history isn’t as interesting. It being the time that it was, the reader can’t help but see the brutality of their lives. And while the writing can be lyrical at times, it can also be tedious, especially when the book takes a turn to fiction and the story of a young Englishman who attempts the life of a cowhand. His first drive drags on as they fight the cows, the weather, and each other. I didn’t think it was ever going to end. The relief in the next story, as the leader of that drive and his wife leave the land behind, is almost palpable.




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