Butterworth, Hezekiah. The Log School-House on the Columbia: A Tale of the Pioneers of the Great Northwest. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1893. [10349]
Purple publisher's cloth with gilt titles & decoration, 8 x 6 inches, yellow waxed end papers, title page in red & black. Frontispiece & 12 other b/w illustrations on glossy stock. 250 clean pp. This crinkle at the bottom edge of the title page, we think from opening with a dull blade. Otherwise near-fine. Hardcover.
A story of "the heroic lives of the pioneers of Oregon and Washington...I met a distinguished educator who had lately returned from the Columbia River, who told me the legend of the old chief who died of grief on the grave of his son, somewhat in the manner described in this volume...A few weeks after hearing this haunting legend I went over the Rocky Mountains by the Canadian Pacific Railway, and visited the Columbia River and the scenes associate with the Indian story. I met in Washington, Yesler, Denney, and Hon. Elwood Evans, the historian; visited the daughter of Seattle, the chief, 'Old Angeline'' and gathered original stories in regard to the pioneers of the Puget Sound from many sources. In this atmosphere the legend grew upon me, and the outgrowth of it is this volume, which, amid a busy life of editorial and other work, has forced itself upon my experience." - Preface.
Hezekiah Butterworth (1829-1905), b. & d. at Warren, Rhode Island. He was a Baptist, a journalist, an author, and a music composer. A hymnwriter and student of history, he authored two books on the study of hymns for the American Tract Society. He was an editor of The Youth's Companion, wrote twelve volumes of the Zig-Zag Journeys, and traveled the world to be able to write them. Many of his stories were written for boys.
