A Look at Two North-Westerns by W. Ryerson Johnson
by Duane Spurlock
In Johnson’s westerns -- frequently North-Westerns -- his enthusiasm and skill at writing a full-tilt action story are clearly apparent. I speak of his westerns because several examples from the western pulps have been made available in recent years -- Barricade Books’ Torture Trek and 11 Other Action-Packed Stories of The Wild West (edited by the ubiquitous Martin H. Greenberg and Bill Pronzini -- no date); Don Hutchison’s very entertaining and enjoyable anthology of pulp stories about Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Scarlet Riders; and at least two stories on Larry Estep’s PulpGen web site. Let’s take a look at these last two easily available tales, both of which start in media res, one might say -- a situation or state of affairs already is underway, events are coming to a head, and the story’s characters bring the reader up to date.
“The Avalanche Makers” appeared in the July 22, 1931 issue of West. The characters are colorfully named and have blustery personalities to suit the extreme setting of the story -- a mining camp in the far north isolated by snow and in danger of being buried by an avalanche. The story opens with “Apples” claiming to his partner White Horse that a third partner, Snag Smedder, has murdered a fourth, Old Dad, and made it appear an accident; and that Snag will do the same to Apples and White Horse before the soon-to-arrive spring thaw so he can pack out all the gold the four miners have pulled from the earth. Johnson successfully builds suspense quickly by casting doubt on Apples’ theory through his deft crafting of Snag’s responses to the accusations.
The story moves quickly, and when an escape from a death trap is called for, Johnson has played fair with his readers by setting up that escape within the realm of the story’s possibilities early in the narrative. A nicely built and told story, pre-dating Johnson’s Doc Savage work.
“River Round-Up” also appeared before Street & Smith began publishing Doc Savage Magazine. This story ran in the May 14, 1932 issue of the venerable S&S Western Story Magazine. Again, the action is already moving at the opening of the tale -- Poleon Bachee, a “hard little French-Chippewayan” tracker for the Mounties, is on the trail of the colorfully named Wolfjaw Tamson, thief and murderer. There is a bit more humor in this story than in “Avalanche” -- Poleon’s exclamations, for one thing, are long-winded and nature-based: “By the whiskers of one thousand, ten thousand blue caribou with humps on their backs!” “By the whiskers of a seven-horned caribou, one horn broken!” “By the whiskers of a black-and-white spotted caribou with three eyes, one blind!”
Apparently safety razors hadn’t yet made it to the Yukon.
Johnson’s humor might be taken as racist today -- or perhaps sexist, if going by the following passage:
Poleon stared. Then it was that the words of the wise Sergeant Murphy came again to him, “Never argue with a woman, Poleon,” the sergeant had said. “You gotta appeal to their emotions.”
Poleon knew what that emotion business meant. And those red lips of Elise, parted now in anger -- he reached out for her suddenly and kissed her. It was not much of a kiss. Snowshoes on the feet and a rifle in one hand are distinct hindrances in lovemaking. So it was not as technically perfect a kiss as Poleon was capable of. From the standpoint of satisfaction, however, it was grade one, special super-plus-prime. Poleon got a thrill like “nevair” in his life.
He also got slapped down like never in his life.
The narrative for “River,” like “Avalanche,” also depends not just on the conflict between its protagonists for its tension, but on the threats posed by the natural world. Here, Wolfjaw uses the large blocks of ice -- formed as the river is breaking up with the spring thaw -- like a raft to rush downriver and away from his tracker. Poleon uses some ingenuity, relies on his experience in lumber camps and having rolled logs in whitewater log drives, and follows his quarry on his own raft of pan ice upon the roaring, dangerous river.
There is enough excitement and balance of humor, danger, pacing, and exotic setting for this story to have appeared in Adventure. But perhaps Johnson drew his characters a bit too broadly, or made his humor just a bit too “native,” for “River Round-Up” to have made the editorial cut at the prestigious Adventure. But it is just as entertaining today as it was when it first appeared.
Links:
“The Avalanche Maker” is available at Larry Estep's PulpGen site. You can read it by clicking here.
“River Round Up” is also available at Larry Estep's PulpGen site. You can read it by clicking here.
Torture Trek: And Eleven Other Action-Packed Stories of the Wild West -- a collection of Johnson's stories edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Bill Pronzini -- is listed at Amazon.com. You can purchase it from that site by clicking here.
Posted by ds at July 15, 2006 10:12 PM
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