History Commons^™

Joshua Gross Rich seemingly lived several lifetimes in the nearly eight decades he spent on earth. During various times, he made a living by trapping, guiding, farming. While living in the Rangeley Lakes region, he sold his winter catch to fur traders and as scientific specimens to Harvard University. Always willing to change with the times, Rich transitioned from being a professional trapper to a trial justice for Oxford County, a pension agent for Civil War veterans, a correspondent for many newspapers, and finally Bethel’s humane officer. While living in Upton, Maine, Rich owned and operated a hotel, a general …

The Northeast, especially Maine, has an exceptionally rich heritage of early literature about wildlife. These writings are buried in obscure scientific books and journals, government documents, rare books, old newspapers, and discontinued sporting periodicals. The primary section of this book is a chronologically-arranged compilation of selected quotations from these hard-to-find sources, thus making accessible significant wildlife writings of early biologists, naturalists, and woodsmen from northern New England and eastern Canada.

While designed to be a reference-work for biologists, conservationists, folklorists, and historians, this book will also be of use to campers, hunters, trappers, and others interested in the region’s natural …