Canoeing the Adirondacks With Nessmuk: The Adirondack Letters of George Washington Sears

＂She’s all my fancy painted her, she’s lovely, she is light. She waltzes on the waves by day, and rests with me at night. But I had nothing to do with her painting. The man who built her did that. And I commence with the canoe because that is about the first thing you need on entering the Northern Wilderness. ＂--Nessmuk

Thus opened Nessmuk’s first commissioned ＂letter＂ for Forest and Stream in 1880. For years thereafter, George Washington Sears, under the penname Nessmuk, contributed a glorious series of pieces on canoeing the Adirondacks, exploring rivers and streams, climbing the many mountains and peaks, and chronicling his long relationship with one of the greatest canoe builders, J. Henry Rushton.

These letters brought Nessmuk fame and served to increase the magazine’s circulation tremendously. They hold a special place in wilderness writing and unfold in vivid detail the pageantry of the waterways from a bygone era.

Dan Brenan, a writer of ＂angling literature,＂ was born in Plattsburgh, New York, in 1885. He died in 1962, shortly before the original edition of this book was published.

Robert L. Lyon, a retired journalist and art critic for the Corning Leader, has been conducting research on Nessmuk for many years.

Hallie E. Bond is curator of collections and boats at the Adirondack Museum.