January 5, 2011
How DEEP CREEK, a First Novel,
Became a Best Novel of 2010
Dana Wand
(pen name of Will Howarth & Anne Matthews, Princeton Faculty)
Minutes of the 14th Meeting of the 69th Year
The 14th meeting of the 69th year of The Old Guard of Princeton was called to order by President Bob Varrin at 10:15 a.m. The invocation was led by Don Edwards. Jock McFarlane read the minutes of the December 15, 2010 meeting. Guests at the meeting were John Fleming introduced by Joan Fleming, Elizabeth Fernandez introduced by Miguel Fernandez, Don Schafer introduced by Dick Hansen and Hella McVay introduced by Scott McVay. The meeting attendance was 88.
Landon Jones introduced the speakers, Anne Matthews and Will Howarth, writers who have collaborated in writing the historical novel Deep Creek, which is the subject of their talk to The Old Guard. Ms. Matthews writes about American places facing sudden and often unwanted change, such as Where the Buffalo Roam about the Great Plains, a Pulitzer nonfiction finalist, Bright Campus Year examining the American campus, and Wild Nights: Nature Returns to the City. Mr. Howarth is an authority on the history and literature of travel, places, and nature, who served as editor-in-chief of The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau, and taught literature at Princeton University for over 40 years. He first learned of the events at Deep Creek in 1981, while on assignment in Idaho for National Geographic.
Mr. Howarth noted that this is the fourth or fifth time he has spoken to The Old Guard. Ms. Matthews and Mr. Howarth organized their presentation of Deep Creek in four parts: the story, finding the story, collaboration in writing the story, and the response to the book.
The Story
It is late May, 1887 on the Snake River near Lewiston, Idaho. A girl catches a body instead of a fish, and subsequently more bodies are found in the River. They are those of Chinese gold miners who had gone in a group up the River, against the current, to work in played out gold mining sites. Why did they go in such a direction on such a task? And who tortured and killed them and why?
Joe Vincent, a long time resident of Lewiston, currently a police judge, recently defeated for reelection as Marshal and effectively shut out of local leadership, decides to investigate the murders of the Chinese miners. The Chinese have no legal status in the Idaho Territory and were actually killed on the Oregon side of the River. The bodies have washed up in the Idaho Territory, but the Lewiston leaders have no interest in either upsetting their race to acquire lands for various possible railroad rights of way or their campaign for the establishment of a State of North Idaho, of which Lewiston would be the capital. They want to bury the case.
The Chinese miners were in the employ of the Sam Yup Company of San Francisco, one of six Chinese beneficial societies that arranged for Chinese laborers. The Company sends its representative, Lee Loi, to Lewiston to investigate the loss of the miners. Lee Loi offers Joe Vincent a large fee to proceed with his investigation of the murders, and Joe arranges for a back country tracker to accompany him. Lee Loi insists on being part of the expedition. The tracker who arrives to join Joe and Lee is Grace Sundown, a French and Nez Perce mestis.
The story is of their trip to Deep Creek, what they found there, Joe’s disguise as a harmless old gold panner in order to get evidence, and the people that they meet and the dangers they encounter. To learn what happens you must read the book.
Finding the Story
Eighty percent of the story is true. All the main characters and most of the background character are real persons, except for Grace Sundown who combines the stories of a number of actual persons researched by the writers. After learning of the Deep Creek Massacre in 1981, Mr. Howarth spent ten years looking at maps, art, photos and other related material. When he realized that the documentation available did not answer all the questions, the decision was to tell the story as historical fiction.
While historical fiction is a balance between what actually was and what might have been, the key to striking that balance is research, research, research. Idaho still doesn’t relish the memory of the Deep Creek Massacre or of its early days and the dark side of the frontier myth, with its unrestrained capitalism, race violence, prejudice against Chinese immigrants, and, of course the treatment of the Native Americans by the US government and the local people.
Deep Creek is a story about the price of justice and how the main characters learn to trust each other and become a kind of family.
Collaboration
Collaboration is a sport resembling tennis. Howarth would write the first draft based on research, then Matthews with more research would write a second draft, and so forth for ten drafts over a four year period. Matthews devised the structure of the book and the interleaving of time frames. The resulting style is that of a third party named Dana Hand, one name from each of their families.
The style is realism laced with strangeness, the unknown and the unknowable seen sideways, as in life. Dana Hand calls the resulting genre “smart thrillers”. The authors use the styles of Hemingway and Cather and look for the right tone for the period with a feel for today’s ear. Howarth says that writing is always a collaboration; between the writer and his readers, editors publishers and critics.
Response to Deep Creek
The book has had good reviews and is selling well, but not in the South. Native Americans in the Northwest are very enthusiastic. Appeal seems to run along blue state/red state lines, probably because the book deals with racial and immigrant violence and the aftermath of the Civil War. Deep Creek was named one of the best novels of 2010 by The Washington Post, and one of the best 12 Westerns in the past 50 years by The Daily Beast. The authors have written a film script for the movie that is being presented to producers at this time.
Dana Hand’s new novel, Lion Rock, is set in contemporary East Africa and should be available in 2012.
Questions and Answers explored the attitude of citizens of Idaho, Lewiston and the Northwest to the book, the realism of the character of Grace Sundown, the writing of fiction and the authors’ control of fictional characters, the “swinging door between history and fiction”, the voices of the 19th century, historical geography, the six Chinese companies and the treatment of Chinese immigrants, the reception of this book by present Chinese Americans, and how members of The Old Guard can obtain roles in the movie version.
Respectfully submitted,
Julia Bowers Coale
Landon Jones introduced the speakers, Anne Matthews and Will Howarth, writers who have collaborated in writing the historical novel Deep Creek, which is the subject of their talk to The Old Guard. Ms. Matthews writes about American places facing sudden and often unwanted change, such as Where the Buffalo Roam about the Great Plains, a Pulitzer nonfiction finalist, Bright Campus Year examining the American campus, and Wild Nights: Nature Returns to the City. Mr. Howarth is an authority on the history and literature of travel, places, and nature, who served as editor-in-chief of The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau, and taught literature at Princeton University for over 40 years. He first learned of the events at Deep Creek in 1981, while on assignment in Idaho for National Geographic.
Mr. Howarth noted that this is the fourth or fifth time he has spoken to The Old Guard. Ms. Matthews and Mr. Howarth organized their presentation of Deep Creek in four parts: the story, finding the story, collaboration in writing the story, and the response to the book.
The Story
It is late May, 1887 on the Snake River near Lewiston, Idaho. A girl catches a body instead of a fish, and subsequently more bodies are found in the River. They are those of Chinese gold miners who had gone in a group up the River, against the current, to work in played out gold mining sites. Why did they go in such a direction on such a task? And who tortured and killed them and why?
Joe Vincent, a long time resident of Lewiston, currently a police judge, recently defeated for reelection as Marshal and effectively shut out of local leadership, decides to investigate the murders of the Chinese miners. The Chinese have no legal status in the Idaho Territory and were actually killed on the Oregon side of the River. The bodies have washed up in the Idaho Territory, but the Lewiston leaders have no interest in either upsetting their race to acquire lands for various possible railroad rights of way or their campaign for the establishment of a State of North Idaho, of which Lewiston would be the capital. They want to bury the case.
The Chinese miners were in the employ of the Sam Yup Company of San Francisco, one of six Chinese beneficial societies that arranged for Chinese laborers. The Company sends its representative, Lee Loi, to Lewiston to investigate the loss of the miners. Lee Loi offers Joe Vincent a large fee to proceed with his investigation of the murders, and Joe arranges for a back country tracker to accompany him. Lee Loi insists on being part of the expedition. The tracker who arrives to join Joe and Lee is Grace Sundown, a French and Nez Perce mestis.
The story is of their trip to Deep Creek, what they found there, Joe’s disguise as a harmless old gold panner in order to get evidence, and the people that they meet and the dangers they encounter. To learn what happens you must read the book.
Finding the Story
Eighty percent of the story is true. All the main characters and most of the background character are real persons, except for Grace Sundown who combines the stories of a number of actual persons researched by the writers. After learning of the Deep Creek Massacre in 1981, Mr. Howarth spent ten years looking at maps, art, photos and other related material. When he realized that the documentation available did not answer all the questions, the decision was to tell the story as historical fiction.
While historical fiction is a balance between what actually was and what might have been, the key to striking that balance is research, research, research. Idaho still doesn’t relish the memory of the Deep Creek Massacre or of its early days and the dark side of the frontier myth, with its unrestrained capitalism, race violence, prejudice against Chinese immigrants, and, of course the treatment of the Native Americans by the US government and the local people.
Deep Creek is a story about the price of justice and how the main characters learn to trust each other and become a kind of family.
Collaboration
Collaboration is a sport resembling tennis. Howarth would write the first draft based on research, then Matthews with more research would write a second draft, and so forth for ten drafts over a four year period. Matthews devised the structure of the book and the interleaving of time frames. The resulting style is that of a third party named Dana Hand, one name from each of their families.
The style is realism laced with strangeness, the unknown and the unknowable seen sideways, as in life. Dana Hand calls the resulting genre “smart thrillers”. The authors use the styles of Hemingway and Cather and look for the right tone for the period with a feel for today’s ear. Howarth says that writing is always a collaboration; between the writer and his readers, editors publishers and critics.
Response to Deep Creek
The book has had good reviews and is selling well, but not in the South. Native Americans in the Northwest are very enthusiastic. Appeal seems to run along blue state/red state lines, probably because the book deals with racial and immigrant violence and the aftermath of the Civil War. Deep Creek was named one of the best novels of 2010 by The Washington Post, and one of the best 12 Westerns in the past 50 years by The Daily Beast. The authors have written a film script for the movie that is being presented to producers at this time.
Dana Hand’s new novel, Lion Rock, is set in contemporary East Africa and should be available in 2012.
Questions and Answers explored the attitude of citizens of Idaho, Lewiston and the Northwest to the book, the realism of the character of Grace Sundown, the writing of fiction and the authors’ control of fictional characters, the “swinging door between history and fiction”, the voices of the 19th century, historical geography, the six Chinese companies and the treatment of Chinese immigrants, the reception of this book by present Chinese Americans, and how members of The Old Guard can obtain roles in the movie version.
Respectfully submitted,
Julia Bowers Coale