Rogue River Feud

This is perhaps my favorite of all the Zane Grey "war novels" ---and it's NOT A WESTERN---except for the fact it is set in Oregon. Keven Bell has come home from WW1 a changed man, and he comes home seeking something to live for, having been injured in a training accident which resulted in losing part of the vision in one eye and part of his jaw is missing--and Zane Grey having been a practicing dentist gets to use his talents in fixing his face. Keven is so changed his father does not recognize him; his father had not even heard from him in two years--the two years Keven spent recovering in the hospital. Worse, his father has little to offer his son, having fallen on hard times. Keven's one salvation is his love of fishing, and with the help of Garry Lord they begin a fishing business to sell salmon to the local cannery. In so doing they discover other fishermen who were illegally netting across the mouth of the river with a nets with openings too small effective capturing all the fish. This book is Zane Grey's protest against this form of fishing in order to try to protect the salmon before they might be fished to extinction. This is a fine, fine novel; and is a story packed with emotion, and powerful imagery of what the disabled veteran faced when returning home---alas, have we learned anything from history as our soldiers return home today? Once again, I say: Do not rate Zane Grey as "only" a writer of westerns. There is so much more to be found in his body of work as this novel proves. READ IT! READ IT!

I recently reread Rogue River Feud and enjoyed it all over again. It gives the reader a chance to see a different side of Zane Grey, normally known for his fantastic westerns. His descriptive powers in this novel puts the reader right on the Rogue itself, or traveling it's banks on foot. He has the ability to transfer your body and soul right down to the scene you are currently reading. The world lost a great story teller when it came his time to pass on.

The Rogue River could make a man rich overngiht and leave him dead in the morning. Some were lured by the promise of gold, others by the salmon that swarmed in its raging currents. Now Kevin Bell came to make himself a life, after two years in an Army hospital, in nauture's raw wilderness, where a man's future hung by a slender thread-and some by a hair trigger.

Rogue River Feud is one of Zane Grey's least known novels. This is, perhaps, because it isn't a Western-it's a Northwestern. The Rogue River in Southern Oregon is the main character. Zane Grey had a cabin on the Rogue and his attachment and fascination with this great river makes it the primary focus of the book. For this reason, the book is a great read for anyone who has been on, around, along,over or in this wonderful river. There are, of course, characters and a semblance of a plot. The first chapter, however, is worth the price of the book. It is the best writing about the Rogue that has been done before or since and poetically and descriptively traces the river from its birth below Crater Lake to its dispersal into the Pacific and then picks up a school of salmon and takes them all the way back up the river to spawn. Environmental organizations attempting to save Northwest salmon should be handing Rogue River Feud to anyone who will take a copy.Kevin Bell, our human hero, returns to Grants Pass, Oregon at the conclusion of WWI a broken man, injured seemingly beyond repair. He has been damaged by an exploding cannon, an incident he repeats interminably thoughout the book. His memory is shaky and he has become a drunk to stop the pain in his broken jawbone-a jaw that has been repaired by mediocre dentistry (Grey was trained as a dentist and was able to work both bad and good dentistry into the story). In addition, his reputation has been ruined by a former officer of his regiment who obscures his own crime by spreading the word that Kev had ruined a family of five (that's 5) sisters (an incident which, in our day and age, might actually enhance a reputation). Presumably, this had taken place before the cannon blew up. Incensed at the slander, Kevin assaults his accuser, now politically well-connected and squiring Kevin's ex-fiancee, and has to flee down river with his old pal, the often inebriated fisherman/riverman Garry Lord. They run rapids in the dark in a skiff just finished by Kevin's dad. The descriptions of the river and river running are marvelous. For the first half of the book they are involved in fishing for salmon near Gold Beach at the mouth of the river, where Kevin's former fiancee's crooked father has a lock on the business. The descriptions of salmon fishing by net and by line are detailed and informative and the plot and character development point to an exciting denoument whereby Garry and Kevin will expose illegal fishing activities and insure a salmon and steelhead run for the up river folks. But the author has romance on his mind for he causes Kevin to flee upstream after losing Garry in a storm and killing Garry's would-be adversary. Hopeless, distraught, and with revenge as a driving motive and an itch for a drink, he stumbles into a camp called Solitude where he and Garry had called briefly on their way down river. A beautiful dark-haired girl calls out to him. He doesn't remember her (because his memory had been dam

Rogue River Feud is one of Zane Grey's least known novels. This is, perhaps, because it isn't a Western-it's a Northwestern. The Rogue River in Southern Oregon is the main character. Zane Grey had a cabin on the Rogue and his attachment and fascination with this great river makes it the primary focus of the book. For this reason, the book is a great read for anyone who has been on, around, along,over or in this wonderful river. There are, of course, characters and a semblance of a plot. The first chapter, however, is worth the price of the book. It is the best writing about the Rogue that has been done before or since and poetically and descriptively traces the river from its birth below Crater Lake to its dispersal into the Pacific and then picks up a school of salmon and takes them all the way back up the river to spawn. Environmental organizations attempting to save Northwest salmon should be handing Rogue River Feud to anyone who will take a copy. Kevin Bell, our human hero, returns to Grants Pass, Oregon at the conclusion of WWI a broken man, injured seemingly beyond repair. He has been damaged by an exploding cannon, an incident he repeats interminably thoughout the book. His memory is shaky and he has become a drunk to stop the pain in his broken jawbone-a jaw that has been repaired by mediocre dentistry (Grey was trained as a dentist and was able to work both bad and good dentistry into the story). In addition, his reputation has been ruined by a former officer of his regiment who obscures his own crime by spreading the word that Kev had ruined a family of five (that's 5) sisters (an incident which, in our day and age, might actually enhance a reputation). Presumably, this had taken place before the cannon blew up. Incensed at the slander, Kevin assaults his accuser, now politically well-connected and squiring Kevin's ex-fiancee, and has to flee down river with his old pal, the often inebriated fisherman/riverman Garry Lord. They run rapids in the dark in a skiff just finished by Kevin's dad. The descriptions of the river and river running are marvelous. For the first half of the book they are involved in fishing for salmon near Gold Beach at the mouth of the river, where Kevin's former fiancee's crooked father has a lock on the business. The descriptions of salmon fishing by net and by line are detailed and informative and the plot and character development point to an exciting denoument whereby Garry and Kevin will expose illegal fishing activities and insure a salmon and steelhead run for the up river folks. But the author has romance on his mind for he causes Kevin to flee upstream after losing Garry in a storm and killing Garry's would-be adversary. Hopeless, distraught, and with revenge as a driving motive and an itch for a drink, he stumbles into a camp called Solitude where he and Garry had called briefly on their way down river. A beautiful dark-haired girl calls out to him. He doesn't remember her (because his memory had