Recently while browsing books I came across The Ohio
River Trilogy by Zane Grey. It
occurred to me then that I had never read a Zane Grey book even though he’s
arguably one of the most successful and prolific American authors of all
time. He’s written over 90 books and
short stories, which according to his biographer Frank Gruber in 1969, had sold
over 40 million copies and had been made into 112 films. Grey’s book Riders of the Purple Sage
(published in 1912) is considered by most as the definitive classic of the western genre.
The trilogy is a telling of early Ohio River Valley pioneer settlement. As a youth Grey had heard this history as part
of his family’s folklore. His maternal
grandfather was Ebenezer Zane a member of the Virginia militia, land
speculator, road builder and pioneer.
Ebenezer founded Fort Henry on the Ohio River at what is present-day
Wheeling, West Virginia. The outpost is
a critical part of colonial history, and when founded in 1769 marked what was
then the outer limits of the American “west.” Zanesville, Ohio, is one of
several other present-day towns & cities in the area also platted and founded
by Ebenezer.
Fort Henry
The opening book in the Trilogy is titled Betty Zane (the
author’s Great-Aunt). The title
character is Ebenezer’s sister. She came
to live with “Eb” and his family at Fort Henry.
In the story she will play a key role in repelling the second siege of
Fort Henry (in 1782) when British soldiers and allied Indian tribes attempted
to capture the fort.
As a fictionalized history, the book Betty Zane works at making
understandable what is a confusing part of colonial history (i.e. – multiple shifting
alliances). Like James Fenimore Cooper, of
whom he was an avid fan, Zane Gray makes the attempt to balance the “murdering
savages” portrayal of the Indians that fit neatly with colonial politics, with a kinder “noble
savage” imagery associated with Cooper. The
biggest surprise (to me) in the book is that it is also an unmistakable romance
novel.
Recommendation: Yes,
and I will read the remaining two books in the trilogy: The Spirit of the Border; and The Last Trail.
