Same publisher, Binford and Mort?
Binford and Mort published that, and they also published the second book that I had. It is in the second printing now, and they raised the price on it. I don’t think the darn thing’s going to sell very well from here on out. The editorial process involves so much time and nitpicking and what not. The third book that I did I published myself. By that time, I had enough courage to think that it would pay for itself. That was one calledSagebrush to Shakespeare.
The newest of your books?
No, it’s not the newest. The newest one is called, Frontier Stories of the Klamath Country. It has a section in it on Crater Lake. I’ll show it to you. I have one that’s at the printers now called, Unconquered, Uncontrolled: The Klamath Indian Reservation. It has nothing about Crater Lake, except that Crater Lake is adjacent to the Indian reservation.
I haven’t seen much in the literature about just the reservation itself. Is it the first study?
No, it’s not the first one. I made a lot of tapes with Charlie Ogle, who was born there and grew up there on the reservation. And I had tapes with Ida [Momyer] Odell, who went there as a teenager and her father [Henry Momyer] was the Indian trader (1). Then, Harvey Wright, when I was in the state department of education, was a good friend of mine. He was the head of Indian education for the state of Oregon and was very active in [the] process of preparing for the termination of the tribe (2). I felt sort of an obligation, [to] have all this information published. So it’s in press at Bend at Maverick Press.
I have had courage enough to finance the last three of this myself. It took me about three years to reach a break even on that doggone book Sagebrush to Shakespeare. I’ll never again have a book with the name of “Shakespeare” on the front of it!
Do you get help for distribution or do you have to do that all yourself?
Binford, of course, has a catalog, and they’re distributors. The others I have handled myself. I think the first three books have been approved for sale at the [Crater Lake] Natural History Association, but I don’t think they’re selling any of them there.
