Shortly before I moved to the Pacific Northwest, I became acquainted with Garden & Gun magazine when I read its first issue from the Spring of 2007. Like many people, I scratched my head at the title but succumbed to the literary writing and compelling photos. When I relocated to Portland, Oregon, I took my subscription with me, which allowed me to stay connected to a much beloved South. Like James Joyce, sometimes you have to leave to get proper perspective on your home.
This past week, I received one missive each from my mother and father that happily married the best things about the South and the Pacific Northwest. Perfect for this blog.
The first was an article from Charleston's Post and Courier that reported on Garden & Gun's comeback from the brink of the recession and butchery that many print institutions are taking. Back in 2009 I started the magazine's fan club page on Facebook to create support for this kind of journal. I have, what I've some times referred to as "the opposite of ADD," because I enjoy reading and telling long stories. I prefer Faulkner sentences to tweets. Please join our almost 500 members if you're so inclined!
It also reminded me of the origins of the magazine's title. Taken from the name of a former gay bar in Charleston, Garden and Gun is a "metaphor for the sporting life" and "a love song to the south." The magazine refused to take "gun" out of the title, losing monetary support in the process.
I've never had any fascination with guns, and I may or may not have been hunting at some time in my life. If I did, the memory serves little importance on my being. I do remember trying to shoot cans off of an old, rusting tractor in my grandfather's pecan orchard. I think I bruised my shoulder and lost interest. However, the writers create such captivating stories, that I forget I'm reading about the gun or the fishing rod, in lieu of the protagonists' narrative.
This brings me to the video my father shared with me about the Girandoni air rifle used by Lewis and Clark during their epic expedition of the west. I'm a sucker for all things L&C. One ride through the Columbia River Gorge and reading of Undaunted Courage and I have a new obsession.
All along the Washington and Oregon sides of the Columbia River stand sign posts marking Lewis and Clark's journey in 1803-1806. The present day landscape never ceases to amaze me, and imagining what it looked like unadulterated and unsculpted by men fascinates me.
I've stood at Celilo Falls, the start of a 12-mile stretch of the Columbia River where it drops some 80 feet in a series of cascades, whirlpools and dangerous eddies. Of course it's covered now by the blanket of water created by the dams. The navigation of this gorge and transversing the Continental Divide through the Bitteroot Mountains hold the most allure for me. How did Lewis and Clark do it? St. Louis to the Pacific and back? There were only 36-38 people with them; they could have been easily overwhelmed.
Watch this video about Lewis' gun. Even if you abhor guns. Incidentally, the gun he's holding in the video is on loan to the National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, VA, from, you guessed it, OREGON.
Ah, Lewis and Clark. You're always bridging the divide. I'd like to see an article about this gun in Garden and Gun. Thanks for sharing Mom and Dad!
