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SKETCHES IN DUNELAND
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BY THE SAME AUTHOR
THE VOICES OF THE DUNES
Quarto Boards $6.00 Net

ETCHING
A PRACTICAL TREATISE
Crown Quarto Cloth $2.50 Net

THE DUNE COUNTRY
Square Octavo Cloth $3.00 Net
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The Ancient

Sketches in
DUNELAND

by
EARL H. REED

Author of
“The Voices of the Dunes”
“Etching: A Practical Treatise”
“The Dune Country”

Illustrated by the Author

NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY
LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
MCMXVIII
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COPYRIGHT, 1918
BY JOHN LANE COMPANY


THE·PLIMPTON·PRESS
NORWOOD·MASS·U·S·A
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To
THE MEMORY OF
C. C. R.
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INTRODUCTION

In the dune region that extends along thewild coasts of Lake Michigan, and in theback country contiguous to it, is a land ofallurement.

The strange human characters, whose littledrift-wood shanties are scattered along the shore,and among the sandhills, and whose isolatedretreats are further inland, are difficult to becomeacquainted with, except in a most casualway. They look upon the chance wayfarer withsuspicion and disfavor.

Readers of “The Dune Country” will remember“Old Sipes,” “Happy Cal,” and “CatfishJohn,” the old derelicts living along the beach,further accounts of whose “doin’s” are in thefollowing pages. As portraits of these worthieshave already appeared, they are omitted in thisvolume. New characters are introduced, who,it is hoped, will be, as cordially welcomed.

The region is of important historical interest.Narratives of early exploration, and primitive8Indian lore associated with it, have filled manypages of American history. The Pottowattomieshave gone, but the romance of the vanishedrace still lingers among the silent hills. Whilemany poetic legends, of unknown antiquity, havesurvived the red men, the Indian stories in thesepages are entirely fanciful, except as to environment.

The nature loving public will be fortunate ifthe organized efforts succeed, which are beingmade to preserve the country of the dunes as anational park. In compliance with a resolutionof the Senate, the Department of the Interior,through the able assistant to the Secretary, Mr.Stephen T. Mather, has recently made an exhaustivereport on the subject, which is mostfavorable to the project. Momentous eventshave, for the time being, eclipsed minor considerations,and this, as well as many othermeasures for the public good, must wait untilthe shadow of the Hun has passed.

It is only within the past few years that thepicturesque quality of the region has becomeknown to lovers of American landscape, whoare now lured by its varied attractions....