Falk's Claim
Falk's Claim
By Jon Humboldt Gates. Nominated for the Forest History Award, Falk’s Claim chronicles a lumber community from its bustling peak through its decline to a ghost town. Told through personal histories, it is a vivid portrait of a disappearing way of life in small rural communities. Richly illustrated with photographs, the daily lives emerge - trusted neighbors, rough-edged ways of the lumber camps, the town characters, the kids, the fights and festivities. Throughout this tale, the sense of change and renewal challenges our notions of permanence, reminding us that our history is but a moment when measured against the enduring cycles of nature.
Gate's book presents Falk from a slightly different perspective. He himself is a descendant of Falk workers. After an historical Humboldt overview, he goes into the Falk family, their enterprises, life as a lumber worker, and many warm first-person accounts of those who lived and grew up in Falk. This book also has a number of unique photos.
Falk’s Claim presents more than an historical explanation of a spot on the map marked "Falk". It gives us a view of a time, place and way of life that is now gone but, thanks to books like this, is not forgotten.
