Oral histories provide us with wonderful experiences from the past with those who actually lived them. Arnold “Smoke” Elser’s memoir, Hush of the Land, covers six decades of his life as an outfitter and a passionate champion of the wilderness. It’s a well-crafted look back, built upon hundreds of hours of interviews. Elser, and his co-author, Eva-Marie Maggie, will present this memoir on Saturday, Dec. 7, at 2 p.m. at the Seeley Lake Foundation Building as part of Alpine Artisans’ Open Book Club. Free. Everyone is welcome.
Early on, Smoke knew his life’s work would be outfitting as well as teaching others the skills needed to be outfitters themselves. In this book, we learn about the hard work and long hours Smoke and his wife Thelma put in running their outfitting business. He was part of the group that created programs like “The Grizzly Ride,” which introduced influential UM alumni to experiencing wilderness as a key part of how we relate to nature. Those of us who grew up in Missoula in the 50s and 60s will recognize the name of one of that group, Tom Collins, director of the University Foundation at the time. Tom was also an excellent accordion player who entertained many of us in Missoula at school concerts.
Hush of the Land is partly chronological and partly topical. It contains fascinating stories of the unexpected challenges outfitters encounter and the unusual clients they take into the backcountry. We learn great details about packing — loading animals, knots, saddle types and how acquiring stock (horses or mules) with high IQs (yes, Smoke had a system for this) makes managing pack strings much more efficient. For the guests, as they enjoyed the comforts of a wilderness camp, life outdoors — a first for many of Smoke’s customers — could be adapted to after only a night or two. What this book makes so clear is how much work, skill and experience is required of the outfitter to deliver this.
Our outfitters were early in understanding the importance of wilderness for the greater population of our country. They were tireless champions for movements like the one which turned what we used to call the Lincoln Backcountry into the Scapegoat Wilderness. Their involvement in the 1964 Centennial Train — with Montana pack animals amazing the crowds in Washington D.C. and New York City — showed our Eastern friends that Montana was much more than a state to pass through.
As an outfitter and a teacher, as well as an astute observer of life in the wilderness, Smoke Elser was a major influence on how we have come to appreciate our Crown of the Continent wilderness areas: the Bob Marshall, Scapegoat and Great Bear. There is an optimism in these stories that should energize all of us, and makes this a wonderful and entertaining read.
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