Eighteen SAWBACK CLEANS A LAKER
Another Pipestone Letter, this piece pokes gentle fun at the outrageous yarns and antics of Tex’s sidekick Sawback and at the credulity of the paying customers. It is straightforward in that it has no tension regarding Tex’s usual issues: civilization vs. wilderness, masculinity, class, and gender.
Although this story is explicitly set at Lake Minnewanka, just outside Banff (Aylmer Point is mentioned twice), this story was clearly written to appeal to American readers: When the fishing is good on this lake, Tex writes, “all you got to do is heave over yore hook with a pants button or just a written invitation onto it, an the Lakers will grab on like a Congressman to a PWA appropriation.” The Public Works Administration was a godsend to Depression-era communities and their congressmen. The image of elected officials eager for appropriations and ear-marks was as familiar then as it is now, apparently. This story illustrates clearly that while Tex did not disguise the Canadian Rockies, his stories were not about specific places or place, and were intended primarily for American readers.
—AG