The Sackett family is a fictional American family featured in a number of western novels , short stories and historical novels by American writer Louis L'Amour .
106-663: The novels trace much of the history of the family through individual members of the family as they move across the Atlantic from England, settle in the Appalachians, and then move west to the Great Plains, the Rockies, and California. Unlike novels by such writers as James A. Michener , these stories do not trace the rise and fall of the fortunes of a clan or extended family, but simply tie together significant and minor characters in several of
212-589: A Master of Arts degree in education. After graduation, Michener taught at the university and at College High School. The Michener Library at the University of Northern Colorado was named after him in October 1972. In 1939, Michener accepted a position as a guest lecturer at Harvard University , where he worked for a year. He left to join Macmillan Publishers as their social studies education editor. As
318-522: A Quaker , he could have qualified as a conscientious objector and not been drafted into the military, but Michener enlisted in the United States Navy during World War II . He traveled throughout the South Pacific Ocean on various assignments which he gained because his base commanders mistakenly thought his father was Admiral Marc Mitscher . His experiences during these travels inspired
424-431: A Mexican prison before finally escaping and being rescued by his son. Flagan Sackett – Brother of Galloway Sackett. One of the younger Sacketts. Has a strong will to survive. Rarely found far from his brother. Galloway Sackett – Brother of Flagan Sackett. Tall and handsome, nearly fearless in the face of danger. Known to brave danger and live. Parmalee Sackett – A "flatland Sackett", Parmalee's family moved down to
530-562: A few months after Louis L'Amour's death, is his personal guide to the Sackett novels, with long lists of characters, locations, ships, weapons, and summaries of each of the novels. Sackett's Land , published in 1974, is the first novel chronologically of the Sackett novels, taking place around AD 1600 in England (including The Fens and Queen Elizabeth I 's London ), on the Atlantic Ocean , and
636-433: A flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a system of drainage channels and man-made rivers ( dykes and drains) and automated pumping stations . There have been unintended consequences to this reclamation, as the land level has continued to sink and the dykes have been built higher to protect it from flooding. Fen is the local term for an individual area of marshland or former marshland. It also designates
742-532: A girl named Temperance Penney from Cape Ann. Jublain Sackett (Jubal) – Fourth son of Barnabas Sackett. He was the first Sackett to cross the mountains and see the plains. Known as the quiet one, he is a ghost in the woods. Spends much time away from home and eventually quits the hills of North Carolina for the Rocky Mountains. Marries Itchakomi Ishaia, a "Sun" of the Natchee. Echo Sackett – Only female member of
848-656: A gun, and always ready with a smile and a quote, he's strong willed and completely devoted to his family. He is calm during a fight, never getting excited or losing his head, a trait that is in all three brothers. Married twice, he killed a member of the Higgins family during a gunfight, only to have Long Higgins come after him on his wedding day. Orrin was unarmed, and his new wife jumped in front of him as Higgins fired, killing her. Orrin's brother Tyrel killed Higgins, then left Tennessee to avoid further problems. Orrin left soon after, promising his mother they'd send for her. He then married
954-522: A major philanthropist, donating more than $ 100 million to educational, cultural, and writing institutions, including his alma mater , Swarthmore College , the Iowa Writers Workshop , and the James A. Michener Art Museum, and more than $ 37 million to University of Texas at Austin . By 1992, his gifts made him UT Austin's largest single donor to that time. Over the years, Mari Michener played
1060-727: A major role in helping direct his donations. In 1989, Michener donated the royalty earnings from the Canadian edition of his novel Journey (1989), published in Canada by McClelland & Stewart , to create the Journey Prize , an annual Canadian literary prize worth $ 10,000 (CDN) that is awarded for the year's best short story published by an emerging Canadian writer. In the Micheners' final years, he and his wife lived in Austin, Texas , and they endowed
1166-564: A number of Christians sought the isolation that could be found in the wilderness of the Fens. Later classified as saints, often with close royal links, they include Guthlac , Etheldreda , Pega , and Wendreda . Hermitages on the islands became centres of communities which later developed as monasteries with massive estates. In the Life of Saint Guthlac , a biography of the East Anglian hermit who lived in
SECTION 10
#17328477281401272-485: A pretty girl. He marries Drusilla Alvarado, the beautiful granddaughter of a rich Spanish don. In the film adaptations, Tyrel is portrayed by Jeff Osterhage . The 1982 made for TV movie The Shadow Riders was based upon another Louis L'Amour novel and stars Sam Elliott (Dal Traven), Tom Selleck (Mac Traven), and Jeff Osterhage (Jesse Traven) in similar roles to those they play in The Sacketts . However, neither
1378-488: A road across the Fens to link what later became East Anglia with what later became central England; it runs between Denver and Peterborough . They also linked Cambridge and Ely . Generally, their road system avoided the Fens, except for minor roads designed for exporting the products of the region, especially salt, beef and leather. Sheep were probably raised on the higher ground of the Townlands and fen islands, then as in
1484-555: A severe shock attended by a rumbling noise in Bourn after midday. This was felt in Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. Houses tottered, slates, tiles and some chimneys fell. As it was a Sunday, some people ran out of the churches "in great consternation". In 1792 another shock was also felt in Bourne and neighbouring towns. There is evidence of human settlement near the Fens from
1590-417: A sound, strong moral character, never forgetting his father's rule of "...always ride on the side of the law, never against it". In the film adaptations he is portrayed by Sam Elliott . Orrin Sackett – Second son of Colburn Sackett. Orrin likes people and tries to see the best of them. Handsome, witty, and smart, he likes to believe that most people like him, however he can be a bit naive at times. Good with
1696-733: A stage or two, but are decent men. Logan came to the aid of Emily Talon, herself a Sackett by birth, in Colorado. Several Clinch Mountain Sacketts also show up in "Ride the River" to help cousin Echo. Two other families whose members L'Amour wrote about, and whose families have rubbed shoulders at different times over the three centuries his novels cover, are the Chantry and Talon families, with Borden Chantry and Milo Talon being contemporaries of Tell Sackett. The founders of
1802-408: A strong sense of right and wrong. Wears three pistols, two tied down and one in his coat. Orlando Sackett ( Lando ) – Son of Falcon Sackett. One of the last Sacketts to move west. Spends six years in a Mexican prison. Becomes a well-known fist-fighter and boxer. Falcon Sackett – Father of Orlando Sackett. Formerly captain of a ship. Finds a lost treasure of great value and spends several years in
1908-442: Is known for its permanent collection of Pennsylvania Impressionist paintings. The James A. Michener Society was formed in the fall of 1998. It comprises people who share a common interest and admirers of Michener's life and work. The society sponsors a variety of activities and publishes an electronic internet newsletter. Annual meetings of members are held at locations closely associated with Michener's life. The society's purpose
2014-457: Is little agreement as to the exact dates of the establishment and demise of the forest, but it seems likely that the deforestation was connected with the Magna Carta or one of its early 13th-century restatements, though it may have been as late as 1240. The forest would have affected the economies of the townships around it and it appears that the present Bourne Eau was constructed at the time of
2120-527: Is the brother of Tyrel and Orrin Sackett, who went west to New Mexico in 1867 in "The Daybreakers". Tell is also the 'ugly duckling' (by his own admission) of the family. However, he does meet a beautiful woman named Ange Kerry in Sackett and falls in love. He loses her when she is brutally murdered in "The Sackett Brand.". He meets another lady in Treasure Mountain , and presumably marries her. L'Amour has left
2226-568: Is the ninth in the chronology of the Sackett novels and was published in 1961 ( Daybreakers was the first to be published in 1960 though it is not the first chronologically). It tells the story of William Tell Sackett, a Union Army veteran who makes his way West in the years following the War, hoping to settle down at the right place as a rancher. He is the main character in several other Sackett books including Mojave Crossing , The Lonely Men , Treasure Mountain , and The Sackett Brand , among others. He
SECTION 20
#17328477281402332-480: Is to: In addition to writing novels, short stories, and non-fiction, Michener was very involved with movies, TV series, and radio. The following is only a selection of the listings in the Library of Congress files. The Fens The Fens or Fenlands in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in
2438-680: The Atlantic Seaboard of North America, particularly in the vicinity of Cape Hatteras . The main character and narrator is Barnabas Sackett, son of mercenary and freeholder Ivo Sackett. The Sacketts was a two-part TV movie broadcast on May 15 and 16, 1979, based on the novels The Daybreakers and Sackett . It starred Sam Elliott as Tell Sackett, Tom Selleck as Orrin, and Jeff Osterhage as Tyrel, but also featured parts for Western movie veterans, including Glenn Ford , Gilbert Roland , Jack Elam , Slim Pickens , Pat Buttram , Ben Johnson , and Mercedes McCambridge (as "Ma Sackett"). It
2544-577: The Black Sluice . Also this area includes the market town of Spalding and the ancient village of Sempringham . The above were all redrained at one time or another after the Civil War (1642–1649). These areas cover the northern most part of the Fens from Boston right up as far north west as Washingborough near Lincoln along the course of the River Witham and to the north east it extends up as far as
2650-694: The Great Depression , as mentioned in the 1998 Great Depression documentary on the History Channel. Michener took a job as a high school English teacher at The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania . From 1933 to 1936, he taught English at George School in Newtown, Pennsylvania . He attended Colorado State Teachers College, later renamed the University of Northern Colorado , in Greeley, Colorado , where he earned
2756-571: The James A. Michener Art Museum houses collections of local and well-known artists. Michener pledged $ 5.5 million to the museum in 1996. Constructed from the remains of an old state prison, the museum is a non-profit organization with both permanent and rotating collections. Two prominent permanent fixtures are the James A. Michener display room and the Nakashima Reading Room, constructed in honor of his third wife's Japanese heritage. The museum
2862-565: The Mesolithic on. The evidence suggests that Mesolithic settlement in Cambridgeshire was particularly along the fen edges and on the low islands within the fens, to take advantage of the hunting and fishing opportunities of the wetlands. Internationally important sites include Flag Fen and Must Farm quarry Bronze Age settlement and Stonea Camp . The Romans constructed the Fen Causeway ,
2968-583: The Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin . The Center provides three-year Michener Fellowships in fiction, poetry, playwriting and screenwriting to a small number of students. In October 1997, suffering from terminal kidney disease , Michener opted to end his daily dialysis treatment that had kept him alive for four years. He said he had accomplished what he wanted and did not want further physical complications. On October 16, 1997, he died of kidney failure , at age 90. Michener
3074-910: The National Broadcasting Company ( NBC television network) from October 1978 through February 1979. In the mid-1970s, Michener was a contributor to the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature . In 1996, State House Press published James A. Michener: A Bibliography , compiled by David A. Groseclose. Its more than 2,500 entries from 1923 to 1995 include magazine articles, forewords, and other works. Michener's prodigious output made for lengthy novels, several of which run more than 1,000 pages. The author states in My Lost Mexico (1992) that at times he would spend 12 to 15 hours per day at his typewriter for weeks on end, and that he used so much paper, his filing system had trouble keeping up. Michener
3180-536: The Townlands . It is clear that there was some prosperity there, particularly where rivers permitted access to the upland beyond the fen. Such places were Wisbech , Spalding , Swineshead and Boston. All the Townlands parishes were laid out as elongated strips, to provide access to the products of fen, marsh and sea. On the fen edge, parishes are similarly elongated to provide access to both upland and fen. The townships are therefore often nearer to each other than they are to
3286-580: The deforestation , as the town seems to have joined in the general prosperity by about 1280. Though the forest was about half in Holland (Lincolnshire) and half in Kesteven , it is known as Kesteven Forest. Though some signs of Roman hydraulics survive, and there were also some medieval drainage works, land drainage was begun in earnest during the 1630s by the various investors who had contracts with King Charles I to do so. The leader of one of these syndicates
Sackett - Misplaced Pages Continue
3392-630: The fen violet will be seeded. The Fens Waterways Link is a scheme to restore navigation to some of the drainage works. It is planned to bring the South Forty-Foot Drain and parts of the Car Dyke into use as part of a route between Boston and Cambridge. The Fens is the origin of English bandy and Fen skating . It is the base of Great Britain Bandy Association and in Littleport there
3498-582: The 17th century described the Fenland as entirely above sea level (in contrast to the Netherlands), the area now includes the lowest land in the United Kingdom. Holme Fen in Cambridgeshire, is around 2.75 metres (9 ft 0 in) below sea level. Within the Fens are a few hills, which have historically been called "islands", as they remained dry when the low-lying fens around them were flooded. The largest of
3604-454: The 35th President. In 1962, he unsuccessfully ran as a Democratic Party candidate for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania , a decision he later considered a misstep. "My mistake was to run in 1962 as a Democratic candidate for Congress. [My wife] kept saying, 'Don't do it, don't do it.' I lost and went back to writing books." In his memoir The World Is My Home , Michener would describe running for office as "one of
3710-512: The 50th state, was based on extensive research. He used this approach for nearly all of his subsequent novels, which were based on detailed historical, cultural, and even geological research. Centennial (1974), which documented several generations of families in the Rocky Mountains of the American West , was adapted as a popular 12-part television miniseries of the same name and aired on
3816-617: The 6th century but was revived in the mid-10th-century monastic revival. In the 11th century, the whole area was incorporated into a united Anglo-Saxon England . The Fens remained a place of refuge and intrigue. It was here that Alfred Aetheling was brought to be murdered and here where Hereward the Wake based his insurgency against Norman England . Fenland monastic houses include the so-called Fen Five ( Ely Cathedral Priory , Thorney Abbey , Croyland Abbey , Ramsey Abbey and Peterborough Abbey ) as well as Spalding Priory . As major landowners,
3922-583: The County Record Office in Cambridge. The major part of the draining of the Fens was effected in the late 18th and early 19th century, again involving fierce local rioting and sabotage of the works. The final success came in the 1820s when windpumps were replaced with powerful coal-powered steam engines , such as Stretham Old Engine , which were themselves replaced with diesel-powered pumps, such as those at Prickwillow Museum and, following World War II ,
4028-808: The Fen Tigers tried to sabotage the drainage efforts. Two cuts were made in the Cambridgeshire Fens to join the River Great Ouse to the sea at King's Lynn – the Old Bedford River and the New Bedford River , the latter being known also as the Hundred Foot Drain . Both cuts were named after the Fourth Earl of Bedford who, along with some gentlemen adventurers ( venture capitalists ), funded
4134-520: The Fenland has become a major arable agricultural region for grains and vegetables. The Fens are particularly fertile, containing around half of the grade 1 agricultural land in England. The Fens have been referred to as the "Holy Land of the English" because of the former monasteries, now churches and cathedrals , of Crowland , Ely , Peterborough , Ramsey and Thorney . Other significant settlements in
4240-464: The Fens during the early 8th century, Saint Guthlac was described as attacked on several occasions by people he believed were Britons , who were then living in the Fens. However, Bertram Colgrave, in the introduction to one edition, doubts this account, because of the lack of evidence of British survival in the region. British place names in the area are "very few". Monastic life was disrupted by Danish (Anglo-Saxon) raids and centuries of settlement from
4346-436: The Fens include Boston , Downham Market , King’s Lynn , Mildenhall , March , Spalding , and Wisbech . The Fens are very low-lying compared with the chalk and limestone uplands that surround them – in most places no more than 10 metres (33 ft) above sea level. As a result of drainage and the subsequent shrinkage of the peat fens, many parts of the Fens now lie below mean sea level . Although one writer in
Sackett - Misplaced Pages Continue
4452-462: The Fens is involved in environmental stewardship schemes, under which 270 miles (430 km) of hedgerow and 1,780 miles (2,860 km) of ditches are managed, providing large wildlife corridors and habitat for endangered animals such as the water vole . In 2003, the Great Fen Project was initiated to return parts of the Fens to their original pre-agricultural state. The periodic flooding by
4558-447: The Fens were once permanently flooded, creating lakes or meres , while others were flooded only during periods of high water. In the pre-modern period, arable farming was limited to the higher areas of the surrounding uplands, the fen islands, and the so-called "Townlands", an arch of silt ground around the Wash , where the towns had their arable fields. Though these lands were lower than
4664-739: The Lindsey Level inhabited by farmers by 1638, but the onset of the Civil War permitted the destruction of the works until the act of Parliament that led to the formation of the Black Sluice Commissioners, the Black Sluice Drainage Act 1765 ( 5 Geo. 3 . c. 86 ). Many original records of the Bedford Level Corporation, including maps of the Levels, are now held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies Service at
4770-543: The North Sea, which renewed the character of the Fenlands, was characterised conventionally by the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica as "ravaged by serious inundations of the sea". The modern approach is to allow a little farmland to be flooded again and turned into nature reserves . By introducing fresh water, the organisers of the project hope to encourage species such as the snipe , lapwing and bittern . Endangered species such as
4876-625: The Pacific areas where they take place. Tales of the South Pacific was adapted as the popular Broadway musical South Pacific , by Rodgers and Hammerstein . The musical in turn was adapted as a feature film in 1958 and 2001 , adding to his financial success. A number of his other stories and novels were adapted for films and TV series. He also wrote Presidential Lottery: The Reckless Gamble in Our Electoral System , in which he condemned
4982-535: The Roman period, water levels fell once again. Settlements developed on the new silt soils deposited near the coast. Though water levels rose once again in the early medieval period, by this time artificial banks protected the coastal settlements and the interior from further deposits of marine silts. Peats continued to develop in the freshwater wetlands of the interior fens. The wetlands of the fens have historically included: Major areas for settlement were: In general, of
5088-559: The Sackett books is that of loyalty to the family and helping the family when beset by foes. "When you step on the toes of one Sackett, they all come running." The deadly Sackett-Higgins feud in Tennessee lasted years. As Tell Sackett notes in the book "The Sackett Brand", "The last feud my family taken part in lasted seventy years. The last Higgins died with his gun in his hand, but he died." The Clinch Mountain boys tend to be rougher. The twins, Nolan and Logan have hired out their guns, held up
5194-512: The Sackett clan to narrate a story. Aunt of Tell, Orrin and Tyrel. Logan Sackett – Twin brother of Nolan Sackett. Comes from the Clinch Mountain branch of Sacketts and lives up to their reputation. Rough, two-fisted, a man "with the bark on", and with a deserved reputation as being fast with a gun and hell-on wheels in any kind of fight, he has ridden the Outlaw Trail and admits to skirting
5300-503: The Sacketts to include numerous members of the Sackett clan as well members of the Talon and Chantry families who would over the generations have various relationships with the Sacketts. In "The Sackett Companion", L'Amour described "The Man From the Broken Hills" as being a Talon book. He wanted the Talon and Chantry books to be seen as series of books separate from the Sackett books. Yet, at
5406-531: The South Pacific , for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1948; Hawaii ; The Drifters ; Centennial ; The Source ; The Fires of Spring ; Chesapeake ; Caribbean ; Caravans ; Alaska ; Texas ; Space ; Poland ; and The Bridges at Toko-ri . His non-fiction works include Iberia , about his travels in Spain and Portugal; his memoir, The World Is My Home ; and Sports in America . Return to Paradise combines fictional short stories with Michener's factual descriptions of
SECTION 50
#17328477281405512-532: The United States' Electoral College system . It was published in 1969, and republished in 2014 and 2016. Michener was born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania , on February 3, 1907. He later wrote that he did not know who his biological parents were, or exactly when or where he was born. He was raised a Quaker by an adoptive mother, Mabel Michener, in Doylestown. Michener graduated from Doylestown High School in 1925. He attended Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania , where he played college basketball and
5618-548: The Western novels. L'Amour's Sackett family originates in The Fens of Cambridgeshire in East Anglia . The patriarch of the family, Barnabas Sackett, becomes a merchant captain and eventually settles with his wife Abigail (née Tempany) in what will become the borderlands of North Carolina and Tennessee . The family quickly divides into three clans, sired by several of their sons: the "Smoky Mountain Sacketts", "Cumberland Gap Sacketts", and "Clinch Mountain Sacketts". There are also Flatland Sacketts that are rarely touched upon in
5724-435: The best things I've done because campaigning in public knocks sense into a man." In 1968, Michener served as campaign manager for the U.S. Senator Joseph S. Clark of Pennsylvania, who was running for reelection to a third term. Clark ultimately lost the race to Richard Schweiker , a moderate Republican . Michener later served as Secretary for the 1967–1968 Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention. Also that year, Michener
5830-461: The book is most likely set. In some books, L'Amour has his protagonist explicitly give the year. In others, the year can be determined by some historical reference used by the author such as in "Chancy" when Chancy tells of meeting Wild Bill Hickok in Abilene. According to Misplaced Pages, historical records show that Hickok was marshal of Abilene only in the year of 1871 which makes the setting of "Chancy" to be 1871. Other books are given their place in
5936-524: The chronology based on references by characters or events that indicate a book's place in the chronology. The name(s) that follows each title listed below identifies the main protagonist in the novel. The year(s) in which the novels are set are given after the protagonist name followed by the justification for the year assigned as the setting for the novel. James A. Michener James Albert Michener ( / ˈ m ɪ tʃ ə n ər / or / ˈ m ɪ tʃ n ər / ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997)
6042-547: The combined capacity to pump 16,500 Olympic-size swimming pools in a 24-hour period or to empty Rutland Water in 3 days. As of 2008, there are estimated to be 4,000 farms in the Fens involved in agriculture and horticulture, including arable, livestock, poultry, dairy, orchards, vegetables and ornamental plants and flowers. They employ about 27,000 people in full-time and seasonal jobs. In turn, they support around 250 businesses involved in food and drink manufacturing and distribution, employing around 17,500 people. Over 70% of
6148-421: The construction and were rewarded with large grants of the resulting farmland. The work was directed by engineers from the Low Countries . Following this initial drainage, the Fens were still extremely susceptible to flooding, so windpumps were used to pump water away from affected areas. The Company of Adventurers were more formally incorporated in 1663 as the Bedford Level Corporation . However, their success
6254-414: The dark side of the law on more than one occasion. A lot rougher than Orrin or Tyrel, he is nonetheless a generally decent man. Comes to the aid of his aunt, Emily Talon. Nolan Sackett – Twin Brother of Logan Sackett. Comes from the Clinch Mountain Branch of Sacketts. Like his brother, he has ridden the outlaw trail. Rough and dangerous, with a hefty reputation as a very bad man to fool around with, he has
6360-411: The day I hung 'em up, I was the fastest gun alive." Compassionate to a fault, his sense of morals never leaves him and stands as a steady guide on his way west. In Santa Fe he is forced to kill Tom Sunday, a close friend who'd gone bad after losing what he saw as his last chance to start a new life, which affects him deeply. Naive where women are concerned, Tyrel often seems like a shy schoolboy when facing
6466-496: The distant farms in their own parishes. After the end of Roman Britain, there is a break in written records. It is thought that some Iceni may have moved west into the Fens to avoid the Angles , who were migrating across the North Sea from Angeln (modern Schleswig ) and settling what would become East Anglia . Surrounded by water and marshes, the Fens provided a safe area that was easily defended and not particularly desirable to invading Anglo-Saxons . It has been proposed that
SECTION 60
#17328477281406572-417: The early 19th century. There may have been some drainage efforts during the Roman period, including the Car Dyke along the western edge of the Fenland between Peterborough and Lincolnshire, but most canals were constructed for transportation. How far seaward the Roman settlement extended is unclear owing to the deposits laid down above them during later floods. The early post-Roman settlements were made on
6678-403: The edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds to the seaside town of Skegness . These were drained in the 18th and 19th centuries. At the end of the most recent glacial period , known in Britain as the Devensian , ten thousand years ago, Britain and continental Europe were joined by the ridge between Friesland and Norfolk . The topography of the bed of the North Sea indicates that the rivers of
6784-467: The ending to the imagination of the reader in this novel. L'Amour confirmed to Dr. John Sackett that he found the name on Sackett's Well in a place west of Yuma. The desert watering hole was named for cavalry Lt. Delos B. Sackett who was an Indian fighter in the region before the Civil War. L'Amour has used names and places that roughly parallel a real branch of the Sackett Family, but the accounts are fictional. This non-fiction book, published in 1988
6890-417: The fen-islands was the 23-square-mile (60 km ) Kimmeridge Clay island, on which the cathedral city of Ely was built: its highest point is 39 metres (128 ft) above mean sea level. Without artificial drainage and flood protection, the Fens would be liable to periodic flooding, particularly in winter due to the heavy load of water flowing down from the uplands and overflowing the rivers. Some areas of
6996-471: The film adaptations, Orrin is portrayed by Tom Selleck . Tyrel Sackett – Third son of Colburn Sackett. He idolizes his brothers Tell and Orrin. Known throughout the West as the Mora Gunfighter, and by his brothers as the "mean one" or the "black sheep", Tyrel is the fastest with a gun of the three brothers. Wherever Tyrel goes, he seems to attract trouble, and sooner or later someone always tries to outdraw him, but never succeeds – by his own admission: "Till
7102-490: The fondest memories of my travels stem back to my years of military service in the New Hebrides – (now Vanuatu ) – during the Pacific War years of the early 1940s...While those beautiful islands have changed much with progress in the ensuing years, I know from subsequent visits that the friendliness of the peoples, their infectious smiles and their open-heartedness will remain forever one of life's treasures. Opened in 1988, in Michener's hometown of Doylestown, Pennsylvania ,
7208-536: The highest parts of the drained fen are now only a few metres above mean sea level, only sizeable embankments of the rivers, and general flood defences, stop the land from being inundated. Nonetheless, these works are now much more effective than they were. The Fens today are protected by 60 miles (97 km) of embankments defending against the sea and 96 miles (154 km) of river embankments. Eleven internal drainage board (IDB) groups maintain 286 pumping stations and 3,800 miles (6,100 km) of watercourses, with
7314-460: The hit Broadway musical South Pacific , which premiered on Broadway in New York City in 1949. The musical was also adapted as eponymous feature films in 1958 and 2001 . Michener tried television writing but was unsuccessful. American television producer Bob Mann wanted Michener to co-create a weekly anthology series from Tales of the South Pacific and serve as narrator. Rodgers and Hammerstein, however, had bought all dramatic rights to
7420-431: The land between the rivers. The internal drainage was organised by levels or districts, each of which includes the fen parts of one or several parishes . The details of the organisation vary with the history of their development, but the areas generally include: Bourne Fen and Deeping Fen lie in the southern most parts of Lincolnshire, between the Rivers Welland and the Bourne Eau with the River Glen running between
7526-472: The last mistake they make. He's a loner, at home in the High Lonesome, often going years without seeing or communicating with his family back in Tennessee. He takes any job that suits him at the moment, from cowhand to miner, and drifts, rarely staying in one place any great length of time. He's killed several men in his lifetime, is fast and deadly accurate with any kind of gun, as well as the Tinker-made knife he carries. Although outwardly he appears rough, he has
7632-474: The less stable peat. Since the 19th century, all of the acid peat in the Fens has disappeared. Drying and wastage of peats has greatly reduced the depth of the alkaline peat soils and reduced the overall elevation of large areas of the peat fens. It is also recorded that peat was dug out of the East and West Lincolnshire fens in the 14th century and used to fire the salterns of Wrangle and Friskney. In later centuries it
7738-517: The monasteries played a significant part in the early efforts at drainage of the Fens. During most of the 12th century and the early 13th century, the south Lincolnshire fens were afforested . The area was enclosed by a line from Spalding, along the River Welland to Market Deeping , then along the Car Dyke to Dowsby and across the fens to the Welland. It was deforested in the early 13th century. There
7844-532: The names of West Walton , Walsoken and Walpole suggest the native British population, with the Wal- coming from the Old English walh , meaning "foreigner". However, the villages are in close proximity to the old Roman sea wall, so the wal- element is more probably from wal or weal , meaning "wall". Walton is generally believed to mean "wall-town", Walsoken to mean "the district under particular jurisdiction by
7950-533: The next few thousand years both saltwater and freshwater wetlands developed as a result. Silt and clay soils were deposited by marine floods in the saltwater areas and along the beds of tidal rivers, while organic soils, or peats, developed in the freshwater marshes. Fenland water levels peaked in the Iron Age; earlier Bronze and Neolithic settlements were covered by peat deposits, and have only recently been found after periods of extensive droughts revealed them. During
8056-527: The novel and did not relinquish their ownership. Michener did lend his name to a different television series, Adventures in Paradise , in 1959, starring Gardner McKay as Captain Adam Troy in the sailing ship Tiki III . Michener was a popular writer during his lifetime; his novels sold an estimated 75 million copies worldwide. His novel Hawaii (1959), well-timed on its publication when Hawaii became
8162-507: The novel nor the movie are connected with the Sackett Saga. The movie was made primarily to capitalize on the success of The Sacketts . Louis L'Amour wrote a number of fiction novels telling of the settlement of much of North America revolving around a fictional family named Sackett. The first of these books was "The Daybreakers" which introduced the Sackett family to fans of Wild West fiction. Over his life, L'Amour would expand his tales of
8268-518: The novels. It is the Smoky Mountain Sacketts that produce some of L'Amour's most memorable and beloved characters including William Tell "Tell" Sackett and his brothers, Tyrel and Orrin, of the novel "Sackett" (see below) and others. Orrin was a Sheriff, legislator and eventually senator. Tyrel became a respected rancher and lawman often simply known as the "Mora Gunfighter" after the town he settled in. The main theme that runs through most of
8374-478: The old historic county of Huntingdonshire ), and western most parts of Norfolk and Suffolk . Most of the Fens lie within a few metres of sea level . As with similar areas in the Netherlands , much of the Fenland originally consisted of fresh- or salt-water wetlands. These have been artificially drained and continue to be protected from floods by drainage banks and pumps. With the support of this drainage system,
8480-419: The peat fens before the peat shrinkage began, the more stable silt soils were reclaimed by medieval farmers and embanked against any floods coming down from the peat areas or from the sea. The rest of the Fenland was dedicated to pastoral farming , fishing, fowling , and the harvesting of reeds or sedge for thatch. In this way, the medieval and early modern Fens stood in contrast to the rest of England, which
8586-520: The post-World War II time period. In 1957 it was adapted into the highly successful movie Sayonara which starred Marlon Brando , James Garner , Miiko Taka , Miyoshi Umeki and Red Buttons ; Umeki and Buttons both won the 1958 Academy Award ("Oscar") for best supporting actor / actress for their performances. In the 1960 presidential election , Michener was chairman of the Bucks County, Pennsylvania committee to elect Democrat John F. Kennedy as
8692-649: The richer flatlands while the majority of the clan stayed in the mountains. His affluent lifestyle has not made him weak, as men who have braced him could testify – if they were still above ground. The three main and most well known characters are the three brothers, sons of Colburn Sackett; Tell, Orrin, and Tyrel. Their father liked his horses fast, his drinks hard, and his preachers Hellfire hot, and raised his three sons accordingly. Although they often go long periods without seeing one another, they're completely devoted to one another, and come to each other's aid any time needed, dropping all else that they might be involved in at
8798-403: The saga are several novels which are not specifically Sackett, Talon, or Chantry tales but, rather outliers where L'Amour managed to weave a Sackett touch into the story. Examples of these outliers are "Bendigo" and "Passin' Through". The following is a suggested chronological listing of the 32 novels that make up this saga of the Sacketts and their kin. Following each title is the year in which
8904-479: The same time, he had already written and planned future stories establishing various connections between the three families. In so doing, he had already begun creating a single saga that was built around the Sacketts and reflected how L'Amour wanted to describe the settling of the American frontiers in an entertaining and, yet, a relatively accurate historical and cultural way with bigger than life characters. Included in
9010-503: The same year. Sabusawa died in 1994. Michener's novel Sayonara (1954) is quasi-autobiographical. Set during the early 1950s, it tells the story of Major Lloyd Gruver, a United States Air Force ace jet pilot in the Korean War (1950–1953), now stationed in Japan , who falls in love with Hana-ogi, a Japanese woman. The novel follows their cross-cultural romance and illuminates the racism of
9116-427: The small electric stations that are still used today. The dead vegetation of the peat remained undecayed because it was deprived of air (the peat being anaerobic). When it was drained, the oxygen of the air reached it, since then the peat has been slowly oxidizing. This, together with the shrinkage on its initial drying and the removal of soil by the wind, has meant that much of the Fens lies below high tide level . As
9222-511: The southern part of eastern England flowed into the Rhine , thence through the English Channel . From the Fens northward along the modern coast, the drainage flowed into the northern North Sea basin . As the ice melted, the rising sea level drowned the lower lands, leading ultimately to the present coastline. These rising sea levels flooded the previously inland woodland of the Fenland basin; over
9328-516: The stories published in his breakout work Tales of the South Pacific . Michener began his writing career during World War II , when as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy he was assigned to the South Pacific as a naval historian. He later turned his notes and impressions into Tales of the South Pacific (1947), his first book, published when he was age 40. It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1948, and Rodgers and Hammerstein adapted it as
9434-466: The three families were contemporaries as well: Tatton Chantry (the first who used the name Chantry, hero of the novel "Fair Blows the Wind") and a famous pirate called Talon (who took the name after the hook he used for a lost hand) were contemporaries of Barnabas Sackett, around the year 1600. Timing is a little vague, as L'Amour never rewrote his earlier novels and exact years may not match in each novel. This
9540-418: The three principal soil types found in the Fenland today, the mineral-based silt resulted from the energetic marine environment of the creeks, the clay was deposited in tidal mud-flats and salt-marsh, while the peat grew in the fen and bog. The peat produces black soils, which are directly comparable to the American muck soils . A roddon , the dried raised bed of a watercourse, is more suitable for building than
9646-606: The time, true to the one binding rule in their lives: "When you hunt one Sackett, you hunt 'em all". William Tell Sackett ( Tell ) – Oldest son of Colburn Sackett ("Ride the Dark Trail" section of "The Sackett Companion"). Fought for the Union in the Civil War. A hard, tough, quiet man who wants only to be left alone, it takes very little to anger Tell, and he will fight like a rabid wolf if pushed, as several men have found out – usually, it's
9752-607: The treacherous Laura Pritts who tried to use him as part of her bigoted father's land grab in Santa Fe against the settled Mexican landowners. After her fraud is exposed, Laura attempts to lure William Tell into Apache country to rescue her nonexistent son with Orrin, a plan which fails. Always honest and straightforward, the fights that Orrin usually finds himself a part of are generally started by his steadfast and unwavering attitude toward what he believes in strongly. A smooth talker, Orrin has no problem making friends, especially female. He
9858-575: The two Fens and the area covers both the town of Bourne as well as The Deepings including the villages of Langtoft and Baston . The Lindsey Level, also known as the Black Sluice District, was first drained in 1639 and extends from the Glen and Bourne Eau to Swineshead and then across to Kirton . Its waters is carried mostly though the South Forty-Foot Drain through to the Haven at Boston though
9964-483: The type of marsh typical of the area, which has neutral or alkaline water and relatively large quantities of dissolved minerals , but few other plant nutrients . The Fens are a National Character Area , based on their landscape, biodiversity, geodiversity and economic activity. The Fens lie inland of the Wash , and are an area of nearly 1,500 sq mi (3,900 km ) in the south east of Lincolnshire , most of Cambridgeshire (which also includes parts of
10070-608: The wall", and Walpole to mean simply "wall-pole" (Old English wal and pal ). When written records resume in Anglo-Saxon England, the names of a number of peoples of the Fens are recorded in the Tribal Hidage and Christian histories. They include North Gyrwe (Peterborough and Crowland), South Gyrwe (Ely), the Spalda (Spalding), and Bilmingas (part of south Lincolnshire). In the early Christian period of Anglo-Saxon England,
10176-620: Was cremated , and his ashes were placed next to those of his wife at Austin Memorial Park Cemetery in Austin, Texas . Michener is honored by a memorial headstone at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin. Michener left most of his estate and book copyrights to Swarthmore College , where he earned his bachelor's degree. He had donated his papers to the University of Northern Colorado , where he earned his master's degree. Many of
10282-552: Was a member of the Electoral College , serving as a Pennsylvania Democrat. He wrote about that experience in a political science text Presidential Lottery: The Reckless Gamble in Our Electoral System , which was published the following year. In it, he suggested alternate systems, including using a direct popular vote by majority for the office of President of the United States and other more creative solutions. Michener became
10388-562: Was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. After graduating summa cum laude in 1929, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and History, he traveled and studied in Scotland at the University of St Andrews in the medieval town of St. Andrews , Fife , on the coast of the North Sea for two years. Michener talks about hoboing, the practice of riding freight trains for free, during
10494-525: Was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations, set in particular geographic locales and incorporating detailed history. Many of his works were bestsellers and were chosen by the Book of the Month Club . He was also known for the meticulous research that went into his books. Michener's books include his first book, Tales of
10600-429: Was elected sheriff of Santa Fe, New Mexico , where his reputation as a man fair to all ethnicities, Hispanic and Anglo alike, gained him respect. In one of the novels, Orrin's ex-wife Laura Pritts sends men to kill him. As one of his brothers relates it, "Seems like they'd been told they were hunting a lawyer. Well, there's lawyers and there's lawyers, just like there was a dentist named Doc Holliday." The man died. In
10706-940: Was later released in a cut-down version as The Daybreakers . Barnabas Sackett – The founding member of the Sackett clan. Travels to the New World to escape the warrant of the Queen. Killed by Seneca Indians. Son of Ivo Sackett, soldier and war hero. Kin-Ring Sackett – First son of Barnabas Sackett, born on a buffalo robe in the heat of battle. First Sackett born in the New World. Married Diana Macklin from Cape Ann. Brian Sackett – Second son of Barnabas Sackett. Leaves America with his mother and sister to study law in England Yance Sackett – Third son of Barnabas Sackett. Best known for his quick temper and strength and willingness of action. Founder of Clinch Mountain Branch of Sacketts. Married
10812-538: Was married three times. In 1935, he married Patti Koon. In 1948, they divorced, and the same year Michener married his second wife, Vange Nord. Michener met his third wife, Mari Yoriko Sabusawa , at a luncheon in Chicago . An American, she and her Japanese parents were interned in western camps that the U.S. government set up during the early years of World War II to hold ethnic Japanese from West Coast / Pacific communities . Michener divorced Nord in 1955 and married Sabusawa
10918-453: Was primarily an arable agricultural region. Since the advent of modern drainage in the 19th and 20th centuries, the Fens have been radically transformed. Today arable farming has almost entirely replaced pastoral. The economy of the Fens is heavily invested in the production of crops such as grains, vegetables, and some cash crops such as rapeseed and canola . Drainage in the Fenland consists of both river drainage and internal drainage of
11024-445: Was short-lived. Once drained of water, the peat shrank, and the fields lowered further. The more effectively they were drained, the worse the problem became, and soon the fields were lower than the surrounding rivers. By the end of the 17th century, the land was under water once again. Though the three Bedford Levels together formed the biggest scheme, they were not the only ones. Lord Lindsey and his partner Sir William Killigrew had
11130-526: Was the Earl of Bedford, who employed Cornelius Vermuyden as engineer. Contrary to popular belief, Vermuyden was not involved with the draining of the Great Fen in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk in the 1630s, but only became involved with the second phase of construction in the 1650s. The scheme was imposed despite huge opposition from locals who were losing their livelihoods based on fishing and wildfowling. Fenmen known as
11236-560: Was used locally for winter fuel and its digging controlled by the Duchy of Lancaster . Written records of earthquakes in the Fen area appear as early as 1048. According to Historia Ingulfi, p. 64, (1684) this took place in Lincolnshire. In 1117 one affected Holland, Lincs, "endangering and injuring Crowland Abbey ". In 1185 Lincoln was damaged. In 1448 a shock was recorded in south Lincolnshire ( Ingulfi, p. 526). In 1750 John Moore records
#139860