I still remember the first time I read The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper. I forget how old I was, but I am pretty sure I was in high school. Hawkeye may not be a solely, or even a primarily, Adirondack character, but his adventures in The Last of the Mohicans certainly took him deep into the pre-revolutionary wilderness of the Adirondacks. The other four Leatherstocking Tales are set primarily to the south of the Adirondacks, or in the case of The Prairie, out on the prairie.

James Fenimore Cooper

The Last of the Mohicans is a wonderful book. Other than this, the only other volume in the series I have fully read is The Deerslayer. Much has been written on the Five Volume Saga, including the entertaining and none too complimentary “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses” by Mark Twain, which can be downloaded from Project Gutenberg here. Putting aside the consistency and literary quality of the writing, all the book remain extremely important if only for their glimpse into eastern frontier life and their contribution to the forging of our national myths. Despite the uneven quality of the series as a whole, Mohicans is not often criticized as are some of the other volumes.

Cooper grew up in Cooperstown, named for/by his father, and there he was exposed to the sorts of people and tales that populated his books. Natty Bumpo is said to be based on David Shipman (b. 1740) who “along with his hunting dogs and long rifle, was a frequent visitor to Judge Cooper’s home” when Cooper was a boy in the last years of the 1700’s.

The Last of the Mohicans takes place during the French and Indian War around 1757, about 70 years before the book was published. While I remember it for such things as the historic details, the multi-layered conflict present in the Settler/Indian relationships, and the tragic, forbidden love of Uncas and Cora, what I recall best, and that which held my interest the most as I read, was the description of the land and mountains through which Hawkeye (Le Longue Carabine) and the others moved. They seemed to move effortlessly and swiftly over the rugged terrain, written of in great detail (although I question with what accuracy) by Cooper. The adventurers trekked into “the sterile and rugged district which separates the tributaries of Champlain from those of the Hudson, the Mohawk, and the St. Lawrence…(where) none but the hunter or the savage is ever known, even now, to penetrate its wild recess.”

Of course, I wanted to know exactly where they were. I tried to match the descriptions with my memories from the collective years I had spent wandering the backcountry, as I also pored over my maps to figure out their route (the only place that was surely fixed f course was Fort William Henry on the shores of Horican). I was not successful in pinpointing anything at all, but the effort was an integral part of the reading for me, and made the book all the more memorable.

Hawkeye is, of course, Natty Bumpo, aka Leatherstocking, Deerslayer, Le Longue Carabine, Pathfinder, and probably other names I forget. Deerslayer and Le Longue Carabine also refer to his rifle, but this is not too confusing as the rifle has no speaking parts.

Atheneum Books for Young Readers recently (2002) put out a beautifully illustrated abridged edition. I have it. It was a gift for my sons. It is nicely done, and not a bad choice if you want an abridged version. My druthers, however, lean more towards waiting until a child is old enough to read the real thing. As with Kidnapped, Treasure Island, and other such adventure stories, the full length version is accessible enough for the older child, and an abridgement is a compromise that you should think well about before using. It’s a mixed bag of course. The risk is that after reading an abridgement, a child will not be interested in reading the same story over again. It might be engaging enough, though, to whet an interest in the full novel.