LAURIE MORROW'S BOOK ON THE STORY BEHIND COREY FORD'S "THE ROAD TO TINKHAMTOWN"

Yesterday, I was doing some research online about Corey Ford's famous story, "The Road to Tinkhamtown," which many consider to be the greatest sporting story ever told. What’s not to love when the story touches upon such themes as the relationship between a man and his bird dog, a secret, heavenly covert, and what happens after death? This classic story is a fictional account of a hunter by the name of Frank passing on to that great covert in the sky, which, to his delight, happens to be one of his favorite ruffed grouse coverts dubbed, "Tinkhamtown." This classic story was first published in Field & Stream after Corey Ford passed away in 1969. The story can easily be found online at numerous sites. In my opinion, Corey Ford is one of the greatest outdoor writers of all time and "The Road to Tinkhamtown" is clear evidence of this fact.

As I was conducting the online research, I came across a new website http://www.theroadtotinkhamtown.com/, which was created by Laurie Morrow, Corey Ford's Official Biographer. From this website, I was excited to learn that Morrow has completed extensive research on the interesting story underlying Ford's classic and she has written a book thereon. I encourage all lovers of hunting and fishing literature to take the link to the website and support this project.

For those who do not know, Laurie Morrow actually owns and lives on Corey Ford's property in Freedom, New Hampshire, which he lovingly called "The Lower Forty." From living on this property, Morrow naturally took an interest in Corey Ford's history and his writing. When Ford passed away in the late 1960's, he donated all of his papers to Dartmouth College. Morrow eventually sought and was appointed by Dartmouth College as the Official Biographer of the Corey Ford Archives.

As Morrow went through the voluminous papers of the Corey Ford Archives, she found many unpublished fishing and hunting stories, including the original unedited version of "The Road to Tinkhamtown." Through Morrow's efforts as the editor, the uncut version was published for the first time in 1996 in Cold Noses and Warm Hearts. I will say, without any hesitation, that the original uncut version of Ford's story is much better than the version published in Field & Stream.

Cold Noses and Warm Hearts published by Willow Creek Press.

Morrow also compiled Ford's fishing stories into a book entitled, Trout Tales & Other Angling Stories, and his bird hunting stories into a book entitled, The Trickiest Thing in Feathers. For sporting book fanatics, these are both must haves.

Trout Tales published by Wilderness Adventures Press.

Through Morrow's work, a new generation of sportsmen has been introduced to the likes of Corey Ford. She has once again made his writing accessible to us all. Thanks Laurie!

I encourage everyone to discover (or rediscover) Corey Ford and his writing, especially "The Road to Tinkhamtown." You won't regret it. I am very excited to read Morrow's forthcoming book on the history underlying the greatest hunting story ever written.

The Trickiest Thing in Feathers published by Wilderness Adventures Press.