PrairyErth:A Deep Map by William Least Heat-Moon

My first introduction to William Least Heat-Moon was about 35 years ago when I read his first book,Blue Highways, which tells the story of his trip around the perimeter of the continental United States on the highways that were marked in blue on the map, in other words, not the interstate. I don't really remember a lot of details of his trip, but I remember that the book was enjoyable, and so, I suppose, when I saw PrairyErth on a library sale table a long time ago, I thought it might be worth a dollar or two. So, I took it home and put in on a shelf and it has traveled around my shelves ever since without ever being opened until last month.


In contrast to a 13,000 mile journey around the United States (or a 13 mile journey around the bookshelves in my house), PrairyErth takes place in one county. Chase County, Kansas is by some measurement I don't remember, in the exact center of the continental United States. Heat-Moon spent several months--maybe a couple of years--staying in, studying about, and walking this county to produce his "deep map." The map is deep in the sense that he examines the county from many different perspectives including: myth; natural history; political history; the personal lives of residents, both current and past by, means of interviews and courthouse records.  He divides the county into 12 quadrangles, each section of the book concentrating on one quadrangle.

This is a map of the county found in PrairyErth. As you can see, there is not a lot of detail. Heat-Moon divides the map into four horizontal and three vertical sections to find his twelve quadrangles, and writes about them beginning in the northeast quadrangle from top to bottom, and right to left (like Asian pictographs). 

Each section begins with a map of the quadrangle that resembles the one above and has a bit more detail, but not much. Then, there are several pages from his common place book with quotes from a variety of people, some of whom you will recognize, including: Wendell Berry, Ovid, Victor Hugo, Henry David Thoreau, and many political and historical figures. Next come several chapters about various things: the flora and fauna of the area; the people who lived there in the past and the people who live there now; the geological structures; and usually--maybe always--a chapter about his personal experience walking through the quadrangle. 

In every section there is a chapter called On the Town and I'm pretty sure they all center around Cottonwood Falls, the county seat of Chase County. I say pretty sure because I've already given the book away--not much foresight there--and so I can't check. These are about a variety of things. My favorite is the one about the feminist college professor who came back home to Chase County for a while, and opened a diner on the main street of the town, and found out in the process that men were more than opponents.

For the most part I really enjoyed the book. My favorite chapters were about the people of Chase County like the five remaining residents of Saffordville, which floods fairly often, who just move upstairs until the flood is over, or the couple that was taken up by a tornado--twice--and lived to tell the tale. There are two running stories in the book: one about a murder and the subsequent trial of the suspected killer, and another about the life and career of Samuel Newitt Wood, Quaker, abolitionist, member of the Kanas House and Senate, and probably the most influential person in the history of Chase County.

What annoyed me about the book was Heat-Moon's fairly frequent disparagement of European culture as compared to Native American culture. It is pretty much European bad-Native American-good. I don't really want to say much about this other than I am sure that there is plenty of both blame and praise to be found to go around in both cultures, and the one-sided, and it seemed to me sometimes unfair commentary was a bit irksome. Nevertheless, this wouldn't keep me from recommending the book to anyone who might be interested in this comprehensive account of the center of our nation.

AMDG