Ralph Beer spent much of his life in central Montana, working the rough, rocky land on Jackson Creek that was homesteaded by his great-grandparents in 1910. The Jackson Creek Road brings together some of the best of Beer’s essays and short stories that were published between 1978 and 1998. They contain reflections and memories from his own life as well as stories that were passed down to him—stories that are rooted in a home place, family, neighbors, and work. From an exploration of a family mystery to reflections on weather and water in the American West to the labors of rebuilding a stretch of barbed-wire fence across a much-loved meadow, Beer shows his profound understanding of the men, the women, and the landscape that made up this corner of the American West. The Jackson Creek Road is paved now, and the original homestead is surrounded by the clutter of modern America. The silence and open spaces may be gone, but in this beautifully crafted collection the people and their stories live on.

The Jackson Creek Road: Essays and Short Fiction

Literature & Fiction

Beer, Ralph

Essays & Correspondence

Casey Peak Press

In 1971, graduate student Ralph Beer has two main interests-experiencing the local drug scene and avoiding the horrors of the Vietnam War. Only a university deferment stands between him and the draft, but he has lost interest in his studies, instead becoming increasingly attracted to a beautiful, brilliant fellow student. Twenty-three years old and flat broke, Ralph and Sheila drop out, leave their families behind, and drive north to central British Columbia, where they hope to build a log cabin and find permanent asylum. Alone in the woods, they take up a mining claim, prepare the logs needed for their cabin, and begin to build. Shaped by the isolation of the wilderness around them, they grow tougher and more resilient, until, when their plans are thrown into turmoil, they have the courage and strength to face the world they had been avoiding in college. A moving, often-funny, coming-of-age story, Afternoon Light recreates the chaos and uncertainty many young Americans felt during a defining moment in their country's history, as a brutal war and those who opposed it shaped the nation.

Afternoon Light

Biographies & Memoirs

Travelers & Explorers

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