Home Below Hell's Canyon

This is the true story of a modern pioneer family who settled deep in the gorge of Idaho's Snake River. It was 1932 at the height of the depression that the Jordans decided to make their home in this wild and nearly inaccessible section of Idaho. Friends and family were horrified when they announced the move, for the Jordan's were taking their children with them - Steve, aged 7 months; Joe, 3 1/2; and Patsy, 6. Their new home, Kirkwood Bar Ranch, lay on the treacherous Snake just below Hell's Canyon, the deepest scar on North America's face. Here, miles from neighbors and hemmed in by towering canyon walls, Grace and Len Jordan hoped to "make a stake" raising sheep. In winter their day began long before dawn. There were eneless hearty meals to be prepared for family and hired help; lessons at home for the children, for they were a day's ride from the nearest school; canning, gardening and soap making; and an unceasing effort to live on the most frugal cash outlay. The demands of the sheep kept Len away for days or weeks at a time, leaving Grace and the children alone on the ranch. Once Patsy, Joe, and Steve went eleven months without seeing other Children. But canyon living had its compensations - thrilling horseback trips over such dizzy heights as Suicide Point; boat trips on the plunging Snake; holiday parties with friends and neighbors who rode for hours through the snow for such events; and intimate family evenings by the "Rochester lamp." In Home Below Hell's Canyon Grace Jordan describes the family adventure with engaging warmth. A story of people who dared to gamble on their endurance, initiative, and luck, asking no odds from anyone, this is an intensely human account, filled with fun and danger, courage and rich family life.