Pioneer life; or, Thirty Years a Hunter, Being Scenes and Adventures in the Life of Philip Tome (1854)

Pioneer Life is a mostly autobiographical narrative of the life of Philip Tome. Tome was born in 1782 near present-day Harrisburg and lived on the upper Susquehanna for much of his life. He tells colorful (and mostly true) tales about his hunting exploits in the Pennsylvania wilderness, as he tracked elk, wolves, bears, panthers, foxes, and other large animals through the state’s north-central mountains, earning wide renown among his contemporaries. His stories contain suspenseful chase scenes, accidents, and narrow escapes, inviting the reader to view a still-wild Pennsylvania through the eyes of one who “was never conquered by man or animal.” Pioneer Life, originally published in 1854, has since been reprinted several times.



This classic hunting memoir includes the following chapters:

I. Birth and Early Life
II. Hunting the Elk
III. Capturing a Live Elk
IV. Face of the Country
V. Face of the Country — Continued
VI. Danger From Rattlesnakes
VII. Wolf and Bear Hunting
VIII. Another Elk Hunt
IX. Elk-Hunting on the Susquehannah
X. Elk-Hunting — Continued
XI. Nature, Habits, and Manner of Hunting the Elk
XII. Elk and Bear Hunting in Winter
XIII. Hunting on the Clarion River
XIV. Hunting and Trapping
XV. The Bear, Its Nature and Habits
XVI. Hunting Deer at Different Seasons
XVII. Nature and Habits of the Panther, Wolf and Fox
XVIII. Rattlesnakes and Their Habits
XIX. Distinguished Lumbermen, Etc.
XX.. Reminiscences of Cornplanter
XXI. Indian Eloquence

This book originally published in 1854 has been reformatted for the Kindle and may contain an occasional defect from the original publication or from the reformatting