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By Joseph Gray

georgewashingtonsears Nessmuk was the pen name of George W. Sears, who wrote extensively for Forest and Stream magazine in the late 1800′s. The name is supposed to mean “wood duck” in the language of a Massachusetts Indian tribe. Sears also wrote two books, Woodcraft and Forest Runes, which is a volume of poetry.

The book Woodcraft was originally published in 1884 by Forest and Stream Publishing. The book was immensely popular and remained in print for decades. The last edition was published in 1920, again by Forest and Stream. In 1963, Dover Publishing did a somewhat edited reprint of the 1920 edition, calling it Woodcraft and Camping.

What was unique about this book was the philosophy of the author, which is illustrated by this passage: “Go light; the lighter the better, so that you have the simplest material for health, comfort and enjoyment.” This was written well over 100 years ago, when most people who took to the woods needed guides and horses to carry all of their excess equipment. If you do an internet search on “Nessmuk”, you will see that even today, there are those who can sell you an ultra-light “Nessmuk canoe”.

Sears was not among the rich or the elite, which comprised the bulk of outdoor enthusiasts in his day. He thought that the outdoors should be for the everyday man… “there are hundreds of thousands of practical, useful men, many of them far from being rich; mechanics, artists, writers, merchants, clerks, business men

 
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