Tamarack River Ghost: A Novel

by Jerry Apps

Overview

When journalist Josh Wittmore moves from the Illinois bureau of Farm Country News to the newspaper’s national office in Wisconsin, he encounters the biggest story of his young career—just as the paper’s finances may lead to its closure.
    Josh’s big story is that a corporation that plans to establish an enormous hog farm has bought a lot of land along the Tamarack River in bucolic Ames County. Some of the local residents and officials are excited about the jobs and tax revenues that the big farm will bring, while others worry about truck traffic, porcine aromas, and manure runoff polluting the river. And how would the arrival of a large agribusiness affect life and traditions in this tightly knit rural community of family farmers? Josh strives to provide impartial agricultural reporting, even as his newspaper is replaced by a new Internet-only version owned by a former New York investment banker. And it seems that there may be another force in play: the vengeful ghost of a drowned logger who locals say haunts the valley of the Tamarack River.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780299288808
Publisher:	University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date:	11/02/2012
Edition description:	1
Pages:	286
Sales rank:	953,715
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Jerry Apps was born and raised on a Wisconsin farm. A former agricultural extension agent, he is professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His other novels in the Ames County series are The Travels of Increase Joseph, In a Pickle, Blue Shadows Farm, and Cranberry Red. His many nonfiction books include Garden Wisdom, Barns of Wisconsin, Breweries of Wisconsin, Every Farm Tells a Story, Old Farm, and One-Room Country Schools. Apps received the 2007 Major Achievement Award from the Council for Wisconsin Writers and the 2010 Distinguished Service Award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Prologue

1. Josh Wittmore

2. Lazy Z Feedlot

3. Fishing on the Millpond

4. Natalie Karlsen

5. Tamarack River Valley

6. Farm Country News

7. Tamarack River Ghost

8. Nathan West Industries

9. Dr. William Willard Evans

10. Randy Oakfield

11. Research Proposal

12. Big Hog Farm Coming

13. Dinner Date

14. Ice Fishing

15. Valley History

16. Fred and Oscar

17. Skiing in the Park

18. Informational Meeting

19. Opposing Positions

20. Fred and Oscar

21. Yes or No to Factory Farms

22. Winter Festival

23. Fred and Oscar

24. Paper Problems

25. Schmeir Tournament

26. Nathan West-435

27. Decision Time

28. Tamarack Museum

29. Zoning Committee Meeting

30. Newspaper Demise

31. New Journalism

32. Fred and Oscar

33. Different Results

34. Spring Snowstorm

35. Confession

36. Opening Day

37. Electronic News

38. Surprise Present

39. New Hog House

40. Outrage

41. Fourth of Seventh Month

42. Truce

43. Disaster

44. Blame

45. A New Beginning

Epilogue

Editorial Reviews

Jerry Apps scores another bull’s-eye in his Ames County fiction series with Tamarack River Ghost. The book raises the main issues of land stewardship and community development in an interesting story filled with compelling characters.”—Dennis Boyer, author of Listen to the Land: Conservation Conversations



“Contributes to a deeper understanding of midwestern farm life in transition in the twenty-first century.”—Jerry Minnich, author of The Wisconsin Garden Guide

From the Publisher