Uncle Timbo, I have read a couple of the Horace Kephart books and keep going back to Camping & Woodcraft to browse. I seldom read a book like that cover to cover. I particularly enjoy the descriptions of "how it was" in the early 1900's in a fairly remote place along the edge of the present Great Smoky Mt NP. There was no electricity in rural areas. Things didn't really change until the horseless carriage appeared and mostly wealthier people would have them until the Model T came out. Life in that area probably hadn't changed at all since the civil war.
I think when Kephart saw all the logging going on is when he decided to support the national park thing. The early 1900's (late 1800's) is when all the clear cut logging was going on and by the early 1900's it had made it's way south from New England area into the Blue Ridge. Growing up in PA, the state purchased a lot of old timbered off land and made them into state game lands in the early 1900's. That was quite a good investment for them!
The Kephart knife is meant to be a daily user rather than some brut knife. Use would be for everything from woodcraft to kitchen duty to skinning and dressing animals. Depending on where you are in WV, it could be used similarly. I used to live in Eastern KY and have an appreciation for the ruggedness of the WV mountains.
I am looking forward to my Becker Kephart, I guess in January. I ordered and missed the first cut. Decided to just go with the flow and wait until the next batch are released by Kabar. The Becker Kephart is precisely what I have been looking for.... simple knife, 1095, no painted blade, walnut handle, and simple leather sheath.
I know Kephart wrote for magazines but I have never seen any kind of reproduction or collection of those articles. I would love to see such.
