frenchie:

I really liked that book, and I suppose you can call the Newfoundland coast "wilderness."


Archibald Belaney, alias Grey Owl.

I was thinking it might be the infamous Archibald Belaney, the Englishman who posed as a 1/2-Apache mountainman and who did quite a bit to help enlighten the public on the plight of Canadian beavers (that he raised) back in the 1920s/30s. He took on the name and persona of Grey Owl, and wrote several enjoyable books on the Canadian wilderness.

He was quite the imposter, like Patrick O'Brian (of Master & Commander fame), only being exposed of the fraud after his death.

But he wasn't ever a newspaperman, he was an Englishman posing as an Indian.

Here's an interesting article on him in The Atlantic from 20 years ago.

I'm hoping that one of our Canadian contributors will recall from their youth a required read and just who this 'newspaperman' is.