Best known for her first book We Took To the Woods (1942; about life on the Rapid River in the Rangeley Lakes region), Rich was born in Huntington, Mass. and died in Mattapoisett, Mass., but wrote many books about life in rural northwestern Maine. She got her B.Sc. from Massachusetts State Teachers' College in 1924 and worked as a high school English teacher before she became a writer. She and her husband, Ralph Eugene Rich, lived on the Rapid River in Maine from the time they were married until he died in 1945. After his death, Rich supported herself and her two children through her writing. Most of Rich's books are available through Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com. For more biographical information about Rich, see Alice Arlen's biography of Rich, titled She Took To The Woods (2001).
Rich's other works include:
Happy the Land (1946/1998)
Start of the Trail (1949; fictional tale of an 18-year-old guide, for teens)
My Neck of the Woods (1950)
Trail to the North (1952; for teens)
Only Parent (1953)
Innocence Under the Elms (1955; reminiscences)
The Coast of Maine (1956/1962/1970/1975/1993; an "information history and guide")
Peninsula (1958/1971; about Gouldsboro?)
First Book of The Early Settlers (1959; part of series of "First Books" of history for children)
First Book of New World Explorers (1960; part of series of "First Books" of history for children)
First Book of The Vikings (1962; part of series of "First Books" of history for children)
First Book of The China Clippers (1962; part of series of "First Books" of history for children)
The Forest Years (1963; We Took To The Woods and My Neck of the Woods in one volume)
State O' Maine (1964; another history of Maine).
First Book of The Fur Trade (1965; part of series of "First Books" of history for children)
First Book of Lumbering (1967; part of series of "First Books" of history for children)
The Kennebec River (1967; for children)
Star Island Boy (1968; 11-yr-old boy in foster care on a Maine island)
Three of A Kind (1970; 11-yr-old girl in foster care interacts with emotionally disturbed 4-yr-old boy, in Maine)
King Philip's War 1675-76: The New England Indians Fight the Colonists (1972)
Summer at High Kingdom (1975)
Carrie Stevens ~ Well known Rangeley Region Woman Fly-Tier
Carrie Stevens is one of this region's most reknown sporting figures. In their book, "Carrie G. Stevens Maker of Rangeley Favorite Trout and Salmon Flies", Bob and Leslie Hilyard chronicle her life and the flies that made her a legend back in the 1920's.
"Her idea for the "Gray Ghost" was to dress a fly in an imitation of a smelt, because smelt are the predominant food for fish in the Rangeley Lakes Region. Her first attempt was a crude version of her later development of the beautiful pattern. With it done, the urge to try it was irresistible. She climbed down the latter to an apron of the dam and cast the new streamer into the current, where it swung into the white water pouring down the chute. With it she caught several trout in a short time, culminating with a 6-pound, 13 ounce whopper that took second prize in the Field & Stream contest of 1924." (Excerpt from, The Flyfisher, by Joseph D. Bates, Jr., Volume 4, 1973).
