small mountain books
The history of the West touched at one point
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Piece by Piece
This fourth book in the Small Mountain Quartet, structured like an old-fashioned quilt, is rich with detail about the history of American medicine in Flagstaff from 1880 to 1931 and how it was expressed in the small northern Arizona town through those fifty years. Contributions to the beginnings of Flagstaff medicine by twenty-one doctors are described, including biographical material on such prominent men as Martin Fronske, Raymond O. Raymond, George Manning, and Charles W. Sechrist. The names and activites of the doctors' wives are included.
Other parts of the pattern are the fire seasons of 2000 and 2001 on the Coconino National Forest and a story told by Marlene, widow of a Phoenix doctor, of her husband's deepening depression and the effect it has had on her life.
An Arizona story in an Arizona voice, Piece by Piece is a thoughtful addition to the literature of the Southwest. Like the preceeding books in the Small Mountain Quartet, it stands as a story of the West revealed in one place.
Copyright 2006
$20.00
Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number (to come)
ISBN 0-9785874-0-5
400 pages
Includes index and bibliography
Soft cover
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Read An Excerpt From the Book
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Reader Reviews About Piece by Piece
Jean Baker, Arizona native and 5th generation Westerner spacer spacer
Ashworth's characters are the real people of western history, not the quick-draw cowboys or sensational outlaws or heros of movie fiction. The list of her sources of information proves that, and so does her index. Their stories, that seem so personal, illustrate the issues that have formed the lives they have made in this rugged country and the themes that are the foundations of stories told everywhere: on-going time, love and change and influences from afar. And work. And sickness. And doing the best we can in spite of death. It's a pleasure to read a book about Arizona that is true to this place. spacer spacer
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Piece by Piece
  • Cover
    Quilt square designed and created by Shirley Payne
  • ForestFireDuo
    Forest fire seen from Woody Mountain tower, 2:30 p.m., June 12, 1933. A southwest wind was blowing and the fire crowned and burned 200 acres. The smoke partially obscured The Peaks in the background.
    Photo courtesy of Stanton Wallace
  • ForestSpacingDuo
    When Ponderosa had centuries to develop without logging, they grew widely spaced with very little undergrowth.
    Photo courtesy of the United States Forest Service
  • LoggersDuo
    After felling trees, loggers cut off limbs and bucked the tree into lengths needed at the mill.
    Photo couresty of the Arizona Historical Society—Pioneer Museum
  • OldLoggingWagonDuo
    Logs were removed from the forest using High Wheels, horses, and men.
    Photo courtesy of the Arizona Historical Society—Pioneer Museum
  • DrRyamondDuo
    Dr. Ryamond, a prominent Flagstaff doctor in the early 1900s, was devoted to his Corgis. He posted their diet schedules on the kitchen door, causing his housekeeper to grumble that the dogs ate better than the doctor.
    Photo courtesy of the Arizona Historical Society—Pioneer Museum
  • SkiddingLogsDuo
    Fallen trees were moved off Woody Mountain using horses, a method once again being used in places to lessen damage to the forest.
    Photo courtesy of the Special Collections and Archives Department, Cline Library, Northern Arizona University
  • TreeFarmDuo
    After WWII, CCC enrollees worked in the tree nursery at Fort Valley.
    Photo courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service

Cover