Washington County Enterprise-Leader
By All Accounts Adventure
TRAVELING SPORTSMAN THRIVES ON HUNTING AND FISHING
FARMINGTON — “I guess you could say I was raised with a gun in one hand and a Bible in the other,” writes Weldon Johnson, of Prairie Grove, in his self-published book Trails of an Arkie Cowboy.
The son of a farmer turned preacher, Johnson was raised near Blackburn in the Devil’s Den area which might be enough to prompt some to keep both faith and weapons readily on hand.
Johnson cites a Billy Graham quote, “Some of the biggest lies are the ones that are told with silence” but is not silent about his mother’s sharp-tongued criticism of his father’s preaching which often turned a Sunday ride home from church into hazardous fishtailing down country roads. Johnson’s insight expressing a boy’s frustration towards what he feels is belittling to a man he views as a hero and role model offers an important glimpse into behind the scenes turmoil that is rarely spoken of by ministers’ families.
Johnson begins with the immigration of his Swedish grandfather and describes the labor involved in clearing rocky ground and the use of goats to keep young saplings from reclaiming cleared pasture land.
“Now I didn’t mind hard work but I have always needed a lot of sport to go along with it,” Johnson writes as he launches into accounts of coon-hunting reminiscent of a teacher reading aloud “Where the Red Fern Grows” to a grade school class.
Johnson self- published Trails of an Arkie Cowboy in 1996 through ARC Press of Cane Hill; but unlike typical authors, he has never sold a book. Johnson refuses, instead giving away copies printed at his own expense, which is his way of sowing documented history of his family’s immigration from Sweden and establishing a farm near Blackburn, plus details of his adventures in Alaska, the Yukon and deep sea fishing back into his community roots and passing the joy of hunting along to his sons.
Johnson writes, “I have never in my life had a happier moment than when I saw a seven-point whitetail buck laying on the ground and my 15-year-old boy stepping from behind that white oak tree and saying those magic words, ‘Dad, I got this one.’”
According to Johnson, copies of the book are available for checking out from libraries at Lincoln, Prairie Grove, West Fork and Winslow.
“I never had any training as a writer and I don’t want any,” Johnson said. “It’s my style, my way of thinking is – I am a determined man. Young people study journalism, go through college and have command of the English structure. They can learn something from me, I put some character and some color in it. I’m at an age where I can really just start to write.”
Johnson is a published author, poet, and entrepreneur, owning farms in Iowa which generate enough income for him to travel to locations like Alaska, Montana, Oregon, and the Yukon to hunt as well as deep- sea fishing off the Florida coast, but he prefers to think of himself as a traveling sportsman.
Johnson has a wealth of experiences to share and his book includes black and white photographs taken on various hunting and fishing expeditions as he narrates account after account of landing a fish or hunting adventures.
Johnson has included poems in his book. Sunrise On The Trail is reflective verse looking back at the journey through life and what lies ahead.
when it’s sunrise on my trail
with vigor of youth, I beckon the first rays of the day caring not whether it brings peace or the long dust bitin’ fray when it’s sunrise on my trail may I ride with honor and stand tall for the right may my deeds each day be just and welcome the light when it’s twilight on my trail
my rope is broken and hangs tangled on the saddle with years heavy upon me I struggle with my last battle
when it’s darkness on my trail my hands lay still and words are not within me plant my heart in the soil for a brilliant sunrise my soul will see
when again it’s sunrise on my trail
Copyright 1996 by Weldon Johnson