To The Last Man
The Graham-Tewskbury feud on which this story is based is as legendary out West as the Hatfield-McCoy feud is back East. Zane Grey, of course, adds his own twist to the facts, but over-all this is probably the most accurate accounting there will ever be, as Zane Grey was able to talk to old-timers who were still living and had gone through the feud. The one scene in the book with the hogs is the one most readers will never forget, and is based on fact. The Romeo and Juliet part is consistent with other romances written by Grey, and has to be in the story line to make it historical romance, which is what he considered himself to be writing. In fact, the word, or term, "western" was not universally used until around 1930. But by 1930 Zane Grey had been writing historical romance for over twenty-five years. The word, "western" had appeared on the cover of The Day of the Beast as a warning in big bold letters "NOT A WESTERN" to let buyers know this was not typical Zane Grey. The root of the longstanding feud between the Isbels and the Jorths is a woman we never meet, a character dead before the story opens, Ellen Sutton. She was engaged to Gaston Isbel at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War. While Isbel is away to war, Ellen Sutton takes up with the disreputable Lee Jorth and they have a child out of wedlock, and never marry. The child is Ellen Jorth. It is Lee Jorth who tells her how her mother taunted Isbel when he came back with the sexual relationship, and how this so enraged Isbel and began the feud. This burden of having been born of infidelity is one that oppresses Ellen Jorth for most of the novel. Of course most of this background material was excised before the magazine appearance, and left out of the Harper's edition, leaving the reader baffled as to the source and extent of the passion and hatred of the feud which claims every member of both families with the exception of Ellen Jorth and Jean Isbel, the half-mixed Nez Perce.
Tonto Basin restores such scenes as well as others bringing back the author's original intent and desire to present a powerful and dramatic piece of fiction. It is well worth reading to discover the writer Zane Grey actually was.
