Last week, we promised to review Emma Cox' (maiden name, Petersen) book, "Idaho Mountains, Our Home - The life story of Lafe and Emma Cox." This turned out not to be as laborious as we had anticipated, as the book would be a joy to even the most unsympathetic historical reader, especially if they had any ties to Gem County.

The first part of the book is devoted to the genealogies one would expect in offering the foundation for this type of autobiographical work. The information is fascinating, not only because it lends the reader a back seat look into the early days of life in our locale, but also due to the respect and admiration Emma affords her predecessors. As difficult as it may be to remain objective as a journalist (certainly not Emma's intention here), it is also profoundly refreshing to read a work constructed by a writer who approaches her subject material with reverence. Emma Cox accomplishes this feat with ease and style, a style that is both accessible and personal, but at the same time without the elevation to sainthood that so often mars a work of historical recollections. Emma's people are real people, with real hardships, real accomplishments and occasional tragedies.

While on the subject of style, a minor digression from the content of the book is in order. Emma Cox either worked with one of the most talented editors in the business, or is as talented a writer as this state has produced, or both. The sparse "Introduction" brings us face to face with two women, Gayle Valentine and Ann Finley, who first approached Emma as a video production team from Boise State University during the summer of 1992. The duo were involved in a project to "record the stories of Emma and other women who had lived in the 'primitive area'...during the first half of the 20th century." We are not given any information initially concerning the genesis of Emma's own current writing, but she tells us that she journaled during her entire life with Lafe, and compiled the book partly through the encouragement of these journalists.

Early on, she shares that her father, a native of Copenhagen, Denmark, loved to read history, a passion she also developed. It shows, and very favorable. At the age of 7, she began writing for the Emmett Index, recording the events of the Central Mesa Bench area by calling neighbors for news and gossip, or "news of the week," as she recalls it. Big sister Olga helped out with phrasing and paragraph construction.

Emma's early education began with classes at Central Mesa School, a fact that brought back a flood of memories for this writer. My own grandmother, Sarah Burr, worked as the school cook at Central Mesa for more years than I can recall, so many of the recollections of that institution and the Emmett Bench in general struck a deep chord here. As a matter of fact, Emma today recalls that "our back field (on the Petersen ranch) was joining their road (that of my grandparents , H.W. and Sarah Burr)." My memories, of course, do not even come into reality until the late 1950s and early 60s, but the looking glass insight provided by Emma nevertheless offers an historical continuity to the current struggle over replacing our rural schools. It is at the same time a struggle with sentimental bonds and individual personal histories and the necessity of coming to grips with modern growth and progress; we can all be thankful, however, for writers of Emma's talent and foresight. Our need to hold fast to our early roots is innate, but will not remain unfulfilled due to the efforts of honest historians the likes of Emma Cox.

Emma and Lafe's story is touching in many places, not the least of which is Emma's description of Lafe's proposal. After graduation from Emmett High School, Emma took a Civil Service exam and passed with a high score. She trained in the Payette Farm Security office for six weeks and was then to be transferred to Cascade. She had originally met Lafe in grade school, but as life would have it, he dated her older sister, Olga, first, only later admitting that he was keeping an eye on young Emma and waiting for her to grow up. The couple dated through Emma's high school years, usually in the company of a brother and/or sister or two.

"I am sure Lafe must have heard about my job," she writes of her position with Farm Security, "as not too long after I began working he skied out to see me. He came down the mountains from his family's ranch to Cascade, a distance of 55 miles. His pickup was in Cascade, so from there he drove to Emmett to visit me. On arrival he asked for a date to the movies. That night he expressed his love for me and asked if I thought I could live his kind of life [in the way, way back country]. That was a proposal!"

And the kids today believe they invented romance...

Emma's book covers a huge chunk of history, stretching from she and Lafe's wedding on March 14, 1939, in Emmett (including a hilarious recounting of the 'shivaree' the two were subjected to by friends), up to the present. Along the way we are introduced to many places that will strike a chord of familiarity to those who know Idaho, including the former Alec Forstrum ranch on Johnson Creek, purchased by Lafe's parents, Clark and Beulah Cox, in 1927. In 1943 Lafe and Emma took ownership of what Lafe's parents had developed into a dude ranch. Also chronicled are life in early Emmett, Sweet, Stibnite, Yellow Pine and, of course on Lafe's ranch, the Mile High at Big Creek, which he purchased from an indebted gambler for $500.

So much of everyday life in the back country is covered in the book, in fact, that an adequate review could fill volumes itself. Lafe's experiences surveying for topographical maps in the employ the U.S. Geological Survey will be fascinating to anyone who has ventured into Yellow Pine, Big Creek and even the somewhat distant Seven Devils Wilderness areas. We learn of the first power importation into the back country, the coming of telephones to the area, the reliance on radio communications before telephones, along with extended family celebrations, heartbreaks, triumphs and failures. We read of tragedies (including the drowning of a young mother of four after the car she, her husband and children slipped into the runoff swollen creek near the Cox ranch), and much, much more.

The book is rewarding reading. Emma tells us that only 2000 copies have been printed, so our recommendation is that you contact the Coxes early for your own copy. To date, the publication is not available in the bookstores, but Emma also told us that it should soon be available locally.