Daisy Tappan: An Inspiration and Example
Daisy Erma Paulsen Tappan (1908-1984) is a fabulous example of an impressive person who simply happened to be a woman. There are tales of her chasing off bears who tried to eat her orchard and rolling cigarettes one-handed. When she and her husband got pushed off Tappan Ranch at Grouse Creek on the Middle Fork of the Salmon, she became one of the two year-round mail deliverers out of Yellow Pine. She ran a dogsled, hauling her kids and mail all around some of Idaho’s most rugged and frigid country.And it seems, she still knew a good time when she saw one. Daisy Tappan would take her two boys over 40 miles upstream to Sheepeater Hot Springs so they could splash around in a pool made by some industrious beavers. Where did she find the time?One of the many things I love about being out in the Salmon river drainage is how little biological sex matters out there. Obviously, some of us care a lot, but in the end, what we’re capable of takes the cake. As river guides, can we catch an eddy? Can we cook your dinner before the sun goes down? Can we right a flipped raft? Can we save an errant ducky or woo a rattlesnake out of camp? It’s so apparent that that is what really matters. Daisy Tappan got it, and thank goodness we do, too.
Written by: Auri East
Source: The Yellow Pine Times
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