Trapline: The Story of Danny

Matt Hartman is a freelance editor and cataloguer, running Hartman Cataloguing, Editing and Indexing Services.

Not far into his autobiography, Powell writes, “Right back to my first
summer in Labrador, I began making note of everything that happened, and
I hoped that one day, someone would find it and write history books
about it. . . . I still believe that we need more history books about
Labrador because we need the history of yesterday to build our
tomorrows. It is only by reviving our past that we can judge our
future.”

Powell’s account of life as a trapper in Labrador is told with the
simplicity and honesty one would expect from a man whose formal
education extended only to the third grade, and who has trapped and
hunted and fished in one of Canada’s most desolate areas since the age
of 15. The book’s subtitle is strange, since this is Powell’s story
much more than it is his cousin, Dan Campbell’s. With an ingenuousness
bordering on art, the author details his life in the wilderness, and his
love for the rugged land.

It is difficult to condemn his straightforward account of the trapping
and killing of fur-bearing animals, using what today would be called
leg-hold traps. There are no excuses offered, no effort to compare that
lifestyle with our own. It would be unfair to criticize Powell for his
actions—as unfair as to scold a child for pulling the wings off a
captured insect. This book should be read as nothing more than an
account of one man’s choice of an environment, a choice shared by all
of the people he knew and loved. Its style and vocabulary (and 20 pages
of photos) make it suitable for the young adult reader, possibly in a
social studies class.