This page details the journeys of a family that set out to find and document places mentioned in John D Fitzgerald's Great Brain novels, a series of kids' books set in 1880s Utah. These autobiographical books about Fitzgerald's precious con man of a brother, Tom, were hugely influential on me — in fact, the title story of my short story collection, A Place So Foriegn and Eight More, is my attempt to write a science-fictionalized version of the stories that so fascinated me as a boy.
We think we found the exact spot where JD, TD and their dad went fishing up Beaver Canyon. It was papa Fitzgerald's secret spot, not far up the canyon, and had great fishing in the river and an open meadow. It must have been at what is now the Little Cottonwood campground (#5). We tried to stay there, but all the sites were full.
In the story, the secret got out one year, and the location was crowded with other campers. JD's dad decided to go further up the canyon, maybe to Kents Lake (#14).
(Thanks, Zed!)
