Edmund Wilson felt this collection of twenty-four stories, originally published in 1934, contains some of Walter Edmonds' best work. The Atlantic Monthly wrote that "Upstate New York has provided Edmonds with an inexhaustible store of characters one would like to know." A number of the stories were award-winning and appeared in such collections as Best Stories of 1929 and The O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories.

"Black Wolf," The End of the Towpath," Death of Red Peril"--these and ochers faithfully depict an era and region for which Edmonds became chief literary spokesman. Episodic and anecdotal, they catch in various ways something of the nuances of real life as it was in the days when the Erie Canal offered a passage west for many travelers and settlers and a livelihood for many more.