Zane Grey on "The Rock" (Newfoundland)

Courtesy of Newfoundlander Reilly Fitzgerald, Denny's Pond Brook (2022) 

In June 1929, the author and outdoorsman Zane Grey and his friends began a two-month fishing trip to the rivers of southern Newfoundland. At the time, Newfoundland was not yet part of Canada, but still an independent dominion of Great Britain.  Their goal was to experience the beauty and spirit of Atlantic Salmon.  Though Grey published novels and books about almost every adventure in his lifetime, he never wrote about the country known by locals as “The Rock”.  Recently, more than 3,000 glass plates were discovered in Brigham Young University’s L. Tom Perry Collections of which more than 100 documented the author’s Newfoundland exploits.  The locations shown in these images were identified by members of two Facebook pages, Burgeo's Past and Newfoundland History Buffs.  Another key resource was Zane Grey’s photo album of the trip shared by film producer Daniel Zirilli.  These resources and more contributed to the Zane Grey’s West Society’s ability to present selected photos that tell the tale of Zane Grey on “The Rock”.  Artwork used at the beginning and end of this story is provided courtesy of Newfoundlander Reilly Fitzgerald. The map shown below depicts Newfoundland with an overlay indicating the areas fished by Grey's fishing party.