I'm still reading through material on northern California's post-War (and earlier) Bohemia. And I found a couple of interesting nuggets. This one comes from Franklin Walker's very good The Seacoast of Bohemia about the Boehmian community that developed around poet George Sterling in Carmel during the early part of the twentieth-century, after the fire and earthquake had driven him from The City.
On page 64, Walker mentions that in late 1908 Carmel was home to "Kid MacNichol," a poor writer and wanderer. Combining this note with a contemporaneous article in the San Francisco Call, I'm thinking that this was probably Kenneth MacNichol.
Further evidence comes from Walker's (thin) description of Kid MacNichol He notes that MacNichol had "lived among the Navajos reputedly as an 'adopted 'son," which is a description that has been repeated by people who know MacNichol. I have tried to verify the connection by contacting the Navajo Nation, but have not discovered any records to prove the claim one way or another. Nonetheless, this strongly suggests that Kid MacNichol was the Kenneth MacNichol who later led the San Francisco Fortean Society.
It also shows MacNichol's developing interest in what might be called metaphysical religion. He and Mike Williams--who had come to Carmel with Upton Sinclair--planned a six month horseback adventure into the Utah and Arizona desert to hunt gold, find ideas for stories, and study 'primeval mysticism' (although this trip may never have happened). MacNichol was also writing plays with Williams and his wife Peggy.
Another discovery from around this time further suggests both MacNichol's connection tot he community and American metaphysical religions. The June 1907 issue of Swastika: A Magazine of Triumph featured an article by MacNichol. [Note that at the time Swastikas had no associations with Nazism, which had not yet been invented, but instead were connected to Eastern and Native American religions--indeed, Swastikas are still used in the East to mark the plce of Buddhist temples on maps.] This was a magazine dedicated to what today would be called New Age items--Eastern mysticism, and the like--put out from Denver, Colorado. MacNichol's article was on "New Thought."
Others in Carmel were interested in New Thought and mysticism. Sinclair Lewis, for example--who had also come West with Upton Sinclair--published at least one story in the New Thought journal The Nautilus according to Walker on page 69.
As well, there was a general progressive dislike of prison conditions, which may have foreshadowed MacNichol's involvement with Louis Eytinge.
Finally, Google News Archives recently put up a novel by MacNichol that was syndicated by the Sloan Syndicate. This was from August 1919, three months after he was discharged from the war and a year after his infidelity in France.
It's called "Plenty is Enough." The Google version comes from the Pittsburgh Press, and is not the world's best copy, but good enough. It concerns the investigation of a Mexican sheepherders death in the Southwest against the back drop of a struggling romance, a battle over water rights, and the range war between cowboys and sheepherders. The story feels especially compressed at the beginning and drags in the middle, but it is serviceable and diverting--if you can ignore the casual racism (against Mexicans) and sexism. It's also notable for combining Westerns with the procedural detective kind of story made famous by Poe.
On page 64, Walker mentions that in late 1908 Carmel was home to "Kid MacNichol," a poor writer and wanderer. Combining this note with a contemporaneous article in the San Francisco Call, I'm thinking that this was probably Kenneth MacNichol.
Further evidence comes from Walker's (thin) description of Kid MacNichol He notes that MacNichol had "lived among the Navajos reputedly as an 'adopted 'son," which is a description that has been repeated by people who know MacNichol. I have tried to verify the connection by contacting the Navajo Nation, but have not discovered any records to prove the claim one way or another. Nonetheless, this strongly suggests that Kid MacNichol was the Kenneth MacNichol who later led the San Francisco Fortean Society.
It also shows MacNichol's developing interest in what might be called metaphysical religion. He and Mike Williams--who had come to Carmel with Upton Sinclair--planned a six month horseback adventure into the Utah and Arizona desert to hunt gold, find ideas for stories, and study 'primeval mysticism' (although this trip may never have happened). MacNichol was also writing plays with Williams and his wife Peggy.
Another discovery from around this time further suggests both MacNichol's connection tot he community and American metaphysical religions. The June 1907 issue of Swastika: A Magazine of Triumph featured an article by MacNichol. [Note that at the time Swastikas had no associations with Nazism, which had not yet been invented, but instead were connected to Eastern and Native American religions--indeed, Swastikas are still used in the East to mark the plce of Buddhist temples on maps.] This was a magazine dedicated to what today would be called New Age items--Eastern mysticism, and the like--put out from Denver, Colorado. MacNichol's article was on "New Thought."
Others in Carmel were interested in New Thought and mysticism. Sinclair Lewis, for example--who had also come West with Upton Sinclair--published at least one story in the New Thought journal The Nautilus according to Walker on page 69.
As well, there was a general progressive dislike of prison conditions, which may have foreshadowed MacNichol's involvement with Louis Eytinge.
Finally, Google News Archives recently put up a novel by MacNichol that was syndicated by the Sloan Syndicate. This was from August 1919, three months after he was discharged from the war and a year after his infidelity in France.
It's called "Plenty is Enough." The Google version comes from the Pittsburgh Press, and is not the world's best copy, but good enough. It concerns the investigation of a Mexican sheepherders death in the Southwest against the back drop of a struggling romance, a battle over water rights, and the range war between cowboys and sheepherders. The story feels especially compressed at the beginning and drags in the middle, but it is serviceable and diverting--if you can ignore the casual racism (against Mexicans) and sexism. It's also notable for combining Westerns with the procedural detective kind of story made famous by Poe.
