George Washington Sears (1821-1890) was a sportswriter for Forest and Stream magazine in the 1880s and an early conservationist.
His works include: Forest Runes (1887), Woodcraft (1884) and others..
He was fascinated by the few books about Indians that his family possessed that left him with an abiding interest in forest life and adventure.
He took his pen name from an American Indian who had befriended him in early childhood.
Canoeing had been popularized by Scottish lawyer John MacGregor in the 1860s, but the typical canoe trip of the day employed expert guides and heavy canoes.
His stories, appearing under the pen name, "Nessmuk" popularized self-guided canoe camping tours of the Adirondack lakes in open, lightweight solo canoes and what is today called ultralight camping.
George Washington Sears (1821-1890) was a sportswriter for Forest and Stream magazine in the 1880s and an early conservationist
