The River Gary Paulsen Summary

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TheRiver Summary & Study Guide includes comprehensive information and analysis tohelp you understand the book. This study guide contains the following sections:Plot SummaryChaptersCharactersObjects/PlacesThemesStyleQuotes This detailed literature summary also contains Topics for Discussion and a Free Quiz onThe River by Gary Paulsen.The River by Gary Paulsen is the sequel to award winning novel, Hatchet. In this novel, Brian Robeson returns to the wild, but this time he goes to a new location with Derek Holtzer, a psychologist who works with a government program that teaches people to survive in situations similar to the one Brian experienced after a plane crash left him stranded in the wild. However, this trip is planned and seems too easy to Brian until a freak lightning storm turns the trip into a life or death struggle. The River is a fitting sequel to the Newberry Award winning novel Hatchet that will leave readers on the edge of their seats for a second time.

Derek Holtzer and two men from a government survival school come to Brian Robeson's house to ask him to do it again. Brian has just gotten past the notoriety earned when a plane crash left him stranded alone in the woods and now these people want him to do it again. Brian hesitates, but when he learns that the experience will be used to help others survive, Brian agrees. He only has to convince his parents.

Two weeks later, Brian boards another small aircraft, feeling a definite sense of dj vu as he waves goodbye to his mother. Brian and Derek are going to an unnamed lake a hundred miles from the L-shaped lake where Brian's plane crashed. The idea is to survive the way Brian did, with nothing but the clothes on their backs and the items in their pockets. However, when Brian boards the plane he realizes that Derek has brought along a large assortment of survival gear. Upon landing, Brian insists that they send the gear back home with the plane. In a compromise, Derek agrees to only take the emergency radio and his briefcase filled with notebooks to take notes in.

On the first night, Brian and Derek endure the mosquitoes and cold because they could not find a flint to light a fire with. The next day, however, after a fall during an exploration of the area around the lake, they find not only a flint to start a fire, but a natural shelter created by a felled tree. Within three days, they have gathered enough food and firewood for weeks and created a comfortable shelter. With little left to do, Brian begins to worry that the entire episode has been too easy and Derek will never learn anything.

Late that night, Brian is awakened by the sound of distant thunder. Convinced a rainstorm will not reach them in their shelter, Brian goes back to sleep. When Brian wakes again, he hears thunder like he has never known. Brian immediately stands and moves further back in the shelter. Derek wakes as well, but he moves forward, reaching for the briefcase and radio. Suddenly lightning strikes a nearby tree and then Derek. Brian is hit to and wakes late the next morning to find Derek in a coma.

Brian does not know what to do for Derek. Brian tries to call for help, but the radio was fried by the lightning strike. Brian places Derek is a comfortable position and tries to feed him water, but it only causes Derek to choke. Afraid that Derek will die before anyone worries about them, Brian decides their only choice is to raft the river a hundred miles to a trading post.

Brian builds a raft and ties Derek to it. Within minutes they are on the river and riding the current toward help. However, the ride does not go as smoothly as Brian had hoped and he actually loses the raft for a time after he is thrown free while riding over some white water rafts. However, Brian eventually gets Derek to the trading post and help.

OWL CREEK IRRIGATION DISTRICT MEMBERS; Shoshone and Arapahoe Tribes; Landis Webber and Barbara Webber, individually and on behalf of Red Creek Cattle Company, Bertha Jones and Grace Graboski; United States; City of Riverton, Midvale Irrigation District, and Riverton Valley Irrigation District, Appellees

The STATE of Wyoming, Shoshone and Arapahoe Tribes; Landis Webber and Barbara Webber, individually and on behalf of Red Creek Cattle Company, Bertha Jones and Grace Graboski; United States; City of Riverton, Midvale Irrigation District, and Riverton Valley Irrigation District, Appellees

The STATE of Wyoming, Owl Creek Irrigation District Members, Landis Webber and Barbara Webber, individually and on behalf of Red Creek Cattle Company, Bertha Jones and Grace Graboski; United States; City of Riverton, Midvale Irrigation District, and Riverton Valley Irrigation District, Appellees

The STATE of Wyoming; Owl Creek Irrigation District Members; Shoshone and Arapahoe Tribes; United States; City of Riverton, Midvale Irrigation District, and Riverton Valley Irrigation District, Appellees

The STATE of Wyoming; Owl Creek Irrigation District Members; Shoshone and Arapahoe Tribes; Landis Webber and Barbara Webber, individually and on behalf of Red Creek Cattle Company, Bertha Jones and Grace Graboski; United States, Appellees

The STATE of Wyoming, Owl Creek Irrigation District Members; Shoshone and Arapahoe Tribes; Landis Webber and Barbara Webber, individually and on behalf of Red Creek Cattle Company, Bertha Jones and Grace Graboski; United States; City of Riverton, Midvale Irrigation District, and Riverton Valley Irrigation District; Albert Hornecker and Hornecker Livestock Co., Inc., Donald Bath and DHB & Co., and PLB & Co., Bradford Bath, Griffin Brothers, Incorporated, Ralph Floyd Urbigkit, Charles Richardson and Richard and Elsie Martin, all non-Indian parties, Appellees

Albert HORNECKER and Hornecker Livestock Co., Inc., Donald Bath and DHB & Co., and PLB & Co., Bradford Bath, Griffin Brothers, Incorporated, Ralph Floyd Urbigkit, Charles Richardson and Richard and Elsie Martin, all non-Indian parties, Appellants

The STATE of Wyoming, Owl Creek Irrigation District Members; Shoshone and Arapahoe Tribes; United States; Landis Webber and Barbara Webber, individually and on behalf of Red Creek Cattle Company, Bertha Jones and Grace Graboski; City of Riverton, Midvale Irrigation District, and Riverton Valley Irrigation District, Appellees

Robert W. HARVEY and Olga J. Harvey, Mary O. Ahlborn, Owen Barnett and Eva M. Barnett, Black Butte Livestock Company, Campbells, Inc., Phyllis L. Crandall and Kenneth Ward Crandall, Billy M. and Barbara J. Daniels, Carl Dockery and Carol Dockery, Clyde R. Fisher and Gloria A. Fisher, Charles Goldben, Gary V. Kellogg and Brenda Joyce Kellogg, Russell E. Long and Irene M. Long, William A. Matthews, Arthur D. McCumber, Marvin W. Meyer and Ernestine S. Meyer, Vern Nelson and Carolyn R. Nelson, Norwest Bank of Omaha N.A., Norris Edwin Odde and F. Louise Odde, William Okie, Kenneth and Iona Outland, Sylvia Paulsen, Jerry D. Redding and Shelia C. Redding, Red Lane Watershed Improvement District, C. Duane Rush and Katherine C. Rush, Brian F. Sanford and Kathleen Sanford, Norman L. Sanford, Newell S. Sessions and Daisy E. Sessions, Barbara Smith, Robert Stewart, Town of East Thermopolis, Ve Bar Livestock Company, Raymond C. and Delores J. Weese, and Ruth Clare Yonkee, Appellants

The STATE of Wyoming, United States; Owl Creek Irrigation District Members; Shoshone and Arapahoe Tribes; Landis Webber and Barbara Webber, individually and on behalf of Red Creek Cattle Company, Bertha Jones and Grace Graboski; United States; City of Riverton, Midvale Irrigation District, and Riverton Valley Irrigation District; Albert Hornecker and Hornecker Livestock Co., Inc., Donald Bath and DHB & Co., and PLB Co., Bradford Bath, Griffin Brothers, Incorporated, Ralph Floyd Urbigkit, Charles Richardson, and Richard and Elsie Martin, all non-Indian parties, Appellees

Joseph B. Meyer, Attorney General; S. Jane Caton, Assistant Attorney General; Steven F. Freudenthal, Special Assistant Attorney General with Freudenthal, Freudenthal, Salzburg, Bonds & Rideout, Cheyenne; Houston G. Williams, Special Assistant Attorney General, with Williams, Porter, Day & Neville, Casper; Michael D. White and David F. Jankowski, Special Assistant Attorneys General, with White and Jankowski, Denver, Colorado; and Randall T. Cox, Special Assistant Attorney General, with Omohundro and Palmerlee, Buffalo, for the State of Wyoming. Argument presented by Michael D. White, for Type 1 and 2 Claims, and Randall T. Cox for Type 1, 2 and 3 Claims; also present at counsel table were A. G. McClintock, Wyoming Attorney General, and S. Jane Caton, Assistant Attorney General.

W. Richard West, Jr. and Susan M. Williams of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, Washington, District of Columbia, and B. Kevin Gover and Susan M. Williams of Gover, Williams & Stetson, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Thomas W. Fredericks, Dale T. White, and Robert S. Pelcyger of Fredericks & Pelcyger, Boulder, Colorado, and William J. Thomson and W. Perry Dray of Dray, Madison & Thomson, Cheyenne for Shoshone and Northern Arapahoe Tribes;

Oral argument presented by Robert S. Pelcyger for Arapahoe Tribes, Type 1, 2, and 3 Claims; C. Edward Webster II for Owl Creek Irrigation District, Type 2 Claims; Donald P. White for private parties City of Riverton, et al., Type 1 Claims; James J. Clear for United States, Type 1 and 2 Claims; Michael S. Messenger for private parties Type 3 Claims; Sky D Phifer for Hornecker, et al., Type 3 Claims; also present at counsel table were Ruth Clare Yonkee; Dale T. White; Thomas W. Fredericks; David F. Jankowski; and B. Kevin Gover, Arthur Lazarus, Jr., and W. Richard West, Jr., attorneys for the Shoshone Tribes.

[1.] This appeal is from the district court's order adjudicating rights to use water in the Big Horn River System and all other sources within the State's Water Division No. 3. The district court modified the special master's recommended decree. All parties have appealed from the district court's amended judgment and decree. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

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