SCOT H. DAHMS
Best Selling Biographical Author
Copyright ©2019-26 - Scot H. Dahms
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Website by HawkMtn
Furious George
The Minnesota Man Who Built the World Famous Herter’s Inc.
George L. “Chuck” Herter
1911-1994
The Minnesota Man Who Built the World Famous Herter’s Inc.
George L. “Chuck” Herter
1911-1994
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Scot H. Dahms
1904 S. Webster Street
Kokomo, Indiana 46902
Scot H. Dahms
1904 S. Webster Street
Kokomo, Indiana 46902
George L. “Chuck” Herter was an interesting man to say the least, but his interesting nature may have been spawned by mental health issues. This book includes discussions on inferiority complex, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Bipolar issues. These discussions should not provide any reason to discount his contributions and should instead say that he made these contributions, in spite of, not because of, these issues. That being said, George’s controversial viewpoints should not be condoned because of these issues.
To provide a complete understanding of his uniqueness, comments are provided by others who may not have been aware of his mental health issues. These positions and opinions are not necessarily shared by the author but are included to provide a perceptional overview of the man, from all perspectives.
I did not fact check all quotes made by George. You may find contradictions with what George said one time to the next.
I included the good, the bad and the onery in this book. The good is George’s younger life when the town of Waseca cherished their hometown son and he had dreams of being an outdoor artist. He seemed to be a well-adjusted young man with the height of George’s social interactions occurring when he attended the University of Minnesota. Building on his interest in being a cartoonist, George drew at least sixty images for the Ski-U-Mah at the University of Minnesota. I included several in this book. The bad is George’s life during and after World War II where Post Traumatic Stress Disorder brought out mental health issues such as being Bipolar. The onery includes George’s sparing with attorneys during his many court battles.
George was involved in at least ten court battles. Some he won, some he lost and some were a draw. The court battles with D.H. Blair & Company, Remington Arms Company, Woodstream and The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson’s Bay were particularly interesting when looking at the sparing George did with the attorneys. I included this sparing verbatim to show the unique character that George was. Nothing shows a person’s personality better than the words that came directly out of their mouth.
During these court hearings, George was quite evasive about answering all questions but particularly those about the history of the business. In the Hudson’s Bay Company case after Seeburg had taken over, many of the business facts were shared and included in this book.
During the D.H. Blair & Company case, George provided a self-diagnosis of having an inferiority complex. An inferiority complex is a deep-seated, chronic feeling of inadequacy or insecurity, often stemming from childhood experiences, trauma, or social pressures, which can lead to social withdrawal or overcompensation through aggressive, perfectionist, or competitive behaviors. This would drive George to build the business to the level he did using the methods he used.
Although much of George’s issues are pointed to World War II as the turning point in his personality. This may have been the trigger, but I think the underlaying of these issues came from his early life and feeling of inferiority when having to follow his father’s wide path of success along with his mother and sister’s success as well.
Based on activities and involvement in the World War I fund drive and the push for law enforcement, George’s father could be thought of as a stern and authoritative figure which could easily conflict with George’s free-spirited personality causing a rift discussed by Jacques. Berthe noted that George’s mother was tough on him as well. George said during the D.H. Blair & Company case that he would not fire or punish those who stole money or products from Herter’s, or press charges.
I intentionally tried to keep comments from his books and catalogs out of this book unless noted by other sources, as these can be obtained through commercial outlets. My goal was to provide insight into the man and his influence on the outdoor world. I hope I attained this goal, but you be the judge. It was a challenge that can only be started with George’s own words.
I don’t want to be known and rarely tell people my right name. I never allow anyone to take my picture.
To provide a complete understanding of his uniqueness, comments are provided by others who may not have been aware of his mental health issues. These positions and opinions are not necessarily shared by the author but are included to provide a perceptional overview of the man, from all perspectives.
I did not fact check all quotes made by George. You may find contradictions with what George said one time to the next.
I included the good, the bad and the onery in this book. The good is George’s younger life when the town of Waseca cherished their hometown son and he had dreams of being an outdoor artist. He seemed to be a well-adjusted young man with the height of George’s social interactions occurring when he attended the University of Minnesota. Building on his interest in being a cartoonist, George drew at least sixty images for the Ski-U-Mah at the University of Minnesota. I included several in this book. The bad is George’s life during and after World War II where Post Traumatic Stress Disorder brought out mental health issues such as being Bipolar. The onery includes George’s sparing with attorneys during his many court battles.
George was involved in at least ten court battles. Some he won, some he lost and some were a draw. The court battles with D.H. Blair & Company, Remington Arms Company, Woodstream and The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson’s Bay were particularly interesting when looking at the sparing George did with the attorneys. I included this sparing verbatim to show the unique character that George was. Nothing shows a person’s personality better than the words that came directly out of their mouth.
During these court hearings, George was quite evasive about answering all questions but particularly those about the history of the business. In the Hudson’s Bay Company case after Seeburg had taken over, many of the business facts were shared and included in this book.
During the D.H. Blair & Company case, George provided a self-diagnosis of having an inferiority complex. An inferiority complex is a deep-seated, chronic feeling of inadequacy or insecurity, often stemming from childhood experiences, trauma, or social pressures, which can lead to social withdrawal or overcompensation through aggressive, perfectionist, or competitive behaviors. This would drive George to build the business to the level he did using the methods he used.
Although much of George’s issues are pointed to World War II as the turning point in his personality. This may have been the trigger, but I think the underlaying of these issues came from his early life and feeling of inferiority when having to follow his father’s wide path of success along with his mother and sister’s success as well.
Based on activities and involvement in the World War I fund drive and the push for law enforcement, George’s father could be thought of as a stern and authoritative figure which could easily conflict with George’s free-spirited personality causing a rift discussed by Jacques. Berthe noted that George’s mother was tough on him as well. George said during the D.H. Blair & Company case that he would not fire or punish those who stole money or products from Herter’s, or press charges.
I intentionally tried to keep comments from his books and catalogs out of this book unless noted by other sources, as these can be obtained through commercial outlets. My goal was to provide insight into the man and his influence on the outdoor world. I hope I attained this goal, but you be the judge. It was a challenge that can only be started with George’s own words.
I don’t want to be known and rarely tell people my right name. I never allow anyone to take my picture.
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Best Selling Biographical Author
SCOT H. DAHMS
The Lost Conibear Letters: How One Canadian and the Animal Trap Company Revolutionized Trapping - Frank R. Conibear 1896 - 1988
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$5.38 media mail (7-10 days)
$10.45 priority rate per book
(2-3 days)
When I wrote my book titled “Hardware for Hitler: How the Animal Trap Company Helped Win World War II,” I knew I had too much material to put into one book, so I specifically kept the material about the Conibear trap out and have put that material into this book with a focus on Frank R. Conibear’s life from being part of the first white family in the Northwest Territories to his continuous improvements to his Conibear trap patents.
Some may argue that Eric Collier played as much a role in the revolutionization of trapping with the Conibear trap and many of his articles and letters about the subject are included. I do not disagree with this argument, but, unfortunately, Frank, the patent holder, was the main beneficiary of all funds made by the trap outside of the Animal Trap Company and was called upon to make all decisions as requested by them.
As you will see in the correspondence, Collier and Frank’s relationship deteriorated over time. Collier’s relationship with the Animal Trap Company did not fare any better. Once Frank won awards for the humaneness of the trap, Collier’s critical comments of the trap lessoned and at the end, Collier asked the Animal Trap Company if trappers in British Columbia could get the Conibear traps at a reduced price.
The Animal Trap Company of America changed their name to Woodstream in 1966. I tried to use the correct company name based on when an event happened, but the terms are interchangeable if I got anything incorrect. If an event covered both time periods, then Woodstream was used.
Richard (Dick) Woolworth (son of Chester Woolworth) made some interesting comments about Animal Trap Company’s involvement with the Conibear trap. He also discussed other business ventures he was involved with including Old Pal and Abercrombie & Fitch. He specifically discussed non-fogging sunglasses and marketing the sunglasses through Abercrombie & Fitch.
This book uses many letters, memorandums, court cases and articles about the Conibear family. Many are quoted verbatim to ensure historical accuracy. Several well-known trappers are quoted or mentioned in the Herter’s section including E.J. Dailey, O.L. Butcher, Arthur V. Harding (son of A.R. Harding), S. Stanley Hawbaker and Elihu S. Abbott.
As you can see from the assistance acknowledgement, I utilized many different institutions for information in Canada. Since I did not grow up in Canada, I lack the general understanding of their government. I tried to note where information came from, but I acknowledge that I do not understand the Canadian Government hierarchy, so may have gotten some Governmental information incorrect.
Multiple sources were used in this book. You may find that different sources had conflicting information. I did not correct the conflict if I could not confirm either.
Please note that some events in this book occurred over one hundred years ago and to keep the material historically accurate, I did not change descriptions of practices that may be illegal today. Please consider this when reading and keep in mind that this was done for a historically accurate book.
I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it. As I always do, I learned many facts about the Conibear family and the legacy of the Conibear trap. One of the fascinating things I learned was about Frank’s management of the Conibear House which helped open the Northwest Territories to prospecting and mining exploration. I had previously thought of him only as a trapper, I hope you too find things you did not know as you read this book.
Some may argue that Eric Collier played as much a role in the revolutionization of trapping with the Conibear trap and many of his articles and letters about the subject are included. I do not disagree with this argument, but, unfortunately, Frank, the patent holder, was the main beneficiary of all funds made by the trap outside of the Animal Trap Company and was called upon to make all decisions as requested by them.
As you will see in the correspondence, Collier and Frank’s relationship deteriorated over time. Collier’s relationship with the Animal Trap Company did not fare any better. Once Frank won awards for the humaneness of the trap, Collier’s critical comments of the trap lessoned and at the end, Collier asked the Animal Trap Company if trappers in British Columbia could get the Conibear traps at a reduced price.
The Animal Trap Company of America changed their name to Woodstream in 1966. I tried to use the correct company name based on when an event happened, but the terms are interchangeable if I got anything incorrect. If an event covered both time periods, then Woodstream was used.
Richard (Dick) Woolworth (son of Chester Woolworth) made some interesting comments about Animal Trap Company’s involvement with the Conibear trap. He also discussed other business ventures he was involved with including Old Pal and Abercrombie & Fitch. He specifically discussed non-fogging sunglasses and marketing the sunglasses through Abercrombie & Fitch.
This book uses many letters, memorandums, court cases and articles about the Conibear family. Many are quoted verbatim to ensure historical accuracy. Several well-known trappers are quoted or mentioned in the Herter’s section including E.J. Dailey, O.L. Butcher, Arthur V. Harding (son of A.R. Harding), S. Stanley Hawbaker and Elihu S. Abbott.
As you can see from the assistance acknowledgement, I utilized many different institutions for information in Canada. Since I did not grow up in Canada, I lack the general understanding of their government. I tried to note where information came from, but I acknowledge that I do not understand the Canadian Government hierarchy, so may have gotten some Governmental information incorrect.
Multiple sources were used in this book. You may find that different sources had conflicting information. I did not correct the conflict if I could not confirm either.
Please note that some events in this book occurred over one hundred years ago and to keep the material historically accurate, I did not change descriptions of practices that may be illegal today. Please consider this when reading and keep in mind that this was done for a historically accurate book.
I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it. As I always do, I learned many facts about the Conibear family and the legacy of the Conibear trap. One of the fascinating things I learned was about Frank’s management of the Conibear House which helped open the Northwest Territories to prospecting and mining exploration. I had previously thought of him only as a trapper, I hope you too find things you did not know as you read this book.
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