Cornelia Thurza Crosby, or "Fly Rod", as she was popularly known, was born in

Phillips, Maine Phillips is a New England town, town in Franklin County, Maine, Franklin County, Maine, United States. The population was 898 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is home to the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad, a heritage rail ...

, on November 10, 1854. She died one day after her 92nd birthday on November 11, 1946. She was the first Registered

Maine Guide Maine Guides are individuals certified to accompany travelers on a number of outdoor activities in the wilderness of the State of Maine, in the United States. History On March 19, 1897, The Maine legislature passed a bill requiring hunting gui ...

. On March 19, 1897, the

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

legislature passed a bill requiring

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

guides to register with the state. Maine registered 1316 guides in that first year. In addition to being its first licensed guide, Crosby promoted Maine's

outdoor sports Outdoor recreation or outdoor activity refers to recreation done outside, most commonly in natural settings. The activities that encompass outdoor recreation vary depending on the physical environment they are being carried out in. These activitie ...

at shows in metropolitan areas, and wrote a popular column that appeared in many newspapers around the country, but was nationally published in the magazine "Fly Rod's Notebook" Her efforts helped to attract thousands of would-be outdoorsmen—and women—to the woods and streams of Maine. Crosby attracted generations of tourists and wilderness-visitors through her popular newspaper columns of her

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

and hunting tales in Rangleley Lake, Maine. Crosby once stated, "I am a plain woman of uncertain age, standing six feet in my stockings...I scribble a bit for various sporting journals, and I would rather fish any day than go to heaven." Fly Rod, as was her pseudonym on her columns, was a role model to young women around the nation, bolstering a personal philosophy of athleticism and independence not often found in other women of her time. Fly Rod was often described as having the heart of a “brave” or a Native American, as she excelled at outdoors sports. Crosby also had many friends among the Penobscot people, many of whom served as Crosby's guides in the woods. Aside from her columns, work as a Maine Guide and

fly fishing Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight lure—called an artificial fly—to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. The light weight requires casting techniques significantly diffe ...

experiences, Crosby gained quite a bit of fame for her exhibit at the New York Sportsman's Exposition in 1898. At the exhibit, Crosby displayed a recreated

hunting camp Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

even with a log cabin. Throughout the duration of the exhibit, Crosby wore a “scandalously short” skirt which displays her characteristics as a woman who broke out of social norms for her time period. In 1899, Crosby endured a knee injury that put an end to her mobility, although she continued to write her popular columns. Fly Rod Crosby lived a long life even after her injury, dying at the age of ninety-two in Lewiston, Maine. She died on November 11, 1946, Armistice Day and was buried in the Strong Village Cemetery in Strong, Maine. Some of Fly Rod's greatest achievements include: becoming Maine's first registered Guide, shooting the last legally killed

caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

, and catching hundreds and thousands of fish on the fly rod.Fly Rod Crosby
Youhuntandfish.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crosby, Cornilia Thurza 1854 births 1946 deaths Sportspeople from Maine American sportswomen People from Phillips, Maine Writers from Maine