Holly Parsons graduated in Forestry from U of T in 1925. He first worked for the Department of Lands & Forests during the summer of 1922 when he participated in the first James Bay Survey of Ontario's forested Crown Lands. This survey was one of the first to use aircraft to map the forest reserves of Northern Ontario. This led to his life long career as an airborne " Forest Sketcher". He wrote his personal Memoirs at the end of a 50 year career during which he sketched over 2/3's of Northern Ontario's remote forested land.

He collected numerous photographs of the country and its indigenous peoples. These have been collected into this modest but informative publication after the Memoirs came to surface after gathering dust for a quarter century.