The stories of the men and women who dug for gold on Williams Creek are told in this revised and updated edition of a Canadian bestseller.The legendary town of Barkerville is flourishing today, just as it did more than 150 years ago, but this time under the care of professional and amateur historians. Richard Thomas Wright peels back the pages of history as he unearths the area’s history and chronicles the fortunes and the follies of gold-rush-era Barkerville. The result of years o...

When the Free Grants and Homestead Act was first introduced in 1868, fierce debates erupted in Ontario's Legislature over whether land in the Muskoka region should be opened to settlement or reserved for the Aboriginal population. From the beginning, many people vented serious doubts about the free grant scheme, citing the district's poor agricultural prospects. In the end, such caution was ignored by overeager boosters.The story in Hardscrabble also takes readers to Brita...

Despite being neighbouring provinces with long ranching histories, British Columbia and Alberta saw their ranching techniques develop quite differently. As most ranching styles were based on one of the two dominant styles in use south of the border, BC ranchers tended to adopt the California style whereas Alberta took its lead from Texas. But the different practices actually go back much further. Cattle cultures in southwestern Spain, sub-Saharan Africa and the British highlands all shaped...

In "The Cariboo Trail: A Chronicle of the Gold-fields of British Columbia," Agnes Christina Laut provides a vivid and meticulously detailed exploration of the tumultuous gold rush era in British Columbia during the late 19th century. With a narrative style that interweaves personal stories, historical facts, and engaging descriptions of the landscape, Laut captures the urgency and excitement of prospectors traversing the perilous Cariboo Trail in pursuit of fortune. Her work serves not onl...

Twenty-Seven Years in Alaska is the story of one woman's adventures in the remote wilderness of the north. From canoe camping next to unnamed lakes, to kayaking in Alaska's pristine waters, she describes her many encounters with the bears, moose and other animals that make this wilderness their home. With her partner David she helped to build a cabin on a remote piece of property, off the grid and accessible only by boat. Illustrated with the photos she took along the way, her story is som...

Sixteen-year-old Mary Janeway, a home child, is desperate to escape from her rural home child placement and flees to London, Ontario, to find a domestic position. When conditions become unbearable, she moves on, vowing never to relinquish her freedom again.After she arrives in Hamilton as a young bride, she quickly adapts to the urban conveniences and the marvels of new inventions that include electric sewing machines, sulphur matches, street stoplights, a one-horsepower Brunswick ...

Getting three trucks and two horses stuck in the mud on "a good road" into BC's wild, remote interior was just the start of Bruce Watt's Chilcotin adventures—and it was his honeymoon, too. The wildlife, landscape and quirky, down-to-earth people captivated Bruce, and despite the hard work and challenging conditions, the Watts put down roots, raising a family, alongside herds of cattle and horses.A consummate storyteller, Bruce tells it like it was—and perhaps still is for many peop...

Inspired by True Events “Men who weren’t hard workers didn’t last long at the lumber woods.” Most people in Newfoundland and Labrador have someone in their family who has worked “in the woods.” Some of these workers were employed seasonally—they fished in the summer and headed to the lumber camps in the winter—while others were full-time loggers who worked year-round. Stan White runs Camp 13 on the southwestern side of Gander Lake, which is a commercial operation cutting pulpwood for Bowat...

It was the summer of ’43 on a Cariboo ranch. He was 12 and had to become a man. If you were a man, you could become a cowboy. Join the author on this nostalgic look back on the joys, frustrations and observations of growing up and discovering where he belongs.Excerpt from Eldon Lee's foreword: “This book by Alan Fry is probably the best book ever written on ranch life in the Cariboo. His account of everyday events is so perceptive and so true to the mark that all we country types y...

Canada’s wild frontier—a land unsettled and unknown, a land of appalling obstacles and haunting beauty—comes to life through seven remarkable individuals, including John Jewitt, the young British seaman who became a slave to the Nootka Indians; Dr. Wilfred Grenfell, the eccentric missionary; Sam Steele, the most famous of all Mounted Policemen; and Isaac Jorges, the 17th-century priest who courted martyrdom. Many of the stories of these figures read like the wildest of fiction: Cariboo Cam...

Marjorie Arnison was one of the thousands of children removed from their families, communities, and country and placed in a British colony or commonwealth to provide "white stock" and cheap labour. In Marjorie's case, she was sent to Prince of Wales Fairbridge Farm School, just north of Victoria, British Columbia, in 1937. As a child, Patricia was angered that her mother wouldn't talk about the past. It took many years to discover why -- it wasn't because she was keeping a dark secret, but...

"...despite flying bullets and cannon shots, Ben had his crew hastily tossing evidence over the side of the boat. Bullet-riddled, the Maritimas finally came to a stop, but even then, the crew continued to throw the beer overboard." This book will be especially fascinating for all readers interested in: the history of crime or prohibition. It is safe to say that America would have been a much drier place during Prohibition if Canadians had not rushed to the aid of their neighbours. While th...