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Product Description
Product Description
Winner of the 2009 BC Book Prizes' Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize
In 1808 seeking a navigable route to the western sea for the North West Company, Simon Fraser descended the great river that now bears his name. Most of us learn that much in school----but who was this blunt, tenacious man, and what drove him to make a dangerous journey halfway across an uncharted continent?
Journalist and poet Stephen Hume followed in Fraser's footsteps and canoe wake for four years. He studied fading maps and diaries in archives across North America, interviewed the descendants of people who aided Fraser and retraced Fraser's route across British Columbia's vast and varied landscape.
Hume found Fraser's own blazes and signs in the wild terrain that the Nor'wester crossed with the help of aboriginal peoples, all the way from the Rocky Mountains to the mouth of the ferocious river we call the Fraser. This is the story of diligent research and reconstruction of his route, the rigours of early nineteenth-century travel and the peoples and places he saw and recorded.
Simon Fraser: In Search of Modern British Columbia is the story of Fraser's great journey, but not solely from a historian's or biographer's pen. Hume writes with his usual lyrical power based in a profound knowledge of the landscape and history of BC.
In 1808 seeking a navigable route to the western sea for the North West Company, Simon Fraser descended the great river that now bears his name. Most of us learn that much in school----but who was this blunt, tenacious man, and what drove him to make a dangerous journey halfway across an uncharted continent?
Journalist and poet Stephen Hume followed in Fraser's footsteps and canoe wake for four years. He studied fading maps and diaries in archives across North America, interviewed the descendants of people who aided Fraser and retraced Fraser's route across British Columbia's vast and varied landscape.
Hume found Fraser's own blazes and signs in the wild terrain that the Nor'wester crossed with the help of aboriginal peoples, all the way from the Rocky Mountains to the mouth of the ferocious river we call the Fraser. This is the story of diligent research and reconstruction of his route, the rigours of early nineteenth-century travel and the peoples and places he saw and recorded.
Simon Fraser: In Search of Modern British Columbia is the story of Fraser's great journey, but not solely from a historian's or biographer's pen. Hume writes with his usual lyrical power based in a profound knowledge of the landscape and history of BC.
About the Author
Stephen Hume was raised in fishing, farming and logging communities across Alberta and BC and studied at the University of Victoria. A journalist for over 35 years, Hume was editor-in-chief at the Edmonton Journal before moving to BC to become columnist and feature writer for the Vancouver Sun. He has won more than a dozen awards for his poetry, essays and journalism, including the Writers Guild of Alberta Literary Award, the Southam President's Award and the Marjorie Nichols Memorial Award. Stephen became the first Canadian to win the Dolly Connelly prize for environmental writing. His other books include Raincoast Chronicles 20: Lilies and Fireweed, Bush Telegraph and Off the Map, which was shortlisted for a Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Book Prize. He currently teaches professional writing at the University of Victoria.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Truly Colorful and Informative Trip Back Through Time,
By Ian Gordon Malcomson (Victoria, BC) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Simon Fraser: In Search of Modern British Columbia (Hardcover)
Stephen Hume, former columnist for the Vancouver Sun and current writer, has produced a very fine study on the adventures of Simon Fraser as he undertook a major expedition to shore up the Northwest Company holdings in New Caledonia in the early 1800s. Out of that epic journey came the discovery of another major river, other than the Columbia, to the Pacific. Hume has based the contents of his book on his efforts to retrace and recreate the movements of Fraser's travels in 1805 into the barren, unknown wilderness of the Canadian Northwest. While Hume's investigations should naturally start at the Northwest headquarters in old Montreal where Fraser began his trip, he instead goes back into the Green Mountains of Vermont to find the true origin of this very hardy and determined explorer during the dying days of the American Revolution. After being expelled as Loyalists from the colony after 1783, the Frasers moved to Montreal where young Fraser took up an apprenticeship with the Northwesters. Everything that Hume mentions in this story is both backed up by relevant pictures and paintings, well-researched commentary and some very light-hearted wit. After reading this book, I came to have a fresh appreciation for the character of Simon Fraser, the explorer and diarist. Here was one very brave and determined man to complete his mission for the company and leave his mark for posterity. Unfortunately, the river that took his name never gave him the satisfaction of becoming that new commercially viable route to the Orient. This is definitely a must read for those who want to relive the past in all its living color and drama.
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