Thursday, October 3, 2024

Why Would You Write That CRAP

 

       Why Would You Write That CRAP

Reconstructed Viking Longhouse 


I believe that the building of the Canada that exists today was as exciting as the building of any country in the world. Filled with explorers and builders who had the same human phobias, characteristics and destructive urges as people anywhere and at any time. And those pioneers in whatever field they happened to be pioneering, made some great advancements that in many cases are shared by peoples around the world to the benefit of all.

          However, the recording of, presentation of and acknowledgment of these inventions, developments or improvements by those pioneers are often underplayed and sometimes not acknowledged at all. Sometimes discoveries made by Canadians are attributed to peoples who had nothing to do with this development.

Fort Victoria, Colony of British Columbia, 1864

          In many cases this is the fault of those reporting their findings or those recording and presenting the history. Immigration, growth, construction and industrial developments are written in such a way as to be as exciting as watching grass grow.

Old Fort St. John in 1875
At St. John Post an earlier version of this post situated about a mile away, 3 Hudson's Bay employees where killed during a battle with Dane-zaa (Beaver) warriors in 1824
       

   Exciting? Certainly, it was!

          How many people died while rafting logs down the Ottawa River? For those who survived while poling those logs, it was as exciting as you could possibly get.

          The trappers who found themselves being threatened, assaulted and perhaps shot at by those who considered that particular area to be their trapping area(of ALL races) would have been very excited as would those who were trying to run them off.

          The hundreds of Chinese men who survived the construction of the railroad through the western mountains as dozens of their fellow workers died, would have been very excited by that survival.

Chinese immigrants entering BC

          With my stories I attempt first to entertain. Second, I try to show people building their own small piece of Canada. I try, whenever possible, to include in my stories, pieces of actual history in an attempt to show that it isn’t the history that is boring, it’s the presentation. I feel it’s a double bonus if I can tie two or more historical events together so that the reader can, without memorizing the date, realize the relationship of these developments. In “Homesteader: Finding Sharon” for example, I’ve tried to link the timing of the completion of the railroad to the Crown Land Homestead Act and the beginning of Western agriculture, along with the contributions made by immigrates from south of the border.

Here are some of the items of Canadian development mentioned in specific stories.

Packtrain in Revelstoke 1890


“The Great Liquor War”

Available entertainment --- A prize fight in the town of Rossland

The development of Canadian law enforcement --- The British Columbia Provincial Police and the North West Mounted Police.

A few of the laws in existence in the early days that made the country possible.

The building and completion of the Canadian Pacific Railroad.

CPR workers driving their own "last spike" on the same day as the official ceremony but far to the East near Donald.


“Homesteader: Finding Sharon”

The Homestead Act

The impact of the CPR on Western growth

A small example of the crime the NWMP dealt with including murder and a stage hold-up.

The fact that items designed to be fair and equitable in Ottawa could be anything but, depending on how they were applied in the field.

The ranches of vast acreages  known as “combines” owned by absentee investors/landlords

The devastating winter of 1886/87 which marked the beginning of the end of open range.

 

The ranch of John Ware, undoubtedly the most famous of the black cowboys to settle in Southern Alberta

“Partners”        

The complete disregard for life and particularly indigenous life

The end of the era of the Bison

A small mention of the Blackfeet peoples

The “greatest scout of the west” Jerry Potts.

The “Manifest Destiny” temperament that existed in the southern neighbor

Fenian raids in Eastern Canada

The second British Columbia Policeman to killed on duty, Constable Jack Lawson and the apprehension of the man who shot him.

The town of Barkerville

 

Calgary, District of Alberta, North West Territories, 1885

“The Making of Jake McTavish”

How some became pioneers by accident.

The early Saint Lawrence Seaway

Commercial fishing on Lake Winipeg

Massive livestock deaths during the winter 1886/87

The clean-up of carcasses after that devastating winter.

The development of the small family ranch

The building of branch – line railroads

The policeman who just does enough to get by and the one who does the job

The early existence and lack of recognition of mental trauma

The development of firearms from “cap and ball” to cartridge.

The lack of security within immigration

Calgary, Province of Alberta, 2013


 

“Gunfighters, Thieves and Lawmen”

Some of the changes in rank designation, equipment, command structure and retirement possibilities within the North West Mounted Police.

Early recognition that a red serge coat isn’t bulletproof

The death of Almighty Voice, four Mounted Policemen and a civilian and the wounding of two more policemen and a civism

The building of branch – line railroads

The beginning of early telephone systems.

The shortage of police officers in an exploding population.

The development farm machinery

 

“Boundaries”

The beginnings of organized crime in Briitish Columbia

Valient attempts to police an area larger than the US states of Washington, Oregon and California with two dozen Provincial Policemen, some part time officers and volunteers including responsibilities ranging from mining and land registration to marriage licenses.

The building of the Mountain Section of the Canadian Pacific Railroad.

The importation of Asian workmen for railroad construction

The “off and on” connection and interaction between BC and the western US.

The shortage of employment opportunities for women

The shortage of trained nurses and teachers in BC

The non-existence of inspectors in the early BCPP

The need to make “short term” or “expedient” decisions when there is a shortage of manpower and space for criminal incarceration.

“People of the West: A short story timeline”

Each short story moves us through time from the 1790s to the 1960s. Within each story is a historic event relevant to that time. There are 9 short stories and 14 poems expressing an opinion or feeling or event.