How a tragic death in a Nova Scotia coal pit, a potato patch north of Superior, and a canoe trip to Mistassini defined the route of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
My mother's family are rooted in Pictou having crossed to Nova Scotia on the Good Ship Hector. In 2025, a full sized replica of the Hector was launched in Pictou.
History is too often told in dry terms, losing the human element. For example, the Scots aboard the Hector didn't come to Nova Scotia for shits & giggles. They were part of the waves of the Highland Clearances. No-one greeted them with free hotels, food & medical care. If they wanted to live, they needed to make a life for themselves, clearing land to plant food, using the trees they cut down to build homes.
Most Canadians don't have any idea what was involved in the Highland Clearances, if they've heard of them at all. But hey... no-one's illegal on stolen land, right?
It can be. I try to do as much writing ahead as I can when I have the time, so I can just keep the drafts until I need something to publish. I try to look for the thread that would resonate the most with an average person.
What an exciting read about our origins! "In the archives of the Canadian Pacific Railway survey, the Geological Survey of Canada’s Report of Progress for 1870-71 reads less like a bureaucratic summary and more like a war dispatch from three simultaneous fronts."
My mother's family are rooted in Pictou having crossed to Nova Scotia on the Good Ship Hector. In 2025, a full sized replica of the Hector was launched in Pictou.
History is too often told in dry terms, losing the human element. For example, the Scots aboard the Hector didn't come to Nova Scotia for shits & giggles. They were part of the waves of the Highland Clearances. No-one greeted them with free hotels, food & medical care. If they wanted to live, they needed to make a life for themselves, clearing land to plant food, using the trees they cut down to build homes.
Most Canadians don't have any idea what was involved in the Highland Clearances, if they've heard of them at all. But hey... no-one's illegal on stolen land, right?
By the way, I'm loving your work!! So much awesome!!
Thanks, glad you are finding value in it! Amazing the documents I have been able to find.
How do you decide which thread to pull? It must be close to overwhelming.
It can be. I try to do as much writing ahead as I can when I have the time, so I can just keep the drafts until I need something to publish. I try to look for the thread that would resonate the most with an average person.
What an exciting read about our origins! "In the archives of the Canadian Pacific Railway survey, the Geological Survey of Canada’s Report of Progress for 1870-71 reads less like a bureaucratic summary and more like a war dispatch from three simultaneous fronts."