This Was Our Valley
This Was Our Valley
Earl K. Pollon and Shirlee Smith Matheson
The potential of Hudson's Hope, the third oldest community in British Columbia, has been a recorded fact dating from the diary notes of Alexander Mackenzie and Simon Fraser. In the 1960s, this area was recognized and became the site of the world's largest earth-filled dam, the W.A.C. Bennett Dam. The reservoir giving force to the dam was named Williston Lake and covered over 1000 square kilometres of land.
This Was Our Valley deals with the conflicts that arose when a particular area became valuable to the rest of the world. Pollon and Matheson, who know the area intimately, tell the story of B.C. Hydro and the residents of Hudson's Hope. The dam's influence is carefully explored and well-documented as these award-winning authors resurrect the true stories that lie buried beneath the waters of Williston Lake.
Contents:
Part One: Learning Our Legends
1. The Christmas Card Village
2. The Character of Hudson's Hope
3. "Merry Christmas, you sons a bitches!"
4. Lazy Stroke of the Paddle
5. Hazards of the River
6. Billy-Goat Wham
7. Setting off for Manson Country
8. Mishaps and Mysteries
9. Grown Men Dreaming
10. Fiddle-Feet
11. Caught in Nature's Trap
12. Currents of Commerce
13. Burying the Legends
14. Lost in Time
Part Two: Prophesies and Prophets
15. Prophesies and Prophets
16. The Dam-Builders
17. Labor Unrest
18. Good Intentions
19. The Political Path
20. Coal: A Historical Headache?
21. Eminent Domain
22. A Lake Full of Logs
23. Williston Lake Navigation – An Oxymoron?
24. Booms and Busts
25. The Women's Protest
26. Beneath These Waters
27. River Girl
28. Death of a Delta
29. The Site C Question
30. Squatters on Their Own Land
31. The Birds and the Bees, the Fish and the Trees
32. 20-20 Vision
33. Other Dams
34. In Accordance With the Great Spirit
35. Philosophies and Futures
Update 2003
This 2003 edition of this book has been completely reset and reprinted.
978-1-55059-244-3, (1-55059-244-0), 2003, 7¼x9, pb., 331 pg., 86 bxw photos, $42.95
