Travels Across Canada: Stuart McLean's Welcome Home (1992)

Stuart McLean. Welcome Home. (1992) McLean took a few trips across the country, and stayed in several small towns. Then he wrote this elegy for what was already rapidly disappearing 30+ years ago. It’s pretty well gone.

Relevant anecdote: In 2023, we had a family reunion in Donalda, Alberta. The town no longer has a grocery store. It does have a hotel with a bar and a restaurant that serves meals on weekends. When I first went there in the 1950s, the town had a bank, a couple of service stations, a dairy, a grocery store, a school, a railroad line that served the grain elevators, and so on. Most of the businesses are gone or have been converted into homes. The town is now a suburb for Camrose, about 3/4 hour away, a typical commute these days. They have a community hall, where the local caterers served us several excellent meals. We had a good time.

McLean has the gift of the telling detail that concentrates the meanings of his story in one memorable moment. The people in these towns know that their way of life is ending, but they refuse to capitulate. Community is strong, and as long as you have family and friends, life is worth living. It's over thirty years since McLean's tour of Canada. It would be a gift for another one, but I don't know of anyone who could do it.

Highly recommended. ****

Canadians Have Had A Lot to Say: Bathroom Book of Canadian Quotes (2005)

    

Lisa Wojna Bathroom Book of Canadian Quotes (2005) A re-read. Canadians have had a lot to say about themselves and their fellow-citizens, not to mention the inordinate amount of scenery that we live in. Wojna’s collection is a commendable one. The book’s a keeper. A few samples:
     The people of Ontario have never been spoiled by perfection in government. (William Davis, Premier1971-1895).
     There’s an old saying which goes: Once the last tree has been cut, and the last river poisoned, you will find that you cannot eat your money. (Joyce MacLean, the Globe and Mail)
     You have to drop out of school now and then if you want to get and education. (Pamela Peck, PhD, anthropologist)
     The Liberals talk about stable government, but we don’t know how bad the stable is going to smell. (Tommy Douglas, founder of the CCF, which became the NDP).
     If you’re not annoying somebody you’re not really alive. (Margaret Atwood)
Recommended. ****

Canadian Quotes

Lisa Wojna. Bathroom Book of Canadian Quotes. (2005) Well done collection of quotes, organised by theme and subject. An author index would have been helpful. A few samples:
     Speak up, gentlemen. I’m not opposed to male participants in government. (Charlotte Whitton, mayor of Ottawa)
     Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you a car. (Laurence J. Peter, educator)
     Why don’t you all go back where you came from? We own this land; we’re your landlords. And the rent is due. (Kahn-Tineta Horn, Mohawk)
     We need spring. We need it desperately, and, usually, we need it before God is willing to give it to us. (Peter Gzowski, radio host)
     A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It’s a proof. And when you have a good proof, it’s because it’s proven. (Jean Chretien, Prime Minister)
     Diaper spelled backwards spells repaid. Think about it. (Marshall McLuhan, Professor of English)
    A keeper. ****
   

Canadian Politics in the 80s: cartoons by Wicks

Ben Wicks. The Second Ben Wicks Treasury (1987) Wicks invented Mavis and Bill, an Ottawa couple with political connections and insight, with a more or less cynical take on current Canadian political events. For example:

Mavis: How does Chretien feel about taking Turner’s job, bill?
Bill: Keen.
Mavis: How do you mean?
Bill: He’s not saying anything.
Mavis: Wow! He wants it as bad as that.
Bill: In the worst way.

At it best as good as Yes Minister, and a good primary record for a grad student aspiring to write the definitive history of Canadian politics in the 1980s. I enjoyed it, but I won’t keep it. **½

The hidden expense of private sector bueaucrats

Hershel Hardin. The New Bureaucracy (1991) A thorough account of the state of bureaucracy in the private sector, where its malign and expensive effects are well hidden. The private sector strenuously denies the existence of its bureaucracy, successfully diverting attention and anger to government, which actually costs us a lot less. Chapter 1 reviews the escalation of CEO and other senior management pay. Nowadays, almost 30 years later, Hardin’s figures would water eyes even more. The rest of the book surveys the structure and operation of the bureaucracy piece by piece. By turns amusing and appalling.
     I encountered the private bureaucracy in one of my first summer jobs, but I didn’t realise it at the time. I worked for Linde Gases, then a subsidiary of Union Carbide (which was done in by the release of poisonous gases from its plant in Bhopal, India). I discovered that each invoice or “gas shipping order” cost the company about $8 from placing an order for a new batch until its eventual destruction. Every day, I wrote up several of these GSOs for customers buying about $6 worth of oxygen and acetylene. I suppose the company thought that the information was worth $2. I began to wonder about the cost of moving information within a corporation, and concluded that beyond a rather small size, an organisation spent more of its resources moving information than providing goods and services for its customers.
     A worthwhile book. Read it. ***

The Fascination of Everyday Things: Margert Visser's The Way We Are

     Margaret Visser. The Way We Are (1994). A wonderful potato chip book, but more nourishing. Margaret Visser wrote a column for Saturday Night, Canada’s defunct general interest and arts magazine. Her editor, John Fraser, persuaded her to collect them into a book. Here it is, and if you can find a copy, buy or borrow it. You won’t be disappointed.
     Visser has a knack for giving you both the essence of some topic and some off-the-wall riff on it. These essays often prompt further reflection. My favourite: she ends In Flagrante Delicto (an essay about blushing) thus:
     We blush above all when we think that other people think that we are different from what we want them to think we are.
     Which reminds me of my tentative definition of “honour” as our mutual acceptance of the public images we’ve created of ourselves as being better than we know ourselves to be. “Dishonour” is the revelation that we are not what we pretend to be. Hence the widespread misconception that some bad behaviour reveals “what a person really is”. What a person really is all the behaviours they are capable of. Most of us never discover all that we are capable of, but few, I think, understand how lucky they are. ****

Omer Lavallee & Ronald Ritchie. Narrow Gauge Railways of Canada (2005)

     Omer Lavallee & Ronald Ritchie. Narrow Gauge Railways of Canada (2005) Since Lavallee wrote the book, much additional information has been found about Canada’s narrow gauge railways. Ritchie provides some of it, and many added photos. Most interesting are the obscure, short, and short-lived lumber and mining railways in the Maritimes. It’s a pity that for many of these all that’s known are a few written references or old maps; no pictures. For some (eg, the Kaslo & Slocan) I have data in my clippings collections, which I will insert. A well done book, a pleasure to leaf through, a pleasure to read, and a pleasure to consult. *** (2012)

Carol Bennet & D W McCuaig. In Search of the K & P (1981)

     Carol Bennet & D W McCuaig. In Search of the K & P (1981) 2nd edition. Bennet and McCuaig have assembled a great deal of information, documents, photographs, and oral history of the Kingston and Pembroke Railway. The result is a well-done scrapbook history, beginning with the business and construction facts, followed by a station by station survey of the line, and ending with miscellaneous reminiscences. A pleasant book, typical of the local histories written as labours of love for those who are most directly involved in the story. I like these books, despite their shortcomings in scholarship and inevitable errors and misleading implications. They constitute a valuable resource for anyone who wants to write an official or scholarly work. But mainly they give the younger generations a clear impression of what it was like for the people whose stories are told, who lived in the area, who accomplished the enterprises described and celebrated. Nicely done. An index would help. **½ (2008)

Greg McDonell. The History of Canadian Railroads (1985)

     Greg McDonell. The History of Canadian Railroads (1985) An ambitious title for what is essentially a picture book. McDonell has assembled a good collection of illustrations, and as far as I can tell his text is accurate enough. A pleasant read, and a good introduction to the subject. At folio size, a bit large as a reference book. One irritating thing: many of the captions refer to parts of the picture that have been cropped off to make the picture fit or to emphasise the main subject. That is one of the hazards of off-shore editing and printing. ** (2008)

Jack Kapica. Shocked and Appalled (1985)

     Jack Kapica. Shocked and Appalled (1985) “A Century of Letters to The Globe and Mail”, and a fun collection it is. Kapica adds the occasional biographical note, but makes no editorial comments. We are left to form our own impression of the Globe’s readership and its worries and opinions.
     Canadians early on chafed at being colonials, but the British connection remained strong well into the second half of the 20th century. Veiled and not so veiled religious and racial intolerance shows up here and there. But what impressed me most was that the letter writers often wrote more in a spirit of fun and wit. Pedantry was a game, as was politics. It’s unclear how many of the writers on scientific topics knew they misunderstood the theories of their time; I prefer to think that most of them deliberately pretended to  confusion and ignorance for the sake of humour and satire. Or maybe it’s Kapica’s taste that creates the impression of generally friendly and genial, but occasionally caustic, and always well-read readers delighting in sharing good conversation via the Editor’s pages.
     I could have marked many passages, but I’ll quote just one: J. E H. MacDonald, responding to an unkind (and apparently obtuse) criticism of his The Tangled Garden quotes Goethe: a genuine work of art usually displeases at first sight, because it suggests a deficiency in the spectator. See an image of the painting here. ***

P. Turner Bone. When the Steel Went Through (1947)

     P. Turner Bone. When the Steel Went Through (1947) Bone’s indeed written his book in “plain unvarnished prose”, as D’Alton C. Coleman notes in his introduction. Published posthumously, the narrative deals mostly with Bone’s career with the CPR and its subsidiaries. He designed and supervised the construction of the bridges on the line through the Rockies and into the Selkirks. He also participated in the surveys and construction of the International Railway (a US subsidiary of the CPR), and the Calgary and Edmonton Railway.
     The story begins with reminiscences of his childhood and schooling in Scotland, and ends with a brief Epilogue in which he tells that his elder son died in the 1914-18 war, and his wife in 1929. The plain prose in which he records these few details of his later life is moving. He went into private practice as a consulting engineer. The Glenbow Museum was fortunate to receive a large quantity of his papers when his house was torn down in 1962. Bone is remembered as a Calgary pioneer.
     In his book Bone comes across as a disciplined worker. His writing is about as factual as an autobiography can be; names and dates and places constitute the bulk of his reminiscences. He says little about his fortune, but we gather that he saved his money, invested it wisely, and put his talents to good use. His house was one of the first to be built in Calgary; pictures of it show it to be a substantial one. Bone indulges in no flights of fancy, and rarely attempts to express his feelings. Yet he has a sense of fun, and repeatedly says how delighted he was to meet old acquaintances again. He alludes to mountains he climbed with his camp mates, and clearly developed a passion for the outdoors. Many pictures in his archive show members of the Alpine club and their camps in the Rockies. Coleman calls him a kindly and lovable man, a judgment that the book supports. Somehow, despite the plainness of the language, we get to know Bone. I was pleased to read this book. *** (2008)

James Filby. Credit Valley Railway (1974)

     James Filby. Credit Valley Railway (1974) This is an annoying book. Filby has done a lot of research, but has neither the scholar’s understanding of the significance of his data, nor the journalist’s sense of narrative. The result is more of a compilation of source material, both quoted and paraphrased, with bridging remarks. What he needed was an editor. The maps on the end pages are awful, being a reproduction of a printed map with thick ink strokes superimposed to show the route of the CVR. The photos are poorly reproduced, which is the fault of the Boston Mills Press (their later books have much better quality printing). It’s a pity, since this could have been a good history of the CVR. Whoever writes one will no doubt find Filby’s work useful, if only for its source list, if he can decipher it, that is, as Filby has no idea how to format a bibliography. * (2008)

Two oddities

     Brock Silversides. Prairie Sentinels (1997) Historical photos and a diagram of the innards complement the brief but surprisingly thorough history of the elevator in western Canada. Well done. **½

     The Railway Correspondence and Travel Society. The Locomotives of the Great Western Railway: Part Eleven: The Rail Motor vehicles and Internal Combustion Locomotives. (1956) Just what the obsessively descriptive title says, and obsessively complete and detailed. Useful as a reference, but its discursive style and arrangement makes it a difficult to find exactly the information desired. A few more tables would help, as would an index. Good photos. I bought this from a stall at the Gloucester & Warwickshire Railway at Toddington for £5. Its original price was £1, which would amount to about £10 in today’s money, so I got a bargain. **½  (2008)

Dale Wilson. Canadian Passenger Chronicle 1, 2, 3 (1998, 2000, 2006)

     Dale Wilson. Canadian Passenger Chronicle 1, 2, 3 (1998, 2000, 2006) Just what it says: three albums of photographs, timetables, a handful of first person accounts, and some general history. Nicely put together, each volume is roughly chronological by railroad and region. The photos vary from excellent to barely acceptable, most of the latter good examples of why one should never scan at a low resolution, and never “resize” digital images prior to fitting them into a page. Wilson and his coworkers have been able to trace the histories of most of the cars and engines depicted. I hope the series continues, and that Wilson finds more travellers’ stories for the next couple of volumes. Although the provenance of all the material is carefully documented, these are not scholarly works, thank goodness. Their audience will be limited largely to railroad fans, and the odd student of transportation who needs something to liven up an academic dissertation. Recommended. *** (2008)

D. E. MacIntyre. End of Steel (1973)

     D. E. MacIntyre. End of Steel (1973) A charming memoir, in the form of reminiscences. MacIntyre starts with his childhood in Montreal, but most of the stories are about his early working life as a clerk for the CPR. He worked in northern Quebec, on the Prairies, and on the CPR branch from Toronto to Sudbury (the Mactier division). He’s an unassuming chap, who obviously got on well with people, and would have risen faster had he been older. He left the CPR when he was barely 22, and set up in business; but this book does not tell of his later life. I enjoyed this book, and found a few nuggets, such as the fact that the CPR was replacing the 60lb rail on the main lines with 80lb rail. The lighter rail was reused on branches and sidings. *** (2008)

Tom Monto. Strathcona: The End-of-Steel (1989)

     Tom Monto. Strathcona: The End-of-Steel (1989) A home-produced, Gestetnered booklet by a publisher who doesn’t use ISBNs, which covers the history of Strathcona from its beginnings as a loosely organised settlement in 1870 (when Hudson’s Bay employees settled there) until amalgamation with Edmonton in 1912. Almost entirely a compilation of direct quotes and paraphrases, with a dozen or so photos, it’s not exactly exciting reading, but it does provide a reasonably detailed timeline. The acknowledgements and sources are worthwhile for anyone who wants to find out more. * (2008)
 

M. Allen Gibson. Train Time (1973)

     M. Allen Gibson. Train Time (1973) An odd but pleasant little book of reminiscences about the trains in Wolfville, N. S., where Gibson grew up and went to school. The Dominion Atlantic Railway serviced the town, and Gibson gives us a neat account of the trains and some of the locomotives he saw. The style is a little formal and self-consciously literary. Gibson obviously likes trains and people. Photographs appear on alternate pages, but there’s no attempt to arrange them to link to the text they face.
     Gibson was a Baptist minister in Chester, N. S. and was known locally for his columns in The Chronicle Herald of Halifax. I googled him, and found four titles listed in the N. S. archives. There was no other hit. Then I went to the Chronicle Herald site, and searched, found pages of references. Apparently, one has to pay to read the articles, so I didn’t see any, but the headlines indicate a well-known and well-respected, decent man. ** (2008)

Eric L. Johnson The Iron Horse Comes to the Klondike (2012)

     Eric L. Johnson The Iron Horse Comes to the Klondike (2012) A labour of love, about as complete a history of the Klondike’s railways as we likely to get. It’s an expanded an updated version of Mining Railways of the Klondike (1994), including field research and new photos by friends of the author.
     Almost as soon as the gold rush brought people to Dawson City, coal mines were developed for heating and power generation. Narrow gauge railways and river boats transported the stuff. It was poor coal, but it served the purpose. It’s unclear just how much money was made and lost on these lines, but the few available figures indicate that the promoters must have made a fair coin on their commissions. There’s enough photographic evidence that one could build a credible model based on one of these lines, and a few drawings based on the extant bits and pieces rotting in the bush. Porter supplied most of the motive power.
     Much of the history is gathered from newspaper stories. The tone throughout these stories is boosterish and optimistic. The photos are well enough reproduced that one can tell that many of the older originals were I think mostly afterthoughts made when a photographer happened to be handy and had an unexposed plate or two left.
One of those wonderful books that gets written and compiled only because someone was willing to devote far too much time and energy in the project. ****

Niall MacKay. Over the Hills to Georgian Bay (1981)

     Niall MacKay. Over the Hills to Georgian Bay (1981) Niall MacKay provides a summary history of the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway, which connected the namesake towns (a rarity in railway naming), and provided J R Booth, its promoter and owner, with a means of bringing his lumber to market. If the Cashman Creek bridge, whose foundation had been undermined by a flash flood, had been replaced, the railway would probably still exist, as it was the shortest route by far between the Upper Great Lakes (and hence the Midwest) and New England (and hence European markets for lumber and other natural resources), and might now be one of the main west-east routes in North America. At its peak, it was running trains an average of twenty minutes apart.
     It was amalgamated with the Canada Atlantic Railway, which was the largest privately owned railway at the time. It ran through sparsely settled country, and after sale to the Grand Trunk, and later incorporation into Canadian National Railways, it was one of three routes across central Canada, a fact that assisted the decision to in effect abandon it, especially since the other two routes served more densely settled regions. It crossed Algonquin National Park, which meant a fair amount of tourist traffic before roads (built as Depression make-work projects) opened up the park to cars and busses.
     MacKay has mined the photographic sources, and these supply a good deal of the interest of this book; one wishes the pictures were larger and more clearly reproduced, but 23 years ago the printers were still limited to half-tone and letterpress. The profile and line map are well done, the general location map less so, since the latter doesn’t show enough of the surrounding settlements, roads etc. Nevertheless, the book gives one an excellent picture of the railway and the country it ran through. **½ (2004)

Steve Paikin. The Dark Side (2004)

     Steve Paikin. The Dark Side (2004) Paikin, host of TVO’s Studio 2 and Diplomatic Immunity, and a political junkie by his own admission, wrote this follow-up to The Life, intending to show the price politicians pay, and succeeds admirably. He also wants to persuade us the we underrate and undervalue politicians, partly because they have badmouthed each other so much that we believe they are all villains (mud does stick to the slinger), and partly because they are an easy target for our frustration with all the things that inevitably won’t go right in our lives. He comes close to succeeding in this second aim, too, but I suspect that most of the people who will read this book will already be half persuaded. But since accepting his thesis entails a good deal of blame for our own stupidity, persuading others will be much harder.
     Paikin’s style is easy to read, he is a journalist after all, and he tells a good story. This book was a prize I won for my phone-in to CBC North about my relationship with Joe Clark, a man whom I still admire, and who in his interviews with Paikin comes across just as I remember him. A book worth reading, once anyway. **½ (2004)