"The industrial revolution in the gold country sparked by Boyle had changed the face of the Klondike, and there was no environmentalist movement to protest or prevent it. The low, rolling hills had long since been denuded in the growing hunger for lumber. The broad and verdant valleys were reduced to black scars by the big nozzles that tore at the topsoil and overburden to send the muck and silk coursing down to the big river."
"As Francis Spufford has pointed out, more expeditions have managed to travel safely to the moon and return than had been able to navigate the Passage from sea to sea."
Y'all - there is a Kamloops connection!
On the poet, Robert Service -
"There are some hints of a schoolboy love in Glasgow and an affair, later, in Kamloops, BC, but only hints."
"In July 1904, he was transferred to the bank's branch in Kamloops where he immediately bought a pony and tried to take up polo. He hated the game but loved the costume and had himself photographed in it to send to his family. He bought himself a banjo and strummed away at it happily during his leisure hours."
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I bought this one years ago at the Symphony Book Sale and decided it was time to read it. A long read, but good. Makes me want to travel up North and see this part of our beautiful country.
