Reading the River: A Traveller's Companion to the North Saskatchewan RiverFramed within her own view of this great river, well-known prairie writer Myrna Kostash has combed the available literature to compile this compendium of writings - poetry, fiction and non-fiction -- from those who spent time reading the river. Beginning with Saskatchewan River Crossing, at the river's source, she takes the reader through 21 communities along the North Saskatchewan, from Edmonton to Prince Albert, from Shandro Crossing (Alberta) to The Pas (Manitoba). Included are the words of people from writers like Hugh McLennan, Eli Mandel, Aritha van Herk, John V. Hicks, and Tomson Highway, to the explorer Alexander Mackenzie, 19th Century mountaineer James Monroe Thorington, to a Cree legend. Reading the River opens with an introduction by Myrna Kostash, and a charting of the geological origins of the North Saskatchewan River, and closes it with The Future River, a commentary in several voices on, among other things, the river's likely return to a place of prominence in prairie lives, not as a transportation route, but this time as a source of crucial fresh water. Each author has a concise biography, setting their remarks in the context of their time and their works. What emerges is a portrait of this vital lifeline, the terrain and the culture that grew, and is growing, on its shores, to be appreciated by anyone who travels on, along, or merely to, the great river. |
Contents
The Heart of an Untouched Land | 21 |
Meadow of the Winds by Duane Burton | 33 |
The Watery Highway | 87 |
Mountain Trout and Roasted Beaver | 137 |
The Great Valley | 149 |
Blessed Water | 169 |
The Region of Plenty | 177 |
Mistahimaskwa Big Bear | 189 |
Common terms and phrases
Alberta arrived banks Bay Company Bear beaver began boat bridge buffalo building built called camp Canada Canadian canoe Carlton Chief close Cree cross Cumberland House early Edmonton Father feet ferry finally flow followed forest Fort fur trade George ground Henry hills horses Hudson's Bay hundred hunting Indians John journal kilometres Lake land later lived logs look McDougall Métis miles mission moved Native night North Saskatchewan River North-West once paddle Park passed past plains prairie Prince Albert Rapids reached reserves road Rocky Mountain House settlement shore side snow spring stand Stoney story stream tent things Thompson took town trade trail travelled treaty trees turn valley wind Winnipeg winter wood writes wrote