High Slack: Waddington's Gold Road and the Bute Inlet Massacre of 1864 (Transmontanus series) - Softcover

Williams, Judith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0921586450 ISBN 13: 9780921586456

Publisher: New Star Books, 1996

Synopsis

In the winter of 1861, Robert Homfray made a perilous journey up Bute Inlet to begin surveying for Alfred Waddington's `gold road', which was to link British Columbia's coast with the Cariboo. It was hoped that the road would open up the territory to gold prospectors and homesteaders; instead, it dead-ended just above Homathko Canyon with the massacre of the road crew sent to build it. The colonial government called it murder; the Tsilhqot'in people called it war.

More than a century later, Judith Williams retraces Homfray's journey. By juxtaposing her impressions with the written and oral histories of the event, she peels back some of the many layers of `truth' to reveal what is both a stirring tale and an engrossing glimpse of life in the Chilcotin over 130 years ago.

High Slack is Number 4 in the Transmontanus series edited by Terry Glavin.

About this title

About the Author

Judith Williams is Assistant Professor emeritus in the University of British Columbia's Fine Arts Department. Since 1989, she has travelled extensively up and down BC's West Coast on board her two boats, Tetacus and Adriatic Sea, chronicling her voyages of discovery in a series of book. She has summered in the Desolation Sound area since 1972.

Edition details

• Publisher: New Star Books
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0921586450
• ISBN 13: 9780921586456
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128