Wild About Writing

The novelist and creative writing teacher Barbara Kyle has reminded me of the theory of six degrees of separation. It holds that everyone on earth is linked to each of us by no more than six steps, through people we know, who know someone else, and so on. This is perhaps the basis for the old saying, “It’s a small world.”

The subject came up when I passed along the news that my new book The Boy in the Picture will come out in August 2010 from the Natural Heritage imprint of the leading Canadian book publisher, Dundurn Press.

It tells the story of young Edward Mallandaine, the “boy in the picture” of the driving of the Last Spike that marked completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway on November 7, 1885.

In this case, I’m only one degree of separation from that great historic event. When Edward was a very old man and I was a young boy, I knew him. He was the Reeve (Mayor) of my hometown of Creston, B.C.

It’s a little humbling when I think that the entire history of Canada since Confederation is wrapped up in the lives of just the two of us!

Edward was a lad in Victoria when the Northwest Rebellion broke out and he decided he wanted to “fight the Indians.” He headed to the prairies but the rebellion was put down before he got there.

Fate had a different destiny for him. He was hired to ride dispatches by horseback over the incomplete section of the railway in the Monashee mountain range. That put him in Craigellachie for the Last Spike ceremony. You can see him peering out from this picture.

I’ve written The Boy in the Picture as a Young Adult book. It includes about fifty historic pictures.

I see Edward as a great role model for today’s young people who live in a vastly different Canada, where we’re joined by the web and other technologies, instead of the railway. But Edward’s lust for adventure and his unflinching courage in tackling unknown dangers fit well with the challenges young people face today.

The Boy is based on historic records and stories I remember from Edward. It’s told through creative non-fiction and combines plot, setting and dialogue in a story-telling narrative of historic adventure. Maybe it’ll help to make Canadian history a little more exciting!

Edward went on to become a pioneer of British Columbia. He helped found the town of Creston where he was “the man” for many, many years.

I’ve been researching Edward’s life for the past three years, first for an article in The Beaver magazine, and now for this book. I’ve dug through files on Edward’s family in the B.C. Archives in Victoria, the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, and Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa.

I’ve also had great help from two museums in Revelstoke, B.C., the Revelstoke Railway Museum and the Revelstoke Museum. I’m excited that the book launch will be at the Railway Museum on August 17 as part of their annual Railway Days Festival.

2010 will be a big year for the Railway Museum because it marks the 125th anniversary of the driving of the Last Spike. Maybe we’ll see you there!