Capilano: The Story of a River
Library Item
"The beauty of the canyon was still there, but it was fast becoming a lifeless river." Having returned to the West Coast for the first time in ten years, Dr. James Morton thus describes the once-proud Capilano River Valley.
The Capilano had given the people of Vancouver many years of service. It was an arena for anglers, hikers, and adventurers; its canyon walls had provided support for flumes that carried the raw materials of a great timber industry down to the city; later it had been harnessed as a giant reservoir for storage of drinking water. Now, the very civilization that the mighty Cleveland Dam that held back the waters of the reservoir had also dried up the lower reaches of the Capilano. The death of the river meant the death of the salmon and trout population which, for so many years, had fought its way upstream to the spawning grounds.
The river's greatest era - the latter part of the nineteenth century - is brought to life. The river barons who were interested only in commercial gain, the "Sunday Excursionists" who loved the natural beauty, and the revered few - the anglers - who lived only to cast a line into the Capilano's deep, well-stocked pools all ranged the river banks in search of their particular havens.
Dr. Morton has written a moving history of the Capilano. It is dedicated to the Squamish and Musqueam Indians, the original masters of the river. Like the Capilano, the Indians have been hemmed in by civilization; but like the river, their memory and what they still represent to this country cannot be completely destroyed.
This book will be of great interest to those Canadians who have an attachment to their country's wilderness and are concerned by the death of wilderness at the hands of men.
The Capilano had given the people of Vancouver many years of service. It was an arena for anglers, hikers, and adventurers; its canyon walls had provided support for flumes that carried the raw materials of a great timber industry down to the city; later it had been harnessed as a giant reservoir for storage of drinking water. Now, the very civilization that the mighty Cleveland Dam that held back the waters of the reservoir had also dried up the lower reaches of the Capilano. The death of the river meant the death of the salmon and trout population which, for so many years, had fought its way upstream to the spawning grounds.
The river's greatest era - the latter part of the nineteenth century - is brought to life. The river barons who were interested only in commercial gain, the "Sunday Excursionists" who loved the natural beauty, and the revered few - the anglers - who lived only to cast a line into the Capilano's deep, well-stocked pools all ranged the river banks in search of their particular havens.
Dr. Morton has written a moving history of the Capilano. It is dedicated to the Squamish and Musqueam Indians, the original masters of the river. Like the Capilano, the Indians have been hemmed in by civilization; but like the river, their memory and what they still represent to this country cannot be completely destroyed.
This book will be of great interest to those Canadians who have an attachment to their country's wilderness and are concerned by the death of wilderness at the hands of men.
LIB.00066
Toronto, ON : McClelland and Stewart Limited
1970
newspaper clipping enclosed
Print and published material
English
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