The working life of the distinguished surveyor Guy Blanchet reflects the story of northern Canada in the first half of the twentieth century. Beginning his career in the boreal forests of Alberta and Saskatchewan, using pack horses and dog teams, Blanchet went north to map large areas of the Barrens by canoe, and soon became caught up in pioneer northern aviation. His story encompasses the Great Depression and the Second World War, which in turn led to his work finding the routes for oil pipelines. His life was rich in contacts with First Nations people, and his friendships included most of the well-known northern travellers of the time. While Blanchet did not seek adventure, adventure often found him and he had many narrow escapes. While Blanchet published a number of articles about his experiences, this is the first time his fascinating life story has been told in book form.

The working life of the distinguished surveyor Guy Blanchet reflects the story of northern Canada in the first half of the twentieth century. Beginning his career in the boreal forests of Alberta and Saskatchewan, using pack horses and dog teams, Blanchet went north to map large areas of the Barrens by canoe, and soon became caught up in pioneer northern aviation. His story encompasses the Great Depression and the Second World War, which in turn led to his work finding the routes for oil pipelines. His life was rich in contacts with First Nations people, and his friendships included most of the well-known northern travellers of the time. While Blanchet did not seek adventure, adventure often found him and he had many narrow escapes. While Blanchet published a number of articles about his experiences, this is the first time his fascinating life story has been told in book form.

Hit the trails with naturalist and raconteur Bob Henderson in this four-book bundle! From folklore to heritage, with a hefty dose of the Scandinavian outdoor-living ethos of friluftsliv, Henderson fires the imagination, urging Ontarians to reignite their relationship with nature. Includes: Every Trail Has a Story More Trails More Tales Nature First Pike’s Portage

"Pike's Portage plays a very special role in the landscape of Canada's Far North and its human history. It is both an ancient gateway and the funnel for early travel from the boreal forest of the Mackenzie River watershed to the vast open spaces of the subarctic taiga, better known as the "Barren Lands" of Canada. "This book is a rich and wonderful comopendium of stories about this area and the early white explorers, the Dene guides, the adventurers, the trappers, the misguided wanderers (like John Hornby) as well as the modern-day canoeists who passed this way. For the reader, it provides an absorbing escape into the past and the endless solitude of the northern wilderness." -- George Luste, wilderness canoeist, physics professor (University of Toronto), and founder-organizer of the annual Wilderness Canoeing Symposium. "So why do people come to this place, this Pike's Portage in particular? The call of landscape is potent and these word portraits collected here offer up some of those who have answered. Both subject and writer reveal the complexities of human perception. Some are called by the profound power of inherited cultural meaning, while a huge dose of imagination draws others from far away. These worlds seldom truly meet, even in a place as busy as this, but whether it is homeland or wilderness, human histories are recorded in footprints, place names, and memory, and here we stand with a magnificent view, marvelling at it all." -- Susan Irving, Curatorial Assistant, Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife, NWT

This is the story of how the Canadian landmass evolved -- piece by piece -- from a long-lost continent some four billion years ago into one of the most spectacular and geologically significant areas on Earth.

For decades hidden in an archive in England: Critchell Bullock’s own account of his odyssey with John Hornby in 1924/25. In 2015 the archivist of Sherborne School (Dorset) disclosed the possession of Bullock's diary from his journey with John Hornby. An authentic and often very personal account, based on letters to a dear friend in England. A narrative about a winter spent in a self-dug cave on the edge of the Canadian Barren Lands, with intimate insights of hope and despair. About their ensuing journey on foot overland and by canoe down the Hanbury and Thelon Rivers, via Baker Lake and Chesterfield Inlet to Hudson Bay. Compiled from letters archived in the USA, Canada and England. Supplemented with content from Bullock's son's personal archive. Featuring unpublished photos, new insights into their journey and previously unknown details about John Hornby. Completed with Guy Houghton Blanchet's narration of a particular incident, never before published in full. “I can’t get over regretting that you did not yourself take the place of Waldron in writing the story of the Hornby-Bullock adventure.” Vilhjalmur Stefansson (May 1931) ​ “Why did not you write up your trip with Hornby yourself? And I might ask further – Why, since you have such a gift of fluent writing you don’t do something in that line?” Guy Houghton Blanchet (August 1950)