Product Description : Carving the Western Path: By River, Rail and Road Through Central and Northern B.C The history of British Columbias transportation systems north of the Canadian National Railways mainline may not be well knownbut it certainly is colourful Continuing the story he began in the first volume ofCarving the Western Path RG Harvey describes the development of river road and rail routes that crossed the northern twothirds of BCThis was a land of dreams and schemes that seemed to feed on each other It started with the Collins Overland Telegraph a communication link that was to connect Europe and America in the 1860s Though this plan collapsed with the success of the transAtlantic cable the telegraph surveyors established patterns for future roads and settlement They also sparked the Omineca gold rushIt was a land full of largerthanlife characters including Charles Hays who dreamed of a major seaport at Prince Rupert but died on the Titanic before he could realize his vision Charles Bedaux who in the 1930s carved his 416mile path into the northern Rockies Railway promoters Warburton Pike Sir Edward PhillippsWolley William Mackenzie and Donald Mann who got gifts of land and money but couldnt always meet their promisesTheir stories mingle with those of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway the Alaska Highway the White Pass and Yukon Railway and those of the sternwheelers fur traders gold miners and other adventurers who were drawn to this last frontier ( it is an used product )