National Network for Equitable Library Service

The escapades of this great Canadian are brought to life in a story that combines the lure of gold, the thrill of wilderness exploration and comic tales about life on a southern Alberta ranch. With access to Patterson’s diaries, letters and photographs, as well as numerous interviews with Patterson and members of his family, Finch recounts the adventurous life of this well-loved outdoorsman, writer and rancher and sheds light on some of what Patterson left unsaid. PRAISE FOR R.M.

Scottish doctor and explorer John Rae is a controversial figure in the history of the Arctic. He began his career with the Hudson's Bay Company as a surgeon in Moose Factory, Ontario, where he learned to survey, live off the land, and travel great distances on snowshoes. These skills served him well when, in 1846, he was charged with completing the geography of the northern shore of North America and set out on his first expedition.

In 1845, Sir John Franklin set off from England to locate and chart the elusive Northwest Passage. He and his crew of 129 men never returned. Over the following decade, forty expeditions were launched in an effort to establish the fate of the missing men. But it wasn’t until 1854 that traces of their demise were discovered along the western shore of King William Island. However, without proof, Franklin’s wife, Lady Jane, refused to believe that her husband was dead. And so, in 1857, she sponsored a final expedition.

Adventures on wild waters In Finlay's River, R. M. Patterson, whose style was described by noted author Bruce Hutchison as a a mixture between Thoreau and Jack London, tells the story of his 1949 trip up this wild river in remote northern British Columbia. Patterson uses his own journey as a framework to recount the adventures of explorers who went there before. All had struggled up the Finlay for different reasons, and all left spirited accounts of that challenging, doomed river, which Patterson brings to vivid life again.

The latest addition to TouchWood Editions’ Classics West Collection, Klondike Cattle Drive is the colourful tale of a formidable trek undertaken by legendary Cariboo rancher Norman Lee.In 1898, Lee set out to drive 200 head of cattle from his home in the Chilcotin area of B.C. to the Klondike goldfields—a distance of 1,500 miles. He was gambling both his cattle and his life. This is his story, derived from the journal he kept, his letters and the loyal men who accompanied him. Throughout the daunting weeks of coping with mud, cold and sheer bad luck, Lee kept his sense of humour.

For centuries, colonial powers searched for a sea passage that would link the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. The route, known as the Northwest Passage, would cut thousands of miles from sea travel and open up commercial trade to and from Asia. There were numerous expeditions to find the passage, though none successful. It was while searching for one of these failed expeditions—the Franklin Expedition—that Captain Robert McClure and his crew aboard the HMS Investigator became the first via sea and sledge to traverse and chart the elusive Northwest Passage.

Babes in the woods. That’s how Ruth and Cliff Kopas were described by one of many colourful characters the pair encountered on their amazing journey across the Rockies through to British Columbia’s west coast in 1933. Married on the day they left on their dangerous trek, Ruth and Cliff were eager for adventure, and their courageous spirits and resourceful minds made up for any experience they lacked. Their motive was to fulfill Cliff’s childhood dream of following in Alexander Mackenzie’s footsteps to the Pacific.

Best-selling chronicler of the gold rush Bill Gallaher now brings us the compelling story of the Rennie brothers. Lured by dreams of wealth and a better life, William, Gilbert and Thomas Rennie set out for the Cariboo goldfields in the spring of 1862. But because of their late departure, they encountered unimaginable consequences. They crossed the prairies in good order with the famous Father Lacombe and continued along the well-marked trail of the Overlanders into the mountains. But after that, nothing went according to plan.

Howie Keefe takes you behind the scenes to get a personal glimpse into the amazing and precarious world of air racing. The author's thrill-a-minute account is an inspiring chronicle of his many fascinating adventures from a lifetime of aviation exploits. Ride along at over 400 mph as he describes remarkable events from his early days of training to setting records and winning trophy after trophy in numerous Unlimited Class Air Races at Reno, Cape May, Miami, and more.

In March 1990, Will Steger completed what no man had ever before attempted: the crossing of Antarctica, a total of 3,700 miles, on foot. Lured by the challenge and the beauty of Earth's last great wilderness, and determined to focus the world's attention on the frozen continent now that its ecological future hangs in the balance, Steger and his International Trans-Arctica team performed an extraordinary feat of endurance.