Kipawa River Chronicles

""Living on the Kipawa River is pretty quaint and simple, isn't it?" "That's right, Ma'am, quaint and simple is good enough for us." Scott Sorensen knew that arguing with her would be useless; for it is only to those who can see a little farther, climb a little higher, and dive a little deeper that the answer is not so simple -- only the question is quaint.Perhaps if she had paddled a canoe with the wild, red-haired Whistler of the North, or kayaked the rapids with Don Quixote de la Kipawa, or come face to face with the thirteen lifeless boys adrift in the currents of Lake Temiskaming, she might never have put her question to words. The remote and rugged shores of the Kipawa River have been home to the Sorensens for 25 years. Their lives and those of numerous others are intertwined with the flow of this world-class whitewater river. But the Kipawa River is at risk. The most powerful hydro-electric company in North America has proposed to reduce this historic waterway to a trickle of water in a rocky ditch. This book captures the unique heritage of the Kipawa River, and the struggle to preserve it for future generations."--from www.chapters.indigo.ca.

This beautifully illustrated work is designed to delight history and photography buffs as well as canoeing enthusiasts.

There are few writers who can take the facts of an actual event and transform them into a compelling story that captures the mind and the heart. James Raffan is that rare author, proving with Deep Waters that he is a masterful storyteller who has not only penned a story that is by turns harrowing and poignant, but is also a powerful investigative work that sensitively explores the nature of courage, risk and loss. On the morning of June 11, 1978, 27 boys and four leaders from St. John’s School in Ontario set out on a canoeing expedition on Lake Timiskaming. By the end of the day, 12 boys and one leader were dead, with all four canoes overturned and floating aimlessly in the wind. This tragedy, which was first deemed to be an “accident,” was actually, as James Raffan explains, a shocking tale of a school’s survival philosophy gone terribly wrong, unsafe canoes and equipment, and a total lack of emergency preparedness training. Deep Waters is a remarkable story of endurance, courage and unspeakable pain, a book that also explores the nature of risk-taking and the resilience of the human spirit.

When Will returns to Medicine River, he thinks he is simply attending his mother’s funeral. He doesn’t count on Harlen Bigbear and his unique brand of community planning. Harlen tries to sell Will on the idea of returning to Medicine River to open shop as the town’s only Native photographer. Somehow, that’s exactly what happens. Through Will’s gentle and humorous narrative, we come to know Medicine River, a small Albertan town bordering a Blackfoot reserve. And we meet its people: the basketball team; Louise Heavyman and her daughter, South Wing; Martha Oldcrow, the marriage doctor; Joe Bigbear, Harlen’s world-travelling, storytelling brother; Bertha Morley, who has a short fling with a Calgary dating service; and David Plume, who went to Wounded Knee. At the centre of it all is Harlen, advising and pestering, annoying and entertaining, gossiping and benevolently interfering in the lives of his friends and neighbours.

"In March 1981, The Toronto Star's Today Magazine asked its readers to nominate 100 praiseworthy things, the best in their category anywhere in Canada. Highway Book Shop was nominated as the Best Bookstore. Other writers have noted that from its small beginning in job printing, Highway Book Shop became one of the largest independent book stores in Canada, and a tourist attraction in its own right. It is also credited as a promoter and preserver of local history and culture, and for this and other reasons, its founder and proprietor Dr. Douglas C. Pollard was awarded membership in the Order of Canada, October 23, 2008.Unique in its character, with its policies grounded in service to the reading public, it attracted four generations of customers who returned year after year. This is the story from its beginnings told by Lois Pollard while the pieces of the story exist intact, undamaged by time. The Tri-Town area comprises the City of Temiskaming Shores (formerly New Liskeard, Haileybury and Dymond Township) and Cobalt. Its location is approximately 150 kilometers or about 95 miles north of North Bay on Highway 11. Highway Book Shop has been referred to jokingly as bearing the address 300,000 Yonge Street, because if you follow Toronto's Yonge Street straight north you will eventually find yourself on Highway 11.The book includes an extensive Appendix which includes a series of the floor plans depicting how the Book Shop expanded over the years, a listing of the over 300 individual authors published by HBS over the years, and a listing of the 460+ book titles they published. Many have asked how and why a small enterprise could have pursued its way steadily into the internet age, as though a strange phenomenon had occurred. We present some of the answers in this history of an unexpected, unique book shop and publishing house in northern Ontario."--Www.wmpub.ca/1033-HBS.htm.