The Far Land

Patricia Myers is a historian with the Historic Sites and Archives
Service, Alberta Community Development.

In April 1911, the newly married Eva MacLean left Ontario for her
husband Dan’s ministerial posting in Old Hazelton, British Columbia.
Old Hazelton was one of the many communities in northern British
Columbia that boomed during the construction of the Grand Trunk Railway.
It served railroaders, the Native population, miners, and others who
were drawn to developing areas. This book is Eva’s account of the four
years she and Dan spent in that community.

Eva was an adventuring sort, who preferred to look ahead to the future
rather than long wistfully for what she had left behind. This outlook
colors her narrative, permitting her to assess the people and situations
she meets with an open mind and a generous heart. That Eva preferred to
think for herself is also clear. The narrow views of her home church
congregation, as well as six years spent working in the Ontario business
community, only confirmed her view that so-called respectable people
often weren’t.

While she recounts numerous stories familiar to frontier community
living, from the monotony of canned food to the colorful characters
populating the town, she does not shy away from more contentious issues.
She speaks angrily of the mistreatment of the Native people by the white
population, for example, and exposes the hypocrisy with which pious
churchgoers treated those they considered their social inferiors.

The Far Land is a rich and compelling record of one person’s journey
into a new life.