Forgotten Highways: Wilderness Journeys Down the Historic Trails of the Canadian Rockies.

David W. Leonard is Project Historian—Northern Alberta, Historic Sites
and Archives Service, Alberta Community Development, the author of
Delayed Frontier: The Peace River Country to 1909, and the co-author of
The Lure of the Peace River Country: A Fost

Of all the venues in western Canada travelled by the explorers of the 19th century, none hold the magic of the various passes in the Rocky Mountains. Part of the sensation is the fact that most of the environment is pristine, untouched by modern industry. We can see almost exactly what David Thompson and the others saw. This cannot be said for most of the prairies or parklands travelled by the explorers, except along certain river banks. Adding to the sensation is the fact that so much of the landscape is vertical, thus so much more of the terrain can be seen in a single viewing.

The main purpose of the authors of this book is to marry the impressions of such explorers as Thompson, George Simpson, John Palliser, and others with their own. To do this, portions of the travels of the explorers are recounted and blended with the details and impressions of the modern journey. No new history is revealed, but experiences of the moment recalled by the explorers are recounted and interspersed with those of the authors, as they hiked the trails and hilly peaks from Jasper to Kananaskis. Many black and white contemporary and historical photos accompany the text, along with some drawings and several good maps. Unfortunately, the work was not indexed.