Alex Lord's British Columbia: Recollections of a Rural School Inspector, 1915-1936

Agnes C. Farrell is a public-school teacher in Richmond, B.C.

Alex Lord was a rural school inspector who travelled throughout British
Columbia in the early years of this century. During his travels, he kept
detailed accounts of his experiences, which editor Calam has organized
into a most readable account of the history and geography of the
province. Since these memoirs are unedited, Calam supplies interesting
and detailed background material about Lord and the people and places he
encountered.

The book is organized into anecdotes about the people and the problems
in the widely divergent regions. Lord’s accounts of people’s
struggles to survive and to educate their children in spite of a
shortage of money, near isolation, and an inhospitable climate provide
an understanding of pre-World War II rural B.C. life.

The difficulty of travelling around this vast mountainous province to
outlying schools—widely separated and often reached only by water or
by rugged trails—is the compelling theme of this book. It took
patience, inventiveness, fortitude, and courage to get to all the
schools in British Columbia before the days of paved highways. In the
Queen Charlotte Islands, for example, Lord had to choose between
spending four weeks inspecting the six schools on the more populous
Graham Island or walking the 45 miles from Masset to Queen Charlotte
City. To him, there was only one choice. He walked.

This book, with its fascinating accounts, detailed notes, extensive
bibliography, and informative introduction will be enjoyed by any reader
interested in the history of travel in British Columbia. Furthermore, it
is an invaluable source of information for students of Canadian
education history.