Forgotten Places in the North

Kerry Abel is a professor of history at Carleton University. She is the author of Drum Songs: Glimpses of Dene History, co-editor of Aboriginal Resource Use in Canada: Historical and Legal Aspects, and co-editor of Northern Visions: New Perspectives on the North in Canadian History.

S.R. Gage began this project with a camera, an interest in architectural
history, and a fascination with Canada’s North. The result is an
attractive little book that is about more than just abandoned buildings.
We visit York Factory, Herschel Island, and a Northern Ontario site on
the Mid-Canada early warning radar line where we catch glimpses of their
histories. Twelve contemporary and archival photographs, well-reproduced
on glossy paper, accompany the text.

Life at York Factory is described mostly through the eyes of Hudson’s
Bay Company officer James Hargrave and his wife Letitia; both had a gift
for lively letter writing, and the author has made good use of their
correspondence. The story of whaling at Herschel Island focuses on the
experiences of crews aboard the Hume and the Grumpus in the early 1890s.
We also learn a little of the Anglican mission and the Royal North-West
Mounted Police. In both these sections, Gage has made good use of
archival research, but it is never entirely clear why he chose the
particular bits of history that he recounts. There is nothing in these
two sections that cannot be found in more detail elsewhere, although the
sketches are entertaining.

The third section, on the Mid-Canada Line, is equally entertaining, but
it also represents a genuine contribution to the history of the Cold War
in Canada. The details are set in the wider context of Cold War thinking
and Canadian–American relations, and we follow a tale of sometimes
hilarious but more often shocking infighting, disgraceful mismanagement,
territoriality, and, ultimately, environmental disaster. As a
“made-in-Canada” response to American pressure for North American
air defence, this story deserves to be better known.

The book has some awkward moments—including a rather scattered
recounting of the history of York Factory that seems to rely on whether
there was an interesting passage in the archival documents to quote
(rather than what might constitute a structured narrative with a clear
purpose)—and it would have benefited from a final proofreading. But
overall, those interested in northern history will find much here to
enjoy.