A Far Country

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A voyage covering thousands of miles.   

From the ruggedly chiselled shoreline of Newfoundland, to the tidal waters of the Pacific that ebb and flow through the fjords slicing deep into the coast line of British Columbia. From the wind-swept grasslands, home of the drifting bison herds and the exquisite song of the meadow lark, north toward the Arctic Circle and beyond to the barren tundra which forms the edge of the Beaufort Sea. A voyage that proved to be the fundamental basis of an event-filled family saga. A voyage that led us to many special places and into the homes of even more special people. After more than three decades of exploring this vast country, we find ourselves becoming increasingly homesick for Canada with each passing year. With no end in sight we push on.  The voyage is not over!

Kootenay Plains / Alberta

P. Frehner

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“Our national expansion was along rivers and lakes. That's why we feel some natural gravitation towards waterways… there are as many miles of inland waterways in Canada as in all the other nations of the world combined.” 

Winner Take All / E.W. Morse, Geographer

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Rail tracks - the footprints of tough and reckless men, who sent the long trains out to link the tide waters.

In the late fifties, the steam engine's lone and mournful whistle disappeared from the rails after a century of being a good work horse. It was the time when a network of wood, steel, and coal linked men from all over the continent.

Abandoned railtrack between Cadomin and Mountain Park / Alberta

P. Frehner

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“That thin steel strip that crosses this country is the most important thing we have in Canada when it comes to trade….. Vancouver is an Asia-Pacific gateway only because we have a national railway system. If we didn't, the city would just be some backwater fishing village.”

C. Badger / Port metro Vancouver chief operating officer / Burrard Inlet / Vancouver

 

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Long train running - A job asking for trouble

“You know, the railroad, it isn't a job or a career. It's a lifestyle is what it is!”

G. Reid / Melville / Saskatchewan

 

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Rockbound Lake Trail

Bow Valley / Banff-Jasper National Park / Alberta

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Chasm

BC Rail / British Columbia

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Sunderland Channel

Kelsey Bay / British Columbia

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Midway

Kettle River Valley / British Columbia

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White Pass

Yukon

 

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What did the maple leaf do for Canada?

Cassiar Highway / British Columbia

P. Frehner

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Always keep an eye on your cooler box

Muncho Lake / British Columbia

P. Frehner

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Summit Pass

Stone Mountain Park / British Columbia

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A Rain Coast Rendez-vous

Clayoquot Sound / British Columbia

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Fall colours 

Slocan / British Columbia

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Old Caribou Wagon Road

Cache Creek / British Columbia

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Tatlayoko Lake

British Columbia

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The man said:" Yes, I would like to be a big river", and the Transformer put his hand on the man's forehead and gave him a push. When he hit the ground he became a mighty river - the Nimpkish

According to a Kwakiutl legend / Strathcona Provincial Park / Vancouver Island

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Rendez-vous

Regina / Saskatchewan

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Highway cowboys

Moose Jaw / Saskatchewan

 

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Lakes Route to the gold fields

Seaton Portage / British Columbia

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Pulp mill / Quesnel / British Columbia

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Beaver pond

Riding Mountain National Park / Manitoba

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Cassiar Highway

British Columbia

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Muktuk Kennels

Yukon

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Greenwood

Crowsnest Highway / British Columbia

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Old-growth logging and raw-log exports continue on Vancouver Island, but critics say big-tree tourism is a far more sustainable economic force for our future.

Muchalat Inlet / British Columbia

Canadian Geographic

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Wetlands Trail

Creston / British Columbia

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Riding Mountain National Park

Manitoba

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Fall colours

Moose Jaw / Saskatchewan

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Rangeland

Aspen Grove / British Columbia

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Ride-out and Rendez-vous

Last Chance Saloon / Wayne / Alberta

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Summit Lake

British Columbia

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Lake Minnewanka

Banff - Jasper National Park / Alberta

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False Creek

Vancouver / British Columbia

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Burnaby Lake

Vancouver / British Columbia

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Lunch break in Moose Jaw

Saskatchewan

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Canada was built on the back of a member of the rat family. A fashion in men's hats helped open an east-to-west route across the northern half of one of the world's largest continents. That route - four-fifths of which can be traversed by canoe - did a thriving business in Canada from 1550 to 1835. Among the voyageurs, traders and “coureurs des bois” who surveyed and travelled it we find the famous the names of Alexander Mackenzie, Samuel Hearne, Pierre Radisson or Henry Kelsey

Riding Mountain National Park / Alberta

P. Frehner

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…. On the other hand, there were hoboes who passed and repassed with amazing frequency, and others, still, who passed like ghosts, close at hand, unseen, and never seen. It was one of the latter that I chased clear across Canada over three thousand miles of railroad, and never once did I lay eyes on him. His “monica” was Skysail Jack…..

The Road / Jack London

Carcross / White Pass and Yukon Route / Yukon

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He was born in the Bitterroot Valley in the early morning rain.
Wild geese over the water, heading north and home again.
Bringin' a warm wind from the south, bringin' the first taste of the spring.

Wild Montana Skies / J. Denver & E. Harris

Elk Island National Park / Alberta

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Sandon ghost town

Foothills Selkirk Mountains / British Columbia