ROLLING ON THE RIVER
A jewel of B.C. shines in coffee table book
This year's summer holidays were homegrown B.C. affairs for many people, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the usual B.C. hot spots such as the Okanagan and Vancouver Island teemed with travellers there was still a lot more of the province available to explore.
One of those areas that White Rock author and educator Carol Blacklaws and her photographer husband Rick Blacklaws say needs more of our attention is the mighty Fraser River.
In their new coffee table book The Fraser: River of Life and Legend, the Blacklaws deliver an unabashed and well-informed love letter to the 1,375-kilometre long river — the 11th longest in Canada — and its surrounding areas.
“We initiated the book because the Fraser River has been an essential part of our family,” Carol said.
So essential that son Brydon once worked as a guide on the Fraser River and named his son Fraser.
“He calls it his river,” Carol said of her six-year-old grandson's connection to his namesake.
That relationship with the river began with an unexpected gift.
“We started visiting the river on mine and Rick's 10th wedding anniversary and although I had expected your traditional dinner out I was treated to a phenomenal event in the canyon and a white-water rafting experience,” Carol said over the phone from the couple's home in White Rock.
“But as we were exposed to the river, we found it was a gateway for our family to float down the river with other people and other groups. So it became this magical family educational corridor for us.”
As the years passed, Carol said she realized there were many people who didn't see the river as she and Rick did, and wanted to put together a book to show its beauty and maybe give the people who see the river every day a better view.
“Millions of people in the estuary view it as a impediment to their commute as they go over bridges,” Carol said. “So my impetus became to bring a positive profile to what could unquestionably be one of the jewels of British Columbia that is misunderstood and misrepresented.”
Part memoir, part photo journal, the book is an accessible travel story told through Carol's eyes. The journey begins in the Upper Reaches of the river at the western side of the Rocky Mountains and Mount Robson Provincial Park. It then travels down through the Cariboo, grasslands, and canyon areas before flowing through the lower reaches to the Pacific Ocean.
Carol's story, which is a composite of a few different journeys on and down the river, is both thrilling and informative. For instance, did you know the river is that murky brown colour because it is full of sediment that never gets to settle or pond, as the river passes through only one lake — Moose Lake — right near its beginning?
Or how about the hermit of Russian Island? From 1956 to 1972 there was a hermit who built a small compound on an island near Soda Creek in the Cariboo. He disappeared without a trace in 1972.
Or what about the guy in 1862 who brought 23 camels to the Lillooet to freight goods? Sadly, though, soft feet and a tendency to spook the daylights out of horses meant the camels didn't catch on.
Or did you know that there is a huge debris trap in Agassiz that catches loose logs, branches and whatever else may come flying down the river headed to the coast?
The fun, very readable book is loaded with great dinner-party conversational tidbits.
With a rich history from top to bottom, the river never seems to deliver a dull moment. For the Blacklaws, years on the Fraser have led each of them to hold certain areas close to their heart.
“I am such an adventure seeker, I love the rapids in the canyon and riding through the white water,” Carol said. “For me it's always a joy. That section of the canyon should be considered a heritage corridor because after the rapids you go through areas where you can see the history of B.C. through the placer mines through the historic trails, abandoned cabins and evidence of the gold rush and the First Nations fishing camp. It is a stunning, stunning area. It is really a living legacy to B.C.”
For Rick, his gaze is always happy to land upon the “the epic landscapes” of the grasslands area.
The Blacklaws hope this book will inspire people to plan trips
and outings on or near the Fraser, to check in on one of the province's most vital and important resources. Carol believes these visits with the river are key for the health and welfare of the mighty waterway.
“If you don't allow access to the river you don't get to know the river and therefore you tend not to protect it,” Carol said. “Awareness is brought by not just reading about it but by visiting it.”
Rick, a trained archeologist as well as a photographer, has focused his interest on the Fraser River before. Over two decades ago he and Alan Haig-brown, son of esteemed conservationist and writer Roderick Haig-brown, combined talents for the book The Fraser River.
Rick said that book and his latest book with Carol only scratch the surface of the Fraser story. He said there so much more to understand, chronicle and capture.
“I think as myself, as a photographer, what is so intriguing about the Fraser River is it's a clean fresh palette,” Rick said. “I can go on the
Fraser River in the Clinton area, the grasslands, the Cariboo, the upper reaches and I can have so much fun. It's very accessible. As a photographer, the Fraser gives me such opportunity. There are so many more stories to be written or photographs to be taken about this great river.”
Does that mean he will be working on more books about the river?
“You can't get me off that river,” Rick said. “Yes. Yes. Yes.”
When asked about advice for a Fraser River rookie, the couple answer almost in unison that a first stop should be the canyon and Hell's Gate for a guided rafting trip.
But in the meantime, Carol suggested that those of us who see the river on a regular basis should take a few seconds to really take it in.
“I would encourage people who cross the Fraser through the tunnels and bridges to acknowledge and respect this river that is so vital to British Columbia,” Carol said.