Lost in the Canadian Wilderness

These true stories of people who work and live in the spectacular mountain wilderness of Alberta and British Columbia are filled with humour, keen observations about man and nature, and memorable human and animal characters. Old-time cowboys Johnny and Cal offer their no-nonsense brand of homespun wisdom. Wasp, the talented saddle horse, teaches his rider more than just horsemanship. From life-and-death drama to peaceful meditations, these tales capture the danger and beauty of the mountains and will enthrall both armchair cowboys and those who love to venture into the backcountry.

The West was a lawless domain when Jerry Potts was born into the Upper Missouri fur trade in 1838. The son of a Scottish father and a Blood mother, he was given the name Bear Child by his Blood tribe for his bravery and tenacity while he was still a teen. In 1874, when the North West Mounted Police first marched west and sat lost and starving near the Canada-U.S. border, it was Potts who led them to shelter. Over the next 22 years he played a critical role in the peaceful settlement of the Canadian West.

Bear Child: The Life and Times of Jerry Potts tells the story of this legendary character who personifies the turmoil of the frontier in two countries, the clash of two cultures he could call his own, and the strikingly different approaches of two expanding nations as they encroached upon the land of the buffalo and the nomadic tribes of the western Plains.

Babes in the woods. That’s how Ruth and Cliff Kopas were described by one of many colourful characters the pair encountered on their amazing journey across the Rockies through to British Columbia’s west coast in 1933.

Married on the day they left on their dangerous trek, Ruth and Cliff were eager for adventure, and their courageous spirits and resourceful minds made up for any experience they lacked. Their motive was to fulfill Cliff’s childhood dream of following in Alexander Mackenzie’s footsteps to the Pacific.

For four months, the two slogged, scrambled and sloshed their way through some of the roughest terrain in North America. Their horses were their loyal companions, and the towering peaks, azure lakes and shimmering skies that greeted them were their reward. Their story, full of excitement and suspense, is peppered with humorous observations, historical anecdotes and a deep love for the Canadian wilderness.