by Julie Lawson
Julie’s own grandfather, John Anderson, was among the many immigrants needed to keep the CPR running smoothly. He left Sweden in 1888 at the age of eighteen and started working for the railway in the Selkirk Mountains of B.C. By the early 1900s he had married a young Swedish immigrant and advanced to the position of Roadmaster, responsible for the section of track going through Rogers Pass — an area noted for its heavy snowfalls and avalanches.
One of those avalanches almost took his life. “On the night of March 4, 1910, a huge avalanche came down at the summit of Rogers Pass and buried the railway tracks about thirty feet [ten metres] deep. My grandfather called out his crew of 63 men and they set off with torches and shovels to clear the tracks.
“Around midnight, he left the site and hiked about a mile down the line to a watchman’s hut to phone in a progress report. He advised the dispatcher in Revelstoke that the tracks would be cleared in another couple of hours, then headed back. When he reached the site, all was in darkness. There were no lights from torches, no sounds of men digging, no sounds at all. Another avalanche had come down and buried everything. Only one man survived. The rest, including my grandfather’s younger brother, were buried in the avalanche. It was the worst disaster in the history of the CPR.”
Julie is the award-winning author of numerous books for young readers. Her novels include White Jade Tiger (winner of the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize, and nominated for both the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year Award and the Silver Birch Award), Destination Gold and The Ghost of Avalanche Mountain. Among her acclaimed picture books are The Dragon’s Pearl, Emma and the Silk Train, Bear on the Train and Whatever You Do, Don’t Go Near That Canoe!
While the events described and some of the characters in this book may be based on actual historical events and real people, Kate Cameron is a fictional character created by the author, and her diary is a work of fiction.
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Copyright © 2002 by Julie Lawson.
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ISBN: 978-1-4431-2814-8
First eBook edition: July 2015
Books in the Dear Canada Series
All Fall Down, The Landslide Diary of Abby Roberts by Jean Little
Alone in an Untamed Land, The Filles du Roi Diary of Hélène St. Onge by Maxine Trottier
Banished from Our Home, The Acadian Diary of Angélique Richard by Sharon Stewart
Blood Upon Our Land, The North West Resistance Diary of Josephine Bouvier by Maxine Trottier
Brothers Far from Home, The World War I Diary of Eliza Bates by Jean Little
A Christmas to Remember, Tales of Comfort and Joy
A Country of Our Own, The Confederation Diary of Rosie Dunn by Karleen Bradford
Days of Toil and Tears, The Child Labour Diary of Flora Rutherford by Sarah Ellis
The Death of My Country, The Plains of Abraham Diary of Geneviève Aubuchon by Maxine Trottier
A Desperate Road to Freedom, The Underground Railroad Diary of Julia May Jackson by Karleen Bradford
Exiles from the War, The War Guests Diary of Charlotte Mary Twiss by Jean Little
Flame and Ashes, The Great Fire Diary of Triffie Winsor by Janet McNaughton
Footsteps in the Snow, The Red River Diary of Isobel Scott by Carol Matas
Hoping for Home, Stories of Arrival
If I Die Before I Wake, The Flu Epidemic Diary of Fiona Macgregor by Jean Little
No Safe Harbour, The Halifax Explosion Diary of Charlotte Blackburn by Julie Lawson
Not a Nickel to Spare, The Great Depression Diary of Sally Cohen by Perry Nodelman
An Ocean Apart, The Gold Mountain Diary of Chin Mei-ling by Gillian Chan
Orphan at My Door, The Home Child Diary of Victoria Cope by Jean Little
Pieces of the Past, The Holocaust Diary of Rose Rabinowitz by Carol Matas
A Prairie as Wide as the Sea, The Immigrant Diary of Ivy Weatherall by Sarah Ellis
Prisoners in the Promised Land, The Ukrainian Internment Diary of Anya Soloniuk by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
A Rebel’s Daughter, The 1837 Rebellion Diary of Arabella Stevenson by Janet Lunn
A Sea of Sorrows, The Typhus Epidemic Diary of Johanna Leary by Norah McClintock
A Season for Miracles, Twelve Tales of Christmas
That Fatal Night, The Titanic Diary of Dorothy Wilton by Sarah Ellis
A Time for Giving, Ten Tales of Christmas
Torn Apart, The Internment Diary of Mary Kobayashi by Susan Aihoshi
To Stand On My Own, The Polio Epidemic Diary of Noreen Robertson by Barbara Haworth-Attard
A Trail of Broken Dreams, The Gold Rush Diary of Harriet Palmer by Barbara Haworth-Attard
Turned Away, The World War II Diary of Devorah Bernstein by Carol Matas
Where the River Takes Me, The Hudson’s Bay Company Diary of Jenna Sinclair by Julie Lawson
Whispers of War, The War of 1812 Diary of Susannah Merritt by Kit Pearson
Winter of Peril, The Newfoundland Diary of Sophie Loveridge by Jan Andrews
With Nothing But Our Courage, The Loyalist Diary of Mary MacDonald by Karleen Bradford
Go to www.scholastic.ca/dearcanada for information on the Dear Canada series — see inside the books, read an excerpt or a review, post a review, and more.
