CRT children's book and Anniversary of Canadian Railway

[podmed]

Thanks Charlene!

[jj]

Originally Posted by charlene

wee bit of audio - more to come later..
http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/features/crt/

i couldnt find anything related to audio in the link...the slide show? the audio clip? canada live? podcasts? where do i go?

btw, the display has been dismantled...nice 3-some keepsake you have there, char!

[charlene]

I'm waiting for an aswer to that exact query from anansi books and cbc radio 2 people..

[charlene]

I'm waiting for an aswer to that exact query from anansi books and cbc radio 2 people..
holiday weekend so I'll probably hear next week..

[charlene]

http://arts.nationalpost.com/2010/10/08/lightfoot/

[charlene]

the boy in the picture: The Last Spike - Canadian Pacific Railway

The Craigellachie Kid and the last spike
NEIL REYNOLDS |From Monday's Globe and Mail

Boys used to quit school honourably – either to find work as apprentices and learn a profession by doing it, or to seek adventure, fortune and fame. Remarkably, these boys often achieved notable things. Kingston author Ray Argyle tells the compelling story of one such lad in The Boy in the Picture:

The Craigellachie Kid and the Driving of the Last Spike. This is the story of Edward Mallandaine, the boy who stood behind CPR financier Donald Smith as the great man drove in the last spike – on Nov. 7, 1885 – of the legendary railway that joined Canada from coast to coast.

The night before the historic occasion, Edward – determined to be a part of history – caught a ride on a flatbed to Craigellachie, a settlement in the B.C. hinterland. It snowed hard, then turned to sleet. Through the pitch-black night, “Edward was stiff and half-frozen,” as Mr. Argyle describes it. He finally found shelter, near the site of the ceremony, in a boxcar. When the ceremonial moment arrived early the next morning, he squeezed his way, chilled and wet, through the throng of assembled dignitaries.

“Can I get in?” he asked, moving closer to the action.

“Whadda yuh doin’ here?” someone shouted. “Get away, kid.”

“Let him in,” one of the railway managers shouted. “Don’t you know that’s the Craigellachie Kid?”

Moments later, Edward Mallandaine made history.

Pierre Berton was the first historian to tell Edward’s story (The Last Spike: The Great Railway 1881-1885), but Mr. Argyle knew Edward Mallandaine. “I had the privilege of knowing Edward when he was a very old man and I was a very young boy,” Mr. Argyle says in introducing this inspiring tale. His family rented a house from Mallandaine in Creston, B.C., a mountain town that Mallandaine helped to found. Mallandaine collected the rent each month – and entertained young Argyle with stories of his life-and-death adventures as a pony-riding postman on a wild frontier.

“When Edward died,” Mr. Argyle says, “I was close to the age he had been at Craigellachie.” Edward quit school to go fight for Queen Victoria during Louis Riel’s North-West Rebellion – but, alas, got there too late. He was 18 when Smith drove in the last spike. Mr. Argyle celebrates the young Edward as an iconic figure himself – another boy with a burning ambition to share “in the building of a boisterous, confident country.”

Edward Mallandaine was born in Victoria on June 1, 1867 – one month before Confederation. He devoured Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, published when he was 9 – and his conduct confirmed it. His teacher at Victoria Central School, a certain Mr. Pleace, regarded him as a delinquent and called him “fleabag.”

“Eddie, you bag of fleas, quit squirming,” Pleace shouted one day. “You will never set the harbour on fire.”

Along with his younger brother, Edward “set the harbour on fire” the very next day – almost burning down the James Bay Bridge. He reported his achievement to his teacher: “I did set the harbour on fire – really and truly I did.” He took pride in his flogging – “the best I ever had.” He shared a certain zest with Tom Sawyer – and with Twain himself. (Twain quit school at 11 for a full-time job as a printer’s apprentice – a decision he later justified by noting that libraries have more books than schools do.)

In 1889, the 22-year-old Edward struck out on his own – staking a 180-acre site overlooking Kootenay Lake where he helped established Creston, married the town’s first teacher and lived happily ever after. He died in 1949 at 82.

Mr. Argyle tells this Boy’s Own tale superbly. But then he lived a Tom Sawyer life himself, quitting school at 16 and roaming the country. He ended up in Toronto with careers in newspapers and advertising. (He sold his own company, Argyle Communications, to Environics in 2001). Now, at 81, he’s a prolific author. The Boy in the Picture is his third book in two years. “It proves you’re never too young to have a dream,” he says, “or too old to fulfill it.”

PICTURE: the three closest behind Donald Smith are W.C.Van Horne (Cornelius Van Horne-Lightfoot mentions him when relating his research for the song), engineer Sir Sandford Fleming and Edward Mallandaine.

[Yuri]

Char,
This photo of Gord appears on another page of the 'National Post' article you linked to above. Good shot of Gord that others may not find so I uploaded it here.

[charlene]

it's on page one of this thread..

lol

[Lisa J]

I got my copy of the book in the mail today and it is really well done. I took it to work and took an expected ribbing from my staff. They wanted to know if it was written by that guy whose picture I have hanging in my office... YES, it was written by him. (The picture is only a 5x7 and I am in it with him...) My oldest staff member is 23, so i guess they can be forgiven for their ignorance, maybe. The reason I am adding to this post is while I was reading everyone's comments about the book, CRT started playing on my computer. It took me a second to realize I was listening to the song about which I was reading! random thought, but there it is!

[charlene]

good for you Lisa!
enjoy!

[jj]

Originally Posted by Lisa J

random thought, but there it is!

funny stuff...keep them comin...this place can get quiet when GL on tour breaks

[podmed]

I received my copy from Canada, and have been reading it to my kids as part of the bedtime routine. They already love trains, so it has been hit. My 6 y/o was named after gord, so it has been special for him to get introduced to CRT.

[charlene]

tomorrow, Nov.7 is the 125th anniversary of the Last Spike driven on the CPR line joining eastern and western Canada in Craigellachie, British Columbia.
pics of William Cornelius Van Horne's personal rail car@
http://www.montrealgazette.com/busin...531/story.html

http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/CPR/west.htm - story and pics

[charlene]

http://www.revelstokecurrent.com/201...craigellachie/

pics of event and choir of students singing CRT. video to come.

[jj]

at 9:25 I took a small drink up to the tracks that run through here (this section completed in 1880), did a quick toast and started singing CRT...but totally stumbled on the second verse and decided to hum the rest as I walked back to the house with head hung in shame)

neat bits of ceremony shown on video link, you can hear local school kids singing a bit of CRT, accompanied by a native Indian filmmaker on guitar

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories...-party-101107/

lots of media equipment there for the event but i was impressed to see no teleprompter (ie. those kids didn't require any lyrics crutch)


love the old maroon rail cars out west...the ones around here have lots of graffiti (trust me, it's not the lyrics to CRT!)

Cheers, CPR, Donald, Willie, Gord...thank you, navvies

ps) a fun download here http://www8.cpr.ca/cms/nr/cprinterne...enshistory.pdf

[charlene]

Rick Mercer rides the rails - omigawd this is amazing..Check out the new hood ornament for the CPR !
lol
http://www.rickmercer.com/Rick-Mercer-Videos.aspx

[charlene]

Rick Mercer rides the rails - omigawd this is amazing..Check out the new hood ornament for the CPR !
lol

YouTube - RMR: Rick and the Last Spike

[jj]

Originally Posted by charlene

Rick Mercer rides the rails - omigawd this is amazing..Check out the new hood ornament for the CPR !
lol

a more awesome view than at the bow if the Titanic
...he's the King of the World! lol

ok, it's a fact: this gay man has bigger stones than most straight jocks

thanks for the link...one could spend the entire day watching RMR videos

[charlene]

it took me a good 30 minutes to get my breath back after seeing that on TV last night..I was gobsmacked that he was out there like that on that trestle bridge..good grief!!..then they got off the train and walked the trestle! omigawd..
What beauty tho..breathtaking doesn't even begin to describe it.
He's got THE. best. job. ever.

[jj]

Originally Posted by jj

at 9:25 I took a small drink up to the tracks...

oops, i was 2 minutes late. lol....but i'll never forget that 'nerd' trivia

[charlene]

lol - she shocked herself with it!

[Moose]

Apologies if someone else has mentioned this.

I found this this morning and I wonder if anyone else had noticed "hidden pictures" in the artwork. Sounds like fun, now I have to resist unwrapping the book to check them out.

For a cross-generational gift for the holiday season, check out the Canadian Railroad Trilogy. Fans of Gordon Lightfoot will be delighted by this picture-book version of his famous song. Ian Wallace, one of Canada's best-loved illustrators, chose to interpret the lyrics in chalk pastels, which gives a dream-like feeling to the book that matches the dream of a growing nation. The book includes the music to the song, historical notes about the building of the railroad, and best of all, clues to the embedded symbolism in the art itself. Careful readers will find the faces of Sir John A. Macdonald, the president of the CPR and even Lightfoot within the pages. A family reading of the book may spark some interesting conversations about "the good old days."

Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/th...#ixzz181PYRA2N

[charlene]

My fave is the Canadian map in the train smoke...LOVE that beautiful symbolism! I spoke to the artist about it but he didn't give me the picture.
lolol
I have that book out so at any time I can look through it...there's always something new to see - I am so glad that Bonnie sent it as a lovely surprise.

[charlene]

pics-Buffalo-Oct.2010

[jj]

that's the best pic (or the 100+, lol) that i've seen of you guys

just did a bit of red eye taming here.... what a keeper!