At the Mountain's Edge

by Genevieve Graham

  Every author knows the fever that burns when a story takes root and begins to grow. I had a wonderful time researching this book—in fact, I took a couple of weeks and travelled around Alberta and visited almost twenty museums. As I walked through the museums—most of them dusty and generally carrying the sense of having been forgotten despite the dedicated museum staff and volunteers—the smell of must in the air, my characters were already there ahead of me, nudging me towards certain exhibits, pointing out details in hundred-year-old photographs.

  Ben was with me from the start, always keen to show off the red serge. Every time I saw an outpost I admired the sparse accommodations of the NWMP and orderly arrangement of the few things they had out there in the Canadian wilds, and I thought about what discipline and determination those young men had, having to make sense of a chaotic place and time with very few tools at their disposal. I took pictures of everything from the Stetson hat press—which reminded me of an early tennis racket press—to the Mounties’ guns and cuffs, and yes, I even have a couple photos of me dressed in actual retired red serge coats. The North-West Mounted Police (later the Royal North-West Mounted Police and then the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) set up dozens of outposts in out-of-the-way places, often only manned by one or two constables at a time, and I visited a few, like the big Fort Macleod museum of the NWMP and First Nations Interpretive Centre, where they still perform the Musical Ride for tourists, the outpost in Canmore, and the one in the Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village.

  During my extended museum tour, I did a lot of research on trains, among other things. At the time, I was sure those would be central to the story—now I know everything I learned will most likely be put to use in a future novel—and I soaked up old maps featuring the meandering tracks of the blossoming Canadian railways and I sat in old train stations just to imagine what it would have been like, waiting there in my corset and skirts, watching hordes of excited prospectors board the trains and travel to the North. At Heritage Park in Calgary—where they had not only a working steam train but also a 1905 wooden CPR Sleeper Car in the process of being lovingly restored—I recorded the train’s whistle as it roared by, letting the screech of brakes and shushing of the engine blend in my head so I could imagine them melding with the beating of the excited passengers’ hearts. The only way to really write about those things is to take it all in.

  One tour that summer that I will never forget took place 150 feet underground, in the Bellevue coal mine. Since I’d determined the Frank Slide was going to be featured in the book, I figured I should experience a taste of the miners’ lives, so I put on my warmest hoodie (the temperature inside is usually below 0 °C) and my rented helmet with lamp and I trudged into the dark. As I walked in, I reminded myself how much my research tour inside a submarine for Come from Away had terrified me and how claustrophobic I can get, but there was no turning back. Let me tell you, after that tour I suddenly had so much respect for the fortitude of miners. That place was cold and dark and seemed far too unpredictable to me, though I know it was perfectly safe and has been for over a hundred years. When our guide told us to shut off our lamps for a minute, I was blown away. I mean, she said it would be dark, but I quite literally couldn’t see my hand one inch from my eye. That was more than a little unnerving, and though it was one of those experiences I shall only do once, I’m glad I did it. Now I know the courage it took for those men to trudge into the always-moving Turtle Mountain every single day.

  I like to think that I write in a cinematic way, because that’s how I see my stories, and while every place in Canada has striking scenery, it’s been incredibly exciting for me to write about the Klondike. The intensity of the North in all its glory astounds me, as do the people who lived there both then and now. If you look for images about the Chilkoot Trail and the Klondike Gold Rush (I will be posting some on my website), you will see black and white photographs that feel almost fictitious. As if no one could really live through all that. But they did. And it was the most colourful of those characters who pulled me into the reality of the situation: “Diamond Tooth” Gertie Lovejoy, Belinda Mulrooney, Superintendent Sam Steele, author Jack London, and so many more. The real-life Belinda Mulrooney did indeed marry Monsieur Le Comte Charles Carbonneau in 1900. He had arrived in Dawson City claiming to be a champagne salesman representing interests in Bordeaux, France, but in reality Monsieur Carbonneau was no more than a barber from Rue St. Denis in Montreal.

  We often think of the men making their way over the Chilkoot Pass and down to the scrambling city of Dawson, but at least a thousand women (about one out of every ten stampeders) and some children took that same trek. A very small percentage of those women might have been relatively hardened travellers, but the majority would have been faced with an unimaginable challenge. Liza never intended to go to the Yukon. Leaving her comfortable life in Vancouver was the furthest thing from her mind. From the first sentence I saw myself in her, and it was inspiring for me to witness her growing from a quiet, refined young lady to a woman of business who knew what she wanted and went for it.

  In addition to all the other challenges of the Trail, women in 1898 also had to contend with the repressive social customs of the late Victorian age. Liza wasn’t the only one to trade in her corset, skirts, bloomers, and leg-of-mutton sleeves for men’s clothes, and some women even pretended to be men in order to avoid unwanted attention. The women came for all different reasons and they had limited skills, but they had dreams that needed to be paid for. Yes, there were dance hall girls and prostitutes, but there were also female prospectors, hotel owners, photographers, saloon owners, and more like Belinda Mulrooney. Some came to find adventure and gold, some came to find a husband, and some continued to raise their children in a world unlike anywhere else on earth.

  One of my favourite stories is about seventy-six-year-old “Barbara,” who never gave her last name when she arrived in Skagway and applied for a job as a newspaper seller. She told the boss that “all my life I’ve wondered what it would be like to go out among complete strangers and make my own way. I always wanted to try it and never got the chance. When the chance came I took it. And here I am!” Probably out of sympathy for the tiny woman, the boss gave her the job, and she amazed them all by becoming the top paper-seller in the town. When she made enough money, she paid two dollars for a piano box, where she lived for six months. She returned to her daughter in Seattle for the summer, but only after making the boss promise her job would still be open for her the following spring and the piano box would still be hers.

  Another major character in the Dawson City adventure was Father William Judge, and though he didn’t make it into the final novel, he has stayed with me. A slight man with fragile health and dogged determination, Judge—also known as the Saint of Dawson City—drove his one-dog sled, loaded with medical supplies and food, through fifty miles of deep snow between Fortymile and Dawson in March 1897. He adopted the town as his parish, ran a small hospital in a tent, and later built a church. In my research I came across this quote by him, which I think perfectly encapsulates the gold fever that burned in so many prospectors: “One would think that gold is the one thing necessary for happiness in time and eternity to see the way in which men seek it even in these frozen regions, and how they are willing to sacrifice soul and body to get it.”

  But if one was to truly look for the heroes of the Klondike, I would suggest they start with the Mounties. Imagine these young men, paid only a dollar a day, battling –60 °C temperatures under a continuous bombardment of snow and threat of death, not for fame and fortune, but for the honour of serving the people. Everything I read and learned about the Mounties in my research only confirmed and built upon the respect I have for these heroes of both yesterday and today.

  I feel incredibly blessed to do what I do. I never planned to be an author, and I never thought I’d ever have any interest in history, let alone ours. But writing has become my life, and I couldn’t be happier. There are so many important
stories in our past, and I plan to get to the core of as many as I can. I love to travel back in time and breathe life back into Canadian history, and I want to bring you with me.

  Acknowledgements

  An epic adventure story requires an epic list of sources, and I’d like to publicly thank some of them here—I hope I’m not forgetting anyone, but sometimes the information comes so fast and furious I forget to write sources down.

  First of all, I would like to thank Assistant Commissioner of the RCMP, Commanding Officer Brian Brennan for his invaluable personal and professional input on the final manuscript. I am so honoured by his praise for the book. Along the way he connected me to retired RCMP Corporal Tim Popp, who filled my head and inbox with the most wonderful facts about the early Mounties. Without these two men, I couldn’t possibly have included such an in-depth look into Constable Ben Turner. I would also like to thank Tom Long (Fort Edmonton Park), Kristine Nygren and Erica Tsui (Fort Heritage Precinct, Fort Saskatchewan), and Ashley Hardwick (Collections Manager: The Fort Museum of the NWMP) for helping me with my research into the NWMP.

  For insight into the Klondike and Dawson City, thank you to the very patient Dylan Meyerhoffer (Collections Specialist: Parks Canada Agency), Alex Somerville (Executive Director: Dawson City Museum), Eilysh Zurock (Archive Assistant: Klondike History Library), Vivian Belik (Reference Assistant: Yukon Archives), Angharad Wenz (Curator: Dawson City Museum), and BC Archives. Thank you also to Charlotte Gray for her excellent work in The Promise of Canada, and of course to the late, great Pierre Berton.

  For research on the Frank Slide, huge thanks to Joey Ambrosi (Interpretation-Education Officer: Frank Slide Interpretive Centre) and the amazing Monica Field (Manager: Frank Slide Interpretive Centre). Their Interpretive Centre is a fascinating experience, and I would love to go again any time.

  When George and Liza were on their way towards Lake Lindeman and were discussing photography, I needed to understand what that entailed in 1898. So I reached out to the very professional and enthusiastic Kevin Murray of www.historiccamera.com and got a terrific lesson on the Kodak of the day. Thank you, Kevin!

  Again, thank you to Leah Belter and her daughter, Christine Watson, for leaving my husband’s family reunion just so you could drive the forty-five minutes home and back with your personal scrapbook of your family’s journey along the Chilkoot Trail. What an incredible experience!

  The scariest part of writing is submitting a manuscript. No matter how many books I’ve written, I still find that to be the most intimidating part. But from the very beginning of my partnership with them, the team at Simon & Schuster Canada has been incredible, and I’d like to thank my friend and mentor, Susanna Kearsley, for introducing me to them. Also for all the time she spent with me online, on the plane, in the hotels, in the restaurants, in the local fish & chips place, on the beach, in my backyard with Murphy and the chickens, and sharing her wonderfully practical and eye-opening lessons. You are teaching me how to make my dreams come true, my friend! I value every minute I spend with you. Thank you for your generosity, warmth, and support.

  Now back to the team at Simon & Schuster Canada, who are encouraging and determined, who always have my back, and who are always looking forward. I am so honoured and proud to be in your amazing stable of authors! I promise to fill the shelves with more Canadian historical fiction for as long as you’ll have me. Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada’s fearless leader, President Kevin Hanson, thank you to the gracious and insightful VP Editorial Director, Nita Provonost, and Senior Editor Laurie Grassi, thank you to my busy, busy babysitter, Associate Director of Publicity Rita Silva, thank you to smiling Sales Rep extraordinaire Sherry Lee, thank you to my Promo Queen, Jacquelynne Lennard, and thank you to anyone I carelessly forgot to put on this list.

  But there is no one I want to thank more than my guardian angel, my editor, and my friend, Simon & Schuster Canada’s editor Sarah St. Pierre. She sees through my often-overwhelming explosions of words and ideas and brilliantly helps me see what I was actually talking about before I got lost, she picks me up when I throw myself on the floor in a self-defeating tantrum, she unabashedly shares my incredible taste in superhero movie versions of my characters (Max = Rudi, Henry = Ben), she holds me in place when new ideas are spinning in ever-expanding circles in my head, and she inspires my wanderlust with her fantastic Instagram travels. So much brilliance and talent and insight in one sweet, smiling woman. Thank you, Sarah.

  To my agent, Jacques de Spoelberch, thank you for your tireless efforts on my behalf. I was elated when you took me on back in 2010 (I have your contract framed in my office) and I continue to be honoured by your belief in me and by your representation. I aim to make you proud and keep you busy!

  Thank you to my mom, Jane, and her dear husband, Don, for letting me hang out at your place and borrow “the G” when we came for my extended museum tour. I wish I’d remembered to take a picture of the bearskin coat. Mom, the love and encouragement you gave me throughout my life helped me believe I could actually do this author thing, and look at me now!

  The support of family is everything to a writer, and I’m fortunate to always be able to count on mine. We’re empty nesters now, so I don’t see our girls nearly as often as I would like, but when I do they are subjected to my latest book updates (probably repeated many times), my occasional staring off into the distance (inspiration often strikes at the most inopportune times), and both my frustrations and exaltations, and they actually encourage me to do more of all of the above around them. Emily and Piper, I love you with all my heart. You make me proud every day.

  I should probably admit right here that while I’m writing a book I fall head over heels in love with every one of my lead male characters. Like . . . maybe to the point of obsession. Early on in the process I see an actor somewhere whose presence fits perfectly with my character’s and I end up watching hours and hours of movies and/or TV shows featuring that actor. Henry Cavill, for me, became Ben Turner right away. My husband doesn’t mind my crushes, and he patiently watches the movies with me—he actually enjoys most of them, I think—because he knows he’s the only real lead in my life. He’s also one of my go-to research experts. Danny, Rudi, Connor, and Ben are wonderful, heroic men, and that’s because they all have some of my husband’s traits, and often they share aspects of his past. Those men are made so real because of Dwayne’s willingness to participate in my impromptu interrogations.

  I couldn’t do what I do without Dwayne’s unwavering support, encouragement, and patience. And cooking. And laughter. And love.

  Last, but never least, thank you to everyone out there who has chosen to invest both precious money and time on one or more of my books. When you write a review online, I am truly grateful, and when you send me a personal note, I am often moved to tears. As I’ve said so many times, I feel incredibly fortunate to do what I do, and I love that I have the opportunity to tell Canada’s stories. But knowing you’re out there, patiently waiting for the next installment, telling your friends about my books, well, it is humbling and beyond wonderful. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

  About the Author

  © JANICE BRAY

  GENEVIEVE GRAHAM is the bestselling author of Tides of Honour, Promises to Keep, and Come from Away. She is passionate about breathing life back into Canadian history through tales of love and adventure. She lives near Halifax, Nova Scotia.

  GenevieveGraham.com

  @GenGrahamAuthor

  SimonandSchuster.ca

  Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Genevieve-Graham

  @SimonSchusterCA

  ALSO BY GENEVIEVE GRAHAM

  Come from Away

  Promises to Keep

  Tides of Honour

  Under the Same Sky

  Sound of the Heart

  Somewhere to Dream

  Simon & Schuster Canada

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2019 by Genevieve Graham

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Simon & Schuster Canada Subsidiary Rights Department, 166 King Street East, Suite 300, Toronto, Ontario M5A 1J3.

  This Simon & Schuster Canada edition April 2019

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  Cover design by Elizabeth Whitehead & Jessica L. Boudreau

  Photograph of Mountie © Grant Faint/Getty Images

  Photograph of Woman © Rekha Arcangel/Arcangel

  Photograph of Mountains © Chris JG White/Shutterstock

  Photograph of Sky © Evannovostro/Shutterstock

  Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

  Graham, Genevieve, author

  At the mountain’s edge / Genevieve Graham.

  Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-1-5011-9339-2 (softcover).—ISBN 978-1-5011-9340-8 (ebook)

  I. Title.

  PS8613.R3434A93 2019 C813’.6 C2018-905209-0 C2018-905210-4

  ISBN 978-1-5011-9339-2

  ISBN 978-1-5011-9340-8 (ebook)