Canada, the Land and the People

324 CANADA, LAND AND PEOPLE IV. CANADA, THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE I. M. S. Careless This section has had quite a good year. Its books give fuller representation to the varied regions of Canada than those of the year before. There also seem to be more volumes of lasting value, fewer mere tourist handbooks-"From here we take Highway 37 ·to the charming little village of Catchascatchcan." There is a handsome new collection of French-Canadian folklore, for example. There are three more excellent Pioneer Books, in that series which seeks to print or re-publish some of the more interesting and relatively unavailable writings on early life in the country. And, in particular, Saskatchewan's Golden Jubilee as a province has stimulated the production of a number of good regional works. Indeed, one might wish for more anniversary celebrations in Canada, if they were all as thoughtfully handIed as this one, with its emphasis on recalling the past roots of the community. Alberta held a similar jubilee, but apparently was more interested in the oil-golden present: at any rate, nothing comparable to Saskatchewan 's historical outpourings has come to hand. (The reader is referred to p. 356 for a comment on two other productions inspired by these jubilees.) To give Saskatchewan the pride of place it deserves, one might begin with Jim Wright's Saskatchewan: The History of a Province (McClelland & Stewart, xiv, 292 pp., $5.00), commissioned by the provincial Golden Jubilee Committee as part of its well-considered programme for commemoration. This is a lucid and comprehensive general study, admirably designed and illustrated. If it is not particularly interpretative, it is satisfyingly factual; if it omits the scholarly trappings of footnotes, it has the ring of authenticity and sound research about it. The book begins as it should with a graphic exposition of the environment , and never loses sight of the soil and weather so significant to an agrarian community. Nor does it forget the national and inter~ national developments quite as important to this region of primary producers and world ·traders. The chapters of history since the coming of provincial statns in 1905 are the most valuable. One might wish that there were nine other such provincial histories across Canada. Another worthy product of public sponsorship is Regina, the Queen City, by Earl G. Drake (McClelland & Stewart, xii, 260 pp., $5.00), financed by the citizens of Regina. It traces the history of their municipality from buffalo pound to provincial capital, with meticulous detail and convincing characterization of the community throughout. Mr. LETTERS IN CANADA, 1955 325 Drake has written a scholarly, well-organized account, almost a model of municipal history, and has had it well illustrated with contemporary photographs. He delineates Regina's struggles to grow in the face of no evident advantages-it was founded on an arbitrarily choseu spot on the bald prairie; in its favour was only its political headship, first of the Northwest Territories and then of the province of Saskatchewan. He does not fail to notice the lack of municipal planning by early city fathers chiefly interested in real estate profits, or the somewhat narrow and self-righteous atmosphere of Regina's emerging society: again this is a model of Canadian civic history in more than one sense. Yet he equally displays a deserved pride in the final urban product, far better than might have been expected, a solidly based, increasingly attractive western "Queen city," virtually transformed by human endeavour from a map·reference in 1882 to the home of 78,000 people in 1954. Smaller .in scale, but similar in purpose ·to trus civic history, are Golden JUbilee booklets recording the past of such Saskatchewan communities as Yorkton, Nokomis, Melfort, North Battieford and the Assiniboia District: respectively, Ox Trails to Highways by H. Swallow (Yorkton Jubilee Committee, 111 pp., ·illus., $2.00), Nokomis, the Junction Town, by Edythe Humphrey (Nokomis, Wreford Homemakers Club, vi, 45 pp., illus., 85¢), Voices of the Past (Melfort and District Jubilee Committee, 138 pp., illus., $1.25), Skyline (North Battieford Jubilee Committee, 84 pp., illus., $1.00), and Golden Memories (Assiniboia Jubilee Committee, 88 pp., illus., $1.00). These are humbler, more...