British Columbia is truly a land of beauty. A beauty that tugs at the heartstrings and delights the soul. It is a land of towering mountains, wild rivers, sparkling lakes, and vast forests. The far north has been called the Serengeti of North America. The Central Interior that lies west along the Rocky Mountains has, in fact, one of the world’s outstanding topographical and geological features, called The Rocky Mountain Trench. It stretches over one thousand miles, from Flathead Lake in Montana to the Yukon border, and is the longest gash in the surface of the North American continent.

This book is dedicated to past, present, and future residents of Central and Northern British Columbia, and to those who are interested in this wild land, west of the Rocky Mountains. It is a book about the enthusiasm, optimism, courage, and determination shown by explorers in their attempts to complete their quest to reach the Pacific Coast. It's about fur traders, trappers, settlers, and prospectors. This book includes little known historical facts, and presents images of human courage and resilience. It will be of interest to all those readers who look for 'human-interest' stories. It is Helen's hope that this book may serve as a compendium to school history books.