Man and the North Shore : a study in environmental response

“What I have tried to do in this and in all my writing on the early days of this country is what the artist does when he paints a sketch of a Canadian scene or a Canadian person. I have tried to select something that is beautiful or significant or interesting or essential to an understanding of ourselves. I have tried to tell the stories of personalities, men and women who have by their human qualities, aspirations, and activities, given substance to our history, whose loves and hates and fears and achievements have been woven into the very fabric of our Canadian consciousness. I have tried to say, as the painter says, ‘here is something I think you would like to know,’ ‘here is something that has significance’ or ‘here is something that may evoke your love or pride or indignation I as the case may be.” (IO:x) This, in very simple terms, has been my aim here - to paint a picture, or rather a series of pictures of the North Shore, past and present, from the viewpoint of the human geographer. I make no claim to be a historian, nor to have encompassed the full range of material available. Rather, I have selected from the accounts of yesteryear certain aspects which have an attraction for me personally, in the hope that these might also be of interest to others. In brief, I have attempted to write an academic treatise which will yet prove acceptable to the ‘reading public.‘ [...]f