Weather

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Prairie Grass to Mountain Pass history book unveiled at gala


Author/Curator Farley S. Wuth with 'Prairie Grass to Mountain Pass"
T. Lucas photos
Toni Lucas

Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village (KBPV) in Pincher Creek was the site of a gala book launch on Wednesday, May 29, 2013. After five years of collecting data to update the original local history book, 'Prairie Grass to Mountain Pass'  was presented to the public. There was guest speakers, a reading from the new book, live auction, entertainment and a book signing during the reception.


Pincher Creek and District Historical Society (PCDHS) President Colleen Casey-Cyr acted as the Master of Ceremonies. She introduced Municipal District of Pincher Creek Reeve Bjorn Berg to the sizeable crowd. Berg talked about the pride and care this area has regarding the local history. He said Pincher Creek's history is young, yet it is being captured and preserved for the future.

Deputy Reeve Rod Cyr, Reeve Bjorn Berg, Fred Bradley
Next up, Chairman of the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation Fred Bradley (former Pincher Creek-Crowsnest MLA and Minster of the Environment) talked about the difficulty and importance of making a book like this, and getting the historical records accurate and out to the public.

This updated edition of Prairie Grass to Mountain Pass has been a labour of love and some frustration for KBPV Curator Farley S. Wuth, who has been working on the edition for five years. He thanked everyone involved that helped to make this a reality. Wuth then read one of the histories from the book, about early pioneer William Samuel Lee who was instrumental in the naming of Pincher Creek.  Wuth received a standing ovation from the crowd.

Frank Jenkins
Frank Jenkins from Southern Alberta Livestock Exchange ran the auction with humour and panache. The first item was a copy of the earlier edition of Prairie Grass to Mountain Pass.

Dawn Lundberg from Champion bought the 1970's edition for $200.  Jim and Carolyn Bester purchased an original piece of artwork by actress Niamh Wilson for $85.00.

Then the auction for the first of the new edition started. "This will definitely become a family heirloom," said Jenkins, suggesting that a fair price would be a buck a page for the 984 page volume. The pace of bidding was fast and soon there was only room for serious bidders. Two Cyr families vied for the right to own the book as the price climbed. Rod Cyr won out over Francis Cyr, purchasing the book for a whopping $1,200. In total the auction made $1,485 for the benefit of the PCDHS.

"This is substantially more that most auctions for the first copy of local history books," said Wuth afterward.

A Capella group Southern Accord Chorus provided live musical entertainment and were very well received by the crowd.  It seems certain they will be invited back to Pincher Creek soon, a town that they discovered (and therefore discovered them) when they booked the Bloomin' Inn for a retreat.

Southern Accord Chorus
The book signing and the reception afterward allowed people to mix, mingle and enjoy the fact that they now held their own copy of the long awaited tome.

The book itself is a thing of beauty, a large well-bound volume that is generously illustrated with photographs supplied by the families who's stories it tells and from the extensive KBPV archives.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous30/5/13

    Congratulations Farley and the PC Historical Society! Long time coming but well worth the wait!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is great to have a book about the history of Pincher Creek and area. I will defiently have to pick up a copy. Great job Farley and the PC historical society.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My great grandfather William Henry Nickerson is mentioned in this book, would love to get hold of a copy

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to comment. Comments are moderated before being published. Please be civil.

Infinite Scroll