Gordon Tolton publishes 'Healy's West: The Life and Times of John J. Healy'

Detail from front cover

Toni Lucas

Gordon Tolton recently published his latest book, 'Healy's West: The Life and Times of John J. Healy'. The original book launch was held at Fort Whoop-up on July 19. "That tells you how new this is, the ink still running off the books," said Tolton, who felt that the fort was an appropriate place to have the launch, as Healy "Was the builder of Fort Whoop-up.

Healy was a contemorary of the old west era, late 1800's. He had a 50 year carreer that spanned the American and Canadian sides of the west, across both boundaries." Tolton explained that Healy was a multi-faceted character that in his career was a soldier, a trapper, a prospector, a free trader, an explorer, a horse dealer, a scout, a lawman, a newspaper editor, a speculator, a merchant, a capitalist, a historian, and a politician, and was a strongly influential figure. "People don't realize that the Whoop-up Trail brought the original cattle in, the original farm machinery, and farmers. Fort Whoop-up was selling hay to the mounted police when they got there."

"I've been with Fort Whoop up in various capacities for over 20 years, and Healy has always facinated me," said Tolton. "I think in 1990's I opened a book called 'The Pirates and Outlaws of Canada' and it had a chapter called 'The Outlaws of Whoop-up. I saw in this book that the mounted police were very fortunate in that they got to tell their own story, and presenting themselves as the knights in scarlet." Some of the depiction did not ring true with Tolton. "Healy was here for a reason. He was here for trade, but the Blackfoot would never have allowed him here if they didn't want that trade."

"I really wanted to get into the heart and soul of the man, and who he was. I didn't want to present a villain, and I didn't want to present a hero, I wanted to present a person of the whole, and in that case I had to look at his life as a whole." To do this, he looked a Healy's own writings, histories that were previously published, or collected,  including two unpublished works collected by Virginia Burlingame and Tappan Adney. "I've been digging through more books than I care to admit, and I'm still not sure I have it all."

Some of Tolton's books include:

• Healy's West: The Life and Times of John J. Healy
• The Cowboy Cavalry: The Story of the Rocky Mountain Rangers
• Prairie Warships: River Navigation in the Northwest Rebellion
• Buffalo Legacy
• Deep Roots, Promising Future: Centennial History of the UFA

Author Gordon Tolton
C. Davis photo

Tolton says that his new book can be found at Amazon and Chapters Indigo as well as museum gift stores. He has plans to hold a book signing at Lethbridge Chapters on October 4, 2014 and another book signing at Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village on May 21, 2015. 

Related story:  Gordon Tolton books showcase pioneer times in Alberta history