Wells so far, go
May 23rd, 2016
Martin J. Wells’ fourth title, North Shore Story (Vancouver: Blue Crab Books 2016), is a literary and industrial history of the three civic areas that make up the North Shore of Burrard Inlet, including Moodyville, Lonsdale and Lynn Valley. Previously he has profiled pioneer engineer Byron Riblet in Tramway Titan: Byron Riblet, Wire Rope and Western Resource Towns (Trafford, 2006, $35), an illustrated, 340-page volume that primarily celebrates Riblet’s work building tramways near mining communities around British Columbia. After constructing dams and street railways, Riblet came to the Kootenays where he began building tramways with cable link (wire rope), eventually building a twelve-mile link near Stewart, B.C. He later built longer systems in the U.S. and the Andes. Steam to the Cariboo (Vancouver: Cordillera Books 2007) recalls the Cariboo Gold Rush, recounting the perils and problems of the pioneer goldseekers as they travelled by steamboats, camels, and steam road tractors to make the 500-mile journey from New Westminster to Barkerville. Characters include Billy Barker, Mathew Begbie and Gustavus Bin Wright. Coal Harbour, the body of water that divides Stanley Park from the downtown core of Vancouver, stretching from the foot of Granville Street to Brockton Point, was the commercial hub of Vancouver and the first location of European habitation in the area. At the suggestion of Bert Bensen of Benson Brothers Shipyard, Martin J. Wells has produced Coal Harbour Recollections (Cordillera 2009), an historical overview. $26.95 978-1-895590-37-1
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