Which brings me to the next dilemma? How to end this entry? Again, at the Province, I would have written something like, “the curtain finally fell on Iggy’s pop concert as he headed off into the sunset, bound for Kamloops, the tournament capital of Canada.”

But I think I’ll resist the temptation and just say both the diary and the George Munro Grant poster are part of the Yale Museum’s collection now and maybe you oughtta drop by and see why people keep on coming back to Yale year after year…

The Liberal bus pulls in and here comes Ignatieff, moving through the crowd, smiling, shaking hands. He sees the poster of George Munro Grant and makes a beeline for it. He has his picture taken next to it. Pretty soon, people are lining up to have their pictures taken with Ignatieff and his ancestor’s image.

During his speech to the crowd, Ignatieff put aside politics and instead read entries from his great-grandfather’s diary written during his stay in Yale. And like his ancestor, Ignatieff knew that this is a special place.

“Yale is a place that looks like a church without a roof.. it is so beautiful, here there is a sense that you are free , a sense that you can have a good life here, these things are universal.”

It’s a heartfelt speech. Adamson joins Ignatieff at the presentation of the diary to Bronwyn Punch, president of the Yale Historical Society, along with a copy of the book Ocean to Ocean. After a tour of the museum, all too soon, he’s back on the bus and headed for Kamloops.

So, what’s all this got to do with Ignatieff?

In the 138 years since Grant’s visit to Yale, lots has changed — including Yale itself. It is not the boisterous boomtown of nearly 10,000 people it once was. But the sense of history, the sense that this is a very special, very important place, has not. It’s evident in the crowd of committed peopole who are here: Sue Baerg and others from the Yale and District Historical Society, Tanya Lee Jones of the Yale and District Ratepayers Association, Jennifer Iredale from the B.C. Heritage Branch and people from all over who have been drawn here. The basket-making workshop is in full swing in the upper field.

There’s also a healthy contingent from New Pathways: Dr. Dan Marshall of UVic, NPTGS’ Universities caucus chair and co-host of the Canyon War documentary moves among a crowd that includes B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner. Close behind are Gord Rattray, NPTGS executive director and NPTGS co-chair Terry Raymond.

But none of us would be here today were it not for Dennis Adamson, the FVRD director who has organized the event and got Ignatieff to come in the first place. Dennis was at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention in Toronto when he met Ignatieff. The Liberal leader heard Adamson was from Yale and started telling Dennis all about George Munro Grant.

Now why would he do that?

Well, Iggy’s full name is Michael Grant Ignatieff, and George Munro Grant was his great-grandfather.

So, Dennis asked him to come to Yale and donate a copy of his great-granddad’s diary to the Yale Museum. Ignatieff agreed and, well, now it’s time to add a little bit more history to the place…

(August 22, Yale, B.C.)

If I was still writing for the Province newspaper, the gold old tabloid in its glory days of chasing pitbulls and ambulances, it would have been easy to write the lede for this blog entry.

After all, here we are at the Yale Historic Site on a pleasant Sunday afternoon, with lots of folks listening to the musicians playing popular music, checking out the exhibits in the museum and the Living History tents and enjoying a barbequed hotdog and a bevvie in anticipation of a visit from Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff.

So, if this was the Province, it would be a cinch. “They packed the Yale Historic site on Sunday for Iggy’s pop concert.” Fortunately this isn’t the Tab, but it still leaves me with the problem of how to begin to describe a very special day: “George Monro Grant Day.”

Probably by asking a question: Why would the federal Liberal Leader, leader of the Opposition, swing his summer barbeque circuit bus up the Fraser Canyon to this tiny (but historically significant) community? Historic is the key word here, because Ignatieff has a personal historic link to this special place.

I have lots of time to reflect on this link as I stand in front of the General Store tent in my Simon Fraser costume (loaned courtesy of the Friends of Fort Langley, thanks), minding the New Pathways to Gold Society table stacked with brochures on the Heritage Trails projects, our “2020 Vision” heritage development document and DVDs of the Canyon War: The Untold Story documentary. We’re flanked by pop-up posters, one of which is a near-life-sized portrait of George Munro Grant himself (and thanks to Queen’s University Archives and the folks at Allegra printing in New West for making it happen). The tent, by the way, is part of the Yale: A Living History exhibit on display at the site, which puts you back in time to the gold rush of 1858.

The gold rush was long gone by the time Sir Sanford Fleming, who was surveying the route for the Canadian Pacific Railway, came through town in October 1872. Fleming’s secretary was his life-long friend, George Monro Grant, a Nova Scotian clergyman and educator who had been instrumental in getting his reluctant province to join Confederation in 1867.

Grant and Fleming’s journey was an epic, starting in Halifax and ending thousands of kilometres later on the West Coast. During the trip, Grant kept a detailed diary which would become the basis of his book Ocean to Ocean, credited for inspiring many Easterners to move west. Yale, of course, would become the headquarters for the Canadian Pacific Railroad during the construction of the National Dream.

Cottonwood House is a first class heritage facility near Quesnel

Stephen should really be running this program. We zoomed up to Hell’s Gate where Debbie McKinney stamped Stephen’s passport and told us the passports delivered the day before were already flying off the counter. Then it was on to Yale and the museum and, of course, the church. Now, the next site in the passport document is Hill’s Bar and since it’s on the other side of the Fraser River, I suggested we simply stop at the side of the road and I would stamp Stephen’s passport. “Oh, we can find a better place than that,” he said, and before you know it, he’s carrying a box of passports into the Hope River General Store, where Kathy Hope not only agrees to take part but tells us some wonderful things about the store, the adjacent campsite and her plans, generally. By the time I pull into the parking lot of the Hope Visitor Centre & Museum complex, I’m wondering how many more stamp sites Stephen’s going to find between here and Tsawwassen, where I have to drop him off to catch a ferry back home. Inge Wilson of Hope takes delivery and with the last stamp in place, Stephen has become the first to complete Route One. As we drive to the ferry, we muse on how relatively fast and easy a journey we’ve had. After all, it’s taken us just two days and a bit to travel the road to Barkerville and back, something that in 1869 would have taken a traveller a couple of months (depending on his conveyance).  We also marvel at the overwhelmingly positive response to the Chasing the Golden Butterfly program. Folks just seem to connect with it. It all bodes well. I cannot thank Stephen enough as I say good-bye at the ferry terminal. He’s soon going on vacation and who knows? He might just do Routes Two and Three this summer…

Stephen at the Stanley graveyard

(SISKA FLATS) It’s pitch black, which is saying something because this is one of the longest days of the year. It feels like one of the longest days in my life — in a good way. One thing you have to know about travelling with Stephen is that he rises early, hits the road in a hurry and doesn’t seem to have an off switch. That’s why we’re here, parked in the dark by Siska Flats, searching for our one remaining stamp to mark his passport. We’ve given the others (all butterfly stamps, of course) away along the route. It all started in Quesnel, where we dropped off the documents at the wonderful Visitor Centre-Museum complex and, of course, got Stephen’s passport stamped. After that, it became a bit of a blur — we stopped at Cottonwood House Historic site and were given a grand tour of this incredibly well-preserved road house and grounds. We made it to Wells and Barkerville and then we used our GPS to find Stanley, where we found ourselves standing at the head of a 21-kilometre section of virtually intact Cariboo Waggon Road.

After that, we used the GPS to find a few more of the sites where there aren’t many visible remains, like Wingdam and Beaver Pass House for instance. Then we bombed down the highway and Stephen decided that 70 Mile needed a stamp site, so we went into the 70 Mile Motel and Corral Restaurant where Joan Zelmer graciously agreed to take on the job. And we just kept going, what with Stephen bent on getting his passport stamped at every opportunity, and so down through Ashcroft, Spences Bridge and Lytton until we hit Siska Flats, where the histroic (but little-known) meeting between Chief Spintlum and Captain Snyder took place in 1858, ending the short but bloody Canyon War. By that time it was getting late and Stephen agreed we should overnight in Hope — but only if we went back up to Hell’s Gate in the morning. “I have to have a Hell’s Gate stamp in my passport,” he insisted. I was so tired that I refrained from making by usual remark that, beyond Hope is Hell’s Gate. There’s be plenty of time in the morning…

(QUESNEL) It’s late by the time we finally get to Quesnel, check into our motel and grab a bite of dinner. It’s been a very long day and we’ve covered a lot of ground. Stephen is just as chipper and loquacious as when I picked him up at the ferry terminal – when was that? Seems a very long time ago, but it was just this morning. That was quite a trip. Tomorrow’s agenda is just as ambitious – Quesnel to Barkerville then all the way to Hope. Better get some shut-eye…

Soda Creek elder Ralph Phillips stamps
Stephen’s passport at Xatsu’ll village

(XATSU’LL HERITAGE VILLAGE)  The sun’s setting and the smoke from the camp fire is drifting up into a cloudless sky as we walk up to Ralph Phillips, who has been patiently waiting for us (we’re about an hour late). The smoke is a good thing – keeps the mosquitoes off. This is a great site – pithouses and traditional shelters mixing with a few teepees that have been added for dramatic effect. Ralph speaks about the importance of sharing the stories of this place to visitors. It is tempting to stay here and talk into the night, but we have one more stop a long way down the road – Quesnel.

The 108 gang stamping Stephen’s
passport on the porch

(108 MILE HERITAGE SITE) Sun’s out in full, sparkling off the lake and it’s as warm as that Cariboo welcome we’re getting from Mary Ann Rutledge and the rest of the heritage society that have made this a premier attraction. From the house and store to the brand new church, it’s a marvelous place to visit. We’re lingering a bit here, reluctant to leave. But we gotta press on – next stop, Soda Creek and Xatsu’ll.

Stephen at the 100 Mile post

(100 MILE HOUSE) The media was waiting for us up here – 100 Mile Free Press snapped Stephen’s picture right at the cairn beside the Visitor Centre as he was getting his passport stamped. It’s hard traveling with a celebrity like this. But hey, the sun is shining and 100 Mile looks pretty in the late afternoon-early evening as we saddle up and head out for the next stop on the fun-filled agenda – 108 Mile Heritage site, just up the road…