“My Soul Lives in these Mountains: A Collection of Stories, Poems and Paintings of the Chilliwack Cascades — Land of the Ts’elxwéyeqw” By Peter D. Scott
– A Book Review by Ron Dart, a member of the Chilliwack Outdoor Club –
Many are the books that describe a variety of hikes, climbs, scrambles and off path treks in BC but rare is the book that deals with an in depth reflection on a specific region in BC—such is the compelling attraction of this book, the subtitle the map of the book: “A Collection of Stories, Poems, & Paintings of the Chilliwack Cascades”. Those who live in the area and have done most of the hikes and climbs, as I have, certainly understand how our souls could live in such mountains.
I was fortunate to chat with Peter Scott before writing this review; more background and history of the book are not included in this generous overview of significant years of life spent in the Chilliwack Cascades. The combination of “Stories” that cover a multitude of 1st Nations myths, Scott’s formative years in the Chilliwack Cascades and the 1978-1979 combination of Chilliwack Search and Rescue-RCMP project to discover old trails and build new ones, Scott, the project manager, told in exquisite short chapter reading details, made for an immersion in local mountain life. The short biography speaks much: “Peter Scott was born in Chilliwack in 1956 and raised in Sardis. He grew up in the shadow of the Chilliwack Cascade Mountains, where he spent much of his youth hiking, camping, sketching and painting”. Needless to say, Peter writes of what he intimately knows. Chilliwack-Sardis today is not the small town it once was, but the mountains and lure of them remain the same (for a new generation).
The 36 chapters in My Soul Lives in these Mountains combine a series of linked stories, poems and paintings that make this book a finely threaded together collection of geology, history, amusing treks taken, research done as part of the larger project for Chilliwack Search and Rescue-RCMP, and a valuable telling of the 3 fatal airplane crashes in the area. Many are the tales told of meetings with a diversity of wildlife, old trapper cabins, mines and long, lingering nights under the lamps of the night. Each chapter (mostly short) fills in many an often unknown part of the history of the mountains from a variety of angles (both geologic and human interaction). The short poems that are often coupled with must-read chapters sum up, in sensitive depth, a way of seeing such mountain life in the Chilliwack Cascade Mountains.
The obvious keeper in My Soul Lives in these Mountains is the generous paintings done by Peter of the Cascade Mountains: Cheam Range, Border Peaks, Four Sisters, Lady Peak, Mount Tomyhoi, The Still, Lucky Four, McGuire, Isolation, MacFarlane, Rexford, Williams, Liumchen, Slesse, Webb, Red Mountain and many others including Chilliwack-Cultus Lake (many myths worth the reading about in both lakes) Peter, rightly so, gives the nod to Neil Grainger, who hired him to be the project manager and Grainger’s mountain project that birthed the compact beauty of a book, The Mountain Project. I remember, with much fondness, meeting with Neil and Jack Bryceland (who shaped 103 Hikes in Southwestern British Columbia through many editions) a couple pf decades ago to discuss his vision to link the naming of the peaks in the area with men killed in WWII. The paintings done by Peter are, in many ways, a book in and of themselves, so much spoken in the visual voice.
Peter studied Art at UBC, and he gives his respected nod to those who have shaped and inspired him, such as Emily Carr, Bill Reid, Toni Onley, Robert Genn, Don MacIntosh and Gordon Appelbe Smith (UBC artistic mentors). Peter also studied in 1983 at the Emily Carr School of Art and Design on Granville Island. It is quite evident, when sitting with Peter’s paintings, to see the obvious impact of such guides in his unique, dramatic and dynamic approach to mountain sketches and paintings.
Scott also notes his decision, for a variety of reasons, to move to Quesnel to teach for 30 years, with historic family connections in the area. I was taken by some of his chapters on Quesnel, Wells, Bowron Lakes and Barkerville as I have spent some splendid time in the area. The small town of Wells hosts an annual Arts School where my wife regularly attends harp classes, where some of the finest harpists converge for a week. It was at the Wells Arts School that Peter took Art classes with Robert Genn. I was in Wells a few weeks ago with my wife for a harp class, visited the Museum there and found a collector’s item film, “1939 BC Ski Championships”. Wells was the centre of ski jumping in the 1930s. But, to the review again.
Peter brings his evocative book to an end with aspects of 1st Nations wisdom, his relationships and relatives via intermarriage, although Peter does not come from a 1st Nations family. But such broader connections do inform his poetry, painting and ways of how to interpret mountain life and its impact on history and communities as they live through the various seasons of the journey.
My Soul Lives in these Mountains is a beauty of a book that integrates various approaches to the Chilliwack Cascade Mountains: 1) myths of the mountains, 2) telling historic tales often not known of the mountains, 3) personal and confessional life and immersion in mountain life, 4) history of significant BC painters and their impact on Peter’s unique painting style, 5) photographs that aptly tell the unfolding story, 6) significant 1st Nations myths and intermarriage support and reasons why Peter’s soul does live in such mountains. Needless to say, such a soul life, when duly understood, does beckon others to see how their soul might be enriched and deepened by hearing such a call and summons.
This is a must-have book for those interested in the layered life of the Chilliwack Cascade Mountains and its perennial appeal.
montani semper liberi,
Ron Dart
-Ron Dart is a member of the Chilliwack Outdoor Club.
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