E-Books, Anyone?

I was given a Kindle for Christmas and have begun learning how to use it. I’ve been practicing on free ebooks from Gutenberg, which familiarizes me with how to use the thing, as well as getting to read some of the classics or even not-so-classic old books.

It got me thinking of doing an e-book on the Rideau. This at least has the merit (for me) of not involving printers) and lugging boxes of books around. Perhaps an historical fiction, based on real characters and real situations. Lots of examples out there and lots of free software to make it work.  I already have a few pages done and they work well (technically, not necessarily as great literature – no doubt that will come ) – yeah, right!

Onward and upward! Bastardi non carborumdum!

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Going E-pubbing!

Himself !!!

Well, I’ve started looking into the possibilities of converting some of my books into electronic formats that could be read on Kindles, Nooks, Kobo, iPads, and so on. There is a wealth of software (mostly free) out there – how to decide between the freebies and the paid programs. I have the impression that the free stuff is often “good enough”, but I’m not sure.

I guess what I will have to do is try converting something small and seeing what the experience is like from the production side. Testing such an “ebook” will give me some sense of how it looks in the real world.

If the “free” stuff doesn’t measure up, then I can consider paying (ugh!). It’s still a lot cheaper than paying Adobe, that still doesn’t guarantee a smooth and painless experience.

If anyone out there has any experience or views on creating ebooks or simply reading them, I’d be interested in hearing about it.

I’ll be going off to Johnny Pigeau’s Reading Series at Backbeat Books in Perth this coming Friday. This session is on novels – earlier sessions have been on poetry (and most enjoyable). Things have certainly moved right along since Worsdworth and Frost.

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Snail Mail – Again !!

I had a request for an earlier book, Fish Tales: The Lure and the Lore of the Rideau, from England. When I checked the cost of sending the book by ExpressPost (6 days – no tracking), it came to $35. If I wanted tracking and 2 day delivery, the mailing cost jumped to $66. The book itself cost only $25.

No surprise – the potential buyer cancelled the order and said that she would pick it up on her next visit to the Rideau Corridor (summer 2012). Smart move!

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Lyndhurst Fair – Saturday Sept 17

Himself !!!

I came, I saw, I was blown away (to paraphrase some famous Roman)!!!

This fair has been going on for ever, since Pontius was a pilot. Anyway ….

I was there selling and signing my three books at the Writers’ Corner in the Public Library – I was able to make contact with some of the former guides, like Thea Fleming, and boat builders, like Charlie Cliffe ( through his daughter).

 

A number of people with family histories working on the Rideau Canal came to talk to me about the new book, Invisible Army. I loved it !!!!

 

Next year for sure and a tip of the hat to Margaret Brandt and her article in the Review-Mirror that alerted people to the Fair and to the fact that I was going to be there. It made all the difference in the world, I’m sure.

 

BTW, Lyndhurst has a brand new main street now, so if you haven’t been there in a while, or, even worse, have never managed to go there, this pretty village is sure worth the visit. It’s off COunty Road 43, about 10 minutes south of Delta, and can also be reached from Highway 15 through Morton ( Briar Hill Road). It has a very picturesque stone bridge as well.

 

With autumn leaves beginning to turn, plan a drive that takes you through Lyndhurst – you’ll be glad you did.

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Lyndhurst Fair – Something New

Himself !!!

The Lyndhurst Fair takes place Saturday September 17, 9-4.

I’ll be there with all 3 of my books – Invisible Army (natch!), plus Pathfinders and Fish Tales - in the Lyndhurst library.

Lyndhurst has a great stone bridge, and some fine old houses.

It seems to me that I went there back in 2006 to talk to the family of Cornell “Chef” Bennett, a former guide. His story is in Fish Tales, in the chapter on Westport.

For those unfamiliar with Lyndhurst, it can be reached from Kingston by taking the Briar Hill road from Morton ( on Highway 15) near Jones Falls. An alternate route from Ottawa or Brockville is to go to Delta and then take Hicock Road to Lyndhurst.

As a former parish priest used to say when encouraging attendance, “Come numerous!” I hope to see you all there.

 

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Great Time in Brockville

Himself !!!

The Monday evening talk on Invisible Army went very well – about 35 people showed up – some from as far away as Kanata and Rideau Ferry. Gerry Covell, a retired lockmaster at Poonanmalee, came, and we went through the common travails of working around the Parks Canada personnel records.

Another gentleman brought the family genealogy of his distant ancestors – the Newman brothers, who were among the first lockmasters at Black Rapids, Clowes, and Nicholsons locks.

 

Creation of the “slackwater” canal flooded a lot of low-lying areas – shown in a “before and after” map of the Opinicon Lake area. Water management kept the water levels relatively stable to meet the needs of the steamers and the timber trade (which obviously went away, as road and rail pushed into the area).

 

I illustrated the difficulties of the early “roads” (so-called)  using Lockmaster Peter Sweeney’s diary (1839-1850) . He was a “travelling” man, as well as a “drinking” man, and his jaunts from Jones Falls to Brockville, Prescott, and Kingston sorely tested his stamina, but not his determination.

 

I focused on showing how the canal had successfully overcome its lack of long-term commercial success by recognizing (reluctantly) that the future lay in the tourism/ guiding/ cottage country area. Serendipity – the rise of the “back to nature” movement in the northern US in the 1880′s and the abundance of unspoiled nature in the Rideau Corridor was the catalyst.

 

My new projector, an Epson EX5200, worked like a charm!

 

All good!

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The Good Old Days

Take a look at the new page that I added, called The Good Old Days.

It gives us some insight into living conditions in the Rideau Corridor in the 1840s.  “Ansley’s Mills” is now Battersea, not so far from Brewers Upper and Lower Mills lock stations.

I plan to add other pages over time in order to illustrate just what the “good old days” were really like, for both city and country living. And … the examples will be based on eyewitness accounts and planned actions of local administrations: for example, there were constant struggles to get usable roads built. The example used here is no exaggeration.

Always open to comments, questions, etc.

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Talking About It

Well, I have three talks to give to community groups in the next few months. The first one is on Sunday, February 20th, in Merrickville. The Historical Society and the Heritage Society are jointly sponsoring the talk.
The second talk is in Kemptville in early March. This is as part of a “Local Authors” panel.
The third talk is in May in Brockville to the local Genealogical Society.

Actually, there is a fourth talk scheduled for November in Ottawa to the Ottawa Historical Society, but that’s so far away that I’m not really focussing on it at the moment.

For a theme, I’m using “Lemonade from Lemons”. The notion is that the Rideau Canal has been generally regarded as pretty much of a failure since its opening back in 1832. It was seen as a military failure – never used; a commercial failure – not a lot of commercial traffic; a failure as a catalyst for growth in the Rideau Corridor. I argue that it was actually reasonably successful in ways that were not foreseen.

A “slack water” canal is all about water management – mitigating floods in the spring with droughts in the summer – the “navigation” was the prime directive for the canal staff. The growth of tourism and guiding linked the rise of the “back to nature” movement in the northern US with all the “nature” available in the Rideau Corridor – especially the area between Battersea and Smiths Falls. There was excellent boating and fishing  provided by the flooding associated with the “slack water” nature of the canal. In fact, it was precisely the spread of tourism, resorts, cottages, and boating that provided the ultimate necessity of maintaining the water management function. The fact that the “beancounters” had refused to update the technology over the decades simply added to the attractiveness of the canal and ultimately “guaranteed” the World Heritage status that it enjoys today.

So …. in a serendipitous way, the canal staff made the resorts and guiding profession possible and the success of the guiding and tourism made the survival of the canal staff and the canal possible. Funny how things work out, eh?

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Fishing Made Easy

Building the Rideau Canal had inadvertently created excellent fishing, which supported an active resort industry and guding. In addition, the flooded low lands were extensively trapped. Guiding and trapping became a relied-upon source of income for many families. The focus of concern for these groups was the level of water drawdown in the winter. If it were too low or too sudden, fish might be trapped in shallow pools that would freeze to the bottom. This would also kill off many muskrats. The perceived problem stemmed from the practice of running off water as long as possible for water rights holders — mills and power companies.

Superintendent Wise had trouble with lock staff who were alleged to have manipulated the water levels at their station for illegal fishing. He wrote to Lockmaster James Jones — Smiths Falls Detached on April 15, 1887.

“Was it not possible for you to put in your stop logs without running your upper reach dry by which means you caused all the lights of the Electric Light Co. to be extinguished, at any rate you should have applied for authority before doing it.

It is stated it was done for the purpose of spearing fish and I desire to know if any fish were speared whilst the water was out — if any such work was done with your knowledge I should consider it my duty to suspend you and I must have your consideration that such was  not the case.”

Whatever the true reason for this incident, there is no doubt that the Jones family were keen fishermen. There is a painting on the porch of the lockmaster’s house at 1 Jasper Avenue in Smiths Falls, showing Arthur Jones with his boat and fishing tackle. He even did guiding. Enterprising fellow!

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Meeting The Past

In my earlier books on fishing guides along the Rideau, there were some 500 names that I found – there were probably another couple of hundred that I’m still not aware of. Life is like that.

Moving to a different topic – lock staff on the canal – has brought back the guides. One of the issues that the lock staff still face is managing water levels. Well, if water levels are lowered too quickly to a too low level, then it seems intuitive that fish will be hurt.

In the spring, it could ruin spawning. In the fall and winter, it would be fish survival, if they get caught in shallow holes that then freeze to the bottom. This also leads to winter kill of fur-bearing animals, such as muskrats ( ‘rats”). A lot of guides also trapped rats.

In the 20′s and 30′s, there were a number of petitions drawn up to protest water level management and that claimed massive fish and rat kills. While it seems that these claims were somewhat exaggerated (they were fishermen, after all), there was some truth to it and besides, it was possible to “fine tune” water levels. Anyway….

What I wanted to say is that I was surprised to see  the original petitions with the original signatures. Legendary guides such as Carl and Bob White of Elgin/Jones Falls, Fred Randolph of Chaffey’s Lock, Bill Lake of Newboro, and other guides from Westport, Seeley’s Bay, and Battersea are all there, along with names of guides that are new to me.

Great stuff! Now how to get this into a second edition of “Fish Tales” or maybe just put it into the almost-ready third book, “The Invisible Army”.

Stay tuned. If you have any views or questions, I’d like to hear them.

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