HILL-TOP TALES by Dan McCowan 1948

 

This book was dedicated to the Men and Women of the Canadian Rockies by the author Dan McCowan.  Dan presents the adventures of many interesting people such as the map makers, packers, guides, mountain climbers and the burden bearers.  These were the early pioneers who visited or lived  in the mountains.  Some of the people he writes about have had mountains, rivers, trees and flowers named in their honor.  Dan was fortunate to have personally met many of these people which enriched recording their stories and experiences for future generations to enjoy.

Though long out of print a few copies of this book can be found on www.abebooks.com.

About the author, The Canadian Encylopedia describes Daniel McCowan as a naturalist, lecturer, writer.  Born at Crieff, Scotland in1882; he died at Cloverdale, BC in 1956. After an early education in Scotland, he moved to Banff, Alta, where he soon acquired expertise on the local flora and fauna. His thousands of photographs of scenery, flowers, birds and mammals enabled him to travel widely, lecturing on nature in the Rockies, and he wrote extensively for several newspapers and popular magazines. His lectures on CBC Radio were among the first by naturalists.

In addition to these early important contributions to the popularization of nature and thus conservation concepts in Canada, he published 6 nature and photography books, all illustrated with his own photographs: Animals of the Canadian Rockies (1936), A Naturalist in Canada (1941), Outdoors with a Camera in Canada (1945), Hill-top Tales(1948), Tidewater to Timberline (1951) and Upland Trails (1955).