Dear readers:
As most of you known by now, I have, after 53 years, left Williams Lake and moved to Alberta. Although leaving the Laketown was a very difficult decision for me, I have now opened a new chapter in my life, close to my two sons and my four lovely granddaughters. I still miss my friends and my community involvement in "the Puddle," but I am happy here, and it was a good move to make at this point in my life.
But enough about my personal life. The purpose of this column is to close out the Haphazard History series and to thank you, the readers, for its popularity and success. When I was approached to do a series of history articles more than 12 years ago, I had no idea what I was getting into. I wasn't a writer, and except for learning about the 150 Mile House area where I lived and worked, I hadn't really done any research into gold rush history. For that matter, I couldn't even type.
When my first column was published in April of 2013, I was pleasantly surprised how well it was received. Now, some 12 years and almost 150 columns and articles later, I am still encouraged and gratified by the positive comments and expressions of support from friends, acquaintances, and total strangers. It is obvious to me that people are interested in our local history and that they enjoy a good story. We are fortunate to live in the area of B.C. where much of our province's history was made and where there are still hundreds of historical tales will be told. I am honoured to have been able to tell some of these stories over the years.
I want to address one glaring shortcoming of my columns, and that is that they are written from the perspective of the white colonial settler, as are virtually all of the history books and family records. As I wrote my columns over the years, with the First Nations voices becoming more prominent in society, I came to realize that my accounts of history had another side. There was a different version of each historical event that I was writing about, but I had no knowledge of that version. I hope that some day, perhaps in the near future, a First Nations writer will come forward to present a history column of stories written from the First Nations perspective.
Such narratives would surely help as our society as a whole navigates through the reconciliation and healing process.
That being said, I have really enjoyed doing the research and interviews, visiting the actual sites where the history was made, and writing down the stories you have been reading in my columns. I'd like to thank all those who have made suggestions to me about topics to write about; those who persevered through my questions and interviews, those who opened up their family photos and files to me and welcomed me onto their homesites and into their homes; and those who shared their knowledge with me. I would also like to thank the people at the Tribune, all who have been so supportive over the years, and especially those who had to type up each handwritten column in order to get it into print. However, above all, I want to thank my readers for supporting this column so well. I truly appreciate the recognition and praise it received.
So, that's it. All good things must come to an end, and this is the finale of Haphazard History. It has been suggested that the Tribune could start at the beginning and republish the columns over the past 11 years, but that's not my decision to make. As for me, there's an incredible amount of Southern Alberta history to explore and time's a-wasting.
Your Haphazard History Hack,
Barry Sale
