Transcontinental Pedestrians: The First Walk Across Canada from Sea to Sea

By George Hart

Book Overview

In the annals of Canadian folklore, few stories are as ripe with adventure and the spirit of the times as that of the three young Cape Bretoners who, on a dare and a bet, set out from North Sydney, Nova Scotia to walk across North America and back within a year.

It was winter 1906. And although all eventually failed the madcap adventure, one of the men, John Hugh Gillis, did reach Vancouver, making him the very first to walk across Canada from coast to coast.

Using the diary of his father-in-law, who joined the adventure midway, George Hart tells the story of this remarkable and long-forgotten odyssey. Complete with newspaper accounts and original photos of the towns and cities along the way, Transcontinental Pedestrians offers snapshots of a new country in a new century. As historian Jonathan Vance notes in his introduction, John A. Macdonald "would have approved of the symbolism of walking from one side of the continent to the other along the iron rails."

Transcontinental Pedestrians is a compelling story of character, endurance, friendship, betrayal and tragedy. It is also the story of a truly great athlete, the charismatic John Hugh Gillis, whose brilliant Olympic-bound career was tragically cut short by tuberculosis. It is fitting that one hundred years after his walk across Canada, the young man from Cape Breton, dubbed the "Western Giant" by the press, was inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame.

With an introduction by Dr. Jonathan Vance, a cultural and military historian at the University of Western Ontario. He provides a description of the country in 1906 that effectively set the stage for the remainder of the book. In a reference to Canada's first prime minister Vance noted: "Sir John A. Macdonald would have approved the symbolism of walking from one side of the continent to the other along the iron rails he fought so hard to build."

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1550413457
• ISBN13: 9781550413458
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A Family Story

Growing up in Boston I heard this story of how I had a relative who was the first man to ever walk successfully accross Canada. But since I didn't know any of my relatives back in Canada until recently and since my dad passed away when I was very young, I never followed up on this bit family history. Recently I had an opportunity to visited my cousins Helen from Vancouver, Joan from Toronto, Jean from Waltham and Malcolm and his wife Terri from Roslendale,Ma. It was at this meeting that I was given this book the "Transcontinental Pedestrians" by my cousin Malcolm "right out of the blue"! I took it home, began reading it and I couldn't put it down. I'm finished with the book now and I am in the process of letting all my family know about how wonderful this adventure story about my cousin John Hugh Gillis's journey really was. I only wish I had been born at the time this great story was happening and had a chance to meet this famous member of the Gillis clan. He must have been quite an amazing fellow. I want to thank Mr George Edward Hart for writing this book about a truely remarkable event in Canadian and Gillis family history.