With one tent, minimal supplies and two dogs, Alberta farm boy A.C. (Al) Lewis joined his friend Harry Vandaele up North in 1937. In the wake of the Great Depression, Al learned to survive in the harsh conditions of traplines in the Nahanni Valley - an isolated waterway in the Northwest Territories. In Nahanni Remembered (NeWest 1997 / $24.95) he recalls, at age 81, "the value of building a proper cache and siwash camp, how to work a trapline, and what to do when face to face with a wild animal";. On a handmade raft Al and Harry negotiated the South Nahanni River at its most turbulent time of the year, making them legends in their own time. Al also learned that Harry was right: "fresh cranberries did make a world of difference to the flavour of dried moose meat."; A.C. Lewis of Sooke once published an article concerning the war effort in a 1943 Reader's Digest. He was born in Alberta in 1914 and lives in Sooke. He made a return trip to the Nahanni area at age 70 in 1984. 1-896300-18-9

[BCBW WINTER 1998] "Outdoors"