Shirlee Smith Matheson and her husband Bill Matheson (born in Peace River, Alberta) arrived in Hudson's Hope, BC, in 1965, where Bill found employment as a surveyor on the W.A.C. Bennett Dam. She initially worked for the District of Hudson's Hope where she met many of the old-timers in the area, as well as bush pilot Jimmy "Midnight" Anderson.

As an Alberta-based author in the 1980s, Shirlee Smith Matheson co-wrote This Was Our Valley (Calgary: Detselig Enterprises Ltd., 1989) with the late Earl K. Pollon. An early environmental book, it described the history of the Peace River Valley, the construction of the WAC Bennett Dam and the massive reservoir backing the dam, called Williston Lake. With its B.C.-based subject matter, it was a finalist for the Roderick-Haig Brown Regional Book Prize in 1990 and also won the Alberta Culture Award for Nonfiction. An updated edition was published in 2003 that included information on the second dam on the river, Peace Canyon, and its reservoir called Dinosaur Lake. Both editions went out of print.

A revised, third edition will appear from Frontenac House Publishing of Calgary in 2018 to include "dam" events since 2003, most notably the new controversies surrounded the proposed Site C dam. In the wake of a project review by the BC Utilities Commission, the NDP government of Premier John Horgan, must decide whether or not the project should proceed against the wishes of environmentalists. (Update: Horgan's government reluctantly approved the dam.) Matheson conducted further interviews for the new edition, including correspondence with BC Hydro's spokesperson, Dave Conway (Community Relations Manager, Site C Clean Energy Project), to gain the corporation's input.

Christy Clark, while still in power before John Horgan's NDP government swept in) vowed to reach beyond "the point of no return."

She writes: "Amid protests, then-BC premier Christie Clark famously announced on January 31, 2017, that the late Bill Bennett (BC Premier 1975-86) had got Site C started and she would get it finished, vowing that prior to the election to be held May 9, 2017, "I will get it past the point of no return." She did not count on the anger of the people and the protests that raged Canada-wide.

The new edition of This Was Our Valley registers the voices that demand to be heard. Some are for the project: those of project-owner BC Hydro; contractors and workers who expect employment building Site C dam; and a population that believes the power will be needed in future. It also chronicles the opinions of those in protest: Treaty 8 First Nations members; farmers, fishers, and wildlife experts; environmentalists, naturalists, and specialists advocating new technologies such as solar and wind-power, or run of the river dams that are less destructive to agricultural and wildlife environments.

Shirlee Smith Matheson is an alumnus of Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and a member of The Writers Union of Canada and The Writers Guild of Alberta. She regularly attends the annual Paddle for the Peace summer event in the Peace River.

REVIEW

This Was Our Valley: The True Story of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam

[This review of the first printing was published in BC BookWorld in 1989.]

IN THE EARLY 1960's, B.C. HYDRO BROUGHT heavy equipment and engineers into Hudson's Hope, the province's third oldest community, and proceeded to build the world's largest earth-filled (non-concrete) dam 16 miles away.

Hudson's Hope temporarily boomed but at the expense of many local settlers, such as the lngenika Indians, who had no choice but to vacate their homes.

At 73, having lived in Hudson's Hope since 1931, Earl K. Pollon remains as one of the few British Columbians who has seen the impact of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam on the overall quality of life in the Peace River country.

Now confined to his bed and weighing only 90 pounds, he can't stand in the way of B.C. Hydro's newly-announced 15-year scheme to expand its provincial hydroelectric output by nearly 30%.

But the feisty, ex-sawmill operator is about to toss a well-aimed monkey wrench at Hydro with the publication of This Was Our Valley: The True Story of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam (Detselig $17.95).

"Our book is the story of a little town that got in the way of major industry," he says, "I know it can't change anything. But it might help other communities handle the situation we had to face."

Pollon has collaborated with Shirlee Matheson to resurrect the local stories that were submerged by Hydro's flooding of 640 sq. miles of land to create Williston Lake.

"I'm amazed this book hasn't been written before this," says Matheson, author of two previous books, "It's a real barn burner."

Dislocated without consultation or adequate compensation, the Ingenika Indians have experienced severe degradations and the increasing threat of extinction for two decades.

Matheson has travelled to the headwaters of the Ingenika River to talk to the Sekanni Indians, and interviewed the people of the delta at Fort Chipewyan.

"The Fort Chipewyan people have had their lifestyle altered forever," says Matheson, "and they have not received any compensation."

This fall the 130 remaining members of the Ingenika band are voting to ratify a new treaty compensating them for B.C. Hydro's flooding of their lands.

"It marks a new beginning for my people," said Ingenika chief Gordon Pierre in August, "We have something to look forward to and we have our own land."

Hydro will pay $2 million for rerelocation, the federal government will provide $10.2 million for new facilities, and the B.C. government will supply 1,200 hectares for two new Ingenika reserves-one at Hydro Creek and one at Mesilinka River.

This Was Our Valley (edited by Mark Lowey, environment and native issues reporter for The Calgary Herald), also examines the long-term effects of B.C.'s largest mega-project on wildlife. "There were all sorts of studies done by experts," says Matheson, "But the word environment almost didn't exist in the early 1960s.

"How can a beaver build a house on a lake that fluctuates in elevation 45 feet a year?"

Matheson worked for the District of Hudson's Hope in the 1960s and took minutes of council meetings and also did court reporting for inquests and hearings; from 1979-83 she was employed by BC Hydro (Peace Power Constructors) on the construction of the Peace Canyon Dam.

During that period she took town council minutes and also did court reporting for inquests.

She has examined B.C. Hydro's dealings with local residents, its ability to keep its promises and its success at predicting environmental repercussions.

-The reservoir never did become a northern marine resort.
-All animals of the area didn't simply shift to other grazing and mating grounds.
-Archaeological remains were not always respected.
-Local employment benefits haven't materialized to everyone's satisfaction.

The issue of employment still irks Earl Pollon the most.

As President of the Hudson's Hope Board of Trade in 1959, Pollon escorted Premier W.A.C. Bennett to see the future site of the W.A.C. Bennett dam. Pollon fondly recalls Bennett Sr. as a 'damn good man' who simply wanted to take shortcuts.

"Wacky was enthused right out of his mind," he says, "He was like a little boy opening his Christmas stocking. I got a new airport out of him that afternoon, he was so happy.

"Then Hydro came in and done what they damn well pleased! Our local boys couldn't get work on the project."

Pollon was also disturbed by a near disaster when flood waters nearly went over initial dams erected by B.C. Hydro to create a dry construction bed.

"I declared war in 1963," he says, "and I've been at it ever since." The publication of This Was Our Valley with a book launch in Hudson's Hope is timely given B.C. Energy Minister Jack Davis' announcement in August that B.C. will establish a new crown agency to export power into the U.S. market. The free trade deal has increased expectations that B.C. can negotiate long-term contracts for power sales to California where the population is projected to grow from 26 million to 40 million by the year 2000.

B.C. Hydro is proposing to build a Hat Creek Thermal Plant, 100 miles northeast of Vancouver, to produce the equivalent of one-seventh of B.C.'s power. As well, Hydro is reviving plans for its Site C dam in the Peace River (after being refused a license by the provincial controller of water rights in the early 1980's).

Some people who owned property that was flooded by Williston Lake 20 years ago now face the possibility of having their land holdings flooded for a second time.

'That's like losing your husband in World War One," says Matheson, "then worrying about losing a son in World War Two." The Peace Valley Environmental Association is very active in challenging Hydro's proposed new dam. Meanwhile residents of economically depressed Fort St. John are mostly supportive of the new project.

"People have told me they just want to keep Hydro honest," says Matheson, now living in Calgary, "We need openness, fairness. None of this cloak n' dagger stuff. Hydro used divide n' conquer techniques in the past that we don't want to see repeated.

"Hydro should understand that people are not as likely to block an important project if they feel they are being treated fairly."

To ensure Hydro has been treated fairly by her book, Matheson has checked her facts with Chris Boatman, project manager for the Peace Canyon dam. Boatman, vice-president of corporate affairs and environment, has relayed Matheson's questions to the appropriate Hydro managers and engineers --including the environmental department--to assure that Hydro's side is represented.

Meanwhile Earl Pollon--reporter and publisher of the short-lived Hudson's Hope Power News has finally brought the most important news story of his life into print.

This Was Our Valley: the True Story of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam. Also written by Earl K. Pollon. Detselig Enterprises Ltd., 1989.

ALSO:
Non-Fiction


Lost: Unsolved Mysteries of Canadian Aviation, Frontenac House 2015

A Royal Balance: The Life and Times of Hal Wyatt, Frontenac House 2013.

Amazing Flights and Flyers, Frontenac House, 2010

Maverick in the Sky: The Aerial Adventures of WW I Flying Ace Freddie McCall, Frontenac House, 2007


Nonfiction titles out of print:


Lost: True Stories of Canadian Aviation Tragedies, Fifth House Publishers, (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Toronto) 2005

Youngblood of the Peace, Lone Pine 1987, reissued Detselig/Temeron Books 1991 (currently out of print)

Flying the Frontiers-A Half Million Hours of Aviation Adventure, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1994, 7th printing 1997 (currently out of print)

Flying the Frontiers Vol. II, More Hours of Aviation Adventure, Detselig/Temeron Books, 1996, reissued 1997 (currently out of print) ?

Flying the Frontiers Vol. III, Aviation Adventures Around the World, Detselig/Temeron Books, 1999 (currently out of print)

A Western Welcome to the World - The History of the Calgary International Airport, Cherbo Publishers, 1997 (currently out of print)


Young Adult


Fastback Beach, Orca Book Publishers, 2003; 7th reprint 2013

Jailbird Kid, Dundurn Group, 2010

Prairie Pictures, McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1989, re-issued 1994; New updated edition released by Heritage House Publishing., 2014

City Pictures, McClelland & Stewart, 1994, B. Wahlstroms Bokforlag, Sweden 1995; new updated edition, Heritage House Publishing Co., 2015

Flying Ghosts, Stoddart, 1993, re-issued Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2005

The Gamblers Daughter (sequel to Flying Ghosts), original printing Beach Holme, 1998; updated printing Dundurn Group, 2009

Keeper of the Mountains, Thistledown Press, 2000 (currently out of print)


Awards


Canadian Children's Book Centre Choice Awards for Teen Novels, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2003

Athabasca University Distinguished Alumni Award, 2001-2002

Emerald Award for Environmental Excellence, finalist, 2001,

Northern Lights College, British Columbia: Honorary Associate of Arts degree, 2001

Canadian Award in Aviation, 99s Organization of Women Pilots, 1999

Alberta Culture First Prize for Non-Fiction, 1990

B.C. Book Prize, Roderick Haig-Brown silver award, 1990.

[BCBW 2017]


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PUBLISHERS PROMO 2019:




This Was Our Valley

Construction of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam commenced in 1963 and went online in 1967. The resulting 640-square mile (1660 square kilometre) reservoir backing the dam was named for Ray Williston, then-BC Minister of Minister of Lands, Forests and Water Resources. The gargantuan lake swallowed up the land and all that had dwelt within the valley.

The first editions of This Was Our Valley brought to light the phenomenal changes wrought by the project, from fluctuating water flow-levels to continued erosion of the banks, to loss of forestry, fish and wildlife habitats, homes and businesses – effects that continue to be experienced downstream to the Peace-Athabasca Delta.

A second dam, Peace Canyon, built 16 miles (25 km) downstream of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam, went on-line in 1980. The 2003 edition of This Was Our Valley detailed this dam’s construction.

And then came the announcement that a third dam, called Site C, would be built on the Peace River near Fort St. John, 56 miles (90 km) downstream from Peace Canyon. Long planned by BC Hydro, and twice scuttled, the project shook the senses of people province-wide and sounded the death knell for what remained of the BC sector of the Peace River.

Amid protests, then-BC premier Christie Clark famously announced on January 31, 2017, that the late Bill Bennett (BC Premier 1975-86) had got Site C started and she would get it finished, vowing that prior to the election to be held May 9, 2017, “I will get it past the point of no return.” She did not count on the anger of the people and the protests that raged Canada-wide.

This new edition of This Was Our Valley registers the voices that demand to be heard. Some are for the project: those of project-owner BC Hydro; contractors and workers who expect employment building Site C Dam; and a population that believes the power will be needed in future. It also chronicles the opinions of those in protest: Treaty 8 First Nations members; farmers, fishers, and wildlife experts; environmentalists, naturalists, and specialists advocating new technologies such as solar and wind-power, or run of the river dams that are less destructive to agricultural and wildlife environments.

This Was Our Valley records facts, figures and fables to bring readers into the heart of the Valley, and allow them to evaluate the reasoning behind Site C Dam and its reservoir, and further displacement for road realignments.

While the Peace River will never again flow in a natural state, perhaps when the tallies are all in, and all pros and cons accounted for, answers to these timely questions might provide solace.