{"title":"Jack Boudreau","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"wild-free-book-jack-boudreau-9781894759045","title":"Wild \u0026 Free","description":"\u003cdiv\u003eJack Boudreau, author of the bestselling \u003ci\u003eCrazy Man's Creek\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eGrizzly Bear Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e, is back with another wild and wooly, scarcely believable but nevertheless true tale of misadventure in British Columbia's northern wilderness. \u003ci\u003eWild and Free\u003c\/i\u003e, which Boudreau says is his best book yet, tells the stories of two of Canada's most legendary mountain men--Skook Davidson (who actually has a mountain named after him) and Frank Cooke. Readers of Edward Hoagland's 1966 classic, \u003ci\u003eNotes from the Century Before\u003c\/i\u003e, will remember Skook Davidson as the \"cranky old man, crippled up with arthritis, cussing into his radio, who gives a report on his wolves instead of his weather, and throws the cork into the creek when he opens a bottle of whiskey so there won't be a way of stopping the fun.\" In \u003ci\u003eWild and Free\u003c\/i\u003e the fun rolls on for 240 pages as author Boudreau falls in with Davidson's long-time protege, Frank Cooke, (now 77) and together they reconstruct the old buzzard's memorable life.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Davidson came into the remote Kechika valley in northernmost BC as horse packer for the early surveyors, and chose to remain, surrounded only by his own feral horses and the wolves that he found to be congenial enough neighbors. He carved a horse ranch out of some of the world's most isolated wilderness and supplied guiding, packing and entertainment for virtually everyone who ventured into the region for the next forty years. Cooke was the 17-year-old son of a Prince George policeman when he came to the attention of the authorities after he and a couple buddies decided to hang their teacher. \"They didn't kill him or anything but they made his face turn black and his tongue stuck out,\" says Boudreau. \"They said he was a far nicer guy after that.\" Frank's father decided to forestall further such experiments by sending him about as far out in the bush as it was possible to go, apprenticing him to Skook's guiding and outfitting business in the faraway Nechika Valley. Skook had his own ways of handling youthful boisterousness. Once when Frank was roughhousing with one of the other hands, Skook sent them out into the 40-below night to work their steam off on the frozen woodpile. They decided to get back at the old man by stuffing a gunnysack down the chimney and smoking him out, but he caught on and took after them with his shotgun, showering them with birdshot as they dove for cover. When Skook left off, they scuttled back to the woodpile and chopped away half the night before he finally let them come in to thaw out. Frank survived Skook's version of tough love and in time bought half his guide line. He became almost as legendary among the world's outdoorsmen as his mentor, guiding the Prince of Iran, Governor John Connolly of Texas and innumerable other celebrities.\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49596411019537,"sku":"GOR006642119","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51423020024081,"sku":"CIN1894759044VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52769197392145,"sku":"GOR014612774","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1894759044.jpg?v=1751281332"},{"product_id":"crazy-man-s-creek-book-jack-boudreau-9780920576717","title":"Crazy Man's Creek","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn Crazy Man's Creek, author Jack Boudreau tells of the characters who have \"caught the fever\" in the rugged McGregor Mountain Range east of Prince George. Long recognized as some of the toughest bush in British Columbia, it was home to many who chose to lose themselves. Once there, life included confrontations with grizzly bears and raids by wolves. But if men were to snap, it was the long cold winters and the deafening silence that did them in.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49643643732241,"sku":"GOR003901191","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50431803556113,"sku":"CIN0920576710VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50498101313809,"sku":"CIN0920576710G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0920576710.jpg?v=1751448256"},{"product_id":"grizzly-bear-mountain-book-jack-boudreau-9780920576816","title":"Grizzly Bear Mountain","description":"\u003cp\u003eHot on the heels of his best seller, Crazy Man's Creek, Jack Boudreau writes his sequel. We go back to the small community of Penny, learn what rural kids did to amuse themselves--mother wouldn't approve--and then look over Jack's shoulder as he develops his fascination with the grizzly bear, first as a hunter, then as a photographer.The grizzly bear, according to Jack, is not a threatened species, at least not in the McGregor Mountain Range. Through Jack's eyes, we begin to understand and appreciate this marvellous beast. For example, did you know that grizzlies ski? As well as giving us a greater understanding of this magnificent bear, Jack speaks of his love of the rugged mountain country of Northern British Columbia where he feels lucky to have lived most of his life.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50187108057361,"sku":"CIN0920576818G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50763525521681,"sku":"CIN0920576818VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/B009XRDJ3G.jpg?v=1751078377"},{"product_id":"trappers-and-trailblazers-book-jack-boudreau-9781894759397","title":"Trappers and Trailblazers","description":"In 1934 international entrepreneur and filmmaker Charles Bedeaux hired a team of Canadian men to trail blaze from Edmonton, Alberta, to Telegraph Creek, BC. What started out as adventure for Carl Davidson and Bob Beattie soon became a treacherous and heartbreaking journey. While Bedeaux hob-nobbed with Europe's elite in Paris, Beattie and Davidson suffered impossible challenges and near starvation in BC's harshest country. After five years of misadventure and virtually no communication from Bedeaux, Beattie and Davidson were informed that the mission had been called off, just before Bedeaux was arrested for espionage. The ill-fated trip is just one of many stories gleaned from the memories of pioneers who settled the interior of British Columbia during the first half of the twentieth century. Hardships and misfortune were the norm, but as Boudreau discovers, many possessed an intangible mettle and a sense of humour that saw them through rough times. In this book, Boudreau has preserved stories in danger of disappearing, and his extraordinary research has also uncovered a collection of intriguing and previously unpublished photographs.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51330150039825,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51330152464657,"sku":"CIN1894759397G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1894759397.jpg?v=1751218126"},{"product_id":"sternwheelers-canyon-cats-book-jack-boudreau-9781894759205","title":"Sternwheelers \u0026 Canyon Cats","description":"The story of men who braved the dangerous waterways of the uppper Fraser River to build the GTP Railway. Forbidding canyons, raging rapids and menacing rocks -- this was the daily challenge that faced whitewater men who worked the wild rivers and creeks to bring freight and supplies to northern BC in the years before the Grand Trunk Railway. In particular, the Grand Canyon of British Columbia's Fraser River was infamous for swallowing at least 200 luckless occupants of rafts and small craft between the years 1862-1921. 'Sternwheelers and Canyon Cats' is the story of the 'Canyon Cats' who made their living running the Grand Canyon and other equally dangerous waterways. A total of twelve steamers worked the upper Fraser River during the period 1862-1921 and the dangers faced by these vessels and their steel-nerved captains are legend. It was a perilous existence hauling supplies to the isolated construction camps of the GTP Railroad and in retrospect it seems ironic that these steamers were made obsolete by this same railway upon its completion. 'Sternwheelers and Canyon Cats' is a chronicle of the men whose feats almost defy belief and whose contribution to BC history has gone long unrecognised.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53226714923281,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53226714988817,"sku":"GOR014816056","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781894759205.jpg?v=1773058013"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-jack-boudreau.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}