I enjoyed the book and Guy Vanderhaeghe’s words created images in my mind that had me scouring the Net for images that I could use to share my vision. In this book the Gaunt brothers in Victorian England who, were privelaged enough to be schooled at Oxford and take bachelor quarters in Grosvenor Square take us on and epic journey of landscapes, peoples, morals and spirituality.

Grosvenor Square housed the Canadian Embassy from 1961 till 2014.

The morals of the privelaged set could be less than stellar.

From the Victorian Grosvenor Square to Fort Benton was more than a change of location it was a shift to a different world.

One of the main characters in the book was created from Jerry Potts who’s was hired as a guide .

Fort Benton was the most northern inland port for paddle wheelers on the Missouri River. The Steam ships brought more than the goods that then traveled West and North by Mule train and Red River Carts.

The the twin killers Whisky and Smallpox were what devastated the aboriginal peoples of of the America’s. During the 1870’s there were many independent companies trading whiskey to the Native peoples of the southwest part of the North-West Territories. This led to widespread alcoholism among the Native peoples, which eventually caused poverty, disease, malnutrition, and death.

In 1873, the Canadian government formed the North-West Mounted Police in an effort to reduce the use of alcohol as a trading currency. By 1874, the NWMP accomplished their task of removing the whiskey traders from Canada, forcing them to flee back across the border to the United States. (WikiBooks)

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