Low Down Articles
Local Historical
This article first appeared in the "Local Historical" column of the "The Low Down to Hull and Back News". Reprinted with permission. See list of Local Historical articles or search Low Down Articles.
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'Up The Gatineau!' turns 50
By Hannah Scott-Talib hannah@lowdownonline.com
This year, the well-loved Up the Gatineau! book series celebrates 50 years of providing residents of the Gatineau Hills in-depth historical articles on local farming families, logging and mining, the construction of the Chelsea and Paugan dams, the building of the Gatineau railway and more.
Up the Gatineau! is the Gatineau Valley Historical Society's (GVHS) book series that has been published every year since 1974. The GVHS is an organization that aims to promote the conservation of the region's history through publications, exhibits, tours, maps, and more.
The series' editor Louise Schwartz has been at the helm for the past 12 years. She shared with the Low Down some of her favourite stories and memories from her time as both an editor and contributor of Up the Gatineau!
"We've profiled quirky and/or notable characters in the Gatineau [Hills], from the Kingsmere hermit Miles Barnes to his friend, the former Prime Minister Mackenzie King, who was actually both quirky and notable," said Schwartz.
Among Schwartz's all-time favourite stories is one revolving around contributor Gerald Ian Pritchard's memories of Dr. Herald Geggie, the legendary Gatineau Hills family doctor.
She explained that Dr. Geggie befriended Pritchard when he was a boy growing up in the 1930s, having lost his father at a very young age.
"This is a young boy's recounting of how one adult can just influence your life," said Schwartz. In the article, Pritchard writes about how he was experiencing a difficult time while studying at McGill University, and how Dr. Geggie advocated for him and became a mentor to him during this time. Schwartz stated that Dr. Geggiehad such an impact on Pritchard that he inspired him to get his own doctorate later in life.
This story, entitled "Dr. Geggie and Me", can be found in Vol. 43 of the series.
Schwartz said that another favourite of hers is Maryan O'Hagan's retelling of her parents' courtship via letters between Farrellton and Martindale in the 1940s, "when it was faster to send their letters by train from station to station than trying to deliver them by road."
What she said she enjoys about "A Courtship Glimpsed Through Letters in the 1930s" from last year's Vol. 49, is the perspectives it provides of two local farming families from that time period and its portrayal of how different communication was back then.
As a testament to the popularity of Up the Gatineau! from outside the area, Schwartz mentioned that both the Ottawa and Toronto public libraries have been consistently ordering copies of the series every year for many years now. She noted that the Toronto Public Library is especially keen to receive the journals every year, even prompting the GVHS to ship copies when the historical society is late in doing so.
She said that most surprising of all is the impact that Up the Gatineau! has had on one small community very far from the Gatineau Hills.
"The Alan County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, has been ordering our latest volume every year for several decades," said Schwartz. "Little odd, interesting tidbits like that just tell you that we are valued, we are important."
She went on to say that she believes that Up the Gatineau! might be the only one of its kind in Canada.
"Not only because we've been doing it for 50 years continuously, but [also], I don't know another local historical society who publishes such a journal," she said.
According to Schwartz, the series' anecdotal elements allow it to differ from other purely academic historical journals in the country. She expressed that the stories in each volume come from locals who have direct ties to what they are writing about, whether it be through their family history or simply their experiences from living in the area.
On June 15, the GVHS is bringing together friends and contributors to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Up the Gatineau! and its official release of the series' 50th volume. The new edition will delve into stories of a local's perspective of growing up in Low in the 1950s, the history of what is now Highway 105, the tale of a Chelsea tollgate in the 1920s, a hard-working 19th-century bread-maker from Cantley and more.