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Robert Dunsmuir: Laird Of The Mines (XYZ Publishing $15.95)
A poor boy with ambition and daring, he rose from being a simple miner to an almost feudal ruler of the mines and mining towns of Vancouver Island. In his 64th year thousands thronged the streets of Victoria to celebrate the extension of his Esquimalt and Nanaimo railway to Victoria. Banners hailed him as "Victoria's best friend"; and "The Right Man in the Right Place."; As if he were royalty, his loyal employees unhitched the horses from his carriage and pulled him to the banquet given in his honour. Craigdarroch, the castle he had promised his wife, had been under construction for seven months, employing so many stonemasons that it created a city-wide shortage.
But there was a sordid underside. His upwardly mobile progress had been punctuated by mine disasters and explosions causing huge loss of life. There had been labour disputes and attempts to unionize that he had ruthlessly quelled by turning workers out of their cottages. And he had made business enemies along the way.
Bowen brackets her account with two spectacular lawsuits, both of which took place in 1888. The first was a bizarre episode involving anonymous letters, bearing the sign of the black hand and threatening death. The sender turned out to be Gustavus Hamilton Griffin, a maverick practitioner of medicine, who had tried unsuccessfully to turn some quick cash by selling Dunsmuir a piece of property.
The second was a libel suit instigated by Dunsmuir against the Evening Times. The paper had long opposed him, ridiculing him as 'King Grab.' When it claimed that he "carried the government in his breeches pocket"; and was selling land from a railway grant to settlers for an exorbitant $3 an acre, he decided to sue.
In both instances Dunsmuir triumphed. Dr. Griffin was sentenced to three years of penal servitude, and the newspaper was ordered to pay $500 and costs. "I am a stubborn Scotchman";, boasted Dunsmuir, "a multitude cannot coerce me."; All the same, something did coerce him. Within the year, he fell ill and died. He never lived to occupy the castle-a cross between Balmoral and Harry Potter's Hogwarts-that is his enduring monument on the landscape of Victoria.
Having written two successful books on the coal mining culture of Vancouver Island, Lynne Bowen has written a concise, readable life of King Grab, suitable for young adults and useful to anyone seeking a handy research tool. She provides a chronology, aligning Dunsmuir's life with the major events of his time in Canada and around the world, and a bibliography of her sources and related works.
Bowen's book is part of a series from a new publisher. The other volumes are Pauline Johnson by Betty Keller, Tommy Douglas by Dave Margoshes and Norman Bethune by John Wilson. There are also forthcoming titles about Agnes MacPhail, Emily Carr and George Mercer Dawson. 0-9683601-3-0
[Joan Givner / BCBW 2000]
But there was a sordid underside. His upwardly mobile progress had been punctuated by mine disasters and explosions causing huge loss of life. There had been labour disputes and attempts to unionize that he had ruthlessly quelled by turning workers out of their cottages. And he had made business enemies along the way.
Bowen brackets her account with two spectacular lawsuits, both of which took place in 1888. The first was a bizarre episode involving anonymous letters, bearing the sign of the black hand and threatening death. The sender turned out to be Gustavus Hamilton Griffin, a maverick practitioner of medicine, who had tried unsuccessfully to turn some quick cash by selling Dunsmuir a piece of property.
The second was a libel suit instigated by Dunsmuir against the Evening Times. The paper had long opposed him, ridiculing him as 'King Grab.' When it claimed that he "carried the government in his breeches pocket"; and was selling land from a railway grant to settlers for an exorbitant $3 an acre, he decided to sue.
In both instances Dunsmuir triumphed. Dr. Griffin was sentenced to three years of penal servitude, and the newspaper was ordered to pay $500 and costs. "I am a stubborn Scotchman";, boasted Dunsmuir, "a multitude cannot coerce me."; All the same, something did coerce him. Within the year, he fell ill and died. He never lived to occupy the castle-a cross between Balmoral and Harry Potter's Hogwarts-that is his enduring monument on the landscape of Victoria.
Having written two successful books on the coal mining culture of Vancouver Island, Lynne Bowen has written a concise, readable life of King Grab, suitable for young adults and useful to anyone seeking a handy research tool. She provides a chronology, aligning Dunsmuir's life with the major events of his time in Canada and around the world, and a bibliography of her sources and related works.
Bowen's book is part of a series from a new publisher. The other volumes are Pauline Johnson by Betty Keller, Tommy Douglas by Dave Margoshes and Norman Bethune by John Wilson. There are also forthcoming titles about Agnes MacPhail, Emily Carr and George Mercer Dawson. 0-9683601-3-0
[Joan Givner / BCBW 2000]
Submitted on July 10, 2003 in By David.
