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list price: $29.95
edition:Hardcover
also available: Paperback eBook
category: Biography & Autobiography
published: May 2000
ISBN:9780921102755
publisher: Rocky Mountain Books

R.M. Patterson

A Life of Great Adventure

by David Finch

tagged: historical
Description

"I think that will be a great adventure" said R.M. Patterson's mentor at the Bank of England when informed of the young man's decision to leave for Canada in 1924. He could not have known all the adventures that awaited Patterson in the Canadian wilds. This biography goes with Patterson to the Peace River country of northern Alberta where he homesteaded and on to the Northwest Territories, where he lived out his dream-questing after the fabled Nahanni gold on the River of Death. There, his escapades earned him the title "Hard to Kill" and provided the basis for Patterson's bestseller The Dangerous River.

 

Patterson then married sweetheart Marigold Portman in 1929 and took up cattle and dude ranching on the Buffalo Head Ranch in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. Not content to just settle down and raise a family, he also used the ranch as a base for his adventures and spent the next 16 years exploring the high country of the Continental Divide with such colourful characters as George Pocaterra and Adolf Baumgart.

 

In the late 1940s the Patterson family moved to Vancouver Island, where RMP continued his exploration of remote northern rivers in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories. And he returned to his beloved Nahanni three more times. By the time of his death in 1984, Patterson had become a Canadian legend, both for his exploits and for his five published books and numerous articles. His vivid portrayal of the Canadian wilderness has never been bettered. Through Patterson's diaries and letters and through personal communication with Patterson's family and friends, David Finch has created a fascinating portrait of a man who lived life to the fullest.

About the Author

David Finch

Born in Cuba, David Finch is a historical consultant living in Calgary. With more than twenty years of consulting experience, he is the author of several books on the oil industry, including Hell's Half Acre, and is a regular contributor to The Calgary Herald, Alberta Oil: The Magazine, and Alberta Views. David received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Dedicated Investigation and Professional Scholarship in the Study of Canadian Petroleum History from the Petroleum History Society of Calgary.

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