Part historical narrative, part travel memoir, Disappointment River depicts both Alexander Mackenzie's and author adventurer Brian Castner Arctic voyages.
The first eight chapters detail Mackenzie's young life, and then his journey with indigenous guides to find the Northwest Passage in 1789.
For me, the book picked up and became interesting at Chapter 9. The descriptions of the horrendous winter weather and river conditions and drama amongst the crew brought you right there.
Because his journey would take several weeks, Castner found four paddle mates who met him at different points along the way.
In preparing for his trip, Castner explains his choice in a Tilley hat. He reread a book where the writer took his time choosing a Herbert Johnson trilby Indiana Jones style hat. "But, I thought, didn't Harrison Ford have to staple that fedora to his head to keepit from flying off? Iwas much more practical and chose a Tilley hat. Polyester, not felt. Breathable. Keeps the sun and rain off, a strap to secure it on one's head. I tried it on at the store and looked in the mirror, and I realized I had reached an age when wearing such a hat was n longer ironic. I was not playing dress up, impersonating my father. I am a father, a middle-aged man in a brimmed hat."
He describes the bugs in Manitoba as attacking him, engulfing his truck and banging themselves into the windows. "They were as big as the main digit of my thumb, and when I pushed on them to kill them, their bodies cracked and the meat split under my fingers, as if I had smeared a fat green grape across the kitchen table."
On the desolate, unvaried environment: "Except to pump gas, I saw no one for days. My windshield was a murder wall, the stuff of nightmares for giant flies. I was driving 140 kilometres an hour but felt hemmed in. No view, no perspective, all day an identical sight: only the slightest ripple in the flat spruce monoculture, days upon days unchanging."
Castner explains how he bought in Hay River $45 loose tobacco to give to the river so it wouldn't take from them. Overpriced pop and bootleg beer for $100 a case were beverage choices in Fort Smith.
As they slept in a tent near their canoe docked at a boat launch, much of their supplies were stolen in Fort Providence. Castner was annoyed that he didn't trust his instincts, chose to be trusting instead. "Why would poor and desperate in the Arctic really behave differently than anywhere else?"
Castner made realizations about poverty, that it's impossible to ignore in the small towns he went through. "...When humans live in wilderness, true wilderness far off the highways, almost by definition it must be in material want, because population density is required for the consumption most Americans consider normal." He wondered what kind of work they can find, as most opportunities are taken away by white outsiders (police, teacher, government jobs). Most young indigenous people don't live traditionally off the land, so inactivity and hopelessness overtakes them, "the unintended consequence of globalization for those so marooned. They can see the culture on satellite television but cannot touch it, except to purchase the veneer on Amazon - yoga pants and smart phones and straight-brimmed New Era baseball caps with the gold foil sticker."
This adventure not only brought Castner and his canoe companions to the rarely explored Arctic, but gave them the opportunity to learn about the fascinating people they met along the way.
I received Disappointment River: Finding and Losing The Northwest Passage in a GoodReads giveaway.
Until next time,
Kara
