Revisiting The Dangerous River
17 Feb
A newly published edition of The Dangerous River, R. M. Patterson’s classic advanture book about his canoe travels on the Northwest Territory’s Nahanni River in the late-1920s includes an episode from the original edition of the 1954 book that had been removed in recent printings.
Patterson, whose son Alan spoke at last weekend’s Wilderness Canoe Symposium in Toronto, made a trip up the river in 1927 and returned with the first photographs of stunning Virginia Falls. The next year, he returned with a guide to over-winter on the river.
The Nahanni, now preserved as a Canadian National Park Reserve, flows out of the Mackenzie Mountains. Its South Fork flows through four deep canyons and drops 326 feet at Virginia Falls. Today the river is a popular destination for whitewater paddlers and adventure seekers.
Patterson originally traveled to the region seeking gold and hoping to unravel the mystery of a murdered prospector. He returned, however, with a heartfelt love for the region and gripping tales of adventure.
One tale, finally restored in the new edition, recounts Patterson’s winter hike from Fort Nelson, British Columbia to Fort St. John, BC — some 300 miles — during which he ran out of food, lost the trail, and was not met, as expected, by natives from whom he intended to procure food. According to his son, Patterson “only just” managed to get back to Fort Nelson alive.
More on Patterson … The last decade has been kind to fans of Patterson and his work. In late 2000, David Finch published a biography of the adventurer, R.M. Patterson: A life of great adventure. In 2007, the University of Alberta Press published the contenporaneous notes Patterson made on his trips in, Nahanni Journals: R. M. Patterson’s 1927-1929 Journals.
A short but informative profile of Patterson can be found HERE.
