BACKGROUNDER
Bannock and Beans: A Cowboy’s Account of the Bedaux Expedition
ABOUT THE BOOK In the middle of the Great Depression, French millionaire Charles Bedaux spent $250,000 in an attempt to cross BC’s northern wilderness. Bannock and Beans tells the story of this extravagant failure from the perspective of one of the cowboys who worked on the expedition, Bob White. He describes the hardships of the Bedaux Expedition, the beauty of the untouched wilderness and the few inhabitants of the area. Whether he is recalling a winter snowshoe and dogsled trip or an adventure‐filled summer journey, White’s memoirs take us to the campfire stories of the people who were part of the vast wilderness of a different age.
ABOUT THE EDITOR, JAY SHERWOOD Historian Jay Sherwood is the author of two photojournals of surveyor Frank Swannell, another participant in the Bedaux Expedition: Surveying Central British Columbia and Surveying Northern British Columbia. Sherwood discovered Bob White’s handwritten manuscript when doing research for a third book on Swannell. Sherwood lives in Vancouver where he works as a teacher/librarian.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR, BOB WHITE Bob White (1902 ‐ 85) was a career cowboy, born and raised in rural southwestern Saskatchewan. He eventually headed west, trapping and working on pack trains in northern Alberta and BC, where he was hired to work for Charles Bedaux. In 1983, long after he had returned to Saskatchewan, White wrote his account of the Bedaux Expedition.
BOOK TOUR LOCATION AND DATES Bannock and Beans: A Cowboy’s Account of the Bedaux Expedition, edited by Jay Sherwood
Vanderhoof – Tuesday, July 7 (7 p.m. at the Vanderhoof Public Library) Prince George – Wednesday, July 8 (7 p.m. at the Northern BC Archives) Hudson’s Hope – Friday, July 10 (7 p.m. at the Hudson’s Hope Museum) Fort St. Johns – Monday, July 13 (7 p.m. at the North Peace Museum) Maple Creek, SK – Monday, July 20 (7 p.m. at St. Mary’s Anglican Hall) Eastend, SK – Tuesday, July 21 (7 p.m. at the Eastend Museum)