Ferries & Fjord: The History of Indian Arm

New History Book Now Available

The new book Ferries & Fjord: The History of Indian Arm was officially launched on November 8^th, 2015, and this latest history is now available for purchase –– the perfect gift for any occasion!

Ferries & Fjord: The History of Indian Arm was awarded Second Prize at the Lieutenant Governor's Historical Writing Awards Ceremony held on May 28^th, 2016, at the Revelstoke Mountain Resort.

Ferries & Fjord is follow-on research by Ralph Drew that covers the history of Indian Arm, its ferries, docks, travelling post offices, and floating grocery stores. This book complements Forest & Fjord: The History of Belcarra that was awarded First Prize in 2013 by the B.C. Historical Federation as well as
The Lieutenant-Governor’s Gold Medal for historical writing in 2014. (About The Author)

MLA Linda Reimer's Statement Re Forest & Fjord

Ferries & Fjord covers the history of Indian Arm, its ferries, docks, travelling post offices, and floating grocery stores, and brings life to this history with historical photographs which truly are 'worth a thousand words'. This latest book by Ralph Drew is the perfect gift solution for family and friends.

This new book begins with a description of the geological history that facilitated the settlement of Burrard Inlet and its North Arm by the Coast Salish people, and the archaeological evidence attesting to their presence. The book also describes the exploration of Burrard Inlet's North Arm by the Spanish in 1792, the first Europeans to explore Indian Arm.

The book describes the establishment of saw mills on the inner harbour of Burrard Inlet in the 1860s and the associated settlement by mill workers. That development created a demand for logs which resulted in logging of the forests that surrounded Indian Arm, and the consequent appearance of the first European settlers on the fjord. The book also describes the granite quarries established in the 1880s to supply the building needs of the new and rapidly growing frontier town called 'Vancouver'.

The rugged mountain wilderness surrounding Indian Arm meant that water access by either private boat or commercial ferry were the only practical options, and those boats and ferries required docks both as a home base and a means of accessing the places of settlement along the fjord. During most of the 20th-century the ferries, travelling post offices and floating grocery stores were unique and critical services to the many small communities scattered along the Indian Arm fjord. As a result, the history of Indian Arm was shaped by the necessary emergence of ferry commerce for both industry and settlement, and this new book is about this unique time in the history of the Lower Mainland.

Ferries & Fjord (ISBN 978-0-9813113-19) is both an 11" x 8½" landscape-format hard-cover 'coffee table' book and a fully referenced and indexed history. The book is 384 pages overall and contains 340 historical photographs and images which brings life to Indian Arm's history, organized into 8 chapters:

• Chapter 1 – Serpent's Land
• Chapter 2 – 19^th Century Burrard Inlet
• Chapter 3 – Settlement on Indian Arm
• Chapter 4 – Commerce on Indian Arm
• Chapter 5 – The Ferries of Indian Arm
• Chapter 6 – The Ferries of Port Moody Arm
• Chapter 7 – Indian Arm's Travelling Post Offices
• Chapter 8 – Indian Arm's Floating Grocery Stores

Order now to secure your copy of Ferries & Fjord, and order additional copies to give as gifts for family and friends. The book can be purchased by an email Interact e-Transfer to the author (or mailing a cheque payable to the author) for $49.95 plus 5% GST ($2.50) = $52.45 plus $21.00 for shipping via Canada Post (within Canada, west of Winnipeg) to:

For purchase inquiries, either email Ralph Drew or telephone: 604-937-0143.