The Slocan was briefly the Paris of the West, with its fabulous silver strikes of the 1890s; it became the refuge of Doukhobors fleeing first Russia's tyranny, then Canada's; it was the prison for Canadian Japanese interned during the Second World War. It has attracted both the spiritual and the prosaic--hunters and gatherers, industrialists and loggers, artisans and back-country enthusiasts, farmers and gardeners. It was, and remains, a hippie nirvana of sorts. In recent years, the strong connections of aboriginal people to their history, place, and future in the valley have again become apparent.
The Slocan: Portrait of a Valley links the region and its people to the broader history of B.C. and Canada, and paints an engaging, vivid portrait of the culture and lifestyles in the area today.
