There is a new book about Vanderhoof on the shelves and it is a collection of stories written by a former resident who moved to the region in the early 60s from the United States of America.
“Go North Young Man, Go North!” written by Robert Wayne Mumford is a collection of stories about Mumford’s time in Vanderhoof, the people he met, the experiences he had.
It’s “a story of discovery and adventure, good choices and bad, laughter and sorrow, temptation and failure. From fist fights to fiddle music, homeless to homesteader,” as stated on back cover of the book.
Mumford was born in 1941 in Lacona, Iowa. At the time, his family was farming with horses but soon moved west to Sweet Home, Oregon.
At the age of 19, he found his way to Vanderhoof in the winter of 1961, which is where the majority of the story takes place.
Mumford writes about the different characters he met, his 40-years of logging and farming, building a family life and more.
“The main motive for me to write this book was so that my grandchildren would have some history to look back to,” he told the Express.
His other motive to write the book was that it gives a sketch of a life of one time rebellion, to a life that had more meaning, he said.
“When I left the States, after some turbulent years, it was to was to get away from a life that had no focus, no meaning,” Mumford said.
“When I came here, it was like having a new frontier. It was a new frontier.”
The reason he titled the book “Go North Young Man, Go North! is because in the 50’s and 60’s there was a common parlance to say Go West Young Man, Go West, because that’s where things were happening, he said.
Mumford talks about the people in the Lakes District as well, adding that the people were really kind to him coming in as an American immigrant.
“I think the book is a compliment to the people of Vanderhoof and the Lakes District. Vanderhoof took us under the wings so to speak,” he said.
“This area caught the vision of what I wanted to do — have a little farm of my own, a few head of cows, a family.”
Mumford is married to Joan and they now live in Clearwater, B.C. so they can be closer to their children and grandchildren.
But Vanderhoof will always be home, he said.
“Vanderhoof is still home. It’s the big sky country. I mention at the start of my book that my cousin bought a place on Sinkut Lake and it’s the perfect vista from there. You see across the lake to Sinkut Mountain and you can see Moose feeding. It’s beautiful here.”
For interested readers, the book is available at the Vanderhoof Department Store and Four Rivers Co-op.
