By now, most folks are aware of the Chilcotin River flood, in the interior of British Columbia.
A landslide dammed the Chilcotin River. The water finally surged over the dam and headed downstream where the Chilcotin flows into the mighty Fraser River.
The flood is expected to reach Hope, where the Fraser takes a hard right and heads for the Pacific, on Wednesday.
In the late 70s we lived four miles from the convergence of the Chilcotin and Fraser rivers. In Someplace North, Someplace Wild a young Texan named Cody Brandon will have his life changed in that same neck of the woods.
The Chilcotin is huge ranching country, including the Empire Valley Ranch, owned and operated in the 70s by a Christian couple who quickly became lifelong friends.
Tom wrote that story in Mountain Ranch at the End of the Road: horses, cows, guns and grizzlies in the Canadian wilderness published in 2019 and also available at Amazon.
The chilcotin country
The Chilcotin is a huge area of mountains, vast ranches, and forests. My first novel, Someplace North, Someplace Wild, encompasses the Fraser a few miles below the Chilcotin, where the August 2024 flood took place.
The story begins when Cody Brandon, the protagonist, leaves the Texas panhandle to seek his fortune in a remote mountain ranching area. Disaster meets him almost as soon as he enters Canada, and he is led finally to the Grand Valley Ranch (aka Empire Valley), west of the Fraser River.
He meets a beautiful school teacher, lands a dream job, and sits on top of his world, climaxing with a ten-day ride into the mountains to recover lost horses (where he also encounters a grizzly up close).
But on his return from that ride he hears some very bad news that will change his life.
What’s the point of the novel?
The story could be considered a book-length commentary on Mark 4:26-29. Jesus tells a short parable about a farmer who plants seeds and harvests the crop but in between the seed somehow grows without any effort from him. “The kingdom of heaven is like …” Jesus says, and then tells that story.
I summarize that parable as “The kingdom grows as God and man work together.”
If you read the book, you’ll see what I mean. 😊
Someplace North, Someplace Wild is a raw tale of courage, resilience, and the pursuit of one’s dreams against all odds. Gary Brumbelow delves into complex relationships, unfulfilled expectations, and the transformation of letting go of the past to embrace the promise of a new beginning.
“Looked like you were hurting on that home stretch,” I said afterward. He smiled. “Yeah.” (He’s kind of the strong, silent type.)