Dear Editor:
I am responding to a letter to the editor regarding my recently published book Raising Kain: The Adventurous Life of Conrad Kain.
In the original article that appeared in The Pioneer, I misidentified the glacier that Conrad Kain dynamited in the story, The Birth of An Iceberg, as Jumbo Glacier when in fact it was a neighbouring glacier at Lake of The Hanging Glaciers. I apologize for this error.
I welcome the feedback of the Conrad Kain Society and applaud their tireless efforts in remembering Kains legacy in the Columbia Valley and beyond.
I ask readers to remember that the book Raising Kain is a historical novel, combining actual history with various fictional elements while endeavoring to explore the greater context of the time and era in which these events took place. The book is clearly identified in five places as a historical novel including on both front and back covers.
I hope that readers will see the book Raising Kain for what it is intended to be, a window into Conrad Kains colourful life and legacy.
I join in the anticipation of looking forward to celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first ascent of Mt. Robson by Conrad Kain in 2013 the highest mountain peak in the Canadian Rockies.
I, too, recommend the reading of the mountain classic Where the Clouds Can Go, the official autobiography of Conrad Kain, compiled by J. M Thorington and published in 1935.
Books, by their very nature, open a world of creativity and imagination; and as one book reviewer wrote about Raising Kain, the book is a seamless blend of fact and fiction, creating a story which is as fascinating as it is informative; humorous as it is poignant.
I encourage readers to pick up a copy of Raising Kain at their local bookstore or library and explore for themselves the exciting and adventurous life of Conrad Kain, real and imagined.
Keith Powell, author of Raising Kain
Cranbrook
