Where Mountains Meet the Sea

Book excerpt: Where Mountains Meet the Sea commemorates the 125th anniversary of the District of North Vancouver's incorporation as a municipality. Combining hundreds of illustrations with the personal accounts of residents and a lively text, the book presents the story of North Vancouver in all its colour and complexity. Instead of a conventional chronological narrative, Where Mountains Meet the Sea divides the story of North Vancouver's development into three major parts: 1) the origins of the community, its First Nations residents and the development of its waterfront; 2) the political and cultural evolution of the community; and 3) the development of the mountain resorts and the creation of the many parks which characterize the North Shore. From the District's auspicious beginnings with the sawmill at Moodyville dominating the industry of Burrard Inlet, through the postwar population boom that saw the municipality evolve from a suburb of Vancouver into a bustling community in its own right, to the District's rich legacy of outdoor recreation, the text, residents' anecdotes and photographs create a vivid portrait of the development of a thriving community. Each section of the book is richly illustrated in full colour with biographies, eyewitness memories, artifacts from the collection of the North Vancouver Museum and Archives, historic photographs, maps and charts.