This book celebrates the unsung heroes who built the stretch of the KVR from Myra Canyon to Penticton - through mountains, up impossible grades and built trestles across deep canyons. These men, also called navvies or blanketstiffs, toiled with pick and shovel, sledge and scoop. They engaged in the tough work of leveling grades, blasting and filling holes, digging foundations and pounding spikes. Here, Williams tells their story. He tells us where they came from and provides new details on life in the construction camps as well as highlights of their workday. He writes of those who cared about the navvie - to reveal the life of those who truly built the Kettle Valley Railway.

Maurice Williams is an Associate Professor of History at UBC Okanagan.