BIG SOUTHERN CHAPTER 95

AFTERWORD

Most of the places in Big Southern are very real, though their features have been adjusted for the author's convenience. The Portneuf Gap has been moved a couple miles, the Big Southern Butte is just somewhat similar to the real version. The characters of the novel, despite bearing the names of real people, are fully fictitious.

The Skeen Canal and the United Canal, under different monikers, did in fact have a long drawn-out court battle of which little record remains, and the general feel of that skirmish is wholly imagined from the perspective of the author's prejudices. Daniel Blossom did have a great deal to do with the Skeen Canal's construction and worked with the company for decades, and he is credited with helping the "Bank of Pingree" establish his semi-empire. But all his scenes in Big Southern are fabricated, just tools to establish an ambience that might somewhat represent an era. Some of the United's characters bear real-life names but otherwise no resemblance to the actual—someone with access to LDS Church records might find a document treasure trove that unearths the true story of the Church's involvement in the area's development, as well as a more accurate portrayal of those who built the canal.

My thanks to my wife, Jeriann Sabin, who put up with (or enjoyed) my psychological distance while writing Big Southern. I promise her it won't happen again. Appreciation goes out to her and to Kaye Turner for their painstaking editing.