stuartjross

By stuartjross

Strathcona (BC lite)

There is a huge amount of history associated with this man made loch at the entrance to Glencoe.
Lord Strathcona was a self made man and became a leading figure in the development of infrastructure, commerce and politics in Canada. He was born in Forres, Moray and left for Canada I think just in his teens. He worked for Hudsons Bay Company and rose through the ranks quickly.
He ceremonially drove the "Last Spike" to finally join the Canadian Pacific railway line from east to west beating the corresponding line in the States and gaining a massive commercial advantage. The last spike was driven at Creagellachie (also a Speyside village in Moray), Eagle Pass, British Columbia.
In Scotland he bought up a big chunk of Glencoe and lived here for a while and had this reservoir built (one of three) in the glen to remind his Canadian wife's relatives of their homeland.
It is rumoured he took the name Strathcona (opposed to Glencoe) for his title because of the shameful history of the 1619 massacre here and the negative connotations of the Glencoe name.
This reservoir and surrounding woodland certainly puts me in mind of the far west of that distant continent.

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