Return to Northern British Columbia A Photojournal of Frank Swanell, 1929–39

In his third book on the adventures of Frank Swannell, historian Jay Sherwood continues his account of one of BC's most famous surveyors. The 1930s was the era of bush planes, packers and riverboats in northern BC. Swannell photographed them and recorded his experiences with some of BC's colourful characters, including Skook Davidson, who worked with Swannell for four seasons. Swannell provides much valuable information about the life of Davidson before he started his famous Diamond J Ranch. Return to Northern British Columbia includes a photo gallery of unpublished Skook Davidson photographs found in Swannell's photo albums.

From 1979 to 1986, Jay Sherwood lived and taught school in Vanderhoof where he learned about the ledgendary land surveyor, Frank Swannell, through his involvement with the local history society. A former surveyor himself, Sherwood embarked on a study of Swannell that would result in the publication of this book as well as Surveying Northern British Columbia (a 2005 BC Book Prize finalist) and Surveying Central British Columbia (second-prize winner in the 2007 BC Historical Federation Writing Competition). He now lives in Vancouver, where he works as a teacher-librarian.