Download or read book Fire Canoe written by Ted Barris and published by Dundurn. This book was released on 2015-09-26 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Years before railroads arrived, the Canadian West was opened up by an unlikely breed of ship: steamboats plying Prairie waterways. Their aboriginal pilots, experts at reading the tricky waterways, called the ships “fire canoes.” By day they chased freight contracts, but at night they introduced the Edwardian Prairies to pleasure cruises.