Ryan Silke's new book kicks off Heritage Week

February 21, 2012

Yellowknife, N.W.T. - It's Heritage Week in Yellowknife and local historian and author Ryan Silke is using it as an opportunity to talk about Yellowknife's mining heritage.

Silke said the city has changed a lot from its mining roots.

"Yellowknife in the 1940s and 1950s and into the 1960s was really a mining camp, with very few, or a very limited government presence," he said. "That's certainly changed over the years."

Silke said growing up his, father worked at the Con Mine and this personal history has translated into a bigger passion for mining history.

"It's been, I guess, my life's mission and life's goal for the last 12 years in my research to sort of bring that specific side of our history to the forefront, to research it, share it and celebrate it," he said.

Silke kicked off Heritage Week this past Monday at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre with a launch of his book, "High Grade Tales", which is about mining camps in the NWT.

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