It is always a matter of great local interest when Lakefield’s John Boyko delivers a new historical study. In this instance, he has hit a grand-slam home run with “In Pursuit of Tomorrow: The Inventive Life of Sandford Fleming.” 

This long-awaited, contemporary biography of a major historical figure fills in some significant gaps in Canadian history and brings to life once again a resilient and remarkable explorer and inventor who drew proudly on his Scottish roots and his extraordinary personal abilities to create several path-breaking achievements in and for his adopted home of Canada.

In weighing his immense contributions to early Canada and the emerging modern world of which he was part, I for one believe that Fleming deserves an even more prominent place in the Canadian historical record than has heretofore been recognized. That he spent his first two years in Canada as an ambitious Scottish teenager, living in what is now Hutchison House on Brock Street in Peterborough, is the initial step in Fleming’s much larger story.

Many years ago, Trent historian Alan Wilson was planning to write a Fleming biography. From his Peterborough base and with his Nova Scotia roots, he was well positioned to undertake the project. Alas, it was never completed, but that has left John Boyko to take up the challenge in this century. And a very big challenge it proved to be. Fleming has had numerous biographers and admiring colleagues over the years, beginning with his Ottawa friend Lawrence J. Burpee’s “Sandford Fleming: Empire Builder” (1915) and more recently Clark Blaise’s “Time Lord: The Remarkable Canadian Who Missed His Train and Changed the World” (2001).

Boyko has faced an enormous task in gathering huge amounts of scientific and administrative data, then shaping Fleming’s life and achievements into a readable study for today’s readers. It is a masterful achievement.

Fleming’s Peterborough years began in 1845 when, at age 18, he immigrated to Canada with his brother David from Kirkcaldy, Scotland. Born in 1817, he had been apprenticed early on to John Sang, an engineer and........

© Peterborough Examiner