polallie

[Mike Cleven]

>From: terry glavin <transmontanus at GULFISLANDS.COM>

>
>i'm trying to help a fellow writer in her research on the origins of
>dynamite/gunpowder in chinook illahie; in language, literature and history.
>
>the first thing that came to mind was the explosion of ripple rock, a cause
>of great skookumwawa in seymour narrows,

think you mean skookumchuck, doncha?

up towards the euclataw rapids. the
>ripple rock blast, which was prior to hiroshima, was the largest
>human-caused explosion in history.

IIRC it remains the largest non-nuclear explosion; and wasn't it after
Hiroshima anyway?  Forgotten the year....Our Boston friends may be more
familiar with this explosion than they know; footage of its blast cloud was
used over and over again in movies, and is one of the more familiar bits of
black-and-white newsreel.

any other interesting purposes to which
>polallie has been put?

The blasting of the Fraser Canyon, Rogers Pass and Kicking Horse Canyons, of
course, including the high mortality rate on the railways; Chinese, Irish
and Welsh being the main victims (IIRC as many Irish died during the
construction of the CPR as did Chinese, although you don't usually hear
about the former's role).  And similarly the Fraser Canyon Highway and
similar enterprises, including the Great Overhang in the Bridge River
Canyon.  Plus all the great deep mines - Cumberland, the Dunsmuir mine in
Nanaimo, Bralorne-Pioneer, etc.

>
>also interested in origin of the term polallie - sounds like a fusion of
>polaklie (dark/night) and ollallie (berries), which would make sense.

A _lot_ more sense than the usual etymology from "poudre"; or even "poivre";
neither or which looked very plausible.  "Dark berries" is an award winner,
and I suggest it as a title for your friend's book.

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