A bestselling author and explorer will be at the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library this week to dive into a century-old mystery.
In 1910, Canadian explorer Hubert Darrell travelled into the uncharted wilderness of the Northwest Territories and never came back.
For over a century, his disappearance went unsolved – until now.
In his new book, Vanished Beyond the Map, Shoalts takes on the task of unravelling Darrell’s ill-fated expedition.
“No one had ever investigated it before. There's never been a book written on Hubert Darrell. He didn't even have a Wikipedia page, and there was never any search expedition mounted to look for him,” Shoalts told SooToday.
“When I came upon it, I was like, 'wow, this has never really been investigated. I want to try to put the pieces of the puzzle together.'”
In what became a multi-year journey that took Shoalts on fact-finding missions and trips of his own to the western Arctic wilderness, he figures he’s solved the case – 115 years later.
Shoalts’ saga began years ago, when his curiosity was initially piqued by how little was known about Darrell.
Even though Darrell was a “lone wolf” explorer, he left a paper trail of written letters to his family, which is where Shoalts began.
“I made it my mission to seek out those letters. They had been kept as momentos by his surviving siblings after he disappeared,” he said.
“When they passed away they donated them to an archive, so I went and dug up his original letters, which had never been published before, and studied those as bread crumbs, as clues, to retrace Darrell’s routes.”
Given how well things can be preserved that far north, Shoalts figured he had a good chance of finding something on his trips.
“Log cabins, old campsites, cut stumps – all of those can remain after more than a century, so those are the sort of artifacts I was looking for when I launched these expeditions,” he said.
It was a hunch – backed by his extensive research – that paid off.
“In the end, I actually found Darrell's last campsite where his epic saga came to its tragic conclusion,” Shoalts said.
“It wasn't what I originally anticipated, but it was something that was quite dramatic.”
On Wednesday night, Shoalts will discuss his new book at the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library from 7-9 p.m., giving insight into the adventures behind the story.
“I'm going to share photos and content from my expedition in the Arctic, my various journeys that I've done … and besides that, I will talk a little bit about the expedition that I launched in the Arctic to search for any trace of Hubert Darrell,” he said.
Shoalts will be at the North Branch of the Sault Public Library tomorrow from 7:00-9:00 pm.
More can be read about tomorrow night’s event – including how to purchase tickets – here.