This is a tape for Dr. Whiting
Mrs. Olga Walker,

Principal,

Dr. Whiting,
and the Hospital

at Wrinch Memorial Hospital,

Two Mile School interviews

June 15, 197E

Dr. Whiting.

we would like you to tell us the history of Hazelton

as you so well told us before.

Well, when I spoke with you before, I started away back, didn't I?
You s.aid that Hazel ton was probably here a thousand years.
Yes, yes.

Hazelton

some other communities

is a very old community

around here, much older than Smithers and Prince

Rupert, which were j~st railroad
You mentioned
other villages

~,

.

and much older than

towns.

then that at that time that Hazelton

were.

and all the

Of course, Hazelton wasn't called that, it was

\

"

r

called by its Indian name, I guess.
I suppose so, but, there it was at the forks of the Skeena.where
the fishing was good and people lived there for many, many generations,
I expect.
Yes. and as you say there was no Prince Rupert, :::.nd
Smithers and

I

#

i

!

no Prince George.
No railroad,

no road, just trails, I guess.

And then, of course, there was Port Essington.
Port Essington,

I believe, was one of the old Indian villages and

it became the head, the port for the river-boats
Essington

up as far as Hazelton.

river-boats

Around the turn of the century these

were run.

And then of course in the east the nearest,
{

For~ George.
Yes/

that came from Port

so called place was

2.

Yes.

Or Fort St. James was another Hudson Bay Trading post from

away back.
~\.
,\~~I

And the whole country was, just as you say trails, and then the'
motor transportation

was kind of interesting.

You mentioned that they

had horses.
Yes.

They had horses and they had dogs and dog sleds in the

winter and used dogs as pack animals all the year round.
And you had mentioned, because the children really remember this,
that a dog, a good pack dog, could carry 40 lbs.
Yes.

This is the figure that I heard.

And of course, the horses naturally.

Then you mentioned about

the white people and they arrived around, between 1850 and 1860.
Yes.

Traders first and later other people.

And you also mentioned'the
Oh yes!
·people.

The white man brought lots of problems for the Indian

Diseases that the Indian people had never come in contact' .

with before.
-too.

problems they brought with them.

Small pox was an especially bad thing, but other diseases

Tuberculosis was brought,by the white man and measles which was

a very deadly thing.
It often wiped out whole villages, just about.
Yes.

The small pox would almost wipe out an entire village with

it.
It must have been terrible.
cOming of the white people tha~swhen

And then you mention with the
the steamers started.

",

Then the steamers started and the steamers ran until the
railroads came.
And that Hazelton was the head of navigation.
Yes.
So that's, I suppose, the name Hazelton wag then, that was now
beginning/

beginning,

the word Hazelton.
. J ~ ':

Actually,

I don't know when they got the name Hazelton,

but quite

possibly it',s a white man's name for sure, not a native name.
I understand

that it stands for hazelnut

..

~hat too, and there are a tremendous number of wild

I understand

town.

hazelnut b~shes grow around here •

.

We are really quite proud of the fact that our town is really
named after its

nuts.

So anyway, you have mentioned

that there is fur trading and you

have also mentioned about the gold, the supplies.
They had this gold ~ishovery

in Madison Creek and there was quite

a gold rush in the late 1800's into Madison Creek.

Although it was

dwarfed by the later gold rush to the Yukon, but there was quite a move
of miners into Madison Creek.

' One of perhaps the most important take-

off pOi.nts for the Madison Creek gold field was Hazel ton where the trail
that led overland to Babine and Tatlow Lake and on tO,Madison
That's really something,
I suppose, and ~s.

Creek.

and then as you say they had dancehalls

..'~,;;

They had their bars alright, another one of the blessings

that

the white man brought to the Indian people.
Well, there must have been a fair population

then, at Madison

Creek.
I guess so, I guess so, at the height, but I don't think it
lasted - like most gold rushes.
And t}len you mentioned

•••••• what about the pack horses in the

,

winter time, that was interesting?
I talked with a man once that used to run a pack train into ,!;.ort
Babine.

He spoke of the pass between Hazelton and Fort Babine, where

·the/

\

the snow would come early in the fall and lie late in the spring.
And they used to have snow-shoes
snow-shoes,

tied on the horses feet, not ordinary

but sacks filled with hay - bulky - that would give bulk

to the horses' feet, so that they wouldn't
snow.

sink so deeply into the

.

You mention, that also these pack horses carried everything •
•
That was a. freight line, I guess.
Yes,yes.

It was the only way, of getting freight in was, by pack

horses, and so they took the mining machinery

in disassembled

on horses.

And there are stories of them taking pianoes in, probably partly
disassembled

on the horses.

I gueaathey would have to disassemble
a piano on a horse

them somehow, trying to put

• • • • •• • • •

Not quite.
And then of course you mentioned

1899 was a big date for

Hazelton.
Yes.

That was the year when Dr. Wrinch first arrived, the pioneer

medical missionary

under the Methodist

Cburch, came and started the
I'

medical work he".
You mentioned

The'4n1y doctor in that country.
the only doctor to practice between here and

Kam1oops.
'I believe that is correct, yes.
That really, you might say, put Hazelton

on the map a long time

ago.
Yes.

'.

You ,.~ntion he came' by steamer.
He came from Belleville,

Where did Dr. Wrinch come from?

Ontario.

And then, of course, by rail to the coast and then by steamer.
:;-

Steamer/

,-

Steamer up the coast, but then we have heard that 'he didn't come

up the river by steamer, but came up in an Indian dugout canoe.

I

don't know why he didn't come up by steamer, maybe, it was that
steamers weren't running that year or something.
Maybe the water was too low.
,

Maybe, something like that.
I understand steamers ran only~in very high water.
There season would of necessity be short.
the winter when the river is frozen.

They couldn't run in

They couldn't run if there were

too many logs drifting down in high water, and so on.

r was going to ask you if Dr. Tomlinson was in the area at that
time or if he came later1
I think he might have been in the area earlier than that.

I

can't speak very authoritatively about that.
You did mention that Dr. Wrinch and Dr. Tomlinson ,did work
{~

together or at least knew each other.
Knew each other and were contemporaries in the work here.
Then YO~entionedthat

What was.. that?
"

1901 was another big date for Hazelton •

"~"'"

'.~

,

That was the first hospital.
I'm not sure of the date of the first hospital.
And that went on until, well of course the next big project in
the Hazelton area was the building of the C.N.R. railroad.
Yes.

The railroad was completed, I think, the first though train

was in 1913.
That s to Hazelton only.
No.

That was through to Prince Rupert.

Frotawhere?
Prom Montreal.

o.

My goodness, that really was something and then of course to
South Hazelton.
An interesting

date on the river, on the Skeena Crossing Bridge

over the river was the date 1911, stamped in the cement there, at that
point, as you can see Lt.
I can.

I have to get a picture of that.

it was an especially

important

Then you mention that

date fpr you too.

Well that would be the year I was born, maybe that is why I
remember it - not that I remember that.
So then, Dr. Wrinch,

I suppose, pad many, many services here to do
J

i

with the railroad, no doubt.
It brought a lot of medical work to him and the people were
patients with Dr. Wrinch.
river-boat

As soon as the railroad was operated the

traffic ceased.
,

Because the rail-road

went the year round.

Yes.'
And then you went on, to say that in 1931 the new hospital was
built.
Yes, but .•
'-iS hos~~al

that we are in now was built in 1'931.

Dr. Wrinch planned it and built it and so 1931 was 45 years 'ago.
And you mentioned

that, it was a kind of L-shaped

sort of '

surrounded ~he old hospital.
Yes, ,that's right it was built around two sides of the old
hospital and when the new hospital was finished, the old hospital was
demolished.
.,
-r:

r

. ~,-

"\

r \"

'

7.
They left the basement·of.the
and put a roof over it.

old hospital and the ground floor

They used the ground floor as a drying shed

for years and years, for drying linen.

The basement was used as a

fruit cellar fo~ years after the new hospital was in operation.

Now we have electric_ dryers for the laundry.
es
and

ame here first in 1939, they had electricity, but they
generated it in their own private plant and it was only a very limited
amount of power they had.'

It was just a lighting plant.

use it for any other purposes.
Certainly not

They couldn't

~

fQy~,

aftJ.•·.vay.

~

She is still living here in New Hazelton.
·s.ti-ll,
and. she's Frances Willan.

She is on our staff

She was one of the graduates of

Dr. Wrinch's training school for nurses here.
And you mentioned

that for the last three months that she would

have to go out •

.

. She would have her affiliation

.

Most likely, I believe in Vancouver,

time in the other hospitals.
as part of her training.

And, of course, there must have been other hurses too that
graduated.

8.
I guess so. ..
The only one I know is Franc es VJillan.
That's really terrific.

You also mentioned that Dr. Eric Austin

was the next Dr.Wrinch .hired here and he was here for some time too.
Dr.Wrinch retired in 1935 and they had some short term doctors.
Dr.Leonard Wrinch was in charge of the hospital for a while after his
father left.

Then Dr~Eric Austin came in 1938.

Well, Dr.Wrinch was gone then?
Yes.
I see, and also I know what I was going to ask you, was that Dr.
Wrinch was really quite an unusual person.

He wasn't only a doctor,

but he was also a Member of Parliment.
Oh yes.

He was a Member of Parliment.

For some ~ears he was a

M.L.A. for this part of the world in Victoria, and he was a liberal and
he was also a quite an active ~.L.A., I believe, and did a very good job
·on his committee work and served the government well •

./c,.

He did alot for Hazelton because he was such an active part in the

Parliment •
.

,

Yes.

There is somewhere around I know, a picture, a photograph of him

officiating at the opening of the Hagwilget Bridge in the 1930's.
Oh, that's when the Hagwilget ~ridge was opened in, 1939.
1930's.

I .':.:on't
know which year, and Dr.-:lrinchofficiating there.

Well,~e'll
Yes.

have to find that one.

Then there was a Dr.Large.

Dr.Gedded Large still has an active medical practice in Prince

Rupert.

He is getting ..
on in his years now.

here, he

w~;

11Jhenhe was a young man

here for a tim~ with Dr.Wrinch.

And then, of course, later on wrote books.
(

.',

9.
:

He has written this book, "The Skeena, Hiver of Destiny. It He is
_ very well informed and has made quite a study of the history of this':
whole area.
-

Of course, he i~ still alive, is he not?

•

Oh yes!

He is still practicing medicine on a slower pace than he

used to.
You, then of course, mentioned i~ 1941, the bridge was washed out.
I guess that's when the real Hazelton started.
You mention for a while there were two stations.
Yes.

There was New Hazelton and South Hazelton stations on the

railroad and the way to get to the railroad from old town was to cross
the low level brid~e down at old Town that crosses the Bulkley River
over to Mission Point Flats there, then up the hill to South Town.
That was Hazelton's station nea'4.eston the railroad.

Somewhere in the

early 1950' s the bridge was washed' out with the flood time and was never
rebuilt.
Was'it 1940's or in 1936 that they had that great big flood?
No.

It was irithe. "40' sitwhen we were here in 1939 and '40' we,4drove

across that bridlt many. tImes.
And they called that the low-level road.
Yes.

I tion't know why the called it that.

It was low-level compared

to the present Hagwilget.
But the Hagwilget Bridge wasn't built at that time?
Dh yes.
It ·~S?SS9

there were two bridges then.

It was in the '30'·s'we aaid we had this pic ture of Dr. Wrinch.
,'.

~~.~

~hile Hazelton had two bridges.

10.
-

"at's

riSht.

-

r ftdn't- bow that I used to thiat that wh,n that washed out that was it.

-

wo.

!h.y co-extsted .aybe tor I don't know how long, tor .e.eral y.ar••

the two ~r1dses.
Wh.n1OD~i

••d - that wa8the

n.2tbig

topic - ot you arri.ing.

It wa.

intere.tins
how you heard about Hazelton and what made you think about coainl
,
here aDd 80 torth •.
-

.ell, I was interested in it because it wa. a ~8sion
up to Hazelton in 1939.

ho.pital, a church

hospital..

I cue

M:J wite and I were .arried that

•••• y.ar.

W. had b.en1f1th thes. church mis8ion hospit.ls ., whole ••dical

car••r.
-

You·antio •••d that ot COur8., your ho•• was in Toronto and that your trip w••
rather int.~et1ns'w1th

-

your car.

Y•• , that .••• i~ late D.c ••~.r aDd .arly January ot 1939.
'1'0
ronto· out to Hazelton'.

I drove tro.

We arri.ed h.re January 9th, 1939, when I fir.t

.a. Ra~eltoa and the H08pital.

-

-

Y01l wer ••• ry.bra.e to dri.e th.:18part ot the country in JillU&ry.
"11, J don't know.'

I had no real trouble at all.

ae. paY.d rOil", no bl.~op
wa ••

the road. - tbere were

troll"80.ewhere aroulld ,shcrott, north.

there

sra.e1 roa.·, but it wa. in the winter ti•• , it was •• w-co.ered and

it didn't· ••tter.,
-

'~at'. wh.n it was pa••dl

-

Y••.•···It was pa.ed with snow.
the d~

yes~ I got on just tine except, I re•••b.r

I was driYinS tro. "and.rhoot to Hou8ton, it waa ROwing

r sot to Houston .and put up in the hot.l there that night.

h••Y117 anel

The next .orninl

J

the road. w.r •• ll·clocsed with snow and no trattic could get throulh, an4
I l87'o.er D tor a day in Houston, then the plough so.ehow ca.
(

"

'l'heaw. c'" oa to Haz.lton •
.......

throu,h.

11.
-

!h. eDOW plough a were a little differeat in those days too.

- 'II.
-

.aell1nery waa diff.rent.
~hat'a the .ain thins.

But th.y ploughed th•• juat same.
tllat'by tll.ti_

You aention.d

you arri••d Al Benaon waa doins a ,reat budn.ss

-

••••••~a21dr1 ••r.

-

bd

-

Oh y•• ~ liebrought u•• any pati.nts.

•• a •••

H. was the taxi driTer.

of c9111"aeof great serrice

people had ears in thoae daya.

0 the hospital.
~h.re were Tery f.w car..

Very t.w

I don·t think there were IlOr. than BaYN-.

coupl. of to.en car. in the whole area around her. 80 the taxi wa••• r7 busy.
Peopl. wallted IftIchIIOr. than they do now.

n.y

walked for 1111...

ft.

standard way to set anywhere waa to walk th.re.
Ita r.ally inter.atins b.caus. on. peraon waa tellins ua how th.y ua.d to
al.isll rid..
Waz.ltoll.

~h. childr.n would aleigh-ride aDd coure. aue the old road to
So I .aid.,:,·they_at

what about traftlc_'
car••

haYe really us.d that biS hill aDd

'Oh', th.y aald .that waa no problea th.r. w.re t.o

dq.

- "'- __ ch.,.•. traffic •.

-

So it •••

q~"

aaf•• , :f.f courae , Madi80n er •• k. all that had all f1l11e."

• lOBS tl•• b.for. that.
-

Yo••• ntioned also r.sardlns a lltt1. part about the nur••a r.aidence.

!h.

aeuth''part.,.
-

If 10~ looa at the nur••• • r••idence to-day" you CaD .e. that the south
part of it is old.r.loo~ng

than the rest of It.

the old part .aa the only residence

1ft

!hat ••• the re.id.nc.,

1939.

-

And th.t •• h.re Mr. BenDett aDd Judy Scott li•• rlght no••

-

~at· •• her. th.f Ii•• no••

-

fte n•• part .aa built ill 194'.,

'~

SO••••• r. 1~ the 1940'. the n.w part of the residence waa built.

A~th.D.

ot course, as you already mentioned that Dr. 1rinch had retired in

....

1936.

'

_vo

-

Yes.

-

SO, Dr. Austin took his place at that ti.e.

- \~ Well, Dr. Austin didn't set ~ere~Jn~il ~ cO~~le ot _year~ ~ater.

e;(r(I think Dr. Leonard Wrinch, son ot the old doctor til~ed in tor.t~o ,ear••
-

-

Re elidn't stay retired Ter,. long tor he lett this .orld ill.,
1939.

..

tin'

-

-

J

.

J think when we were here that we got word that he had died.

1939.
~

;,

-4

~ ••••

.

.

.

SF ••• t transportation to places 11ke Kitwanga and all

ft~

ot place. alons th.eway were entirely by rail.
"

;

.

"-'"

wa. no road from Hazelton to Rupert in tho.e days other than the rail•

.1.

~

e q'

B1.

11.0

You could driTe as tar a. Kit.esuekla along the route ot the pre.ent
highw~ • .ore or le•• , ~t
"

it wae ju.t a dirt road with gras•• growing up
-

.

\.it.

v......r· .••
'"'"

-

. i.

..• .

betw e l~~e t~ ruta. " And when you got to Kit.eguekla that w•• the end ot
•

the road.

v ;

.

~;

r-

s,

.,

•

)11

.\,

•••

~

~,_

'.....

you ·h.adto go by train'.
-

But actuaUy

"en

~

·.•.
··0.

You couldn.t driTe any turther.
.'

ntwMla,

.,~

1":-

apea~Dg

there long ago.

_

i

.;)

,.

11 '!bt.trl~

•• J

t-

'...

It you wanted to go to

c.l:

1;)'

•.

'8
~

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«.»
",t.A

+ ••.

~...

q

.,n

'l'hisis what we used to do all the t1ae.

If<.

•

bL

•

!O'

.:;) .•.

ofJ

-4

d

oJ

.•.

."ABa,
'35' eui"e, Kitwanga nllage would
haTe
.
.,.,'t.,
wail.

.&ad 'lleD the Illdi.s, they would go '"
,..--/

•• 1:'1

.•

and

1~~~~tr.1i~~~~n~.~~.~.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Qr·
..
. ',\_;...
l... . 1
.6

'l'heywould haye their dug-out caDoes.

case.
one ot the .peeder.
0__

eb!

n she go here,~.
~l'fo

~I'L

8

was

w j~.

,. t :+

+

ud

..

;

-

r do.·t

-

JfO.... had better

-

W0111d
there be aD7 other incidents

81IPpos,.,.well it doesn·t utter.

yov-practice
-

I)

~

IIOt S81.

here.

worth,. of interest

to mention regarding

Of course. 70u'11 ha?e seen a lot of arowth.·· .,

Oh:7e. UD7 chaDp ••

~ - ".fte

~

if 7011'drather not S81'

Iadian people have proaresaed reaarkabl,. in the aeanti •• aiDce 1939.

. Relat1o•• -betweea the race. haye iapro?ed areat17.

..

.,...

.

'1'herace. a1z 80C1allJ

. _eh"t~

U ••• ua'*3fd.cw

~.

\.:.It tak.a ti_

'but then it

" •• If, ~••• N •••4. att''2!iald:l ••

happens. . 'I'he co-education of the Indian· eld.ldJ'en
to aecoapliah this end.~

_ J"

·~'-'l

A

J;A,,'~M.1u.J,

.-

-

~-.(»>-/~

-

P1S 5

?

I

~Il.

circulI8toe ••

b.,."

and 80•• ?er,. .a4.

"e-Y. aeen ov ahare of trased7 aDd heart-ache and diaappoiDtae~t~death~13

~~ot~t~

-

.~

-

c

e

. he deel'ine. or

_-~tIt i~ drug.- 7011_0 alcohol, or this sort of thing.
.~J'I

Wedo h.?e .oae of the

?

the other drug..

~here's been a lot ot talk about other drugs, aar1juana,

her01ft and so Oft~ but the worst drug and the biggest problell by tar is
alcohol, and 1t is a drug and it is the cauee ot lIany tilles as nch

heart-

ache as these other drugs, and they are sad things too, the other drugs.
But, the real heartbreaker is ateaka· the way alcohol is u8ed and abused all
the ti_,

every week •.

Firat ot all people that are concerned about alcohol and health aake
alar.tng statement that alcohol is tiller number three.

That in·one

one W«1 or another alcohol is the third cOII.onest cause ot death in our
aOciety and heart disease is the cOllllOnest.cancer is the next cOHoneat
and alcohol related diseases. violence, highway deaths and ao on is the
third cOllllOnestcause ot de':~h.. In British Columbia, ac( 2 ffug to
,

~rn

••i· gtwttiffCs, which we would expect to be fairly conserYative

'ecau.e the goYernaent- likes to think it makes money out ottha

aale of

alcohol,-but according to government statistics published just two or thre~
years ago ,7 there are 10,000 alcoholi.cs in B.C.

~

Mi ~~.

~.

7JZ1~F:
~.
i8 that man's a sinner and thi8 ~

st
'?J

('

l.f.

.- works it••lt out in so many ways.

.

/

The protit motive haa done ao much to
I

proact. the sale of alcohol and still is.
beautital coloured 'adst~~

'rime m4gazin.'"has the moat
~n the liquor 'ada' invariably

they present the drinking custom as a glamorous thing, v.ry attractive to
·the youRS people..

Of course, they never show any otthe

heartache. that

goes along with this.

-

~

...

~~~~~
j

.

.
j

.

.

Ita the thing to do and everybody jokes about the durnk.

The drunk i. the

sadd.st thing you see in our society and you see it all through.

Ita not

••••thing to laugh at but everybody laughs at someone who ia drunk.

~jr,.

-

-

-

-

- --s:c-ii£i!:?,.
I believe in the mother having the baby, not the doctor haYing the baby.
But,.anyw81 thi.J·book that .as presented to me, and it's just a lovely
,.

gift, "od it's got jdctures at several hundred babies that w.re born 11l
thelho~pital here ~d

- S

'hE

~

:qi5i Pbi RU ~?

~

~

1n the hospital at Bella Coola, whil. I was there~~
~
~
19~t) ~/9s..r,4
c!J~ ~
~
,--

tourte•• J--r-III-,.-b"--?-~"--·-·-~d

-fovdwu.~~tz44/~~~/9j-~1

_. ~

1955.hiS

a%

51(

"

,

=

t_ .....
~. __
-~!here

1-

-

is a long list of the names of the Bella Coo1a babies in the book and

I think there are BOre people on the list than have Picture •• ~

I;r-

And so, I understand, you are gOing to retire into the beautiful

Tes,
apples.
Well, we
that doesn·t sound v

and that do••

y big, but it has 1

sound big e.
Oh my, I guess you have every

"' goodness,,'tou
variety.
Yes.

Apples ,.pears

ricots and cherries.

Oh, I'll have to get

address.

bealltiful place

to.

That is a
Whiting

Well, I

tremendously
Well, it's

A.p1easure for me and an honour

be asked to

I've enjoyed it very much
They were not backward about asking questions
It was a yery enjoyable morning there at the schoo

are bright