o tions. a Terrace oldtimer Elsie
: Smith.

* While the Grand Trunk Paci:

ic Railway was being built in the

first’ decade of this century, —
George. ‘Little,- a’ major land:
owner in the area, donated some —
land to insure the station on this

section of rail would be: located: -
in what: is now. called: Terrace.

Rumor at: the time. ‘said there
may be better locations, but -as

far as Little was concerned they -
wouldn’t do much for the com-.
munity that was. already be

ginning to’ grow.

_ | Following the “offer of land,
; Little. was | asked: by Grand.
. Trunk to name the community

— every rail station must have a
name. And,

‘it Terrace,”’ recalls pioneer Elsie
Smith. ‘‘So he was the founder

of our. city.’? Other stories say

Little’s friends tried.to name the

community ‘“Littletown” earlier ©] um

in the decade, but this name was.

rejected by the post office — the -

name had already been taken by
an Ontario community. But to-
day, everyone seems quite happy
with our city’s name, and it is
probably true that this story
would be much different if. the

station had been built somes

where else.

Prior to the completion of. the
Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in
1914, steamboats plied “the

Skeena from Prince Rupert to_

Hazelton, with a stop.at Kitsum-
gallum (Yes. This could have
been our name): The journey,
however, took three weeks up-
river and one week down. And

just to keep everyone from get-
ting bored, male passengers.

were required to help load fire-

wood and help pull the boat—

through rapids with ropes strung
through rings secured to canyon
walls.
railway not only relieved male
passengers from the toil of the
journey but opened the North-
west to the rest of the country
with a much better transporta-
tion system than was available
before. Commerce and social
life were changed forever.

bered by Smith was much slower
paced than what is seen ‘today.
Sunday school was a community
meeting place for the young.
And Sunday afternoons the La-’
dies Guild picnics at Lakelse
Lake were an event for the
whole community.

“Everyone was seated on the
back of a truck to go out,’
remembers Smith fondly. ‘‘And
the weather was always really
nice. We never had to. worry

about a rainy day. In fact, it was

usually too hot to walk bare-
footed on the sand, and the cool
lake water felt wonderful.”
Then there were the hot
spririgs, Opened in 1910 by 31-
year-old Bruce. -Johnstone,
father of Lakelse Lake resident
Lioyd Johnstone, the hotsprings
was sdon to become an interna-
tfonal attraction. Johnstone ad-
vertised his ‘‘spa”’ in the United
States and Western Canada arid
kept the 12-guest resort and
dinirig lounge full seven months
“of every yeat, a

article is the ‘third in a.
oo ‘by Terrace Review report-
er. Tod Strachan on the recollec-

‘Looking north -
toward the: ‘henches’, he called:

.So the coming of -the

But the hot springs ' were realsoa a
popular destination for. local .
"residents as ‘well; and as.remem-.
bered by Smith, a journéy'to ‘the.
hot .springs by.’a- sufferer . of '¢

_.' wheumatism, ° arthritis: or some
’ other disabling affliction in

those ‘days was almost a kil or
cure, proposition.

‘distances for the physical relief:

offered by, the hot mineral water

she. recalls, but once’ ‘they. got to:
“the lake, the journey was. far
- from over, ‘It was. quite: a trip,”’

she says. They were met at. the

* the lake, which ‘was. where: the.
Toad ended in those days. "Then.
' they were loaded into an open.
‘ launch, powered by a motor out. '
of a Ford car, and taken to the .
Hot-Springs area.” But they still -

weren’t there. ‘“Then there was a began. to open up. The. first

Skeena: -bridge,. now the: old
- Skeena bridge, opened withifan-
‘fare in 1924. .This was preceded
_. by several accidents with the old

corduroy road (built with logs

laid. transversely) where they
walked a half mile carrying their,

own baggage. ”

Elsie Smith

But, she adds, ‘“There were
some reports of it being benefi-
cial.”? There’s little.doubt that
our ancestors were tough. All
this just to get rid of the suffer-
er’s pain... to sit ona bench. on a.
taft with a tent over it that was.

‘designed ‘to contain the healing:

steam. In later years, she says,.-
things were improved somewhat
when a pipeline was laid to fill.

‘resort baths.

There was also other life at
the lake, says Smith. Two or
three Prince Rupert families had

summer cottages and there was a -
And: the social life remem-

fish hatchery that employed sev-
eral local people. According to

‘ Smith, hatchery workers lived at.,

the lake with their families, year
round. There were no roads in

the winter, she says, so. they

would stock.up. on supplies in
the fall. In December, one hardy
camp resident would volunteer
to snowshoe to Terrace to pick
up everyone’s mail and on their
return a backwoods Christmas
celebration began.

And in the summef, getting .

from place to place wasn’t much

safer than braving December's |
winds. Smith remembers two of .

these hatchery residents, a Mrs.
Hunter and a Mrs. Charlie Ra-
ven. The two women apparently
lived a fair distance. apart but
liked to visit on a warm sum-
mer’s day. But as they prepared
to walk the distance alone, fill-
ing an old jam tin with stones
was an important part of the
ritual, They rattled these tins all
the way to their destination to
keep qway bears.

_ Another social event en-

hae: ht “the | ‘train wae. ‘the
“July, t Celebrations in the 1930’s.
According to Smith, the railroad.

; began these annual: holiday.ex-

-cursions and it. wasn't. long ‘be-
fore. nearly. 300: Prince ‘Rupert
~ residents made thej journey every
- year.:“*We met, the train. around
aa - Neon witha parade of decorated
"People ‘used to.. travel reat, floats; which. were later judged
‘and prizes awarded to the best
of different: ‘categories, ””. ‘Says .
Smith. ‘Then,. alot of the: locals
and visitors: ‘picnicked: together :
__in:the uppers part-of, George
ae Little. Park (the ¢ arena hill) where
train and driven to the. head of _.there:were swings and-a. ‘band °

stand « overlooking © Kalum’, St.

“The town, seemed - swarming

“with people that day;. remembers -

Smith. ‘“And,. of course, : “The
weather was: -always' fine.”’:
_ Following the. railway, roads

ferry. system, however, ‘Smith’s
father was drowned. ‘in 1913

trying to clear a tree from. the:
cable system, and the ferry:.ac--

tually broke loose twice in the
early 1920’s, once ending up on
the rocks and another stranding
the. ferryman . and two passen-

gers on an isolated island over-

night. No lives were lost in these
latter two incidents, they were
just simple reminders that re-

gardless of Progress, the -river -

still rules.
“In May of 1936, the Skeena

River went on the rampage,’

says Smith. “It was -due to
unseasonably warm | days and

nights, and a lot of snow. up in
. the mountains. The little town
of Usk was afloat and houses -

had to be chained to trees.”

Pictures were taken of people in |
boats at second story windows

getting in to rescue belongings,
Some :of: these photographs, as

well as one of an unfortunate
structure rafting its way under
the Skeena bridge on its way to

the coast, can be found at Heri-

tage Park.
But Smith remembers people

. huddled in.a small school house

on the bench at Usk opening
unlabelled cans rescued from the
local’ store. Smith remembers.
this because, being a little har-
dier than we are today, she
hopped on: a railway speeder and

went to have. a took, But the.
speeder didn’t carry her all the |
_way, there were plenty of wash-

outs that forced her to get off
and walk. ‘‘Track -rails were

twisted like a snake's back,” ‘she

says.

There were s people at the back.

of the store. who had hung

-scrubbed boots on a clothes line |
-to dry, she recalls. Some were
scrubbing the mud.from spools .
of thread, crotchet cotton, and
‘other useable items. Forestry
workers had sprayed the inside
of houses with water pumped by.

hoses... except for one of the

section houses, which was sitting.

astride the track, and others that

had been moved off their foun- .

dations.

The flood caused few prob-
lems in Terrace but Smith does .

recall a couple of local residents
who where either slow-witted or

-in a state of.total panic, A few

houses that had been built close
to the river’s edge could have

been i in n danger of washing. away.

- On-one of. these, the pair worked
a whole day trying to beat moth-
_ er mature, They pulled and they
pried.and they pushed... but the -
. house ‘simply .refused to budge.
-But once. the: water receded; the
the duo discovered the problem. .
-— when :the ‘small: home -was:
built, it-was generously nailed to ©
_stumps sawed. off at the ground, -

just to make sure it would never
be - moved - by. flood, wind. or
man, « ~

-But= even: though there was -
little damage, Terrace was pretty -
much. cut .off from: civilization
for five weeks; ‘The’ thing that _
saved the town from- running
out of faod, says ‘Smith,was-her -
- husband and his friend George
McAdams. “‘Itwas the first time |

Jim Smith..and George Mc-

Adams. had put their. heads to-.
gether and ordered:a whole box -
car of groceries from Rupert. It:

arrived. the - week. before the
flood.” .

Other than that, ‘‘A- float

‘plane landing in Lakelse Lake a

couple. of. times was Our only

Any local playwrights who
have a manuscript laying around
or can write really fast may be
interested in: entering the Cana-
dian National Theatre Festival
playwrighting \ competition.
Prizes from $750 to $1,500 are

being offered, but the deadline

is less than a month away: April
2i.

The objectives of competition .
are to stimulate the development

of new Canadian plays, to give

new Canadian dramatists the.

opportunity to work with estab-

- lished professionals, to publicize

the work of Canadian | play-

wrights and encourage profes-

sional and non-professional the-

child, Terrace resident Matjorie

Lindsay, in the Smithers hospi-.
‘tal during the flood and was -
-only-able to get back because of . .
the flights made by the float.

plane. “They received quite a

‘write up in the Hazelton paper

for that,’ remembers Smith.
- In two weeks, Smiths récollec-
tion of the war years and how

they changed the Northwest will .

be presented. as the final segment

of. this: series. This will be fol-.
Jowed by a few memories. of —
_ Marg Goodlad: on the develop-

ment of Skeenaview Lodge —
the birth of an institution from
an abandoned war barracks. On

_ Aug. 4 to 6 this year, there will .

be a Skeenaview Lodge reunion
and it could make for one of the

biggest Riverboat Days celebra- -

tions ever.

‘Drama contest launched

ater organizations to’ produce
new Canadian plays.

In addition to cash prizes, the -

three winning. scripts. (full-
length, one-act, and special mer-

it) will be produced for the.

Canadian National Theatre Fes-
tival in Victoria, to be held July
9-16.’ The winning: playwrights

will work with a professional -
director and cast in developing ©
their scripts; and the finished
‘scripts will -be published” by.

Talonbooks. .
Further information is avail-
able locally from Ken Morton,
the Skeena Zone Chairman for
Theatre B.C., at 635-7507.

‘shipped in sugar. and’ fresh pork ee
“that way once and had to add =
ten cents per pound to the |
_price,” Another: local affected

--by: the flood. was ‘Mrs. Fred. -
Thomas. . ‘She . had . their . first ©

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