Whistler Museum and Archives Society

Census

A look back at the local census 105 years agoA look back at the local census 105 years ago

June 9, 2026 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

Featured Image: Alta Lake’s original general store and post office, located at Rainbow Lodge, 1920s. Philip Collection

In 1921, fewer than 100 people lived in the place now known as Whistler.

That’s according to the 1921 census, which recorded just 98 people living here.

In 2021, one hundred years later, that number would jump to 13,982 living in Whistler.

This year is a census year in Canada—that federal survey conducted regularly to shed light on the Canadian population.

One-hundred-and-five years ago, the area now known as Whistler had 84 adults residing between McGuire to the south (the since-abandoned logging camp near Brandywine Falls, with its own Pacific Great Eastern Railway stop) and Green River to the north.

In 1921, there were 14 people living in the valley under 21 years old (the then age of majority). The oldest members of the community were three 67-year-olds, the youngest was a one-year old. The bulk of the population was focused around two hubs: Alta Lake being the primary, followed by Green Lake and River area. All mail was received and sent through the Alta Lake Post Office at Rainbow Lodge, established in 1915.

Fifteen different countries were listed, at the time, as peoples’ birthplace, already hinting at the diverse demographic that makes up Whistler’s population today.

Perhaps one of the most fascinating aspects of the census is the list of jobs in 1921. From miner to woodsman, labourer to teamster, cook to carpenter: resource-based livelihoods dominated. The highest reported income, by far, was that of Alex Philip: co-proprietor of Rainbow Lodge along with his wife Myrtle Philip. His annual income was recorded as $3,000. Nothing was recorded for Myrtle.

Three people reported incomes of $2,000: two were engineers for the railway and one a purchasing agent.

Twenty-six of the 98 were female, representing 26.5 per cent of the population. Only three women recorded income. A nurse reported earning $1,000, a cook $600 and a housekeeper $150.

In 2023, Pique Newsmagazine reported: “In 2020, women in Whistler made a median annual wage of $41,200, or about $22.64 hourly, while local men earned a median total income of $47,600, or $26.15 per hour,” Pique Newsmagazine reported in 2023. “About 56 per cent of Whistler’s population of 13,983 took home a total annual income of $50,000 or less in 2021, or $27 per hour with a 35-hour workweek.”

Forty-four of the 84 adults, more than half, reported their marital status as single in 1921. Thirty-three reported themselves as married and seven as widowed.

The detailed information gathered in the 1921 census was released following a standard 92-year privacy waiting period.

Census records have been an important source of information in Canada used for research and policy-making. The first census was conducted in New France (modern day Québec) by Jean Talon in 1666. The Constitution Act of 1867 later established the requirement for a national census every 10 years.

Census data can reveal population trends, occupations, family structures and patterns of settlement. In the context of museum work, when combined with archival and research sources such as newspapers, photographs and oral histories, census data can help build a broader understanding of a community’s past.

However, census records are not without limitations. They capture only a single moment in time and can reflect the biases, omissions, and record-keeping and gathering practices of an era. As a result, they necessarily must be considered alongside other sources.

Present-day Whistler represents a dynamic social and cultural mosaic. On Friday, June 12, the resort will celebrate its diversity through the Whistler Multicultural Festival. The event takes place from 4 to 8 p.m. in Florence Petersen Park by the Whistler Public Library. Museum staffers will be on hand to greet guests with an activity tent. For more information visit festival.wmsociety.ca.

Jurassic Park : Blackcomb is 50-70 million years older than Whistler Jurassic Park : Blackcomb is 50-70 million years older than Whistler

June 2, 2026 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

Featured Image: Prospector Henry ‘Harry’ Horstman arrived in 1913. Though Horstman Glacier and Hut on Blackcomb are named after him, he did not stake any claims on the mountain. Photo: Brock Collection.

‘The Fault of Fitzsimmons’

Whistler and Blackcomb mountains have very different histories.

Their differing stories far predate the 80s and 90s ‘Duel of the Dual Mountains’ which played itself out in past battles to access vaster and more expansive alpine ski terrain, faster (a one-upping between once-independent resorts, jostling for prominence, where the launched weaponry was the 7th Heaven T-Bar with the retaliatory firing of the Peak Chair, followed by 7th Heaven Express and Peak Express)…

We’re not talking decades-ago-differences, here.

We are speaking about epochs, eras, periods… years. Hundreds of millions of them.

We are talking geology and geography: the language of our local landforms.

We are speaking about the background of our backyard rocks: what follows is a barebones breakdown of the basics.

Blackcomb came first. A product of the Jurassic Period, the mountain is about 150 million years old. Blackcomb is formed primarily of hard, salt-and-pepper coloured granodiorite. Granodiorite forms about 80% of the Coast Mountains: igneous rock, developed from cooled and crystallized magma protons. It would be fair to say when venturing on Blackcomb, one is entering Jurassic Park.

Whistler is about 80 million years old. It is formed of sedimentary, volcanic rock: shale and andesite, deposited in a marine basin during the Cretaceous Period. Fossils can be found high atop its peak. It was once the ocean floor. During the summer, the famed ‘Shale Slope’ appears as a red streak, visible as one rides the Peak Chair: rising through the stratas of geologic upheaval.

“The reason there is such diverse geology crammed together in the Whistler area is that the rocks are exotic and were actually formed in different geological settings, hundreds or thousands of kilometers west and south of where they are now. Over time, they were transported by massive oceanic plates like a conveyor belt to the West Coast, until 100 million years ago when they started to “accrete” (stick on) to continental America,” wrote geologist Steve Carney for the Whistler Naturalists (2023).

Blackcomb was (as were Wedge, Weart and Cook) pushed up by the Pacific Plate. Whistler rose up due to tectonic action of the Fitzsimmons Fault: the dividing valley line between Blackcomb and Whistler and “a recurring geologic feature in the valley and around the townsite,” according to Fire and Ice, the website spearheading the petition to have the area designated a UNESCO GeoRegion. The Fitzsimmons Fault line runs directly through Whistler’s Ego Bowl and is also clearly exposed along a 4-km stretch of Hwy 99 between Creekside and Whistler Village. It can be identified by its “mineral-rich rocks whose yellow cast is the result of sulfuric gasses circulating over thousands of years deep in the fault zone.”

The Fault, Valley and Creek that runs through it (into Green Lake) is named after prospector Jimmy Fitzsimmons. The miner staked copper claims, and dug for metals – in shafts still visible – along the Singing Pass Trail.

Just opposite, on Blackcomb’s lower flanks, prominent “gossans” can be seen. Fire and Ice describe them as “outcrops of oxidized and heavily metamorphosed rocks that can indicate the presence of ore deposits.”

Prospecting forms an active part of the area’s ‘more recent’ history. Whistler was known previously as London Mountain: likely named for the mineral claim “staked for Frederick James Proctor of the London & British North America Mining Co. of Vancouver, in 1903,” according to the BC government. The Horstman Glacier (and hut) on Blackcomb were named after the prospector who arrived in the area in 1913 in search of gold. However, ironically, Horstman did not stake any mining claims on Blackcomb.

Down in the valley, in the rich wetlands of the Fitzsimmons Delta, the Alta Lake Mining Company began mining in 1916 for iron. The metal originated from the mineral-rich from the towering igneous rocks, and was transported in groundwater and runoff into the lakeside bogs where it oxidized and was deposited as “bog iron.” At its height, the company was producing 150 tonnes of iron per day, which it transported by railway to Squamish, then onward to Washington state.

From plates to peaks, the local area is one of the most geologically diverse.

For more information about local geological features visit https://fireandicegeoregion.ca and https://www.whistlernaturalists.ca.

Dairy Delivery by Dugout: Local Cream and Cow’s Milk Carted by CanoeDairy Delivery by Dugout: Local Cream and Cow’s Milk Carted by Canoe

May 26, 2026 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

Featured Image: A dairy cow at the Barnfield Farm [1920s]. Whistler Museum Collection.

The lay of the local landscape was much different in the early 1900s. The area’s epicentre was Alta Lake. Prospecting, trapping and logging, followed by fishing and later farming dominated, giving reason and rise to the development of a small community and a handful of lodges in the valley beneath London Mountain.

London Mountain (since renamed Whistler) likely earned the named due to a group of original prospectors who formed The London Group in 1903. One of those early prospectors was Alfred Barnfield.

Barnfield left London, England, arriving in Squamish in 1886 or 1887. He was later hired to inspect the length of the Pemberton Trail. The rough route ran from Burrard Inlet to Squamish up through the area now known as the Whistler Valley northward to Pemberton and onto Lillooet. First developed with the intention to access the Interior’s goldrush and as a cattle trail, the route was completed in 1887. It remained the only way to access Alta Lake (then called Summit, but renamed for the purposes of mail delivery, for there were too many Summit Lakes in the province, with the establishment of the area’s first Post Office in 1915) up until the arrival of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway in 1914. It was through Barnfield’s inspection that he first came to visit the shores of the lake where he would establish a farm some years later.

Barnfield returned to Alta Lake, pre-empting 160 acres of Crown Land on its northeast end, in 1905. Pre-emption was a practice common in British Columbia in the late 1800s to early 1900s, which allowed settlers to acquire Crown Land for development and agriculture. After improving it, the land could be purchased at a low price. As per the agreement with the government, Barnfield was required to build a cabin and clear a portion of the land. To do so, he backpacked building supplies over the Pemberton Trail from Squamish.

Barnfield continued to prospect with the London Group, staking claims in the Garibaldi/Black Tusk area.

On August 1, 1910 Alfred Barnfield married Daisy Hotchkiss. He was 42, she was 19. Despite the age difference, the marriage appeared to be a loving one and the two raised four children.

The Barnfield Farm had 14 cows at the peak of its production, chickens and a few pigs. Alta Lake was becoming a fishing destination with the opening of Rainbow Lodge in 1915 and subsequent establishments opening up around Alta lake. The Barnfield family’s farm was able to fulfill a local much-appreciated-niche: daily fresh milk and cream delivery. They fulfilled orders by dugout canoe. Groceries and dry staples were able to be delivered by train, coming north from Vancouver; however, fresh dairy demanded local production. In a 1993 interview with the Museum, Alfred’s daughter Vera, reminiscessed about how he made his deliveries every day, even when the weather was questionable. “He never missed a morning and sometimes it would be so stormy he just couldn’t hardly make that canoe go.” Whatever the weather, Alfred would end his deliveries with a visit to Rainbow Lodge, where he would be brought up to date on all the local gossip of the burgeoning lake community … which would then be repeated and rowed around!

Rainbow Lodge was the largest customer of the Barnfield Farm, reputedly purchasing 80 quarts of milk, four quarts of whipping cream and two quarts of table cream daily for their guests.

The Barnfields moved their farm operation to Brakendale in 1926. However, every summer, they continued to load their cows and chickens onto the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE) and travel north to Alta Lake. How long they continued this practice is unconfirmed, however the Barnfields did maintain full ownership of their quarter-section up until the 1970s.

Alfred Barnfield passed away in 1960, shortly after celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary to Daisy, who passed in 1980.

In the early 1970s, the bulk of the property was sold for the development of the Whistler Cay subdivision and Adventures West. Small lots were left to the three remaining Barnfield children (one died in WWII). The remaining 1 ⅓ acres was sold in 1988, becoming ‘Barnfield Place’, a nod to the legacy of initial local land development.

The Four-Wheel ForceThe Four-Wheel Force

May 19, 2026 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

Featured Image: Kohut in the Whistler Bike Park, in 2000. Whistler Museum/Insight Photography Collection.

May 15 marks Opening Day of the Whistler Bike Park. For Kohut, the day marks the start of his 26th season riding the park.

“In ‘92, I originally saw a picture of someone riding a four-wheel bike.” Kohut wanted one. Badly.

“I had to wait until 1999 to get my first four-wheel bike. Seven years it took. Seven years of winning gold medals. Seven years of being in the paper. Seven years of being on the TV. Seven years of pouring my heart into just being a real, true, integrated individual.”

Those seven years followed a life-changing accident. At age 21, Kohut broke his back attempting a “super-loop” on a swing set. Within a year, he was back skiing. By 23, he had become “Canada’s first-ever gold medalist in sit-skiing”. In 1996, he won the World Championship of Disabled Skiing in Austria, followed by three silver medals at the 1998 Paralympic Winter Games in Nagano.

“It’s all about being quick. And looking good. Being good.” Following that, Kohut came to Whistler and spent almost a month just shredding the snowboard park and half pipe. “You gotta pay your dues with pain, blood, tears, and a tremendous amount of determination to attempt the trick, fall, get up. Attempt the trick, fall, to get up. That method is exactly why I’m successful.”

In 1999, Kohut also quit the National Ski Team. He did return for one last Paralympics in 2002 in Salt Lake, but has not been on snow since 2003. His focus since then has been solely on biking. In 2017, Red Bull called him “the world’s fastest mountain biker on four wheels.” The year following the acquisition of his bike, he was competing in an American national downhill race. Without question, an able-bodied one.

In 2000, he was competing in Whistler. “ it’s announced that starting next year, the bike park is going to be open for five and a half months. … Well, all the dudes that were sitting with me were like, holy @#$%. We can do it. We can become the world’s first bike bums.” And that’s exactly what Kohut proceeded to become when he moved full-time to Whistler.

“That’s what I am. I’m a bonafide park rat. I was a skate park rat. I was a BMX track park rat. I’m a downhill park rat.” He continues, “We don’t adaptive bike. We don’t handicap bike. We have bikes that are four wheels. You can call it a four-wheel bike or a four-cross and that’s that.”

Kohut is a pioneer. Not by choice, but by default, he is also an advocate. “I’m anti adaptive. I can’t do any of it. … I’m a big proponent of having no more Paralympics. I just think the Paralympics should be blended into the Olympics. … Same day. Same discussion.” Locally, “the people that I owe so much to is people like Phil Chu and Linda Chizik,” prominent Whistler athletes.

The 55-year-old Kohut was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. “My heroes are like dirtbags… They’re rock and roll musicians. They’re punk rockers.” Kohut fondly reflects, “Daddy was a Top Fuel drag racer, Mama was bleach blonde. My whole life has never been normal, everything was cool, I didn’t miss out on anything.”

With 25 previous seasons in the bike park, Kohut knows a thing or two about preparation and approach. “I do 100 B-Lines every year before I go on any other trail.” He rides a minimum of three-and-a-half days a week – sometimes seven – and aims for 10 runs a day.

“it’s so fun to race yourself,” he claims. “I don’t work on my weak skills. I cash in on my strengths.”

Kohut is both motivated and a motivator. “I’m pulling the rope that everyone else should be pulling and that’s to make this town as best as it can, as inclusive as it can, as friendly as you can, and let’s just get people from all over the world to come here to shred and be stoked.”

40 years from now, “I’m going to be the 95-year-old guy that’s doing one run a day.” He will likely also be the first in line.