As we get further into each year we’re looking forward to seeing when the first snow fell. This week photos of snow in the valley turned up in 1982, 15 days later than 2018’s first snow on October 2.
October may be more widely known as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but in 1992 the Government of Canada also designated October as Women’s History Month to “celebrate the achievements and contributions of women and girls across the country and throughout our history.”
Though any month could have been selected, October includes two important dates: the International Day of the Girl on October 11 and Persons Day on October 18.
Persons Day commemorates the decision Edwards vs Canada (AG) – also known as the Persons Case. On October 18, 1929, Canada’s highest court of appeal (which at the time was in England) ruled that women are considered “persons” under the British North America Act of 1867 and should be eligible for appointment to the Canadian Senate.
Countless women have contributed to Whistler’s community over the years. Some, such as Myrtle Philip and Nancy Greene (whose own appointment to the Senate was made possible by the Persons Case), are well known while others are less acknowledged though no less important. To celebrate Women’s History Month we’ll be sharing the stories of a few of these women, beginning with a group of young women who first came to the valley in the 1950s.
Eunice “Kelly” Forster, Better Gray, June Tidball, Jacquie Pope and Florence Strachan were all teachers in the Lower Mainland when they first visited Alta Lake. Together, the five managed to purchase a lot along the railway from the Massons. While the asking price was $2,500, the group was able to get a reduced price of $1,500 due to their obvious love of the area and offer to pay in cash. This price included a furnished summer cottage, dock, rowboat and toolshed.
The cottage, named Witsend after a particularly long and rain-soaked voyage up from Vancouver, became the women’s summer home for the next 10 years. In 1956, some of them even bought the lot next door. Sadly, Witsend burned down in November 1965.
June Tidball sold her shares after the fire, but by this time most of the women had ties to Alta Lake and the others remained in the valley, at least part-time. Kelly Forster had married Dick Fairhurst in 1958 (the same Dick Fairhurst who would later recall Paul Golnick) and moved to Cypress Lodge. She and Dick were active members of the growing community and Cypress Lodge acted as the base for the Alta Lake Sailing Club.
In 1965, Jacquie bought another lot on Alta Lake and, with help from friends, had a house built in 1965. She kept this house, nicknamed the Vatican, until 2001 when she moved to Squamish.
This left Witsend and the other shared lot to Betty and Florence. Betty kept the site of Witsend until 2000. Next door, Florence had the lot cleared and a house built under the supervision of Andy Petersen. She and Andy married in 1967.
Even before retiring and moving to the house on the lake permanently in 1983, Florence was active in many of the community groups in first Alta Lake and then later Whistler.
In 1986 she founded the Whistler Museum & Archives Society and, with a group of volunteers, gathered the beginnings of our current collection. While serving as a marriage commissioner Florence performed over 1,000 services.
In recognition of her volunteer contributions, Florence was made Citizen of the Year in 1986 and awarded the Freedom of the Municipality of Whistler in 2012, the second woman to receive this honour (the first was Myrtle Philip). Florence passed away in 2012 and is remembered today in Florence Petersen Park.
This week had some major events in the 1980s, some of which resemble things happening in Whistler today. For more photos of the construction of Lift No. 6 (Jersey Cream) on Blackcomb take a look here. For more photos of the 1984 floods, check here.
Many people know Dick Fairhurst as the owner and operator of Cypress Lodge on Alta Lake, now occupied by the Whistler Sailing Association and the Point Artist-Run Centre. When he first moved to Alta Lake in 1943, however, Dick spent the springs working for Alf Gebhart at the Rainbow Lumber Company Mill. After Cypress Lodge opened in the late 1940s Dick continued to work as a logger and, through his work, got to meet many different characters that came through the valley.
In Dick’s short collection of “Whistler Stories” some are mentioned only briefly while, others, like Paul Golnick, seemed to make life at Alta Lake exciting and memorable.
Paul Golnick arrived in the valley in 1952 and was assigned to work under Dick at the Van West logging camp. Paul, a young German immigrant, was described as a “very husky, burly, no nonsense man” who “looked like he could carry the logs out on his back.”
Paul’s time at the logging camp stuck in Dick’s memory from his first loggers’ breakfast. Before coming to Canada Paul had lived in post-war Germany and then worked in the coal mines in France. The breakfast tables at the camp were piled with food and, as Dick recalled, in one sitting Paul made it through a dozen eggs, a plate of bacon and hot cakes and a finisher of toast and jam. Paul later told Dick he had never seen so much food before.
Though Paul quickly proved to be a hard and capable worker, his time at Alta Lake was not without mishap. While getting a drink from a creek one day he accidentally dislodged a small pole which came to stop of the head of a coworker (a chaser) getting a drink slightly down the creek. The chaser’s head was pushed down and when he came back up mud streamed from his mouth and was lodged behind his glasses. This wouldn’t have been so terrible but, in his temper, the chaser tripped over another log and fell into more mud. While Dick hid behind a tree laughing and Paul tried to explain the accident the chaser gathered his things and left.
There were few opportunities for driving in the valley but by the 1950s a rough tote road had been made by the logging camp on the old Pemberton Trail. Dick bought three Ford Model As and, though his was a “real lemon” and good only for parts, Paul’s was good enough to get them to work. Unfortunately, according to Dick, Paul wasn’t the best driver and he wouldn’t let anyone else behind the wheel. On steep hills the motor would stall and Dick would have to jump out to put a rock behind the wheel – apparently Paul couldn’t yet handle the brake and gas at the same time. On one occasion the rock failed and Paul, thinking he’d hit the brake, went back down the hill in reverse at full speed. Dick described it as “the fanciest bit of steering I ever saw in my life.” Despite two flat tires, the car was back on the road in just a couple of days.
After a year at the camp Paul took over Dick’s job hooking for the catskinners and brought his bride Marianne to join him from Germany. A wedding party for them was held at Dick’s house and went well until, just moments after Paul had commented that he “had never seen so many happy people,” a fight broke out leaving Dick with a smashed window and a bloody wall. Dick never asked what he thought about the “happy people” after that.
When Marianne was seven months pregnant a group from the Van West logging camp went to visit at Parkhurst. This journey involved driving over the “road” to the log dump at the south end of Green Lake where they got a ride on the Queen Mary across the lake. Visits to Parkhurst were great socializing opportunities and by the time the group left it was getting dark. The Queen Mary brought them back to the log dump where there was so much bark and debris floating that, in the dusk, the debris could be mistaken for solid ground. Unfortunately the first one out of the boat was Marianne who went straight through the debris and into fifteen feet of cold water. Paul and the others still onboard quickly grabbed her and hauled Marianne back into the boat. Luckily there were no ill effects from her dunking.
Two months later Paul and Marianne created more excitement when, at 3 am, Marianne went into labour. With no scheduled train, the section foreman had to be called to bring his speeder with a trailer to take Marianne to Squamish. At Brackendale Marianne was loaded into an ambulance and a daughter was born before they made it to the hospital.
We’re not sure what happened to Paul and his family after they left Alta Lake and Dick doesn’t include any details on their later years. This is not uncommon – so many people pass through the valley that it’s hard to keep track of everyone. Paul’s time here, however, was certainly memorable to those who knew him.