Foreword

It is not my purpose to speak in detail of the ex-
cellent medical service that has been built up in con-
nection with the missions on this coast. Its most
honoured namesare those of Drs. A. E. Bolton, R. W.
Large, and H. C. Wrinch. Their vision, steadfast-
ness, and professional skill, with the Christian in-
spiration, are almost wholly responsible for this
splendid work. The Methodist Church has had for
years three fully-equipped hospitals on the northern
shores of this province, namely, Port Simpson,
Bella Bella, and Hazelton, with two summer hos-
pitals during the fishing season at Essington and
Rivers Inlet. The very first hospital of any kind
on the North Pacific coast, between Vancouver and
the Arctic, was erected in 1871 (fifty-six years ago!),
at the Indian village of Kincolith on the Naas river.
It was built by Dr. Tomlinson, a medical missionary
of great faith and Christian fortitude, who had been
sent out from England by the C.M.S. The nearest
white settlement was 600 miles distant. The hos-
pital was, of course, very primitive and does not now
exist, but while it functioned it must have been a
wonderful blessing to the Indian tribes and occa-
sional white man in those long-ago days. Dr. Tom-
linson is dead. His widow lives with her son, whoisa
lay worker in the United Church at Hazelton. It
was in 1889, thirty-eight years ago, that Dr. Bolton
first took up his work at Fort (now Port) Simpson.
He was the only doctor within a radius of 500 miles.
He built a hospital there in 1892. It is interesting to
note that my brother, Rev. Dr. John Pringle, origin-