Coinciding with the surveys in the
north a start was made on surveys from
Stewart at the southern end of the route.

All supplies came from the north for
surveys made as far south as Kinaskan
Lake, the halfway point between Watson
Lake and the next nearest air base at
Terrace.

For points south of Kinaskan, Terrace
was the supply base with an important
auxiliary base at Meziadin Lake about
100 miles north of Terrace. From Mezia-
din, crews were made mobile with heli-
copters and fly camps until the Bell Irving
River was reached. Here a fixed wing
landing was developed and _ planes
brought in helicopter fuel, camp supplies
and all equipment for surveys from this
point.

At this time most of the fixed wing
flying from the south was done by Pacific
Western Airlines, with the Okanagan,
Vancouver Island and Pacific Helicopter
companics providing helicopters for
varying periods.

A ycar after the supplies started from
the south, one of the PWA pilots com-
bined with other local people in the
Terrace area to form a new company —
Trans-Provincial Airlines Ltd. The con-
tract to supply the necds of the camps
gave the airline its start and the local de-
mand for float-equipped aircraft the im-
petus to grow until today, ten years later,
it has become one of the more important
feeder airlines of the Canadian North.

In 1968, after it had reached a total of
four aircraft, the company began a sub-
stantial expansion program. It took over
the PWA Prince Rupert- Alice Arm -
Stewart route, the B.C. Airlines operation
out of Prince Rupert to Masset, Sandspit
and Ocean Falls and, more recently, the
Omineca Air Services with bases at
Smithers and Burns Lake. With each it
also took over a number of aircraft and
facilities until today it has a total of 23
aircraft, and with the recent addition of
a DC-3 and corresponding increase in
personnel, Trans-Provincial Airlines now
feels equipped to cope with the tremen-
dous business potential of the territories
to the north of their main base at Terrace.

Following the surveys, construction of
the new road started in the carly sixties
and for this, aircraft were also much in
demand.

Work has now reached roughly the 250-
mile point from the Alaska Highway and
some 70 miles out from Stewart, When
the remaining 28 or so miles of road are
completed in the next year or two, TPA
can look forward to a further expansion
of the need for air facilities in this vast
area.

Out of the requirements of the road
builders grew an airline which in turn
will benefit from the development of the
country as a whole. Already it is servicing
remote camps and communities, mines
and prospecting centres far enough from
the road to rely entirely at this point on
aircraft for everything they need. In some
cases no other access is possible — mail,
food, equipment, personnel all go in or
out by air. It is not unusual for, say, a
piece of vital machinery to be ordered in
Vancouver in the morning and be de-
livered by airline to Prince Rupert and
then airlifted by TPA to a mine or pros-
pecting camp the same day.

Already plans to extend the road sys-
tem are developing. A subsidiary road
has been built south from the completed
Stewart section to Meziadin Lake and to a
fisheries station on the north side of the
Nass River. A logging road north from
Terrace has reached the south side of the
Nass opposite the fisherics station. All
that is required is a bridge over the Nass
to give road connection between Terrace
and Stewart. However, upgrading of the
upper section of the logging road and the
fisheries section will be necessary before
the road would be adequate for public
use.
A local road paralleling the Kispiox
River north of Hazelton offers another
potential connecting road to the Stewart-
Cassiar Highway. It is now only 30 or 40
miles short of the Nass River at the pro-

posed crossing. This approach would give
a shorter route to Stewart from the in-
terior of British Columbia via Highway
16.

As the construction of the road pro-
gressed southward from Dease Lake and
eastward from Stewart, landing strips for
wheeled aircraft were built on or near the
road hy the Department of Highways or
the road contractors.

Eventually, flight schedules were set up
by Trans-Provincia! Airlines and today a
DC-3 and Otter aircraft make regular
runs to Dease Lake with landings at such
inviting stops as Bob Quinn Lake, Iskut
and Eddontenjon, Freight on these runs
now averages about 10 tons a week and

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