@ Road to Cassiar, Cont'd from pg 2. Did the new road make any difference? I asked Violet Wilms: | thing'', she replied. ''Before the road, we ordered our supplies from Vancouver twice a year. In June and September, they came to Dease Lake from Telegraph Creek after being boated up the Sti- kine from Wrangell. We picked them up at Lakehouse and boated them to Mc- Dame Post coming down Dease Lake and Dease River. It took us a whole day to drag our wagon from McDame Post to here." feahiice General Store on the South ‘Shore of Dease Lake. Lakehouse was the end of the trail from Telegraph Creek to Dease Lake. Goods shipped up the Stikine were picked up here for the Cassiar area before the 1947 road was built to Watson Lake. Violet explained theplanning neces- sary for living in Cassiar country be- fore the Road to Watson. "You ordered in June to hold you through Septem- ber, but September's order had to last 8 months until the following June!'"' she recalled.""Eggs used to co- me in wooden boxes and packed in bri- ne, along with the butter. Hams and bacon were about the only meat we could order, and they were covered with a thick tallow. The rest of the time we lived on what we could grow or shoot. We grew 8 to 900 pounds ofvegetables every year for 23 years." "If you forget to order something you needed, it was 4 to 8 months be- fore you got it!" she added. ''You sp- ent a lot of time thinking about your order." The new road to Watson Lake short- ened the time from 8 months to 8 days. Jock Rattray finished our talk ab- out the road to Cassiar: ''Today, you wouldn't be allowed to do what we did. You'd have to follow behind the crew with clean sheets, towels, showers, TV, even a pool table. You couldn't do what 11 of us did in those two months today with 111 men and 50 Cats!" Bob Wilms remembers running the bulldozer that put the first half mile into the bush from the Alaska Highway. -"Violet had gone out to see a doc- tor and she sent me in a bottle of Johnny Walker. In those days, you ne- eded a permit to get liquor and were allowed only one bottle a month." "At the end of the first half mile, the road boss and-.I poured what was left of the Johnny Walker into another bottle and filled it with tea. We ch- ristened the new road by smashing the bottle over the dozer blade!" "It changed every- A portion of the original road to Watson Lake as it appears today near the Wilms claims on McDame Creek. FOUND YOUR PROBLEM! SOMEONE STOLE YouR ENGINE QUARTZ CREEK GULF... 4-MILES WEST of JUNCTION To CASSIAR TOWN MAINTENANCE - CASSIAR If you need maintenance in the townsite, CALL, Monday through Friday from 8AM to 6PM - 778-7477 or Ext. 252 EMERGENCIES...CALL Monday thru Friday, 6PM to 8AM, Weekends and Holidays: _ 778-7517, or Ext 282, Security Office rr eS TT TD WHAT ARE EMERGENCIES? ..No heat...a serious water leak that you cannot stop. Frozen water or sewer lines, propane Alfred Ball, 57, of Stewart, B. ae problems, if reported during the night, will be handled the next morning when the town maintenance foreman picks your report out of the Security Office log- book. PLEASE do not call maintenance personnel direct. Millers Auto Body Box 374, Watson Lake, Y.T 536 -7535 all collision repairs . €C HIRESTREAS EE A” John Porter, 9, of Good Hope Lake, 1 Your Town... A station wagon loaded with kids, house- hold goods and a tired driver stopped on the outskirts of a small town to ask di- rections of an oldtimer rocking on his front porch. "What kind of a town is this", he asked. 'We're looking for a nice small town to settle in." "What kind of town do you come from?" asked the oldtimer. "Rotten! The people were gossips, back-biters, cliquey, and do-nothings. They didn't give a hoot about the town." "Well'', said the old man, ''I guess that's the kind of town this is." Some weeks later, another family on- the- move stopped to talk with the ro- cking chair owner. "We're looking for a town around here to settle in", the driver said. "What kind of place is this?" The oldtimer asked the same ques- tion. "What kind of town did you come from?" "Terrific! The people were just gr- eat! Kind, friendly, active. It was a great place to live and a great place to bring up our kids int" "Well'', the old man replied, guess that's the kind of town hee #50" MORAL: Think before you take verbal pot- shots at your town. Chances are you are a big factor in making it what you think it is. People make towns. Not lumber,plastic, business, nails, jobs, government or cement. People who do things to try and make it better; people who only do things to benefit themselves, at the expense of others; people who do nothing at all to make it better and usually criticize anyone who tries. Where do you fit in your town? WATSON LAKE HOTEL 536-7481 ATLAS TRAVEL . MICHAELS GIFT SHOP a Obituaries for- merly of this area, died Cet. 30, 1976. Surviving are his wife, Opal, eight sons and three daughters. Burial - Ca- ssiar Cemetery, Nov. 6, 1976 Vincent Johnny, 48, of Good Hope Lake, passed away Nov. 1, 1976. Burial - Nov. 8 - Lucky Lake Cemetery, Watson Lake, Y.T. son of Betsy Porter, survived by two brothers and five sisters. Burial-Cassiar Cemetery. Side RCE) POS "Then I wired Vi and told her the bottle arrived broken. It didn't work. "Those were some days!" eM. >. ¢ 2a trode

. B Ake “Ba Ve ae l¢ “Ft ATT ie was: PUT pecaus Bit & w ~. ee a C tah 3 % ae ae . all Va ; ap = i ia h 2 WA me Ly the fut of this country. He could cu = * Sey, IN/ . Fas } rT) 7 We Bee tee eae en tcatenne atcek tae a: . SATUTAAY » Dec.4 PP! | Curling ININkR ~\ but he didn't. He did it. That's the oY Shee Oye way Bob Wilms is. In his 54 years in EN For cen call Martha Wallenborn - 778-7309 oy the Cassiars, Bob hasn't lost an iota a2 Sponsored by Our Lady of Lourdes Mission >) of his strong faith in the future of ATE EVYG BALE a= BNE i a ak ROE 6; ECA Cassiar Country — ? €OR6° SURG? Ce Ce eS © Ce