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Cassiar Courier

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June 19

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BOB WILMS, VETERAN PROSPECTOR IN
CASSIAR DISTRICT FOR 50 YEARS

"HEY BOB! ARE YOU WORKING AS
USUAL NEXT SUNDAY, MAY 27TH?"

“Nope - going to take a day
OLE.

“WHAT IS THE MATTER - SICK?"

"Nope - am just taking a day
off to fix up a “smorsborg lunch"
and greet some of our many
friends - and then do some
serious "cogitating”" on my past
50 years - prospecting in this
"Vast and Mineral Rich Cassiar
Mining District" - and also spent
five years in the Taku River Dis-
trict, west of here.

WHEN DID YOU FIRST COME INTO
THIS COUNTRY?

Well sir, it was a beautiful
spring day, the 23rd day of May,
1923 - when we all got our first
thrilling view of that pic-
turesque village of Telegraph
Creek - from the decks of the
Barrington Transport River Boat,
the "Hazel B #3 and 4" - touch-
ing our 40 tons of freight up the
Stikine River from Wrangell Alas-
ka - for the past seven days,
under severe and most hazardous
hi-water river conditions. This
town perched on the side-walls of
the Stikine River stood out like
a jewel, with the Hudson's Bay
buildings in red and white and
the Anglican. Church steeple,

other buildings in drab con-..

trast - it was a real welcome
sight - never to be forgotten
after our tough trip up the Sti-
kine River.

One of the highlights in our
Stikine River navigation took
place in the Big Canyon, swirling
and boiling down between sheer
walls - muddy . water filled with
debris and trees. This severe
current caught our boats. and
barge load of freight, tossed it
‘against the right Canyon Wall and
stove a large hole into its side
- it was impossible to manoeuvre

or tie up. Looked like we were
done for, but one of my partners,
Bill Moody, a small but wiry mus-
cular young man, backed off on
the barge deck - took a flying
run right up that side-wall and
grabbed a twisted little spruce
with his right hand and chinned
himself right up to another one -
we threw hima light rope fast-
ened to a cable which was soon
made fast to a larger spruce
tree, then we were able to assess
and repair the hole in the barge,
before it filled and sank. Bill
Moody was the "Hero of our Trip".
But in later.years I sometimes
wish it had sunk there - and
saved us a terrible amount of
grief in later years!

When we got to the wharf at
Telegraph Creek and tied up, e-
very person aboard breathed. a
sigh of relief. We met the few
hundred friendly residents there
who all turned out with a mullti-
tude of kids and dogs to greet
the boat (big occasion) and us
"Pendleton Boys", which all of us
were later called because we were
working for the Pendleton Gold
Mining Co. of Seattle, Washington
on a share basis. We were so hap-
py to get our freight off that
treacherous Stikine River, but
little did we realize the magni-
tude of the job ahead of us be-

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Cassiar Courier June 1989 Supplement Page A5

Bob Wilms, Veteran Prospector

fore we reached our destination -
McDame Creek, Cassiar District -
where Mrs. Wilms and I still have
our home today - and where we are
presently and finally digging
"gold" today!

Next day we started unload-
ing our equipment and wagons -
one of our units was a "C.L. Best
40 h.p. Tracklayer", first trac-
tor into this country (but it was
not equipped with a bulldozer in
those days). We still have this
machine at our Camp at Mile 66,
Cassiar Road, and it was the ob-
ject of much picture taking dur-
ing our "Party". It is a true
historic "museum piece" and
should be mounted on a pedestal
at Dease Lake Railroad Station
when the first trains arrive as a
tourist point of "Special Inter-
est", as we had to build the road
to Dease Lake from Telegraph

Creek during the summer of 1923.
The B.C. Mines Dept. helped us
build this (by handwork) with 20
men added to our crew of 10 to 12
men, but we did not get to Dease
Lake until October 3rd, with our
first load of freight. So we had

Taken in 1944 at McDame Post, BiGk =
Bob and Violet and their "little Cat 20"

to winter there in two old log
cabins.

We got the bright idea to
freight over the 28 mile Dease
Lake on the ice that winter, but
the winter was extremely mild and
not over a foot of ice on this
lake, and it was full of danger-
ous airholes. So we had to give
up that idea after building five
large bobsleds. We then set up
our sawmill on the shores of the
lake and sawed enough lumber for
two huge barges and some smaller
boats to take our freight down

the lake and down the Dease River -

in the spring of 1924. This ef-
fort was filled with many, many
exciting experiences but we fin-
ally made it - then had to build
12 miles of road up the McDame
valley to our gold property which
is now known as Bob Wilms' Camp,
Mile 66, Cassiar Road.

One point of interest: when
we unloaded our Tractor at Tele-
graph Creek, the people were most
skeptical as to its efficiency.
We heard many mumbled comments
such as "That thing will never
work!" - and by golly, it did get
stuck, right behind Calbraith's
store on its first hill. Then we

‘heard "See, I told you it won't

work!" But when Bill MacDonald
tightened up the _ frictions and
all four cylinders roared up that

hill with a load of freight,
everybody stared with pop-eyes at
. Se Oa ae * ae * or eae Ws WE :

eenre* oe t+ .
ae awe, “ne ys We oleh eee Kl a UA.

this historic spectacle - even us
Pendleton Boys!

Unfortunately, I cannot tell
our story and the history of our
many, many thrilling experiences
over these past fifty years ina
condensed form - time and space
are not available - and it would
take many chapters in a big book
form so I have to. skip over so
much and get back to our "Party
of May 27th" - which progressed
beautifully and everyone seemed
to fully enjoy this unusual occa-
Sion and I have some nice souve-
nirs to remember it by.

_ But I must add that one of
the great highlights of my most
active life - and the greatest
development for the future of
this Cassiar District and our new
Cassiar-Stewart-Vancouver Road,
was in 1947 when we sold our
Placer Gold Property to Moccasin
Mines Co. of Sacramento, Cali
fornia.

One of the terms of our ag-
reement was that I was to freight
their testing equipment with my
freight boat from Lower Post,
B.C. to McDame Creek, up _ the
Dease River (my river freighting
experiences make another big
story, 1942 and 1943). Then
should the tests prove adequate
values (which they did) they
would build a road from Mile 648
on the Alaska Highway to McDame
Creek. This was started in Oc-
tober 1947 and during that winter

-13 carloads of machinery were

moved to our property, assembled
and operating in June, 1948.
During 1948 and 1949, $473,000
worth of new placer gold was
recovered and added to the econ-
omy of our nation (roughly equiv-
alent now to one and one-half
million dollars)!

Also in 1947, in cooperation
with the B.C. Mines Dept. I was
able to get a road-surveyor from
Watson Lake to survey the route
for a road from Mile 648 Alaska
Highway to McDame Creek - then in
the spring was able to get the
government to call-back their
retired Engineer, Mr. O'Grady, to
inspect and pass in its construc-
tion. But it wasn't much of a
road those days. We always fi-

‘gured on one day into McDames and

one day travelling out with
jeeps. Now look at it, 2 1/2
hours to Watson Lake, oh boy! In
1949 Moccasin Mines bulldozed a
jeep road to Snow Creek. This
helped a lot and led to the sta-

‘king of the now Cassiar Asbestos

Property and the subsequent road
development to our Cassiar Town-
site, our most important "Store
and Butcher Shop". What a con-
trast to the previous years when
Mrs. Wilms and I- had to run our
Supplies from Dease Lake with our
river boat twice a year, in June
for our summer supplies and in
October for our winter supplies -
plus our garden and lots of moose
meat and fish.

Personal history: Mrs.
Wilms and I were married in 1944
- an Edmonton gal, we had quite a
time to get her adapted to this
northern life, but she did so
wonderfully well - especially
when it came to "Digging Gold"!

Continued on Page 6

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