Gordon Reid July 14 V/ho and what was here when you arrived? ,fellwhen I ~irst came into Hazel ton, the .&>irstpeople I met were Polly an "Jick Sargent, Isabell and Harry iiebster. As ~ar as ~hat there was down town; thFre was the up-to-~ate store, the Shanghi, the 3.C.,Triangle motors, udson Bay, Lee Chong's not too much else. he people th8t I got to know right away, were probably the people that I worked with. hat is the teaching staf , at the amalgamated school. fuen I first got into town I came 1n on a Seturday. I spent all day Sunday out at the Kispiox Rodeo. I met probably ever body in the area out tlere. But, I'll be darned i I can reme her all their n es. ·:,'hat year did you come? September, 1960. ~~y did you come to Hazelton? I apnlied for training as an Industrial rts teacher, and was told that there was ncr~openings in the training centre. So I was out working in the log~ing camp on the west coast of Vancouver Islen". Then I received a phone call from the principal of the AmalgEmated sc~ool ~sking if I would go to Vancouver for an int rview. I was hir d because of my experience~ right then. I hadn't had any training, and I hadn't had any teaching experience, but they thought I could handle the job. Vfuo was the principal then? Ray Zackarias was the principal, and also who I had the interview with. Can you tell me some of the changes in here? azelton since you've been I think the biggest change was whe~ we got paved roads. Because previous to that, all the roads were gravel, mud, and in the su~er time; Dust. That, and th enlargement of the area, the number of houses. How the area has grown in terms o~ people living here, and services and facilities. T really think that we're one of the more fortunate little towns, as far as services that we have, the people we h~ve to live wit~. i.bat was the conomic base when you came? ~ostly ~ogging. It rr£s always wenL LO the coast for fishing. Hazelton Sawmill. en. A large number of people ut it was mostly logging vith the ~as it the on y sawmill thAt was here at that time? here were a lot of those small outfits. Do you know who owned the small ones? But no othere lar e ones. -?Oh let's see. Neil Sterrit had a logging camp, but I don't t~ink he had a sawmill. ~ic Simpson had a sa~mill right bac~ here. Offhand I can't remember any more. There were others. How were the winters? Cold and Dry. I think we d i dnl " seem to get as mucb snowf'a'l I as we do now. The snow was lot more powdery than it is no;'. And I think cooler, the weather was cooler. ~nere did you live when you first came? I spent the first year boarding wi th Harry and Isabelle 'i·~bster. ~~n I went away for a years training. It was during that perioo that Anne and I got married. We came back and lived in a teacherage downt ovn , on Teacherage Row. Tfuat street were the teacherages on? River road. lfuenI got here. ~ t~eeherages used to be behind the high school. IVhere t.he cafeteria ares is now. How many teachers stayed there? I really don't know. What ac t i v i trss took place in the communi ty hall? The-rewas a community hall down in old town that is still there. That's where the theater is now. But most of the activities took place in the school gym. There was badminton, basketball, volleyball. Open to anybody? Evenings, yes. dhat kind of education did yoa receive? The nirst three or four years I we~t to an Indian Residential on Cooper Island. Then I transfered from t.ere to a public day school in Balger and went to grade seven. I ~inished high school in Vencouver. ly teacher training was at U.B.C. v ~~ ef~ect8 did the churches hav~ in the community? I think they were a very uniting influence on the people, and particularly in the villages. Were a lot o,f'the activities "Church OrganizedYu ~iotnecessarily, no. The communi ty did most of f ts own organi zing. ~here-was a lot of organizing through the church, but on about the the same basis as it is now • •'/hatkind of health services were available? -3- The hospital was there. Not the new one, the old onr. The one with the elevator. e services were rea~ly good. I don t remember how many doctors there w~rp, but the services were good. Do you remember t~e doctors names? Th~ only one I really remember is Dr. ~fuiting. He was our family doctor. How big was the school in terms of students? ~ben I came in 1960, it was then called Hazelton Amalga~ate~_ Elementary and Senior Secon~ary. There were 314 students. ~09 were elementary and 105 were senior secondary. What can you tell us about Sargent's artore? 'What sort 0::' things did they sell? It -as a general store. It had everything. Groceries, hardware, clothes. Pretty well pnything you needed they had. A good general store. How were the prices? Comparing them with what I had experienced before. I thought their prices were fairly reasonable considering the distance they had to be shipped. Was- the 01 d store where the bank is, or the new store? The new store where it is now. I never saw the old building. ,hat about the Myros-Smith building? that? Do you know anything about It was ther~. :t was the store and the post of:ice. that, I don t know. T can't remember • • How about the R.C.~.P.? They were where the cra:'tcentre is right now. the same building. That's stil stan~ing. But apart ~rom . , retty well It s Can vou tell us anything about the railroad? About r'hanges in the railroad? A lot more traf~ic, that's about it. What kinds of entertainment was available? Well there were shows at the community hall. There was no theater at that time. There used to be the odd show at the high school, but most of them were at the hall. -4- How about sports? A baseball team? There were local baseball teams. It vas pretty popular. I was mostly involved wit~ the sports at the school. There was hockey. 'rhere was an outdoor hockey rink in all the little towns. Did you have a T.V. when you first got here? No, t~ose didn't come in for quite a while. It was great not to have them. We used to do a lot more family things, a lot more community things. When T.V came in, then a lot of that thing died down. How long ago did T.V. come in? I wouldn't even hazard a guess. Ho, much was your salary when you started here? I was making S4400.~O a year. Tmt was before deductions • •. :lat do you think was the overall ef'