· Draft .! Gramma Hilda Hindle of ~o Mile Gramma Hindle came'over from England to settle in Canada many years ago. I Of her trip from England and her early years in Canada, she recallsl The ship was very crowded with such a lost of us on it. part was that we had to stand still. One e~citing We were on the water for nine days when it should have taken five and we had to keep perfectly still because of the icebergs. They didn't damage the ship but you could feel a bump once in a while. But that was all. We just sort of ran into a bunch of them. While we were on board we got word that Edward VII had passed away. He had followed Queem Victoria. I was fifteen then. pound coin or that's what I thought at the time. They gave us a It wasn't though. It's just a coin to commerate her sixtieth reign •• It's in this little purse and has been in there for all these years. I~ was in 1909 that we cam. We lived in Vancouver for two years and I got married and went to the Prairies. met my husband. land there. here. It was interesting He came to the house to get a room. how I He was clearing My sister went to answer the door and I was right behind I was shy and was leaning over here shoulder. He tola me after. He said,ltAs soon as I saw those blue eyes, I fell in love with you.1t ItWe were married and went to a farm in Alberta about one hundred and twenty nine miles north of Edmonton. vicinity of Vermillion. Somewhere up near Westlock in the It is wast of Edmonton. we moved off the farm and went to the city. again. I lived in Vermillion husband's mother. When I knew I was pregnant, We never iid go back out there for a little while and then I went to see my She had a farm up there. She traded some property in Vancouver for the farm and then she gave it to us. ItAllan Benson used to dfeliver groceries to me for thesshort time I lived in Vermillion. for them. There was as a store and he used to deliver the groceries They squatted on our farm. we bought it, but he lived on the farm. brother George. I don't know if it was before or after There was hea and his dad and his We met again in British Columbia. Hindle - 2 "When we came up here to this farm, of course we had no idea where it would be. My husband went out first to visit - ~e COUldn't get out until the ninth of May. He tied the horses to the fence and then he walked over because the ice was on the snow - you know how the ice forms on top of the snow? He was afraid it would cut the horses' ankles, and once he got off the path,/~g just tied the horses up and went ahead to look around and see what was what. There was a one room log shack. We all went out on the ninth of May. We had lived in town one winter. "Tom had warned me to be careful when you go in because there is a hole in the floor. cellar. Cattle got in and they had punched a hole throught to the It was sort Of~ug-out cellar. When I walked in, my arms full of goods, I walked right smack into the h Ie t~ the cell~. so it didn't bother me much. old. We had Bernard then. It wasn't very deep He was about three years He was about four and a half when my daughter was born. "Tom really had to teach me how to do many things. how to make butter because we were getting lots of milk. He taught me He was rr~lking three cows and of course making butter from all of it and selling it in New Town. I didn't know how to do anything. used to bake a cake every Sunday morning. do and that was to milk a cow. He had to show me how to ·~ook. He One thing I never could learn to I just COUldn't get on to it. it was a good thing or I'd probably have to do that too. Somebody told me We lived off the farm, selling butter, eggs and chickens - the old chickens - and cottage cheese. I used to make quite a bit of cottage cheese. packets and sell it. This was in 1916. I would put it up in I didn't well it to the men on the railway because they had just finished the railway when we came here. "One time my husband had to cross the river with thirty pounds of butter and a fox skin. that day. He had shot a fox and he was taking that in to town He broke through the ice and hethrew everything back towards the bank so it wouldn't go in the river. helped lim get out. The native who was running the boat The biggest danger was when he got to the other side because it was so cold. It was zero and the wind was blowing and his clothes froze on him like a suit of armour. Hindle - 3 "The children were grow'ing and it was very hard. to get to school At·~ first Bernard. took correspondence because it was so far. daughter did too although she was not old enough really. might as well be doing some work. I thought she But she was too clever She skipped a grade and I didn't like that. skipping grades. My When she went to school she had to start at the bottom the same as everbody else. really. courses. I don't believe in I'd ask her a certain qqestion that I wanted to learn about and sh'd say, "I didn't take that Mom. That was the year I skipped." from They had to walk /Stewart Forsyth's to the river to school - something like three miles to school. Right about where Ed Bouvelier trail leading down to the river. lives there was a There's a real nice road there now bu~ way back then it was only a wagon trail- an awful road. they would go by boat. After the trail Sometimes they had to cross a little ferry. The big ferry boat went away and the bridge was out and then the little ferry was washed away too. This was the bridge at Four Mile, acro~s the Kispiox road. The one that is there now is about the third. bridge. right after my baby was born. it went out. The first one went out She was born in hospital and I got home before I could have crossed it in the boat because anytime I went to town I had to go by boat. That wasn't very often. We went all that winter without a bridge because they didn't start on the new one till spring. "There was a high hill to our place - about a hundred and eighty feet high - from the main road. That was fun with the horses. they knew just where to stop and just how long to rest. I was a wonder They would though. Then they would go on a bit then stop again to take another little rest. You never had to tell them to stop, rest or go. "It took about two years to build the bridge and during that time the children had to go by ferry to school. hurry to get them across. The boatman wouldn't be in a My husband went to see the government agent and told them this and all he said was, "Why don't you put a white man there?" He said they couldn't afford. to put a boatman on. My husband was angry and said"Yes, but you can afford. to drown people." It wasn't long after that they put a returned man on - even built him a little house by the ferry. The teacher wrote me a note about the kids being late for school and I answered it. Isaid, "If you had to walk for three miles, sometimes through Hindle - 4 fresh snow and then wait until the ferryman took his own time to come over and cross the river, maybe you'd be late for school too:" I know it was rude of me but I was fighting mad. I was disturnbed because she didn't have any idea what she was saying. "The children went to a one-room school and when it got cold they had to build fires to keep warm. "Dr. Wrinch was a wonderful man. I met Brigadeer General Arthur Wrinch one time. The granddaughter was only a little girl when they left Hazelton. Now she's married and has a daughter of her own. She was at the dance you know. We had a supper and a dance and she told my son how mcuh she and her husband enjoyed it. "My husband was quite the gardner. We got prizeS at the fair for butter and vegetables. Idon't know how many prizes we got. My husband took several for his vegetables. "I had to learn to sew. I remember my first sewing machine. I couldn't make it go and had to call the man that AI bought it from. It happened that my husband was working in his ware house you see and so I wasn't afraid to ask him. I said,"Will you come and show me how to run this machine. I can't make the darn thing go:". He got a big kick out of that. I sent to England and got a layette for my little girl but I made my little boy's clothes. You know when you notch everything and fit those notches together? Well; I very carefully sewed round all the notches and you can imagine the mess I made! I haa never sewn at home and had no one to teach me so I didn't know a thing about sewing and my neighbour knew even less than I did. But my neighbour and I took comfort in each other. to walk a mile through the bush to visit me. my house for tea. ~ IU-j ~ ~ ~~~~~d~~wd~· ~ She used She used to love to come to k ~ .-UJ'U-d4 ~~ 3f~~~~~~ She was French Canadian you know Oh h " I could write a book on her l'f d' s e had a terrlble tlme. She was living here too and 1 e an what she had gone through. was my nearest nei hb lived justa mile through the b h g our you see, they us. We got to be real good friends . .fJI~ J~ ~':JdL2d %d ~ ~ ~ ~ ~A. Oh she wanted mother to be with her becuase she was a bigger baby than I was, and she would get homesick for our mother. So I told my husband, I said 'I'~ not going to let mother know about it till afterwards'. She w(:uldn't believe it at first, we got our picture taken when Bprnard was one month old, and I sent it to her, and she Rtill WOULdn't believe it. She said Oh, that's not her baby, she just borrowed their neighbours. She wasn't satisfied till she carne all the way to Alberta to see it. grandma 4b hindle She'd say she didn't know what it was about my tea, but she sure loved to have tea with me. She was French Canadian, time. I could write We took comfort you know. in each other. Oh, she ~d a terrible a book on her. life and what she had gone through. She was living here, too, and was my nearest neighbour you see. They just lived a mile through the bush. We got to be real good friends. When I was pregnant, was expecting, because too. I didn't tell Mother Oh, she wanted mother she was a bigger because my sister to be with her baby than I was and she would get home- sick for our mother. So, I told my husband, 'I'm not going to let mother it until afterwards.' She wouldn't know about it at first. month We got our picture taken when Bernard was one old and I sent it to her and she still wouldn't She said, "Oh, that's not her baby. neighbours." Alberta She wasn't satisfied She just borrowed their till she came all the way to I was going to go to Edmonton, then there was a woman who took in patients, so I went in when my baby was born. baby I got this other illness. After I had my I got cold in my ovaries some she gave me what you call a peracment womb) without much anesthetic. about it (a nurse) ever heard, I was telling exactly without that without another friend any anesthetic." any anesthetic. Then the (scraping out the and she said "that's the cruelest you having but she was a very good how or other and was lying in a pool of inflamation. wasn't it. I don't know what I didn't have. I had to go to the hospital. doctor, believe to see it. "I had several-illnesses. nurse, believe thing I've It The nurse would hold the cone over my nose and she would keep saying to me "Are you alright." because If I didn't she was scared. anesthetic up again." my mother she would take the cone away They didn't understand then, but anyway when I got better "You'd better mother answer go away for six months holiday So, I did. I went to Vancouver for three months. for three months. she told me and get all built and I stayed with Then I stayed with my husbandLs I left my husband Then I went back home and he wasn't was working enough about to 'batch' it. batching up on the Roche de Boulle Mountain either. up here. He He was 5 was working up there, And he wouldn't so he was with the rest of the crew. have starved because he was a good cook. used to go out on lots of hunting parties He before we were married and he'd always be the cook. "we finally moved to town when my daughter started school. It was so hard for her to find a place to live. with some people for a long time, in the same house that we had been living in, across house a log house, there, daughter from the hospital. just happened It was a beautiful but that got burned out and my to be home that weekend. come home every weekend, but all her clothes everything up in the fire. well, She did live was all burned I forget what we did now. She used to and suitcase and So, after that, I guess she stayed home and went to school with her brother. Anyway, chance you see, taking care of - of a job at the hospital, then my husband had a they had their own dairy herd then, so he liked that. was another house on that place so they moved And there it over and fixed it all up and we lived there. "My sister and my daughter My daugh~er wanted used to work at the hospital. was there for about four years I guess. Then she to make a change and Dr. Austin, who's in Vancouver now, but he was the doctor here then, he tore up her resignation twice. He just wouldn't going, Dr. Austin. accept it. Finally I want a change. I want to get away." They didn't do what they do now. with different bread making hospital she told him "I'm They have shifts there, cooks, but she had to do it all. day. Monday's was She had to make all the bread for the and they used to can a lot of salmon until the government made them quit, you see. salmon. They made everybody But when they were putting to do all that. the salmon She'd go at five o'clock of times she wouldn't come home till ab quit buying away, she used in the morning and lots nine in the evening 'cause she'd stay to see all the fish taken off the fires. "Now she's holding were on a farm. American, down two office jobs in Alberta. She homesteaded because you see, and he wouldn't he couldn't homestead, she married They an give up his nationality, so she had to homestead the farm. so They are still on it. They have it so that she can't sell_it without permission from him, and he doesn't want to sell it although he doesn't farm it himself. I think one of her sons GRANDMA HINDLE 6 is going to far~it They started this year. to build a big beautiful took to drinking. Then his brother He had a brother got him started bad as his brother. She hasn't Land is a good thing to have. home out there but he who always got drunk. on drinking, His brother and he got as died of it at Fort Saint John. lived with her husband for years. sold the farm if she had been able to. She would have She should look into the laws. "Before we went to Hazelton there was a daily newspaper and three restaurants running. the north. had to come here to go north. Everybody as far as Hazelton by steamer There were big pack trains a Mexican man, I think You see, that was the gateway to and then they went by pack trains. then. I think he was the first hippy he always poured There was a northern it was Cataline. it was the rum he poured They came fellow, With his long hair, I ever saw in my life. on top of his head. They said Whenever the last of the drops on his head. moved out to the ranch, he used to turn his horses Before we loose and ours was their favourite place. things. went out and fixed all the fences and Then my husband the gates and everything, A real stamping he drank so they couldn't grounds. Poor get in any more. I used to watch them going by. I felt sorry for them. didn't have any pasture and just had to go out into the bush and eat whatever ground They was in the bush. We were on the farm for 15 years, or was it 16. We arrived May 24th, 1909. I guess that's when it was. were three hotels in the old town and they all seemed to burn down on New Year's Eve. suppose. They'd have those big parties And then the bridges, 1938 - something They called fr~ they built the bridge again in The la~one was a special kind it the "Million Dollar put up the Bailey bridge bridge I like that, I suppose. "There was one inbetween. of bridge. So anyway, there that somehow. That was a long time ago. Bridge." They first and then built the other I can't explain how it was done. It was a very hard place to build a bridge. "Plus the road itself took a lot of building there. up right There was a flood one time and they had to take all the 7 people that wanted to cross over by ferry. "Our Ford car was the newest in the area. They say it was the best engine Ford ever put in a car. "I have 15 grandchildren - 10 through my daughter and ernard has five kids. "Looking back on the years lots of changes place. All around, Nothing moved, for years everything no building, they are building seemed no progress. and going ahead. have taken to stand still. Then, all of a sudden Everyone seems to be busy. You see loads and loads of poles go by every day. "Right now there amalgamate. is controversy A lady came to see if we would said that I had no say in anything, used to be my place before, living whether business. things. but it isn't any more. would be a good thing. They could then organize They wouldn't separately. amalgamate, but I I'm just renting here. on it and I have no say in anything "Amalgamation we should all I'm just at all. It would be good a fire department have to duplicate It and other in each town But, then they would have to be big enough to get along. "You see, at the very early days, when they started New Town, because on account move, Old Town was an Indian village, of the railroad they decided to and then when it came on time to there were only certain ones that would move over there. So they have been at logger heads ever since. I mentioned to somebody they have forgotten not so very .. long ago., "I suppose that old feud," but they said, as bitter "Don't you believe it. it They are about it as they ever were." "You should have seen it when my sister came up, when she worked for awhile at the hospital, cooks. Dr. Wrinch asked her if she would work there for awhile and she said she hated it. moved 'cause they just had Chinese that Old Town, they ought to have bur 'ed When they were going to move, she said they should have over here and buried the Old Town. "One thing I regret, though. the old Indian graveyard. come in. The old graves to put people's personal They should have kept up Oh, that was beautiful when we first and things that they had. They used belongings in there. The Natives GRANDMA HINDLE themselves 8 didn't seem to bother about it. "They gave up a nice home and a a nice job and everything to come up here, my Mom and Dad. Kelly Douglas, that place. Dad was head gardener and they had a nice home. It was as comfortable as it could be. what took into their heads to come here. I was in the hospital French my neighbour lady, and she brought I have a p ture of I don't know When I was sick and had my daughter, her over to Mother. didn't want to look after a young child. for that is the She was old and I guess she had to do it till I came home and when I came home, my little girl didn't even come to me. remember "I wasn't know me. husband She didn't me. away very long, just long enough that she didn't Then we were just in a one room cabin. built another think it was a palace. give up his bed. Well, my room onto it and when he did I used to Even so, when Mother My Mother came, he had to slept with me and he slept on the floor out in the kitchen. Even if we had someone never turned anyone ,away. An old Frenchman come along, he used to come along with his dogs and he always made him a bed out in the living room, kitchen, dining "It all was very room (it was all one room). interesting." -~SA ~ I had several illnesses, I don't know what I didn't have. I had to go to the hospital. I was going to go to Edmonton, but then there was a woman who took in patients, she was a very good nurse, so I went in when my baby was born, and after I had my baby I got this other illness. Igot cold in my ovaries some how or other and was lying in a pool of inflamation. Then the doctor, she gave me what you call a peracment, (scraping out the womb) without much anesthetic. I was telling another firend about it (a nurse) and she said· "that's the cruelest thing I've ever heard, you having that without any anesthetic". It wasn't exactly without any anesthetic, the nurse would hold the cone over my nose and she would keep saying to me "Are you alright". If I didn't answer she would take the cone away because she was scared. They didn't understand enough about anesthetic then, but anyway when I got better she told me "You'd better go away for six months holiday and get all built up again." So I did, I went to Bancouver and I -aatayed with my mother for three months, then I stayed with my husbands' mother for three months. !JJjl4JUj ~ J Ad 2- . -. then I went back ,home, and he wasn't batching either. He was working up on the Rocher de Bouelle Mountain up here. He was working up there, so he was with the rest of the crew. And he wouldn't have starved because he was a good cook. He used to go out on lots of hunting parties before we were married and he'd always be the cook. ~thJt was so hard for her to find a place to live. She d;d live w~ some people for a 10 t' , • been living in, across from thngh ~m~, ~n the same house that we had there, a log house but that et ~sp~tal. It was a beautiful house happened to be hom~ that week~~d urned out and my daughter just but all her clothes and suit . ~he used ~o come home every weekend, the fire. So after that wel~as~:n everyth~ns was all burnt up in she stayed home and went to S~hOOlo~i:~ what we did now. I guess my husband had a chance of a job at the ~er ~rother. Anyway, then of, they had their own dairy herd then osp~ta~ you see, taking care was another house on that pI h ' so he ~~ked that, and there all up and we lived there. ace so t ey moved ~t over and fixed it "Aaa samcls;Qdy toet1t1ion~d tbRk yap PRod to~oR ia'"'" I· . t· ·"How long were you away?" ,:1 Not very long, just long enough that she didn't know me. Then we'~~te 'just in a one room cabin, well my husband built.an,oth,er roo'fu6nto it .and when he did I used to think it was a pal.ace. Even 'so, when Mother came, he' had t.o'give up hi s bed. My ·Mother slept with me, and he slept on the floor out in the kitchen. Even if we paj- someone come along, he never turned anyone away. ·An old French. ~~n':1,&~'ed to come along with hus dogs, and he always made him a bed out io th'l/Li.v i.n q r oom , kitchen, dining room (it was all one room) 0, f;}:! '1[t:t 9 \:iJ:f- ~ AE"~'~Iiii!lZIEa!:t!was . . very . interesting." \[':1$' . \ -10- "