I had some cereal with blueberries and went for a walk down the main street.Got to wifi some catchup by siting outside of the River Song on a bench... they don't open until 11:00 AM
At the far end of the street, past the church, is a boat ramp with a side dock and on this day the ramp was set up with rows of chairs... like for a lecture or church service.
At first I though this might be the place where I was told the fishing families were gathering to teach the children about the heritage and importance of Salmon fishing on the Stikine river.
I walked down toward the water and introduced myself and asked what was going to happen there. It was here were I met Francis and he told me his granddaughter was being married there today and the wedding party was going to be arriving by boat. Wow! That sounded incredibly cool to me... maybe even culturally significant. So I told Francis that I had a big 400mm lens and a video camera and asked him if he would like to have the wedding documented from a hill just above the ramp. He accepted my offer energetically so I got the equipment set up and waited.
I am still wondering of the cultural significance of this wedding because by looking around it was evident more than 90% of those attending were first-nations peoples. Indeed, most of the land surrounding Telegraph Creek is reserve land and -- I think -- of the Tahltan band.
Correction: The land surrounding Telegraph Creek is properly called Tahltan Territory or the Tahltan Nation
The bride, Trina, was raised in Telegraph Creek by her grandparents. Therefore I assume she, as Tahltan, was drawn to this place for her wedding.
So because of the cultural aspect and the unique setting I was quite excited to attend and document this event. However the excitement was vastly amplified when the program got underway. There were two jetboats carrying the wedding party to the dock. Full throttle up the Stikine they came. It gave me some chills... something like when the fighter planes fly low and fast over a football game. An amazing thing to watch.
After the wedding got started I switched to the 400mm canon and got some decent side shot close-ups. Would have been better straight on but then I would have been too close and it would have interfered with the ceremony. So all the shots are from the same side and up on the hill.
01:22
The wedding party arrives dry!
Trina the bride
A special thank you to Trina's aunt Nancy for getting her permission to post these images.
we oldies should just get out of their way, I said
not to hang on to the past
but
watching youth
like this
is as much of our beautiful past as is Beethoven
so I take a little of that back
they will be fine
After the wedding I got a chance to talk with the owner of the Stikine River Song, Dan Pakula and ask him about the lodge and how he came to own it.
See also http://www.stewartcassiar.com/destinations/telegraph-stikine
Dan's history dates back to the early 70s when he came to Telegraph Creek as a wandering free spirit which, in most instances, we would call a "hippie" in that day. There were quite a few like souls in the area then... living subsistence like.
Correction per Dan: None of the original members were living communally. We all had our own cabins in separate bush locations. At the time people were squatting on crown land trying to get some kind of title to those pieces. Native land claims were not part of the public process (consciousness) at that time and we were trying to homestead on crown land. There s a saying in Canada that its easier to get forgiven than to get permission so that was how folks were trying to gain some kind of title to crown land at the time. We came together because none of us wanted full time jobs but all of us needed some way to earn some income. We did not need a lot of income as we were living simply and only David and his wife Tannis hadkids at the time.
The River Song was their general store and they depended on it for literally everything they needed but in 1977 the owner nailed a sign on the door, "closing in 30 days". Dan and his friend Dave were understandably worried about their survival without the River Song and decided to try and buy the store.
One must visualize this: two subsistence living hippies trying to scrape together enough to buy a money making business. It must have been fun to watch this from some vantage point... the culture of the hippie at odds with reality of capitalism.
Dan and Dave, as you might expect came up short... way short. So they moved about their community trying to find ways for others to join this endeavor. After weeks of activity they ended up with a group of eleven locals investors and they had just enough money to buy the store.
So the new "company" was born.
Each of the eleven investors had equal shares in the company even though the invested amount was not equal. This would have pleased numerous Ginsburg types of the day... not a single thought of greed, eh? But wait... that's not all! The agreement was to run the entire operation by consensus. That meant if there was only one who disagreed with the other ten then you would have complete stagnation. Dan smiles today when mentioning that part. It must have been quite a drama for awhile.
A few of the owners had management ability so they actually ran the organization while at the same time having to "sweet talk" the others into consensual rules and plans. Dan had a few university business classes under his pre-dropout belt so that must have helped some.
This was a true general store. It sold everything and did everything. It was the bank as it had extensive receivables within the community. It was the phone company having the only one in town. It sold kerosene for lamps (no electricity then). It even had a gasoline pump. It was indeed a "general" store.
Dan comes in with: We sold kerosene to those in town who's houses were not wired. Some of the homes in town were wired and used individual generators to provide their electricity. That's what the store had done previously. Electricity was brought to town in 1976 just before we purchased the store. Also the Stewart Cassiar was open at the time we purchased the store. The previous owner was bringing his supplies into town via the Alaska Hwy. Our first
act was to find a grocery supplier based in Vancouver who was shipping product up the coast via boat to Kitimat/Terrace weekly. It was then tranferred to Lindsay's Transport to be shipped north. So our first act was to change transportation routes so we could receive freight weekly instead of every three weeks. Other suppliers were located all over. Edomnton, Prince George, Winnepeg etc. Much of the non grocery product ame via Canada Post.
As time moved on the company bought out the other members one by one until there was just Dan and Dave and in 1998 Dave sold to Dan. Now Dan is the single owner and the Stikine River Song is for sale.
Dan: Our son Ashley living in Vancouver has completed his Geological Engineering degree and is an EIT working for a major company called Golder Associates. We have two daughters living in Whitehorse. One is a social worker. Ali was home for the summer to work and is now back in Whitehorse attending college taking a renewable resource management program.
The company is for sale because we would like more time in the summer plus I would like to be able to spend more time on other interests.
(aside)
During our talk Dan's daughter who was running the cafe came out twice asking him to "we need your help, Dad" and he says, "I'll be right there" ... twice!
It seems nearly everyone attending the wedding that day was in the store ordering lunch!
(/aside)I waited for the crowd at the River Song to thin out before going in for my lunch. It was there, while I was editing some photos on my lap top, where I met Brooke and Carol, two young ladies who drove up from Smithers for the wedding and to be the bartenders for the reception afterwords. Nice young people who gave me some good info about the wedding history. I believe one of them was related to Trina the bride. Also Brooke (a photographer) talked me into going to Twin Falls when I got to Smithers. Thanks for the input!
I decided not to stay two days and to head back to Dease Lake around 4:00 PM.
02:10
I don't know what time I got back to Dease Lake but I was tired. Its a long 100+ km road and very rough in parts. I wonder how many tie rods and ball joints get replaced in the town... tire sales have to great!
Was hungry so after a fill up I went over to Mama Z's restaurant and had a great taco salad (something I am usually not in the mood for). I ate here yesterday too before heading down the road. Recommended. Of course I haven't eaten at the other places in Dease so cant rate them all on just this experience.
I just started driving south after my meal and looked for campgrounds and stuff. I ended up at the Bear Paw Resort. Its more of a lodge than an RV park. No hookups. Just a level secluded spot for $10. The millions of mosquitos were free.
I rate it a 7
I like these alert signs in BC... they really get your attention.
Sun going down as I enter Iskut
The Bear Paw Resort... got in about 9:30 PM
This was the most beautiful drive of the trip. There were plenty of nice views driving into Iskut last night but the drive from Iskut to Meziadin junction was just fabulous. Kinaskan Lake, Bell II, and the Skeena and Coastal mountain ranges. Drive slow here and enjoy.
Early morning mirror at Kinaskan Lake on the Cassiar Highway
Just down the road from here is Bell II (as in 2) and it is quite a nice resort. I have watched TV videos of heliskiing here. Again the drive is beautiful.
I pulled into Stewart late afternoon and and set up at the Bear River RV park. Crisply clean with every spot on a grass cushion. In fact the whole place is grass save the loop road in the center. Highly recommended
$20 US
Rate it 10
Drove over to Hyder for some seafood at the White Bus (aka Seafood Express). The Bus is an icon in Hyder (and probably BC as well and too, it is expanding with google searches on the Internet)... and serves the best fresh fish imaginable. It is pretty well known spot yet still hard to find. Map below.
http://hyderalaska.com/
I had very little chance to talk to Diana the owner as she was real busy. I'll see if I can get back there tomorrow and get part of teh story.
A one sentence overview: Jim Simpson is commercial fisherman and he and his wife Diana operate the Alaska Premier Seafoods fish factory while Diana runs the Seafood Express eatery (the White Bus).
Additionally Diana is sort of hippie-laid-back and if you complain about the wait she will just smile at you with her pixie eyes and make you feel a better part of the universe for waiting. Bring patience... the food is worth it. Maybe her white board scribble says it better:
I went back to the RV park, did some laundry, then headed up toward Salmon Glacier. The road was closed due to a heavy rain taking it out on a river bend. So I turned back and stopped at the Fish Creek Bear Watching Facility for a few minutes. It was wall to wall people... reminded me of Juneau tourism.
This was a different kind of experience than Anan in that the creek runs slow and shallow and is just in afew hundred feet from the Salmon river which is just a few miles in from the salt water of the Portland Canal. So the fish don't have to struggle or swim hard to get here. In fact they spawn right in front of you and the bears will jump on them while they are doing their perpetuation duty or just pick them off the top water while they are expeireng afterward. Quite a bit different from my Anan Creek experience. I tried to get pictures of the salmon but unless you get a female just as she is flashing on her side to entice the male then you get basically nothing. One bear was down the creek some distance but there were at least 60 people trying to get a picture. No thanks.
Stopped in Stewart for pie at the bakery.
07-27 Stewart to Smithers
I got an early start on a hike up the creek then wandered back over to Hyder. Walked around shooting some pics and killing time until Diana came to open the bus.
Their home next door... I love the houses around here.
I'll bet your geography or history teacher in grade school taught you about the hudson bay company, right?
Well here in Smithers BC its hard to forget how important they were to the development of the northwest.
Beaver trade
Otter trade
Mineral trade
The HBC is the single most important entity to the anglo history of these parts
