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BC
Profiles Sites
to
Explore Yellowhead
Harrison
Hot Springs
Resort,
near Vancouver
also 'springs'
to mind. It
recalls a
legend of CPR's
glory days,
when high
rollers, from
movie stars to
royalty rode
the Canadian
Pacific
Railway,
staying at
hotels and
resorts at or
near the main
line. I am
touched by that
same spirit
with each visit
to The
Harrison. And
its always a
happy return.
We launched Air
Highways
Magazine there,
when the BC
Aviation
Council
selected me to
speak at its
1996
Conference. Our
publishing
group is
working on a
history of that
great resort
and others for
our Suite 2001
Program. New
Year's Eve 2001
Win New Year's
Eve Dinner
& Dance
Package Hotels
along the
Yukon One
winter, while
finishing high
school in
Dawson City on
my own, I
earned
my
'meal ticket'
working at
Curly Salois'
Westminster
Hotel, one of
the more sturdy
remnants of
Gold Rush Days.
For some reason
Curly's place
stood on its
foundation,
despite the
heaving
permafrost that
left most older
buildings
lurching to the
right or left
at some crazy
angles. Yes
Virginia, they
really did have
meal tickets,
and there
really was a
hotel named The
Pearl Harbour,
after Pearl
Carswell, a
family friend.
Then there's
the original
Whitehorse Inn,
which my
grandfather,
Ernie J.
Somerton,
almost won in a
poker game with
owner T.C.
Richards, a
legend in his
time.
As
a curious
youngster, I
had a great
fascination for
abandoned road
houses, such as
the Hollenbeck
on the
Klondike's
North Fork. The
Arlington near
the Bonanza
gold fields was
still operating
at the time.
Each roadhouse
was a nugget ,
in a chain of
coach stops
from Dawson
City,
via Stewart,
Minto, Carmacks
and Lac Le
Berge to
Whitehorse,
head of rail
and steamboat
transportation.
Apple Jimmy had
the only fruit
store in the
Yukon , at a
time when the
only fresh
fruit came by
Paddle wheeler.
We plan to name
a computer
column in his
honor. While
attending
Klondike Night
at the 1997
British
Columbia &
Yukon Hotels'
Association
Convention, an
old high school
friend, Kip
Fisher of Mayo
mentioned that
today's Yukon
hotels are as
modern as any
on the outside.
As guests at
two
Westmark
Inns,
while producing
the Alaska
Highway's 50th
Anniversary
video, I can
vouch for this.
Going to the
Yukon this
year? Perhaps
you may relive
some of the
history I spoke
of, and I can
assure you the
accommodation
will be to your
liking. The
"Mile Houses"
along the
Fraser River
during BC's
Cariboo Gold
Rush are
another story
we will enjoy
telling
soon. At
our Air &
Marine Tourism
Conference in
Vancouver ,
Victoria's
Kevin
Walker,
President of
the
BC-Yukon
Hotels'
Association
at
the time, spoke
of how today's
hoteliers can
meet the
challenge by
creative tour
packaging. Fotomation-
series of
souvenir
posters
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Canada's
Famous Doors of
Hospitality
