A Look at Whistler History
The first pioneers to live on the land that the Resort Municipality of Whistler now inhabits arrived in the 1880s. The Squamish and Lil'wat First Nations have been the ancestral stewards of these lands and to this day they present the history of the First Nations people starting in "the long ago" to the present and into the future.
For more information on the Squamish and Lil'wat first Nations visit The Squamish and Lil'wat Cultural Centre www.slcc.ca
The Whistler Museum and Archives currently has two online historical photo collections availbable virtually through the Government of Canada Library and Archives.
Whistler Valley Milestones
The original name of Whistler was Alta Lake, BC. The lake itself was originally called Summit Lake as its creeks flow out of both north and south creating a chain of four connected lakes (Alpha, Nita, Alta, and Green).
The valley in which it sits was part of the traveling route known as the Pemberton Trail, which was first surveyed and documented in 1858 by Hudson’s Bay men looking for an alternate route into the Caribou area.
In the 1860’s British Naval Officers and Surveyors gave the name “London Mountain” to what is today known as Whistler Mountain.
This Mountain soon became locally known as “Whistler” because of the shrill whistle made by the Western Hoary Marmots who lived among the rocks.
One of the first settlers to arrive was John Millar, a trapper who ran a stopping house on the Pemberton Trail near today’s Function Junction.
In 1911, John Millar met Alex Philip on a trip to Vancouver to sell furs. He invited Alex and his wife Myrtle to experience the superb fishing on the chain of lakes near his cabin. Myrtle and Alex Philip, both from the state of Maine, had moved to the west coast with dreams of opening their own fishing lodge and resort.
Over the next three years, the Philips visited Summit Lake several times. Their journey from Vancouver took them three days. It began on a steam ship from Vancouver to Squamish. From Squamish they traveled by horse to Brackendale where they spent the night, followed by a two-day hike up the rough Pemberton Trail with rented pack horses.
In 1913 they purchased ten acres of land on the northwest corner of Alta Lake for $700. This land was to be the site of the fishing lodge they had dreamed of owning.
Some of Myrtle’s family, the Tapleys, came out from Maine
to help with the construction.
By
1914, Rainbow Lodge fishing resort was completed. It had four bedrooms, a large
living/dining area and a kitchen.
This was the same year that the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE) reached Alta Lake and opened the valley to the outside world.
This level of accessibility, combined with legendary
hospitality, a spectacular setting and excellent fishing, allowed the Philips
to expand Rainbow Lodge with cabins until it could accommodate 100 people. It
soon became known as the most popular resort west of Banff and Jasper.
The
Philip’s operated the Lodge until 1948 when they sold it to Alec and Audrey
Greenwood. The main Lodge burnt down in 1977, but today the area has been
preserved as Rainbow Park. Some of the original cabins and a replica of “the
Bridge of Sighs” are still standing at the park.
Alex Philip, an incurable romantic and writer of fiction novels, named the “Bridge of Sighs” and the “River of Golden Dreams and Romance”.
The Philip’s both remained in the valley until their deaths. Alex died in 1968 at the age of 86, and Myrtle died in 1986 at the age of 95.
Many other lodges were built around the lakes due to the summer tourist trade…
The Alta Lake Hotel was owned by Russ Jordan from the early 1920’s until 1930 when it burnt down. He left the valley for three years but returned to purchase land on Nita Lake to build and operate Jordan’s Lodge. A new lodge at Nita Lake will replace Jordan's Lodge, with construction currently underway.
Bert and Agnes Harrop built cabins and a floating tea
room, known as Harrop’s Point, in the 1920’s. This property was renamed Cypress
Lodge in 1945 by owner Dick Fairhurst. In the early 1960’s he and his wife
Kelly built new cabins and a main lodge. In 1972 the Canadian Youth Hostel
Association purchased the property, and it remains the Whistler Hostel.
Cecilia and John Mansell moved to Alta Lake in 1945, where they built Hillcrest Lodge near today’s Lakeside Park. They sold it in 1965 to the Mason Family and others who operated it as Mount Whistler Lodge for skiers. The main lodge was burnt in a fire practice by the fire department in 1986.
Tourism was not the only industry in the valley during this time. Logging was also very profitable, especially with the arrival of the railway. For several years there were a few sizable mills and lumber operations including the Barrs at Parkhurst Mill on Green Lake, and the Gebharts with the Rainbow Lumber Company on Alta Lake.
Other enterprising businesses included a mink and marten farm, as well as trapping and prospecting, which led to mining surveys up Fitzsimmons Valley by Jimmy Fitzsimmons. The shafts that resulted from this exploration can still be found on the Singing Pass trail.
During the early 1960’s events took place that would change the valley forever. A group of Vancouver Businessmen formed the Garibaldi Olympic Development Association (GODA) to develop a site to host a future Winter Olympic Games.
The site chosen was London Mountain in Garibaldi Provincial Park, with its base located in the community of Alta Lake. At this time there was no road, no electricity, no piped water or sewer in Alta Lake.
In 1962 the Garibaldi Lifts Limited was formed with Franz Wilhelmsen as President. It had two main objectives: a) To finance and supervise required land/business studies; b) To erect and operate ski lifts on Whistler Mountain.
From 1962 to 1965 Garibaldi Lifts raised funds and began development of the ski area on the south side of Whistler Mountain, known as Creekside today. By the fall of 1965 several lifts had been installed, including: a four-person gondola to the mountain’s mid-station, a double chairlift to the alpine tree line, and two T-bars. A day lodge and several ski runs accompanied these new lifts.
By 1965 the Provincial Government had completed a narrow gravel road from Vancouver, which followed a rough service road under the large Hydro towers leading to Bridge River. Electricity in the Alta Lake community was not realized until a substation was built to power the ski lifts in 1965.
GODA made a total of four separate bids for the Winter Olympics. In 1968 Vancouver/Garibaldi won the Canadian nomination for the 1976 proposed site. However, Montreal was bidding for the 1976 Summer Olympic Games, which they were awarded and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would not allow both summer and winter games in the same country.
On August 27, 1965 London Mountain’s name was officially changed to Whistler Mountain.
On February 15, 1966, Whistler Mountain officially opened for skiing.
The road was paved to Whistler in 1966, and to Pemberton in 1969.
Whistler began experiencing faster growth than most communities in the province. In 1974 the Provincial NDP Government was interested in developing tourism in BC and took a number of steps affecting Whistler. This included a land freeze and a development study to identify the important community issues. The result of the study was the creation of the Resort Municipality of Whistler on September 6, 1975, the first resort municipality in Canada.
In 1977, calls for development proposals for Blackcomb Mountain were issued and a community plan was visualized with the town center at the site where both Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains converge, the site that was then the community garbage dump.
In January 1978, 53 acres of Crown Land were given to the
municipality to develop the town centre. The Whistler Village Land Company was
formed as a subsidiary company with the mandate to manage, develop and sell
land within the town centre.
Mayor
Pat Carleton turned the first sod for the village on August 18, 1978.
Blackcomb Mountain opened in December of 1980, creating one of the largest ski complexes in North America, with the two longest vertical ski drops on the continent.
In 1985 Blackcomb’s lift service was expanded to 5280 feet, making Blackcomb North America’s only “Mile High Mountain.”
In 1992 Snow Country Magazine, one of North America’s most prominent ski magazines, voted Whistler Resort the Number One Ski Resort in North America, the first of many accolades to come.
In 1998 Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains merged under the direction of a company called Intrawest.
On April 20, 1999 Whistler and Blackcomb became the first North American Ski Resort to top 2 million skier visits in one season.
In October 2002, the last passenger train on the BC Rail tracks left Whistler. Currently, only freight trains use the railway tracks although there are plans to reinstall passenger service for the Olympics in 2010.
In 2003 the year-round population of Whistler was counted at 9,850
On July 2, 2003 Whistler, in partnership with Vancouver, won the bid to host the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In August 2006, Fortress Investment Group bought out Intrawest Corporation, eight years after the mountains merged under the company.
On May 21st,
2007, the groundbreaking ceremony was held in honor of another important
development for the lift systems on these mountains: the Peak to Peak gondola,
which links the summits of Whistler and Blackcomb.
This
gondola comprises the largest unsupported lift span in the world, coming in at
3.024 kilometers or 1.88 miles. At its highest point, the cabins are suspended
at 436 meters or 1427 feet above Fitzsimmons Creek in the valley bottom.
The gondola,
constructed by the Dopplemayr/Garaventa Group, officially opened to the public
on December 12th, 2008.
2009 marked the completion of the Sea to Sky
Improvement Project, which further developed the highway linking Vancouver and
Whistler.
To be continued…