Diaries highlight the dynamic North
Kechika Chronicler: Willard Freer’s Northern BC and Yukon Diaries, 1942-1975
by Jay Sherwood
Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2023
$26 / 9781773860909
Reviewed by Ross Peck
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Published posthumously, through the efforts of Linda Sherwood and Caitlin Press, the late Jay Sherwood’s Kechika Chronicler tracks the history and development of northern British Columbia and the southern Yukon, through the lens of the extensive diaries of Willard Freer. Sherwood, well known for his many publications on the surveying history of British Columbia, utilized his background and knowledge to place and document Freer’s backcountry exploits, from the 1930s to the mid 1970s. The text is strongly supported by photos from family and archival collections, and informative sidebars profile many of the characters and events of the area and the period. Freer’s diaries also provide a unique glimpse into the activities of the area’s Indigenous inhabitants, especially those that frequented the Kechika River valley.
Born in 1910, Willard Freer grew up on a Peace River homestead at Bear Flats some 70 kilometres west of Hudson’s Hope in northeastern BC. Throughout his life, Freer wore many hats, including those of a horseman, packer, guide, trapper, fur trader, boatman, cook, carpenter, gas jockey, and, for a time, even an assistant postmaster. However, the ten-gallon Stetson he always wore was his trademark. Freer kept a diary all his adult life, and although some of the early diaries have been lost, Sherwood was able to piece together Freer’s “early days” from 1915 to 1942. Although Freer initially tried his hand at homesteading, gold mining, and working in a Beryl Prairie sawmill, he was drawn to life off the beaten track. Through association with Jack Bocock, a geological engineer involved with the provincial government’s PGE Resources survey of 1929-30, Freer found work as a horse packer and trail cutter, and honed and developed skills that lasted a lifetime. This led to a position on the infamous 1934 “Champagne Safari,” Charles Bedaux’s aborted attempt to cross unroaded northern B.C. with Citroen half-track vehicles. Freer was initially part of the advanced freight outfit, tasked with packing the Citroen’s fuel by horseback, and then swapped positions to join the trail cutters. When the vehicles were abandoned, the expedition continued on by horseback to the headwaters of the Finlay River, before abandoning the attempt and returning to Hudson’s Hope by riverboat. Freer’s succinct comment in his diary of Oct 20, 1934 was typical: “Our last pay day—too bad. Bedaux and all the men left for their homes…Well this is the end of the Bedaux Sub Arctic expedition into the mountains.”
The late 1930s found Willard Freer trapping in the Ingenika River area of northcentral BC. In 1939, preliminary surveying work was ongoing for a possible Alaska Highway route from Prince George, up the Rocky Mountain Trench, and on to Lower Post. Surveyor Frank Swannell, who was also on the Bedaux expedition, hired Willard Freer as part of the support crew that included veteran horse packer “Skook” Davidson. In the fall of 1939, in anticipation of future surveying work, Davidson established the Diamond J ranch at the base of Terminus Mountain on northern BC’s remote Kechika River as the headquarters for his horse operation.
Initially, on receipt of Willard Freer’s 1942 to 1972 diary collection, Jay Sherwood transcribed them into a digital format, and although the originals were returned to the Freer family, transcripts are now accessible through the Northern BC Archives and the Hudson’s Hope Museum. Diaries for 1973-75 are housed at the Fort Nelson Museum. The diaries provide a unique and valuable record of the people and places throughout the North that Freer encountered. In Kechika Chronicler, Sherwood provides a chronological summary of Freer’s comings and goings and uses specific diary quotes to highlight Freer’s perspective and role in these activities.
The 1940s are described by Sherwood as “the high watermark for horse pack trains in northern British Columbia and from 1942-49, Freer had a packing job every summer.” In 1942, the Alaska Highway was being constructed from Dawson Creek north up the east slope of the Rockies, but there was still interest on developing a railroad to Alaska from Prince George via the Rocky Mountain Trench. In the summer of 1942, Freer, along with Skook Davidson was in the employ of the US Army. Freer’s diary entry for July 13/1942 on the Fox River north of Fort Ware read as follows; “…took Maj. Charles and C.H. Davis to 17 mile where Skook and party are building rafts. John Rasmussen and I took Charles and Davis down the Fox River to Davis’ fly camp on the Fox. We sure had a lot of fun coming down the Fox.” As the railroad project wrapped up for the fall, Freer made the decision to go north with Skook Davidson and his horses and winter at the Diamond J ranch. For the next 30+ years, the Kechika valley would be the home base for Willard Freer, and each summer he would be involved in horse packing projects across the North. Skook Davidson would often make the initial arrangements, supply the horses, and Freer would be in charge of running the outfits.
Hugh Pattinson, hired Skook Davidson and Willard Freer in 1943 as packers for twenty-five head of horses to assist on a triangulation survey of northwestern British Columbia which took them west all the way to the headwaters of the Stikine River. 1944 found Freer assisting C.H. Ney of the Dominion Geodetic Survey, working primarily to establish the location of the 60th Parallel, marking the boundary between the Yukon and British Columbia. Freer’s diary entry for June 6/1944 read; “…Swam the horses across the Dease and Liard Rivers to north side. Fred Fosberg helped me. Lots of trucks and cars on the Alaska Highway.” 1945 and 1946 found Freer packing for Emil Bronlund, a mining engineer for Consolidated Mining and Smelting (later known as Cominco) out of Thutade Lake in the Omineca region. For the next three years, 1947-49. Freer packed for AJ Campbell on the BC-Yukon boundary survey.
At the end of the season, the horses would be trailed back to their winter range in the Kechika valley. Starting in 1945, Skook Davidson obtained a fur buying license and established an unofficial trading post at the Diamond J, where local indigenous trappers could exchange furs for food and supplies. Rather than having to go to Fort Ware or Lower Post to trade they could now obtain necessities right in the Kechika valley. As airplane access improved from Watson Lake, pilots like George Dalziel, founder of BC Yukon Air Service, were able to deliver supplies directly to the Kechika valley. Freer was often involved in the trading and delivery of goods. Freer’s diary entry of Dec 12-1945 gives a glimpse of the operation: …Skook and I went to Davie Creek…Amos Alec, Felix Johnnie, Louis Boya and Joe Boya came up from Turnagain River. They purchased over $100 of food and supplies. Alec received a $50 credit for beaver he had trapped and had a credit of $27 after his purchases. Johnnie got $37 for a mink and a fisher which almost covered the cost of the items he selected. Louie Boya purchases totaled $63.50.” Other Indigenous trappers in the area that took advantage of the trading opportunity that winter provided included Jim and Michael McCook, Frank Stone, Jack, Charles and George Abou
In the fall of 1949, Freer started work on his own cabin at Hornline Creek, some 30 kilometres north of the Diamond J, but still in the Kechika valley. He also obtained a trapline in the area in 1951. A pattern to Freer’s yearly activity began to emerge. Winter months would find him working at various lodges on the Alaska Highway, initially at Lower Post and then at Fireside, Mile 543. Freer would return to the Kechika valley in late winter, to check on the horses, visit with Skook at the Diamond J, and to trade with the local indigenous trappers on their spring beaver hunt. Through the 1950s he would be busy each summer and fall providing horseback support for various mineral and geological exploration projects across the North.
Sherwood documents the establishment of the Lower Post Residential School in 1951 and notes its implications for the indigenous residents of the areas. He relates an entry in Skook Davidson’s diary for Dec 4/1951; “Dal (bush pilot George Dalziel) left word he wanted to see me. He is coming in for two of Jack Abou’s kids who are going to school in Lower Post.”
From 1950 to 1954, and again in 1956, Freer packed for Northwest Explorations, the Canadian exploration arm for Kennecott Copper which took him south into the Omineca country. Crossing the big rivers with the horse outfits was always a challenge. A diary quote regarding crossing the Finlay River at Fort Ware on May 30,1952 reads: “Swam the horses at the mouth of the White (Kwadacha) River and came up to the South side of the Finlay River. Roy Petrie, HBC manager couldn’t start his kicker, so Francis Charlie and John Poole helped to cross in HBC boat. I paid them $5.” In 1955, Freer was back working for Bronlund with Cominco, this time in the Stewart Lake area of the Yukon and in 1957 he was packing for Continental Mining in Yukon’s Wasson Lake area. During the next four years, Freer provided packhorse and riverboat support for Hu Gabrielse of the Geological Survey of Canada on a geological mapping project closer to home. Freer’s diary entry for Aug 8/1958 reads; “ Gabrielse and I left Denetiah Lake with 9 horses, 3 light loads. Went to Dall Lake, moved on over a pass and camped at timberline. We are on the Kechika River trail. Saw lots of game. Lots of horse feed. Sure tough climbing today.”
By the 1960s, the era of the big pack trains to support wilderness exploration was winding down, as helicopter, airplane, and riverboat use became more common. Freer, and many indigenous guides found horse packing and guiding work with Kechika area guide outfitters such as Robin Dalziel, Earl Boose, and Skook Davidson. Freer also started to spend more time at the Fireside Lodge on the Alaska Highway, where his duties ranged from occasional carpentry to manning the gas pumps. From his diary of Feb 14/1962, we read; “Getting quite a lot of work done on the new dining room. Got the window frames in now and ready for glass as soon as it warms up some…took the ice off the roof,… one day worked in the café.” Riverboat activity increased on the Kechika River system in the 1960s and Skook’s Landing near Fireside was a popular boat launch just above the confluence of the Kechika and Liard rivers. Freer owned a number of boats and in 1965 bought a 27-foot riverboat. When the boat wasn’t broken down he was able to offer freighting services, as well as ready access up the Kechika to his cabins. Freer’s diaries provide a unique perspective of life on the Alaska Highway and the Fireside community. On March 30/1968 he related: “I was really busy with the gas and odds and ends. Café fairly busy, some tires to fix, got all the Hill and Hill load reloaded and 2 tractors came in from Edmonton to pick up wrecked trailer and highboy with load. Ken and Margo (Ken and Margo Windrem, Fireside Lodge owners) went to Watson Lake to a farewell party for the postmaster there. Some of the Nanaimo Bulldozing crew came into to take over.”
Willard Freer started having health issues in the early 1970s, which led to a number of trips “outside” for medical attention. Kechika guide areas were changing hands and new owners were expanding their facilities, and with improved riverboat access hunter numbers were increasing. A “wilderness couple” had built a cabin a kilometer from Freer’s at Hornline Creek and were raising captive wolves. Skook had also been in poor health, and as Freer noted in his diary entry of June 7/1973:” Skook has been out for a year now and the place has been sold. He will never be back.” That fall Freer found work running a boat and cooking for a BC Forestry Inventory Project on the upper Stikine River. For the next two years, he worked on the Inventory Project based out of Babine Lake and Nass River locations. He still tried to spend parts of each year in the Kechika, trapping, trading, and looking after the horses and there was work at Fireside Lodge when he wanted.
With the sale of the Fireside Lodge in the late 1970s, Freer moved to the nearby Coal River Lodge (Mile 533) where he continued to pump gas, cook, and undertake caretaking duties until his passing in 1981. His obituary published in the Fort Nelson News was entitled “A Trail Blazer passes.” Willard Freer’s diaries document a dynamic period in the North, and Jay Sherwood’s Kechika Chronicler takes the reader on many of Freer’s wilderness trails. Sherwood also compiled a list of over 130 indigenous names recorded in Freer’s diaries, comprehensive supporting references, and an index of notable characters. This is a recommended resource and read for all who have an interest in the historical development and indigenous residents of northern BC and the southern Yukon.
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Ross Peck is a retired guide outfitter, whose interest in northern B.C. history led to a long involvement with the Hudson’s Hope Historical Society with particular interests in the Bedaux Expedition. He also chaired the Muskwa-Kechika Advisory Board, and the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation Board. As “Site C refugees,” Ross and his wife Deborah now live on Skookumchuck Creek in southeast BC where he is fine tuning a manuscript on “Stories my mother told me (…and some she didn’t).”
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The British Columbia Review
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