CFYK Radio
| Home | Local Broadcast Media | Glossary | People and Unions | The Mackenzie Network | What I Did | Yellowknife in 1974 | GNWT |
Yellowknife had been named the capitol of the Northwest Territories (NWT) in 1967, Canada's centennial year. Technically, Ottawa had been the capitol up to that point. With the transfer came more local autonomy, and a lot of newly-minted government (GNWT) employees arriving in Yellowknife.
By 1974, Yellowknife had grown to a population of 8,600.
Newton Wong arrived in Yellowknife in 1959 with $200 in savings. By 1974, he owned more commercial real estate than anyone, including the government. In fact, he owned many of the government buildings.
The government's Data Centre, where I worked in my Day Job, had previously been a Super A grocery store. Super A had moved to Newton's new building just behind. When things got busy during the lunch hour, Newton could be seen packing groceries. He had a late lunch each day, and one of my co-workers was once invited to join him; Newton's wife was a fabulous cook.
Newton also owned the Gold Range, arguably the best Chinese food in Yellowknife.
Long Lake is just across the street from the airport, a mile or so out of town. Recent visitors tell me that pollution from the airport has ruined the lake, which is really a shame since there are two other lakes in and close to Yellowknife, that were already polluted beyond use when I was there. Frame Lake had high arsenic levels from gold mining. And the other was the sewage lagoon for Yellowknife.
In 1974, Long Lake was really beautiful. You could walk around it and experience five environments:
At the height of summer heating, the water was perhaps 55°F on the beach side. Cold, but nice swimming.
But the nicest swimming was just above the Falls on the Cameron River. Trees were perhaps eight inches in diameter there, far larger than anything you would see in Yellowknife with its desert-like annual rain fall of 10 inches, mostly in snow, which translates into 100 inches of snow.
There is an eddy just above the falls where you are out of the fast-flowing current of the river. After a few sunny days, the water gets warmer -- ideal for swimming.
I spent 10 days in Anchorage, Alaska, in October 1987. But I really had the feeling that I was back in Yellowknife.
The cab drivers and many of the people I passed while walking on the street seemed like they had been magically transported from Yellowknife by time machine from 1974.
Jon Pearkins
February 12, 2007