Fort Norman (Tulı́t’a) 1955

Among the most recognizable sights on the Mackenzie River, Bear Rock is three miles west of Fort Norman, across the Great Bear River. The HBCo compound is on a bluff overlooking the river. 
Photo by Charles Pineo, taken in July 2013, is from Google Maps. 

In the summer of 1955 Mike "relieved" the Fort Norman HBCo manager Jim Cummings during his biennial vacation. This was at the end of my first year as a day student at Sacred Heart Residential School in Fort Providence. I was excited about our adventure to another town. My grade one classmates in residence were even more excited to be re-joining their families for the summer. Many of them were from downriver, so I thought might run into someone during the summer, but it didn't happen.  

This photo is in front of the Residential School in Fort Providence, in 1955. The priests' house is in the background, and the boys' dorm is second row of windows at the west end of the school building.
These happy kids, all named in the archives, are probably leaving for home soon. Some of them would have been in my class.
Photo from NWT Archives.  

Mom packed up the big blue trunk with clothes for the summer and said goodbye to her garden. When the call came from RCSignals that the plane was close Angus drove us to the airport four miles upriver. The plane looked so big coming in. We took off right over the town, flew over Mills Lake, and followed the river to Fort Simpson where we left mail bags, freight and a few passengers. We took off to the east and turning back I could see the two rivers meet: the pristine Mackenzie with its Great Slave Lake water mixing with the brown mountain water from the Nahanni. This seemed a shame to me, that from here to the Arctic Ocean the river would never be clear again. The clear stream continued on the east shore for a long time before it disappeared. At the Norman Wells airport we were driven in a van to a small lake where we boarded a float plane that flew us to Fort Norman. There was no dock - we walked to the rocky shore of the Mackenzie on a board balanced on the airplane's float.

Fort Norman in 1974. Behind old town is the RCMP,  RC Mission, Indian Affairs, DOT, and the HBCo compound on the high bluff. The Great Bear River joins the Mackenzie just west of the village.
Photo from NWT Archives.

The HBCo compound is on a bluff overlooking the river and old town. Buildings consisted of the store which was right on the edge of the riverbank, two large log warehouses in the traditional hip roof design with dormers, our house in the same layout as in Fort Rae and Fort Chipewyan, the lighting plant and a small greenhouse. There were two large potato gardens that required some care, definitely not the most interesting gardening for Mom. 

The HBCo compound in 1983 with the two old warehouses, manager's house and the store on the riverbank. 
Photo from NWT Archives.

Our house looking west to Bear Rock. The house beyond the fence is RCSignals, where Cpl. and Mrs. Web Wade lived. 

Our house looking northeast from a warehouse window, with the lighting plant, greenhouse and sundial. The brown house behind ours belongs to Indian Affairs, where Mr. Albert & Mrs. Agnes Cotterill lived with their daughters Sharon and Wendy. The building above the lighting plant is the federal day school.

The store from a warehouse window.

The store in August 2016 from Google Earth Street View. 

RCCSignals buildings, with the house of Cpl. Web Wade & Mrs. Wade and the house of Cpl. Harry Baker, Mrs. Baker and their four sons. The building in the centre eventually became Wright's Convenience Store. 

Mom and my sister Tania looking for berries in the bush.

Going on a picnic with the RCMP boat. From the left, Mrs. Baker, my sister Tania (her face is behind Mrs. Timmins' chin), one of the Baker boys, my mother, another Baker boy, me, possibly the wife of the RCMP member, my father holding his hat, and Victor Menacho, RCMP Special Constable. 

Picnic by the river. On left is possibly the wife of the RCMP member, and behind her a woman we can't identify. Mom is in the sleeveless top, next to her is Mrs. Baker, Mrs. Timmins, a Baker boy, and Tania in the white t-shirt. 

Mom and several friends hiked up Bear Rock, scrabbling up the 40 degree slope. The Mackenzie Mountains are on the horizon, with the banks of Little Bear River just visible. 

Fort Norman and Great Bear River from Bear Rock. Mount Clark, elevation 1462 metres, is on the horizon.

Hiker beside the erratic on the ridge. 

 

Lake at the top of Bear Rock. 

Mrs. Timmins, a man I can't remember and Mr. Tim Timmins resting before the hike up the ridge and back down Bear Rock to the river.

Mike and a few friends made a trip to Norman Wells to explore the Canol road. I haven't found his photographs of that trip - if I ever do I will add them to this post. The Canol Project itself deserves its own post - the Mackenzie air fields and radio network developed for the project played a big role in supporting our living in the North.

Two years after publishing this post I heard from Rick Hardy* who was an eight-year old resident of Fort Norman when we were there. He doesn't remember our family that summer as he was with Noel and Harriet Gladu's family at the Bear River Rapids camp where Harriet was camp cook and Noel was a labourer. The camp was run by the NTCL to haul bags of yellowcake uranium ore over the portage around the rapids. Rick remembered many of the people in the photos and very kindly identified them for me, even contacting old acquaintances for help. These are numbered in the next two photos as follows:

1. Mrs. Baker
2. Mrs. Timmins
3. Mrs. Agnes Cotterill
4. possibly wife of the RCMP member
5. Mrs. Green, teacher
6. my mother, Merry Kelpin
7. Cpl. Harry Baker, RCCS
8. Fr. Jean Grias, OMI
9. Mr. Albert Cotterill, Indian Agent
10. Paul Baton
11. Gabriel Horassi, who was working for Rick's Uncle George at the time
12. William Andrew, who was working for Rick's Uncle George at the time
13. George Gaudet, Rick's uncle
14. (possibly) Jim McCauley
15. (possibly) Fr. ? Denis, OMI
16. Wilfred Lennie
17. Victor Menacho, RCMP Special Constable
18. Paul (Mike) Kelpin
19. Four Baker boys - I played with these boys a lot that summer
20. Barbara Timmins
21. Sharon and Wendy Cotterill
22. me, Brault Kelpin
23. Tania Kelpin

Crowd meeting the plane and seeing us off at the end of the summer. I'm in the blue jacket with white collar. The blue trunk is ours. If you recognize anyone else in these photos please let me know...

Just before leaving for Norman Wells. The canvas bags are incoming mail. The aircraft is a DHC-3 Otter, probably one of the two (CF-CZP and CF-CZO) that Canadian Pacific Airlines bought in April 1955 to fly out of Norman Wells. I loved the unique sound of the Otter, a deep pulsing throb that you could often feel and hear before it flew into sight. 

In my research for this post I went through Mom's address book (a 1929 Journal Diary that she used all her life) to find entries for Fort Norman. If you recognize any of these people please let me know. Mr. A. Cottrell is identified as Indian Agent on page 80 of the Fort Simpson Sacred Heart Mission history. 

The local Dene population of Tulı́t’a spoke North Slavey, which was similar but different from the Slavey spoken in Fort Providence. These people are now known as the Sahtú (Great Bear Lake), and live in five related communities - Fort Good Hope (Rádeyı̨lı̨kóé), Norman Wells (Tłegǫ́htı̨), Fort Norman (Tulı́t’a), Fort Franklin (Délı̨ne), and Colville Lake (K'áhbamı̨́túé). During the Second World War men from Délı̨ne and Tulı́t’a were employed by Eldorado Mine on the east shore of Great Bear Lake transporting yellowcake uranium concentrate. The cloth sacks containing the yellowcake powder required physical handling several times going down the Great Bear River, with the workers having no protection. We now know that the powder is extremely toxic to breathe, despite its low radioactivity. More than half of the Sahtú men who did this work have died early of cancer. In addition to this loss to their community, the Délı̨ne people are horrified at the role they played in providing nuclear fuel for the  bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Village of Widows is a 1999 documentary by Peter Blow on the  Délı̨ne tragedy, and When a Dene Lantern shone in Hiroshima describes the community seeking reconciliation and attending the 1998 peace ceremony in Hiroshima. 

The old town west of the HBCo compound, The two-story wooden house is the Anglican manse, with the roof of the old Anglican church visible behind it. The brown square above the manse is the steeple roof covering the church bell. 

I was very surprised to discover that Google Street View is available for Tulı́t’a. I was able to "walk" the streets in 2016 to see what remains of the 1955 village, identifying buildings and finding photographs. 

The intersection of Bear Rock Drive and Blueberry Hill Drive photographed by Patrick Mahaffey in August 2009, from almost the same location as Mike's slide from 1955. 
Photo from Google Earth.

The old Anglican church, also by Patrick Mahaffey.
One of the oldest structures in the NWT, this was built by Alan Hardisty in 1880. Notice the dovetail corners, manually cut with such precision.
Photo from Google Earth.

I scoured photos in the NWT Archives for a historical perspective on the buildings in the HBCo compound. Here are a few....

HBCo compound in 1930-32.
Photo from NWT Archives.

HBCo compound in 1930-32.
Photo from NWT Archives.

HBCo compound in 1930-32. This appears to be the same sundial as in Mike's 1955 photo.
Photo from NWT Archives.

HBCo compound in 1942, with the Anglican manse and church to the west. The last house on the right belonged to HBCo pensioner Charles Timothy Gaudet, Rick Hardy's grandfather, who died three years before we lived in Fort Norman.
Photo from NWT Archives.

The store in 1964.
Photo from NWT Archives.

Undated photo of the HBCo compound with the buildings as they were in 1955. Mr. & Mrs. Tim Timmins and their daughter Barbara lived in the house in the upper left corner. The brown house with the red roof was the Cotterills, and next door was the Indian Agency clerk.
The Northwest store is now located in the field in the centre of this photo. 
Photo from NWT Archives.

* Richard I. Hardy (Rick) shares heartfelt and very personal stories of his family and growing up Métis in Fort Norman, including his trauma experienced in a Catholic residential school, in his excellent book Mǫ́lazha: (Child of a Whiteman).