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Boatbuilding Communities: Introduction Wooden boatbuilding was a natural part of living and working in the small fishing villages of the North Coast. Few people had time for pleasure boats. The fishing boat was essential for work, but also it was the main form of transportation to get from a remote community to the big cities of Port Essington in its day, or Prince Rupert. Many people decided to build their own boats, and most fishermen did their own seasonal repairs. There are two types of North Coast communities. The First Nations villages were here long before Euro-Canadian settlers arrived, and today they remain vital communities on their traditional territories. The other communities were started with a spirit of optimism in the early twentieth century, largely by Scandinavian settlers, who were encouraged by government to take up land in the wake of the pushing through of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. Most have vanished into the rainforest now. Oona River is the last outlying community, and one with a strong boatbuilding tradition. Dodge Cove is in a different category as it is only a short boat ride across the harbour from Prince Rupert. There are those for whom even a small community was too large, but they still built wooden boats. There was the couple who lived across the harbour from Prince Rupert in Salt Lakes, a saltwater lagoon that had a few houses and was a summer get-away for many Rupertites. But Axel Anderson and his wife lived there. Anderson built at least three boats in a large boatshed there, one of which, the Arne A., is owned today by Norman Ostrom. Read the story of the Arne A. in Norman's interview. Perhaps the most extreme case of a recluse was that of Mike Anderson who lived all alone on Skiakl Bay on the west coast of Stephens Island. In the 1940s or '50s, he built a boatshed and sawmill to cut his own lumber. He built a double-ender, called the Dandy (perhaps Dandee) and had very little to do with other people. Today, families still live in a number of outlying areas, such as the old cannery site of Humpback Bay. In the early years of the 20th century, Digby Island was the official marine headquarters for the north coast. Casey Cove had the northern Marine Base, the forerunner to today's Coast Guard. It was a relatively large establishment, with houses for the staff, large dock for the steamships that supplied the lighthouses and maintained the aids to navigation. Next door, Dodge Cove was the site of the quarantine hospital where it was planned that the hundreds of immigrants coming to Prince Rupert from overseas would be inspected and, if necessary, treated. The ocean liners and their passengers never came. However, Dodge Cove did see marine activity in those early years. It was home for some of the last paddlewheelers in the region. For many years it was the winter headquarters for the 'snag scows', the sternwheelers that were used to remove snags or submerged trees and logs from the Skeena River, and repair the government docks along the river. There were shipways in the cove, but they were the end of the line rather than the birthplace of vessels. One of the last Skeena paddlewheelers, the Omineca, was stored on the Dodge Cove ways from 1914 to 1916. Another, the Port Simpson, was brought up on the ways in 1921, stripped, and the hull apparently left to rot. Around 1928, the government put land at Dodge Cove on the market, and immediately a community of fisher folk began. 'Already Capt. Morris Hanson of the trolling boat Annie', reported the Prince Rupert Daily News in April, 1928', and Charlie Johansen, known as the 'Shrimp King,' have built homes there and four other trollers are now having land cleared and intend to build houses this summer or next fall.' Also attracted to the new community was Ed Wahl, who moved his family from Port Essington. Wahl's Boatyards were to become the pre-eminent boat builders on the North Coast for the next 60 years, launching over 1100 wooden vessels. By 1933 there were more than 20 homes and enough children to warrant a school. As with many of the small communities around Prince Rupert, the people were mostly of Scandinavian origin. Another industrial development came about in the fall of 1936 when Julius Hadland moved from Oona River to set up a new sawmill in Dodge Cove. In 1973, another family moved from Oona River to Dodge Cove, when boatbuilder Norman Iverson put up his boatshed. Today, Dave Prosser runs the original Wahl yards, and there are two other sheds, Norman Iverson's and Gordon Coxes sheds, which still see some repair work. Gitxaala, also known as Kitkatla, is on Dolphin Island, near Hecate Strait. It is accessible only by boat and seaplane and has a population of about 500 people. It is recognized as one of the longest inhabited sites in Canada. The Gitxaala First Nations have made this their winter home for countless ages. Consequently, it must have been the home of hundreds of generations of canoe builders. Fishing, of course, was the major industry, in addition to trapping. In the twentieth century, Gitxaala people spent much of the year on the land at their traditional camps harvesting a variety of resources. All these activities required boats to get around. There were several boathouses along the shore in Gitxaala where people stored and repaired their fishing boats and also built them. One of the most well-known boatbuilders in Gitxaala was Jimmy Nelson, who built speedboats, rowboats, gillnetters and the seiner Gail Delores, which was launched in 1962. Hartley Bay is a Tsimshian community south of Prince Rupert, located where Grenville Channel and Douglas Channel meet. It is accessible only by boat and seaplane. The community is one of the last coastal villages to keep the wooden boardwalks for streets. About 200 people live in Hartley Bay. Fishing was the main occupation in the twentieth century, and fishing boats were crucial, not only for work, but also for transportation. Whether they needed to go to Prince Rupert for shopping, other villages for visiting, or canneries in the summer for work, people travelled by fishing boat.
Bob Clifton was a boat builder in Hartley Bay before World War II. One of the boats he built was the Violet C. Billy Clifton remembered riding to Prince Rupert on one of his boats during the war. The first boats he built were double ended; the later ones had round sterns. His boathouse was at the far left of the waterfront (facing the village). Boat repairs were often done in the estuary at the mouth of the river which divides the village in two. There were no facilities; people propped their boats up with posts. The United Church's Coast Mission used this for wintering their vessel the Robert C. Scott in the 1960s. Lax Kw'alaams, also known for many years as Port Simpson, has a varied history, and wooden boatbuilding and repair has taken place there for over 150 years. For centuries, the protected harbour behind Finlayson Island was a seasonal camping ground, as hundreds of canoes made their way from the villages at Metlakatla north to the oolichan fisheries on the Nass River. This was one of their main camping sites on the way. Each of the nine tribes had their own spot which they had used for countless generations. The Hudson's Bay Company came to the north coast in the 1830s, first to the Nass River in 1831, later relocating to Lax Kw'alaams in 1834. The HBC maintained a presence there for over 100 years. The nine Tsimshian tribes of the Skeena gradually moved their winter villages from Metlakatla Pass to Lax Kw'alaams, to take advantage of the proximity to the trading post, known first as Fort Simpson, and after confederation, as Port Simpson. The extent of boatbuilding at this location is largely undocumented. Doubtless there was some sort of canoe building here, and repair work to early sail and steam ships may have taken place. In the 1890s, when the Hudson's Bay Company entered into the riverboat enterprise on the Skeena and Stikine Rivers, Port Simpson was home base for the paddlewheelers, with large boatways built to accommodate them. Among the early recorded examples of boatbuilding in the twentieth century are the following: Joseph Pierce was first to make a sail boat. Henry Pierce made the first gas boat with 6 hp engine in it. (Matthew Johnson, speaking to Homer Barnett in 1940. Barnett Papers. 50) Jno. Tait's new yacht Challenger was successfully launched on Friday at the navy yard, and is now lying at anchor ready to sail for small fish at any moment. (Port Essington Skeena District News, March 19, 1904.)
Vesta, charter steamer 40 feet x 8' 10" beam with a fore and aft compound engine, 12 hp from Albion Iron Works. Owned by Robertson and Rudge; built by Robertson, who was also skipper, and assisted by T. M. Orwig, Port Essington boatbuilder. Fitted with 'bunks, etc. for a dozen passengers.' (Port Essington Skeena District News, July 18, 1904.) Other than these, only one fishing boat has so far been identified as being built at Port Simpson. The Gladys G., built in 1948, was owned by Tom Gosnell. "The ocean was our world," said Viola Garrison, speaking of her life growing up in Lawson Harbour on Lewis Island, just off the mouth of the Skeena River. Her father was Emil Rosang, well-known boatbuilder who built at least 10 trollers and halibut boats from the early 1920s until his sudden death in 1939. Lawson Harbour was one of the small fishing and logging communities that sprang up around the mouth of the Skeena River. Some settlers came to the island around the time of World War I, but it was after the war that the community around Lawson Harbour grew. There never was a large population, maybe 40 at the most. With a few large families, there were enough children to start at school in the late 1920s and 1930s. The fishermen and loggers who moved there were a diverse lot. The Larsens were First Nations, the Goodkoops from the Netherlands, Jorgen Sorenson was Norwegian and Mr. Ferguson and his mother came from New Brunswick. The Rosangs were originally from northern Sweden where Emil was a house builder. They came to Canada in 1912 to join his brother Eric who was working on the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. He moved to Lewis Island with his wife Tekla around 1920. Their family grew to six children. He bought a boathouse from Billy Hanson, one of the original pre-emptors, who had since moved to Hunt's Inlet on Porcher Island. Viola Garrison remembered that the big timbers of the boathouse were hand-hewn with a broad axe.
After fishing during the summer, Rosang built boats and did many repair jobs on Prince Rupert boats in his Lawson Harbour boat shop. For example, in 1924, Ivor Wick had his boat the Mary remodeled at Rosang's yard. His boats were generally built with yellow cedar ribs and red cedar planking, all cut by hand with a whip saw. Some of the planks were cut from logs beachcombed on local beaches. He built at least 11 boats, including 3 halibut boats and 8 trollers. His last boat was the Oldfield built for his son Paul. Metlakatla is a contemporary Tsimshian community with a long past. It and the surrounding waters of Venn Passage have been home to the Tsimshian people for untold centuries. At the time of contact, at least ten winter villages were located here. When the Hudson's Bay company built Fort Simpson in the 1830s, it was more advantageous for them to have their winter villages near the fort. Then in 1862 a group of Tsimshian under the leadership of the missionary William Duncan established a new community on the present site. Metlakatla had a close relationship with Prince Rupert in the early days, and their boat builders became well known. For example, the Prince Rupert Daily News reported that 'Ed A. Leighton the practical boatbuilder of Metlakatla built a gasoline hull, of the compromise stern, raised deck type, with pilot house--the model so extensively used by progressive salmon troller nowadays. The boat was built for Roy Russ of Port Simpson. Ed. Leighton is one of the pioneers among salmon trollers operating out of this port.' (PRDN Dec. 11, 1919) Ed Leighton was one of a number of boatbuilders in the Leighton family. Peter Leighton had a large boat shed on the beach. The boats he built included the Verna L in the 1920s, and a 38' seine boat, Dicky Boy in 1926. He also was well known for building rowboats and skiffs. 'There was a big demand for the row boats built in Metlakatla,' remembered Horace Tattersall. 'They were used for hand trolling. They were double-enders, about 14' and rowed very easily. They made the oars as well. They were building them as early as 1914, and people were still fishing them up to 1930 or '31. (Tattersall interview) John Leighton was Peter's brother. He built rowboats in a small shed in his yard. It took him a week to build using patterns. He built them all by hand power. Charlie Currie had one of his rowboats for more than fifty years. Alvin Leask worked for many years at Sunnyside and Port Edward canneries working on boats. He was appointed manager of boat repair and building yards at Sunnyside when he was only 26 years old. The newspaper said he was 'the only Indian marine architect on the coast.' (Prince Rupert Daily News, Jan 8, 1945) Oona River is the sole survivor of the early settlements built on Porcher Island and other locations around the mouth of the Skeena River. Five boatshops standing along its shore are testament to its strong boatbuilding tradition. As many as 130 boats have been launched in Oona River over the years. As in other communities, boats were often built to meet the needs of fishing and logging. However, some Oona River shipwrights made a business of it. The earliest settlers, single men, arrived before World War I. They encouraged families to homestead land. The Bergman brothers came in 1911, and by the end of the war the Hansen, Norberg and Fossem families had joined them. The settlers made a deliberate choice to concentrate people in the Oona River estuary. They settled on smaller plots of land in order to create a larger community. Oona River pioneers successfully combined fishing, logging, trapping, and boat-building to live off the land in a sustainable way. These occupations were augmented in 1921 when Julius Hadland built a sawmill in the heart of the village. The mill specialized in providing box lumber to the canneries, but it also was able to cut local cedar for boatbuilding. John Group, a Swedish shoemaker who emigrated to Oona River in the early 1920s purchased the Hadland mill in 1936. When it was destroyed by fire later that year, he built a new mill farther upriver. He didn't log himself, but bought all his material from handloggers. His primary markets were lumber for boatbuilding and heavy timbers for the cannery docks. Group built a large boatshed beside the sawmill and became one of the North Coast's most successful boat builders. Johnny Bergman and Norm Iverson worked for John Group at the mill and boatshed, and worked as independent loggers. They bought the mill in 1958 when Group retired. Although it is difficult to operate a small labour-intensive mill, Johnny Bergman's sons are still producing lumber there today. While no new boats have been constructed since the 1980s, the boatsheds still stand along the river bank and they continue to be used for repairs and maintenance. Oona River Boat Builders: John Group In the 30 years he lived in Oona River, John Group built close to 90 wooden trollers and gillnetters. Many of those were for Skeena River salmon canneries. In the 1930s, it is remembered, he was paid $150 per boat. After emigrating to Canada from Sweden, he came to the north coast to fish. Though he wasn't a trained shipwright, he decided he could build himself a better boat. 'In October, 1927,' he wrote, 'I came to Oona with small boat, 23 feet, after fishing, and started to build the boat Amor, 30 feet. It was a happy time them days.' After more than 30 years in Oona River, he returned to Sweden in 1959. His first boathouse was upriver. There he built 30 boats. Nine were 24-foot sailing gillnetters for Inverness Cannery. Six were 30-foot cannery boats, probably for Nelson Brothers Fisheries. Others were individual gillnetters and trollers. These were built of red and yellow cedar from Hadland's mill. Around 1940, by the time he had built his new mill, he built a larger boathouse beside the mill. There he built 9 sailing gillnetters and 30 power gillnetters, again for Inverness cannery, and probably a dozen individual boats. He also built his dream boat, the Lola, 43 feet long with a long, pleasure-craft styled wheelhouse. Hanson's Axel Hanson and his brother Ivar built their shed in 1947. The first boat to be launched was the Blaze, a 47.5 foot troller. In 1955, the longliner and packer Oona R (later renamed Ocean Blue) was built for Red Pierce. He launched the Jan Michele for his own use in 1965. He used the same frames for his next boat, the Equinox, but modified the planked stern of the Jan Michelle to a stave type, planked with yellow cedar. The last boat to be launched from the Hanson shed was the El Nino in 1973, with hull built by Nova Scotia boatbuilder Roald De Champs (see Letts). This 45 foot vessel had oak ribs and mahogany planking. Iversons Another busy boatshed was Iverson's. Soon after his arrival in Oona River in 1925, Krist Iverson built the King in a small shed with hand-sawn lumber that he and Erik Enrew had whipsawed from behind the house. Later he built a larger boathouse where in 1936 he built the Silverado for himself. He also built the Frolic for his son Norman, Rehab (1944) and Spar (1948), as well as a number of rowboats. Norman also became a boatbuilder as well as logging, fishing and working in the sawmill. Fred Letts In 1940 Fred Letts build the Hevenor with Julius Hadland. They handlogged the lumber and had it sawn at John Group's mill. It was a 32 foot double-ended troller with a trunk cabin and small pilot house. Fred went on to build the Petrel C, his own fishing boat. It was named after the Petrel Channel where he handlogged the yellow cedar for the ribs and keel. In 1964 he and his son Freddie built the Oona Maid for Fred to fish salmon. They logged the cedar from the top of MacCauley Island. They started building the keel in January and Fred was fishing by June. Other boats were a logging and workboat, the Fearless for Harold Mackay and the Equinox, a west coast troller with his son-in-law Mike Lemon. A unique boatbuilding collaboration took place in the Letts boathouse in the early 1970s. Two east coast style halibut and crab boats, the Dimentina and Edgewater were launched. Nova Scotia boatbuilder Roald De Champ came to the west coast to build the hulls. Fred and a crew of three did the finishing work and built the superstructures. Both were 40 feet with oak ribs and red cedar planking. While the Dimentina had a East Coast styled wheelhouse, the Edgewater had a typical West Coast house. Ed Johnson More commonly known as 'Oona River Johnson', he was one of the founding settlers. He built a 37 foot fishing boat called Moose, probably because at that time this was considered a large fishing boat. Emil Quist One of the early settlers was Emil Quist who built boats for his own use. After fishing a boat for a few years, he would decide to build a new improved model and sell the old one. His first was the double-ender Anna built in 1916. He cut the planks with a 3 h.p. Wee-McGregor drag saw equipped with a rip-saw blade. This was a small portable gasoline-powered saw that was a pre-cursor to the chain saw. Later he bought red and yellow cedar from the Hadland sawmill. The other boats he built were Alp, Brant, Brant II, Eider and Naied. All were 30 to 32 feet long red cedar planked double enders. Ole Rosang Son of well-known Lewis Island boat builder Emil Rosang, Ole began building boats in Oona River in 1958. He learned his craft, like so many others, by helping out other shipwrights. First he built the gillnetter Newfield for his own use. He used the same models to build the Genn Isle. The Nalle was a stave-sterned logging and work boat. Later he completed the Lobo and built the hull for the Gurd Island. Rasmus Tysse One of a number of new settlers to arrive during the Depression years was Rasmus Tysse who built a boatshed across the slough from Emil Quist. He rebuilt Emil Rosang's Linnea, renaming her Freelance. Later, assisted by Seth Frederickson, he built the Old Chum, a 43 foot troller with a seine-styled stern. He later bought and finished a gillnet hull from Ole Rosang, which he outfitted as a troller named Gurd Island. Ole Wick Ole Wick, known later as a Prince Rupert shipwright, began his boatbuilding career in Oona River. He built the La Paloma and Lancing in the Bergman's shed . Other Oona River Boats There are a number of boats listed as being built in Oona River in the List of Ships that aren't mentioned in other sources. Most were probably built by John Group. Teddy Boy (became Dolless) built 1933 Osland was a fishing community on Smith Island at the mouth of the Skeena River. The site is on a narrow passage between Smith and De Horsey Islands. Blind Slough connects with Inverness Passage with the main Skeena, putting the community close to the canneries along the Passage and the railway connections to Prince Rupert. Osland was founded by a group of Icelandic-Canadians, most of whom came to the coast from Manitoba Icelandic communities in Winnipeg, Gimli, Selkirk, Lundar and Steeprock. The first settlers came around 1912 or 1913 and more joined them during and after WWI. The community grew in the 1920s to a peak population of 90. While the majority came from Iceland, there were others, like Englishman Frank Crookall, who also joined the settlement. The main occupation was, of course, fishing. In the days of sailboat gillnetting, most people worked for Cassiar Cannery, which was the closest. By the mid 1920s when gas powered boats were permitted, they started fishing for other companies. Some continued to use cannery gas boats while others fished with their own boats. There were three docks at Osland. The Imperial Oil dock and float were farthest north and used in the summer to supply the fish packers and gillnet fleet. The first community float was the North float. However, at low tide it, along with most of the foreshore, was high and dry. For more secure access, especially during an emergency, the government built a longer wharf on the south side, allowing boats to dock at any hour. One of the founding families was the Philippson family, who would have an important impact on fishing and boatbuilding on the Skeena. Eldest son Oli was long associated with North Pacific Cannery, where he was fisherman, winter watchman, and from 1946 to 1968, cannery manager. His brother George was a fisherman and a boatbuilder. Two of the boats he built were a troller built at North Pacific Cannery in 1928 and the Julia, built at Osland for Harry Johnson in 1931. The first recorded boat to be built in Osland was the Iceland, built by Johannes (Joe) Laurusson (Laurasson) and completed in April, 1920. This likely wasn't his first boat, for the newspaper announcement of the launching calls him 'a well known Icelandic boat builder.' The article also mentions it was the first gasoline-powered boat to be built at Osland. (PRDN May 3, 1920). The Iceland was built for A. and K. Eyolfson, two brothers of the Eyolfson family who had moved to Osland from Lundar, Manitoba in 1919. The Depression of the 1930s meant that a number of families moved away, leaving the operation of the one room school in jeopardy. Oli encourage a number of Japanese families he knew from the canneries to move to Osland. One of these was the Sakamoto family who ran a boatbuilding shop at Osland in the 1930s and early '40s. The Sakamotos moved from North Pacific Cannery to Osland in 1931. Risaburo and his wife Hatsue had six children, five boys and one girl. The sons formed the Sakamoto Brothers boatbuilding shop. Around 1933 they purchased a floating hangar from Prince Rupert's first locally-based, but unsuccessful, seaplane outfit. The Sakamotos had the hanger towed to Osland and transformed it into their boat shop.
The brothers had a good business going. They built a number of gillnetters every spring. One year, according to the youngest brother Koichi, they launched as many as thirty boats. One of the brothers, Toshio, designed some of the boats, including the Dorcas, a gillnetter which was on display near the Museum of Northern BC in Prince Rupert for many years. Koichi also remembered that he designed the Bee, the first 'speed boat style' fishing boat. A departure from the fishing boats was the Hazel Point, built on the lines of a pleasure boat as a dispatch boat for Oceanic Cannery. In later years it was used as a pleasure cruiser and was docked at the Prince Rupert Yacht Club. Unfortunately, the names of the other boats they built are not known. Port Essington had a varied history, from being the liveliest town on the north coast, to a comfortable fishing community for First Nations, Japanese and Finish residents. It was begun in 1871 by Robert Cunningham as a trading post to take advantage of a small gold rush in the interior, and also to trade furs. With the help of Tsimshian settlers from Kitselas and Kitsumkalum, the community grew. By the end of the 19th century there were three canneries at Port Essington. It was also an important trans-shipment port where goods were unloaded from coastal steamers and taken by canoe or sternwheeler up the Skeena River. During the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific railway from 1906 to 1914, it was a flourishing town with many businesses in addition to the canneries. Once the railway was through, Prince Rupert gained pre-eminence and most of the businesses left. Canneries operated into the 1930s. The mainstay of the population were the descendants of the original settlers from Kitselas and Kitsumkalum. As well, there was as large number of Japanese residents until 1942 when they were forcibly removed during World War II. Another group were Finnish settlers, most of whom lived in a nearby cove connected by a boardwalk. This was known as Finntown. All three segments of the town worked in the fishing industry and engaged in boat building and repair. One of the first and certainly the largest wooden vessel to be built on the North Coast was a complete anomaly. The Alexander was a monstrous sidewheeler steam tug built at Port Essington in 1874. It seems the sole reason the McAllister brothers of Victoria chose to build it in the north was the readily available supply of yellow cedar. It was 180' x 27' and entirely built out of yellow cedar. It was based in Victoria, but only worked about ten years and ended up as a log barge. Robert Cunningham owned many boats during his career, from paddlewheelers and tugs to the hundreds of gillnetters of his cannery's fleet. One of the few sailing boats known to have been built on the north coast was Cunningham's schooner Skeena. Built at Port Essington in 1883, this two-masted trading schooner was 62.5 feet long with a 14.4' beam. Capt. William Madden was the ship's master and it is likely he was responsible for its construction. The Skeena didn't survive long. On a trading voyage across Hecate Strait, it sprung a leak and sank near Queen Charlotte Islands in December, 1888. Probably the first person on the North Coast whose full-time occupation could be said to be boatbuilder was Torsten Matheas Orwig. He first came with his family to Port Essington in the late 1890s where he built boats until some time during World War I. Then he moved to Prince Rupert, establishing himself at Seal Cove. He died in 1924 at the age of 75. The only boat built by him in Port Essington that has been identified is the Jupiter. (Harris, Spokeshute, p. 150.)
His boatshop was at the south end of Port Essington, near the ways where the sternwheelers Inlander and Monte Cristo were stored. After he left, the yard was taken over by Ed Wahl, who came about 1920. There he began what was to become the most successful wooden boatbuilding business on the North Coast. Finnish settlers built a compact community in a cove on the Escstall River, just a short distance from Port Essington. Buildings included houses, saunas and a boathouse where fishing boats were repaired. It is not known if any were built there.
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