Power System Project

    The original power system was put in the Fall of '94. There was a suitable natural pond at the top of the falls that would give around a 400 foot head to the line and lots of pressure. It took 2500' of inch and a half thick walled water line to reach there from the cabin,  we got about 4 good strong local lads and one middle aged t'sama on the end and hauled it straight up that steep rocky mountainside. From the natural pond up there water was fed into a barrel with a screened inlet which we hooked the line to.

Back down at the cabin the high pressure water ran through a nozzle which turned a cupped wheel that drove a truck alternator. That charged up a bank of deep cell batteries hooked to an inverter which changed  12 volt into 120 volt household current. I had lights, VCR, toaster and could run a power tool for a short period, so it had its limitations.
It worked out to about 1000 watts continuous, and 2000 (2kw) watts short term demand.
In 1999 a decision was made to install a much larger system, capable of generating  25,000 watts.(25kw)  This would open a whole new world that included baseboard heaters, washer and dryer, welder, and most anything else, but most importantly, a hot tub.

The pond depth up the hill needed to be increased first thing. We needed to get a bunch of sand filled bags up to the dam site to experiment with the height we needed and to estimate the flow.  There was no road up there in those days and everything needed to be packed up with beasts of burden. I enlisted the help of some neighbors from Skatin as well as some energetic campers that were into a little extra money. I recall paying $7 a bag delivered to the dam site. It sounded like a pretty good deal until they found out they had to be filled with sand first. It took about 20 minutes to climb the 1400 foot trail up to the top of the falls, there were ropes strung on the steepest sections.

Main beasts, Robin T, Pierre Poirier, Harry Williams, Fred Charlie (kneeling), Sid Hunter.

Once we knew the height we could figure out what we needed for cement bags to complete the job later. When word got out a load of cement bags had arrived, I had a hard time finding volunteers, it was a heck of a steep mountainside to pack a 40 lbs load on your back. I forget how, but some how we managed to talk a friend into coming up to visit that owned a helicopter. Once here he was put to work long-lining the load to a small helipad near the dam site, and in an hour the whole load was up there.

A gasoline powered rock drill was packed up the hill and a series of holes had been drilled in the solid rock  lip of the pool. Steel rods were driven into the holes for anchors.  The cement bags were stacked on top of each other with the steel rods poking through to build up the height to the desired level, then the protruding rod ends nipped off with bolt cutters.

The cement bags cured right in the water, forming a simple, effective, and so far, indestructible dam.


A load of 8" diameter flexible PVC pipeline arrived.

A special machine gripped the pipe, heated it up and welded the 60' lengths together and attached flanges to bolt them together. We made up 4x 300' lengths, stretched across the airstrip.

A four wheel drive backhoe was used to drag the sections across the road and up to the base of the falls.

 A large pulley had been secured way up the hillside, 2000' of cable was run up to the pulley and back down to this point. The machine would pull on the one end of the cable and skid the long length of line up the mountain side. The first section went right to the top and plugged into the dam, the rest were hauled up and bolted together. We used a small chainsaw winch to 'steer' the pipeline around trees and obstacles on the way up.

 

This was taken two thirds the way up. Uncle Al and I, he originally bought the hot spring property in the 50's, and hiked up the hill at 73 to have a look, keenly interested in the project.


Over the Winter a pelton wheel was made to order and coupled with a 25kw generator.

 First thing the next Spring I began installation and connecting it to the penstock. The water comes in the line and blows on the pelton wheel then dumps into a box underneath and runs out a culvert to the side. It was a trying chore to line up the shafts of the pelton wheel and the generator, you are only allowed a few hairs either way, and to make it worse, the shafts were different diameters.

Don't even ask what it costs to land a cement truck out in this country. Actually this was timed when there was some other work being done in the valley and they were out already.

                                                         ***********************

                                           Jefferey Wallace (Kilahuskin)  1949--2011

   I lost an old friend last week. I met Jeff one rainy Fall day not long after I came into this country,  his vehicle broke down near by and I went out and gave him a hand, we were friends ever since.
He and "Auntie" Marie adopted this whiteman from the hot spring soon after, and he stood right up there with her when I received my Indian name at a gathering in 1996. "We are here to give this t'sama a name" they said.
I gave him work when I could, with the addition to the cabin, and the power project, he was responsible for the great rock work around the generator shed. He is missed.

Tsek Hotspring, Early Improvements

    It was the early sixties during an Easter fishing trip out of the family's logging camp at Port Douglas I first visited the hot spring that would become such a big part of my later life. My Dad parked the truck on the little used forest access road that was just above, and we skidded down a well used trail to the area below.

   It was like nothing I had seen before in my ten years. The source water percolated up out of the gravels in a tiny, very hot pool with a pipe running to the wooden shelters. I remember the top section on the feed pipe, it was an open trough that you put rocks into to control the flow of water. There didn't seem to be any means of getting cold water to the tubs, and the small hot spring pool meant the water was quite hot so careful regulation of the in-coming flow was essential. By careful placement of rocks in the trough unwanted hot water would simply spill out. I've always remembered that simple, but effective bush engineering. Dad told me the local natives down river at Skookumchuck used the hot spring quite often. He told me of an old timer he knew that for years, walked the 4 mile round trip almost every day.

                                                                                 

     This was taken in 1958, but pretty much what I recall the first time I was brought to the hot spring as a youngster. I clearly remember the sound of the water, and the heady, steamy aroma of the cedar tubs inside the shacks.

   Over the years there were several variations of tubs and shelters initiated by users. This later structure was on site in the 70's, at the site of the present outside lean-to tub. I visited several times in the early 1980's, and recall a tub of plywood lined with plastic, a little ways to the right of the present lean-to structure. It appears to have been buried by gravel wash from the road above, I've come across bits of it during digging and working around there. Quite a bit of the area where the present tubs are located is gravel that washed off the road above during bad rainstorms. I dug down 2 feet once putting the donation box in and hit a metallic object. I thought it was a gold rush artifact, but after carefully getting it out with my hands, it turned out to be a flattened out old Hires root-beer can.
   I dug a hole to plant a tree just across the bridge once, and found a beautiful jade hide scraper that had been lost possibly hundreds of years ago. That artifact was given to the local people, and is stored with other important early archaeological finds from the territory.

For hundreds, maybe thousands of years the local peoples came to the 15 gallon per minute flow of hot water that sprung from the hill-side not far from the Lillooet River, and the hot spring held great spiritual significance to them, but I'm sure at some point someone decided to cut a stick back or move a rock or two or whatever, making what they considered an improvement to the site.
    In the mid 1800's a short-lived gold rush trail was constructed through the remote valley, a bath house was put up on the hot spring site, which was described by travelers at the time as "a crude wooden affair'.  Over the next 150 years people made what they figured where small improvements to the site, some good, some not so much.

This is what things looked like when I came to the hot spring property in 1994.

The source as it was. It was normal back then for people to have to dig out the source on occasion and patch-up the pipes to get hot water to the tubs, and everyone had their own idea how it should be done of course, resulting in an odd array of engineering.

   Cold water was used to dilute the hot water to the tubs, it was drawn from a ditch up on the other side of the old road, relying on a siphon effect. It seemed it was all or nothing, and often would drain the lukewarm water from the slimy ditch above in one great slurping rush. It was natural run off, so in the summer it was not uncommon to have very little or no cool water to work with.
The place had character though.

 The original a-frame was not lacking in character either, the crude shack was constructed of odd bits of lumber and driftwood bits packed in by campers, including an old bullet-hole ridden road sign or two incorporated into the design.

Inside there were years of graffiti scribbled on most every dry surface.

That first year, a pool was built up to better utilize the hot spring flow and boulders were brought in for the retaining wall against the bank, designed to divert storm run-off from the old road above away from the hot spring source and lower area.

   In 1996, to better address the cold water issues I rolled out a one inch water line all the way from the tub area to a spot halfway up the Sparrow Creek falls, I forget how far is was, but it took several thousand feet of line to reach, and for the first time ever, there was clean, cold water under pressure that you could regulate at the tubs, and fed several water taps located around the campsite. The water-line ran along the surface, in cold weather it could freeze for months. In summer bears would sometimes come across it, and for some reason be compelled bite into it getting a face full of cold water for his efforts I would imagine. The pressure at the tubs would drop off and I'd have to follow the line back until I came across a giant spray of water shooting out of the chewed water-line.
In 2000, a water-line from the cabin here was buried in a trench several thousand feet down to the hot spring, and a reliable year round source was initiated. That same year a power-line from the main place here was strung in trees all the way down to the caretakers area at the entrance.

   In 1996 I decided it was time to build my own 'crude wooden affair'. The decrepit old shack was torn down and a little vegetation cleared out, concrete blocks were set and a platform built, the log work was done up here at my old log-pile, then packed in and re-assembled at the hot spring.

   Later that same year I started on the lean-to structure. The tub was pulled up and a timber foundation put underneath. Rapid algae build-up was always an issue with the outside tub exposed to the sun-light, and the idea of the shelter there was to keep the tub open-air but block out the sun. I had it all figured out so I thought with the track of the sun to block out 60 percent of it. I think it helped.
They call this the star gazing tub.

In march '97 the 'Jacuzzi tub' was constructed.

  Large flat rocks for the walkways came from a spot near the end of Lilloet Lake, hauled back to the hot spring with great effort and set in place. Two wooden walk-ways were added over the creek.

The much photographed 5 foot high welcome bench at the entrance was done in 1998.

 

 A huge cedar was cut on the mill, a pattern was traced out on the slab, then a router was used to take out everything but the logo. Back then the place was known by three names, depending whom you talked to, I decided to put all three on there to avoid too much confusion at the entrance.

I added some picnic tables in 1998, starting with raw logs.

 In 2003 I hauled in a good size section of fir to the campsite and stood it up on end with the aid of my tractor. My friend Stefan (simplyartist.com) came and camped out for a few days, and with the aid of his chainsaw and various grinding tools created 'The Bear'. 

And he's stood watch over the place ever since.

New phone booths in the campsite were added periodically over the years.

 

    1958

                                1994

 2005. What a difference 50 years make.

Further hot spring reading, or use the search bar top left.
 https://hotspringlodge.blogspot.com/2011/11/box-notes.html
https://hotspringlodge.blogspot.com/2013/02/hot-spring-house-1859-1866.html
https://hotspringlodge.blogspot.com/search?q=trees+behaving+badly
https://hotspringlodge.blogspot.com/2016/02/a-card-from-hot-springs-1865.html

Church Of The Holy Cross

   A fifteen minute drive down valley from the hot spring is the native community of Skatin'.
It was called Skookumchuck, or Skookumchuck Hot Springs for some time before reverting back to the original name of Skatin'.  Missionaries from the Mission Oblates of Mary Immaculate had been venturing into the area since the 1860's, and had established missions at Port Douglas and Skookumchuck. 
In 1905-1906 this church was constructed by the Oblate Fathers using local craftsmen.

This building has been designated a Canadian National Historic Monument.

The most dominating feature is the three spired facade.
To the so inclined it might symbolise the crucifixion of Christ.

Upon entering, the visitor may be overwhelmed by the highly ornate interior, the details of which were crafted by local artisans, from local cedar. The congregational area is separated from the alter by a colonnade, a common feature of early churches in Quebec. At the end of each pew is carved a fleur-de-lis, the symbol of Quebec. The symbol is repeated in the shape of the ceiling as well.

The many windows, imported from Italy, add a Gothic texture to the structure.

Looking to the rear, the curtained booths for confession, and round upper window.
I recall being taken through the church as a young boy, my most vivid memory of the event being the image of a child's casket, leaning up next to the doors.
A Skatin' elder stated they built this church not because they were devout catholics, "They were devoutly spiritual people, originally, they would have prayed on the land, where ever they were. It was a priest who taught them to pray in a church". There was never a resident  priest, one would travel in generally once a year and perform multiple weddings and baptisms.

In 2007 a restoration of the foundation was started, with extensive work done to eliminate rotten timbers. The work was filmed by PTV Productions, and a one hour documentary, Saving Places, was broadcast on the History Channel.
In 2009 Parks Canada entered into a cost sharing agreement, up to $202,000. The volunteers still have to raise at least another $250,000 to complete the conservation o the structure. If you would like to help save this historic monument, contact the Ama Liisaos Heritage Trust Society.