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Yukon Nuggets

1957

Other News From 1957

  • Wing Commander Pearce is Commanding Officer of the Royal Canadian Air force in Whitehorse.
  • Mrs. A.K. Viaux, proprietor of the White Pass Hotel, dies. She began operating the famed hotel in 1923.
  • Mrs. George (Martha) Black hosts a party at her home to celebrate her 91st birthday.
  • Roy Minter leads protest against a Chevrolet truck ad campaign featuring the Alaska Highway as a "torture chamber".
  • Rolf Hougen is elected President of the Whitehorse Board of Trade.
  • Erik Nielsen is a candidate for the Progressive Conservative party. Liberal incumbent Aubrey Simmons is declared the winner in close race. A recount is called, court challenge ensues, and the election results are voided. In December, Erik Nielsen is elected Yukon's Member of Parliament for the first time.
  • Brigadier H. L. Meuser, Commander of the Northwest Highway System at Whitehorse, is promoted and transferred to Ottawa.
  • The Yukon Fish & Game releases rainbow trout into Lake Louise, north of Fish Lake.
  • A new sewer & water system is installed in Whitehorse.
  • Wing Commander Pearce leaves his RCAF post and is replaced by Wing Commander T.T. Scovill.
  • Alvin Hamilton, the newly appointed Minister of Northern Affairs, visits Whitehorse.
  • The Peace River bridge at Taylor collapses and disrupts all Alaska Highway traffic. The old railway bridge is hurriedly prepared to carry highway traffic north to the Yukon.
  • Rolf Hougen attends the Canadian Chamber of Commerce annual general meeting in Victoria and succeeds in getting a northern seat on the Chambers’ Board of Directors. At the meeting, Hougen is quoted as saying "We listen to Radio Moscow in the Yukon since the CBC refuses to provide service". On the flight home, there are CBC officials also heading to Whitehorse.
  • The fourth season of the Alaska Music Trail features Reginald Kell, the world's best clarinettist. Marg and Rolf Hougen host the “after concert” reception.
  • In November, 1957, famed Yukon pioneer Martha Louise Black O.B.E., dies.
  • The Northern Canada Power Commission begins construction of a hydro-electric project at the Whitehorse Rapids.
  • The new Whitehorse General Hospital is under construction on the east side of the Yukon River.
  • In response to Premier Bennett's overture for the Yukon to join B.C., Rolf Hougen responds "We don't want your 5% sales tax and we don't want to give up our 30 overproof rum".
  • Marg and Rolf Hougen have a second son, Kelly.
  • Billy Smith is elected Chief of the Whitehorse Indian Band and Scurvy Shorty and John McGundy are elected as Councillors. All will serve for an indefinite term, according to Alan Fry, Indian Superintendant.
  • The new Whitehorse City council consists of Mayor Gordon Armstrong, and Aldernmen Bill Hamilton, Bill Drury, Jim Norrington and Tom Bain.
  • Rolf Hougen, President of the Whitehorse Board of Trade, leads a delegation of Whitehorse business people to Skagway to view the container ship C.J. Rogers. The world's first container ship had been launched in 1955 in Montreal. The group travelled to Skagway on the White Pass and Yukon Railway. The journey took eight hours.
  • In 1957, Hollywood released yet another potboiling western called "The Rebel Yell" featuring Sergeant Preston of the Yukon.
  • Fireweed, or "epilobium angustifolium", is chosen as the Yukon's floral emblem. The hardy magenta fireweed is one of the most attractive plants in the north, blooming along roadsides, river bars and clearings. It is one of the first plants to appear in burned areas.
  • The Progressive Conservatives, led by John Diefenbaker, form the Government of Canada and the federal Department of Public Works (DPW) is told to estimate the cost of surveys and the cost per mile to build the Dempster Highway from Dawson City to Eagle Plains.
  • Christopher William Pearson (born 1931) moves to the Yukon in 1957. He later became the first leader of the Yukon Progressive Conservative party and the first Government Leader in the Yukon.