Collection of slides, photos, and documents from John McLachlan regarding early smelter and Kitimat.
Slides - Three Kodak Carousels - colour
10 8 x 10 photos colour & b&w
Photocopies - Offer of Employment
Letter of Acceptance, Personnel
Introduction Form, Decaration of Regular
Employment, Job Description, three
colour photographs and paper framed b&w photograph
John McLachlan arrived in Kitimat in 1953 as a 23-year-old immigrant and went on to work at Alcan's Property Engineering Department for almost 40 years. He started out as a land surveyor and cartographer in the town's early years and ended his career as a Senior Legal Draftsmen.
Custodial History
Jean Lunny
Scope and Content
Collection of slides, photos, and documents from John McLachlan regarding early smelter and Kitimat.
Slides - Three Kodak Carousels - colour
10 8 x 10 photos colour & b&w
Photocopies - Offer of Employment
Letter of Acceptance, Personnel
Introduction Form, Decaration of Regular
Employment, Job Description, three
colour photographs and paper framed b&w photograph
Collection of photographs regarding early Kitimat and Kitimat Constructors. Photo content includes Kitimat Constructors equipment work ares, shops, bunkhouses, and camp, Anderson Creek Mess Hall - smelterite, Inside Delta King, Sports girls and boys basketball, and Hudson's Bay Trading.
Collection of photographs regarding early Kitimat and Kitimat Constructors. Photo content includes Kitimat Constructors equipment work ares, shops, bunkhouses, and camp, Anderson Creek Mess Hall - smelterite, Inside Delta King, Sports girls and boys basketball, and Hudson's Bay Trading.
Photos and blueprints created to record the building of the Alcan Smelter site, original townsite. collection includes negative of Prime Minister Diefenbaker with potline workers.
Other items include Formation of Commission By Law documents, Correspondance, Meetings documents, Maps and Land Use Plans, Annual Heritage Tea 1994 photos (12), Hirch Creek Field Trip photo, Member Lists, Sitka Spruce park opening and stamp proposal, Radley Park sign proposal, Corduroy Road photos and related material, Points of Interest Signs documents, Designated Heritage Sites Registry 1992-1995, Louise and Bianca Chioccarello with giant stump near Chamber photos (4), Early Construction Photos, Photo List, Heritage Week Flag documents and clippings.
Photos and blueprints created to record the building of the Alcan Smelter site, original townsite. collection includes negative of Prime Minister Diefenbaker with potline workers.
Other items include Formation of Commission By Law documents, Correspondance, Meetings documents, Maps and Land Use Plans, Annual Heritage Tea 1994 photos (12), Hirch Creek Field Trip photo, Member Lists, Sitka Spruce park opening and stamp proposal, Radley Park sign proposal, Corduroy Road photos and related material, Points of Interest Signs documents, Designated Heritage Sites Registry 1992-1995, Louise and Bianca Chioccarello with giant stump near Chamber photos (4), Early Construction Photos, Photo List, Heritage Week Flag documents and clippings.
Slides of Kitimat buildings:
9 slides of the Kitimat River bridge.
14 various slides of "Cyril Henderson, dwelling on albaross street, city manager, city centre, cormorant school. Nechako centre theatre/gardens, United Church, Arena"
5 slides of the Beach Hospital 1952, until new hospital on Haisla
8 slides of Flying in to Kemano winter + summer
15 slides of various slides: Delta King, original dock, sign of Kitimat, constructors smeltersite + permanent dock.
Slides of Kitimat buildings:
9 slides of the Kitimat River bridge.
14 various slides of "Cyril Henderson, dwelling on albaross street, city manager, city centre, cormorant school. Nechako centre theatre/gardens, United Church, Arena"
5 slides of the Beach Hospital 1952, until new hospital on Haisla
8 slides of Flying in to Kemano winter + summer
15 slides of various slides: Delta King, original dock, sign of Kitimat, constructors smeltersite + permanent dock.
Photos of:
1-2. "Two photos showing site of Ice Rink 31 October 1963 B/W"
3. "Truck/Excavator in Kitimat River B/W"
4. "Kitimat Jr. Band Members 1990 Colored"
5."Lakelse Lake Recreational Area Coloured"
6. "Artist's conception of the estuary of the Kitimat River 1950 B/W"
7. "MGTF (owned by fireman) highway 25 6.5x6 1954 B/W"
8. "Mark Robinson Kitamaat Village 1960 B/W"
9. "Unknown Female"
Photos of:
1-2. "Two photos showing site of Ice Rink 31 October 1963 B/W"
3. "Truck/Excavator in Kitimat River B/W"
4. "Kitimat Jr. Band Members 1990 Colored"
5."Lakelse Lake Recreational Area Coloured"
6. "Artist's conception of the estuary of the Kitimat River 1950 B/W"
7. "MGTF (owned by fireman) highway 25 6.5x6 1954 B/W"
8. "Mark Robinson Kitamaat Village 1960 B/W"
9. "Unknown Female"
The Kitimat Heritage Advisory Commission was created in the mid-1970's by the Disstrict of Kitimat to protect and preserve the heritage of the town of Kitimat. The Commission consisted of one District Council Member, the Museum Curator (or Executive Director) and volunteers from the community.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of historical photographs and an aluminum plaque for the former Hudson's Bay store located at Smeltersite.
Fonds consists of two files of materials collected and produced by the Kitimat Valley Naturalists:
F1) Contents of the secretary-treasurer's duotang, 1996-1998. Includes meeting minutes, correspondence, receipts, financial documents, mailing lists, 1997 annual report, photocopied map, events schedule, Federation of BC Naturalists membership info, sign-up sheet for Douglas Channel boat trip, correspondence from Creston Valley Wildlife Area, materials re: Gisela Mendel Native Plant Garden, draft write-up for Iron Oxbow Wildlife Viewing Area along the Kitimat River, and ephemera from the inside front cover of the duotang (receipt from Fed. of BC Naturalists, business cards for Aurora Charters and Reid Crowther Consulting Engineers).
F2) Materials related to Pine Creek Protective Covenant, 2003-2014. This covenant was established by Rio Tinto Alcan, the Haisla Nation, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, to protect the Pine Creek hiking trail and its watercourse near Minette Bay. Folder includes correspondence, signage text, Land Title Act forms, maps, and a Master Watercourse Crossing List from Coastal GasLink.
The Kitimat Valley Naturalists are a non-profit organization with the goal of learning about and enjoying the natural history of the Kitimat Valley. They were founded in 1996 and are still active as of 2023. Their projects include an annual Christmas bird count, construction of bat condos, monitoring amphibian numbers, and mapping eelgrass beds in the Douglas Channel.
Custodial History
Items were donated by Susan and Walter Thorne, longtime members of the Kitimat Valley Naturalists, on February 16th 2023. The fonds was arranged and described by Museum staff in April 2023.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of two files of materials collected and produced by the Kitimat Valley Naturalists:
F1) Contents of the secretary-treasurer's duotang, 1996-1998. Includes meeting minutes, correspondence, receipts, financial documents, mailing lists, 1997 annual report, photocopied map, events schedule, Federation of BC Naturalists membership info, sign-up sheet for Douglas Channel boat trip, correspondence from Creston Valley Wildlife Area, materials re: Gisela Mendel Native Plant Garden, draft write-up for Iron Oxbow Wildlife Viewing Area along the Kitimat River, and ephemera from the inside front cover of the duotang (receipt from Fed. of BC Naturalists, business cards for Aurora Charters and Reid Crowther Consulting Engineers).
F2) Materials related to Pine Creek Protective Covenant, 2003-2014. This covenant was established by Rio Tinto Alcan, the Haisla Nation, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, to protect the Pine Creek hiking trail and its watercourse near Minette Bay. Folder includes correspondence, signage text, Land Title Act forms, maps, and a Master Watercourse Crossing List from Coastal GasLink.
Notes
Three reports collected by the KVN - "An Assessment of the Kitimat Iron Oxbow Proposed Wildlife Viewing Area," "Blue Carbon - The Case for the Conservation and Enhancement of Estuarine Processes and Sediments in BC," and "Coastal Wetlands Habitat Assessment and Classification for Northwestern British Columbia" - have been added to the Museum's Reference Library.
Conservation
Removed from original duotang/folders. Staples removed.
Storage Location
Box 29
Arrangement
F1) has been left in original order, apart from ephemera which was removed from the inside cover of the duotang.
F2) has been arranged in roughly chronological order.
Fonds consists of 27 slides showing the construction of Alcan Wharf (Caisson Dock Construction) and Kitimat Bridge, 25 slides showing the contruction of Alcan Plant Area, 48 photographs of early construction, 38 slides of early construction. Includes a ruler, ashtray, pie plate and stationery folder.
Art Coghlin was Paymaster for Kitimat Constructors in 1951. He left the company to open Coghlins Hardware in 1954.
Custodial History
Terry Voitchovsky
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of 27 slides showing the construction of Alcan Wharf (Caisson Dock Construction) and Kitimat Bridge, 25 slides showing the contruction of Alcan Plant Area, 48 photographs of early construction, 38 slides of early construction. Includes a ruler, ashtray, pie plate and stationery folder.
Title based on content of fond.
1. John Manders on the stairwell of the Delta King
2. John Manders w/fellow from Ireland, walking down hallway of Delta King
3. John Manders w/Mike Durin outside walkway on the Delta King
4. Panoramic view, Anderson Creek Camp, new bunkhouses, on the left, old
bunkhouses, Anderson Creek Bridge at the back, a bit of trailer court on the right
5. Anderson Creek Camp - old bunkhouses, Anderson Creek Bridge, Trailer Camp
6. Anderson Hill Trailer Camp
7. John Manders (right) & friend, outside CN Station
8. Locomotive, one of the first trains in Kitimat
9. Smeltersite looking southeast
10. John Manders on his 1996 Harley Davidson, FLHT
11. Slide Photo locomotive, one of the first trains in Kitimat
12. Slide photo John Manders (right) & friend, outside CN station
13. Slide photo Smeltersite looking southeast
14. Kitimat Hotel, which opened May 26, 1955
15. Panoramic view, Anderson Hill Trailer Camp & Anderson Creek Camp were two
separate places. In the panormaic view Anderson Creek Camp has barracks -
located in the left background. Anderson Hill Trailer Camp is located in the
foreground - all the way across the panoramic view
Kevin Martin arrived in Kitimat in February of 1956. He was hired from Vancouver, came on train to Kitimat, He lived on the Delta King for a while. Then he moved to huts at new townsite - north side of Haisla Boulevard. Four men to a hut - many people from everywhere (it Portugeuse, etc). He left 1 1/2 years later. (see gift agreement form for more information).
Custodial History
Kevin Martin
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of 5 photographs of early Kitimat and Smeltersite.
