Hutton, British Columbia

Railway

Hutton, like Dewey to its northwest, and Longworth to its southeast, was an original train station (1914) on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway^[2][3] (the Canadian National Railway after nationalization). Named by Sir Alfred Smithers, chair of the GTP board, his reason for choosing the name is unknown.^[4] The locational surname of Anglo-Saxon and Scottish origin (deriving from any one of the places which had variations of "Hutton" in Lancashire, Somerset, or Cumberland),^[5] was possibly selected from the list prepared by Josiah Wedgwood (submitted at the request of William P. Hinton, the railway's general manager).^[6]

Hutton, situated at Mile 87.4, Fraser Subdivision^[7] (about Mile 177 during the line’s construction), was a tie camp as early as 1912 or 1913.^[4] Moxley Creek, formerly Tonequah (Tonoquah alternate spelling) Creek/River,^[8] provided access to Camps 176, 177 and 172 during the railway construction.^[9] The creek mouth was 95 miles from Fort George via the Fraser.^[10] Contractor Carlton & Griffin operated steam shovels at Mile 175.^[11] The railway water towers between Prince George and McBride were Giscome, Hutton, Dome Creek, Goat River and Legrand.^[12] During the steam era, Giscome and Hutton were the two assigned water stops on a Prince George-McBride run.^[13] The water tower was northwest of the station.^[14]

In 1922, a passing train struck and derailed some flatcars that inadvertently entered the mainline.^[15] Months later, a severe gale, which tangled telegraph wires 2.5 miles either side of Hutton, hampered train operations, including the delaying of a passenger train.^[16] The same decade, shunted freight cars bumped four units already parked on the passing track. A travelling car repairer, working on one, fell and a wheel fatally severed his body.^[17] In 1939, Bill and Jim Chance came too close when photographing a bull moose. The animal chased the two boys and two section employees (track maintenance) who intervened, before the beast sauntered off.^[18] A 1954 boxcar derailment delayed a passenger train.^[19]

The station building provided a respite, especially during inclement weather. In 1960, eastbound passenger Romain D’Auteuil had failed to awaken in time for his Sinclair Mills destination. Alighting the train at Hutton, he lingered for hours in the waiting room prior to commencing his three-mile return walk. When ejected before dawn for obnoxious behavior, he smashed a station window with a rock, garnering a $5 fine plus $18.91 for damages.^[20] The following year in Prince George, he was fined $25 for being drunk in a public place.^[21] In 1967, he was fined $200 for impaired driving after a reading of .31 on a breathalyzer.^[22]

In 1964, a freight train side-sweeping boxcars on a siding, derailed three locomotives and 18 cars. Cranes from Prince George and Jasper took 15 hours to unblock the mainline, prior to lifting the strewn items back onto the tracks.^[23] When a track washout occurred later that year near Hutton, the railway put the Prince George passengers booked for the day on a charter flight to Edmonton.^[24]

Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, Hutton alternated between being a scheduled stop^[25][26] and flag stop.^{[27][28][29][30]} During the 1960s and early 1970s, the CNR maintained a gravel pit for producing ballast three miles to the east.^[31] Built in 1914, the standard-design Plan 100‐152 (Bohi’s Type E)^[32][33] station building was demolished in 1969.^[34]

Forestry

In 1913, William (Bill) A. Willits (see #Community) (Willots alternate spelling), who owned a number of timber limits on the upper Fraser,^[35] established a sawmill. However, the reference to its 80,000-feet-daily capacity^[36] is likely a confusion with the United Grain Growers's (UGG) mill built in 1917,^[37] which installed a short railway to haul logs.^[38] In 1918, the sawmill and planing mill began production. By January of the following year, UGG employed 300 millworkers and loggers in the area.^[39] Charles Howarth, the general manager,^[40] would later own the Guilford Lumber Co.

In the post-war period, union activity swept the region. In April 1919, to guard against sabotage, the mill manager restricted employee access to the property outside normal working hours and engaged armed security that had the powers of special constables.^[41] In October, a party accompanying the Duke of Devonshire, the governor-general, viewed the mill.^[42] The Lumber Workers Industrial Union targeted the railway tie camps in 1919-20. In March 1920, the union won some gains from management at the UGG logging camps near Hutton. However, these were not binding contracts and had little lasting impact.^[43]

The narrow strip of accessible spruce forest bordering the railway that stretched some 100 miles east of Prince George was known as the East Line.^[44] In the 1920s, with logging limited to the winter and fall seasons to facilitate the hauling of logs over snow and ice, loggers were transient. However, year round work existed in sawmill towns such as Giscome, Aleza Lake, Hutton, Penny and Longworth.^[45] Injuries and death were common in sawmills and logging camps.^[46]

By 1920, the company realized that its original strategy of selling lumber directly to Prairie farmers (UGG shareholders) was flawed.^[47] Prairie lumber dealers refused to handle the product, because it circumvented their own distribution channels. UGG also realized the mill was poorly located, servicing stands of extremely knotted cedar and hemlock. By 1923, the mill was producing 80,000 feet of lumber daily. A planned new dry lumber shed, with a one-million-feet storage capacity, would increase efficiency.^[48] When the company reduced wage rates the following year, a number of employees quit.^[49]

In 1925, fire completely destroyed the sawmill, but the planer, a portable sawmill, and lumber yard, were saved.^[50] Until this time, it joined Giscome and Sinclair Mills as the dominant mills on the East Line.^[38] Initially, the horses were sold.^[51] Deciding not to rebuild, UGG sold off its logs, lumber, machinery and equipment.^[52][53] During the 1925/26 winter, Etter & McDougall logged in the vicinity of Hutton.^[54] When Longworth was temporarily evacuated during the 1927 forest fire, the largely vacated Hutton accommodated the evacuees.^[55] By early 1928, UGG had shipped out its remaining lumber and closed down all operations. That winter, Sinclair Spruce Mills ran an 80-man camp one mile to the west.^[56]

A planer mill and a portable sawmill continued to operate into the 1930s. During World War II, the mill processed birch for the Tego-bonded plywood and birch veneer of the "Mosquito" warplane.^[4]

In 1974, Northwood donated a pioneer steam donkey and a pole railway car, recovered from Hutton, to the Prince George Railway & Forestry Museum. The car once ran on poles laid end-to-end and carried logs loaded in triangular stacks.^[57]

Community

When Rev. W.J. Patton visited in the summer of 1918, he recorded the population as 300.^[58] The community held regular dances in its early years.^[59] The post office, designated as Hutton Mills, opened at the sawmill in 1917, with William (Bill) A. Willits as postmaster (1917–18).^[60] Consequently, the school,^[61] and later electoral district,^[62] took that name. Initially, the two names were used interchangeably^[63] for the village and surrounding area, but Hutton was used predominantly. However, pioneer rural families, such as the Chance generations, consistently described themselves as from Hutton Mills,^[64] whereas outsiders usually considered them as from Hutton.^[65] Since the postal area officially changed to the latter in 1960,^[66] Hutton Mills has been rarely used.^[67]

By 1919, the locality had 400 residents, a school, a store, and hospital.^[39] When the school opened that year, Mr. S. Oswald Harries taught the 31 students.^[68] Church services were held in the schoolhouse.^[69] During the 1920s, there was also a laundry and a bakery. Dr. Wilfrid Laishley headed the hospital, until his transfer to Giscome as district medical officer and coroner.^[70] Dr. J.W. Lang replaced him as district medical officer.^[71][72] As coroner, Dr. Laishley held the inquest into the death of James Brown, whose body was found in an unused stable in the vicinity of Hutton and the findings were death from natural causes.^[73]

Percy Moore ran the mill’s general store, before relocating to Finmore in 1920, where he opened the first store and became postmaster.^[74] Arthur E.C. Read (Reid alternate spelling) was the mill purchasing agent and store manager for three years,^[75] and was the recognized guide for big game hunters at the community in 1921.^[76] After a movie showing in 1922, the Hutton orchestra supplied the music for a dance.^[47] The following year, the Constable Service transferred to McBride.^[77] Peaking at 800-1,000, the population largely dispersed after the 1925 fire.^[68] When the sawmill closed, the company pool hall, general store and hospital contents were sold.^[78]

Mrs. W. Grogan opened a general store,^[56] and became postmaster (1928–29), a role commonly performed by a storeowner in such towns. The post-office closed in 1929, re-opened in 1937, and closed for good in 1959.^[60]

In 1931, when their speeder struck and killed a moose, a number of residents traveling to a dance at Longworth suffered injuries.^[79] Attending dances in surrounding communities continued a common pastime.^[80]

Annie, the four-year-old daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Steve Usjesenovich (Utjesenovich alternate spelling), died in 1936.^[81] The following year, the family lost all their possessions in a house fire.^[82]

In 1945, the population was 26.^[83] If the school was not already closed, it was in its final years. Edna P. Carter was a teacher in the late 1930s or early 1940s.^[84] After inviting tenders, School District 57 sold the building in 1960.^[85] By 1950, apart from railway employees, only two farmers, James V. Chance and Fred J. Culliton remained of the population.^[86]

In 2004, the residents moved the dilapidated former Aleza Lake Catholic Church (built 1949), and reconstructed the building on their property.

Roads

Situated on the Sinclair Mills-Longworth section of road, Hutton shared similar accessibility issues as Longworth, but at times, the road west of Hutton was in moderately better condition.^[87] In 1992, the Hutton Road was renamed the Upper Fraser Road.^[88]

Electricity, Broadcast Transmissions & Communications Devices

The pre-1990 Longworth section covers these networks. In the early 1950s, The CBC installed a 25-watt relay transmitter at Hutton to provide better reception for radio listeners in the area.^[89]