A True "Rags to Riches" Story - The History of Whistler, BC

By: Robert Thomson Click author's name for more of his/her articles

Whistler, BC (British Columbia) is widely known as both a "must-go" destination resort and the co-host for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. It is a small little town with less than 10,000 people, but this village entertains over two million people per year with alpine skiing, mountain biking, rock climbing, canoeing and other sports. Once upon a time, however, Whistler was nothing more than an isolated wilderness, its land serving the Coast Salish First Nations people, and the Lil'wat and Squamash Nations later.

So how did isolated wilderness turn into one of North America's top destinations? It all started because of the need to travel.

Back in the 1800s, Whistler was known as Alta Lake, with the lake itself called Summit Lake. What was to become a great resort destination was then just a part of the Pemberton Trail, one small dot on a rough route to travel. In 1858, men from Hudson's Bay surveyed and documented Whistler while looking for an alternate route into Caribou country. In the 1860s, British Naval Officers also surveyed the area and named the mountain London Mountain. Then, in 1877, the Pemberton Trail was completed - and the rest, as they say, was history.

The completion of the Trail encouraged prospectors and trappers to migrate. As the number of settlers grew, London Mountain became known as Whistler because of the whistling noise made by the mountain's local fauna, the Western Hoary Marmots. These marmots, the numerous bear appearances and other furred animals brought one of the first Whistler settlers, John Millar.

This is not to say that the area was empty of people before the settlers. Besides the native, the superb fishing, beautiful scenery and abundance of flora and fauna already brought more adventuresome people to the wild mountains. However, most stayed for a while and then moved on to spread the tales of their tranquil time in the mountains.

In 1911, while selling his furs in Vancouver, John Millar met Alex Phillip. Alex Phillip and his wife, Myrtle, had moved to Vancouver from Maine, dreaming of their very own fishing lodge and resort. John Millar told the couple of the beauty around his new home and invited them to enjoy the great fishing available near his cabin.

For the next two years, the Philips traveled three days back and forth from Vancouver to Whistler, on steam ships, horses and then their own feet. It didn't take long, however, for the Philips to realize their resort could be had right there, in the stunning Whistler region. In 1913, they purchased ten acres of land, built a fishing lodge and resort, and named it Rainbow Lodge.

In 1914, the Great Pacific Eastern Railway (now BC Rail), linked Alta Lake to the outside world. The Rainbow Lodge, catering to loggers, miners, trappers and anyone else that traveled through. Originally a four-bedroom lodge, it was expanded to meet the needs of one hundred people, including a large number of tourists that were already coming to what was being touted as the best summer destination west of Jasper.

Although it took a while for enterprising people to catch on, catch on they did. Other lodges opened, taking advantage of this beautiful area and the abundant stock of fish. The logging boom found Whistler and old growth was cleared from surrounding mountains by four mills. Not to be left out of the gold rush, the mountain was also home to prospectors, although no big claims were ever staked.

For the most part, life around Whistler settled down; any changes were small. As the 1960s rolled around, the town still had no electricity, sewage or water, and no road to connect it to other cities or towns. However, four businessmen from Vancouver had plans for the resort area, and the highway from Vancouver, finished in 1965, sealed their plans.

These four gentlemen, led by Franz Wilhelmsen, formed Garibaldi Lifts Limited. Their plans had two parts: developing an alpine ski area and hosting the 1968 Olympic Games. The London Mountain was officially named Whistler Mountain, opening to the public in 1966 as a great ski resort.

In 1975, the Resort Municipality of Whistler was formed, after the Provincial NDP Government found that the best use of the land was as a resort. Three years later, the Municipality was given fifty-three acres for the town center of Whistler Village.

It might have stopped there and Whistler might have stayed a quiet resort town, but neighboring Blackcomb Mountain opened to the public in 1980. Competition sprang up between the Whistler resorts and Blackcomb resorts. Whistler responded to Blackcomb's five triple chairs and a 4067-foot vertical drop with a whole network of new runs. Blackbcomb installed the 7th Heaven T-Bar with a 5280 foot vertical run. Whistler installed the Peak Chair, increasing its vertical run to 5020 feet.

As people watched on the sidelines with skiing fervor, waiting for the next installment of Blackcomb vs Whistler, the community of Whistler Village grew. The skiing world took notice and, in 1991, Whistler Resort was named the number one ski resort by an American ski magazine - the first time this had ever occurred. In 1996, it again broke a historic record when it was named the number one resort by Snow Country, Skiing and SKI magazine in the same year.

One year later, Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation and Intrawest Corporation, the owners of the battling ski resorts, tied the knot. Their merger created one of the biggest big-mountain skiing resorts in the world, now known as Whistler Blackcomb, a fact that was noticed by skiing enthusiasts everywhere. In April of 1999, Whistler Blackcomb topped 2 million skiing visitors, the first North American ski resort to do so.

Now, Whistler still holds less than 10,000 steady residents, but is constantly in flux due to seasonal works and tourists. Although history has a way of fading, with dreams lost or forgotten, Whistler's dreams are still alive and doing well. Fifty years after the gentlemen from Vancouver built their ski-lift company, this fantastic resort will finally fulfill their dream of being a part of the Winter Olympics. With a fascinating history such as this, imagine what Whistler will be like in another fifty years!

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