Meet Dr. Horace Wrinch...			...Hazelton pioneer
			by Maggie Carew

Everything about the Hazeltons is out of the ordinary, and the local hospital is no exception. Founded in 1904 by Rev. Dr. Horace C. Wrinch, the Hazelton hospital has continually changed and adapted to the needs of the community it serves. The story of the hospital is very much the story of Dr. Horace Cooper Wrinch. He was born in England in 1866, one of ten children, and came to Canada with his parents.

Rev. Dr. Horace C. Wrinch Portrait in the lobby of Wrinch Memorial Hospital (Historical photos courtesy of the Hazelton Pioneer Museum and Archives)

After earning a degree in agriculture, as well as the Governor General's gold medal, he began farming in Ontario but felt he was called to be a missionary. He hoped to be sent to China. He completed his medical degree while his fiancee, Alice Bracken, trained as a nurse. At that time, a Dr. Bolton was trying to serve the whole of northwestern B.C. from his base in Port Simpson. An appeal for medical missionaries went out. The Methodist Church sent Dr. and Mrs. Wrinch to Hazelton instead of to China. In those days, travel in the region was difficult. In 1900, the Wrinches journeyed by train to Vancouver, then by boat to Prince Rupert. From there, they could have sailed in comfort up the Skeena in one of the sternwheelers but they chose instead to travel by Native canoe, perhaps to become acquainted with the people among whom they were to spend the rest of their lives. Their destination was Kispiox, where they rented half a house and added a lean-to to serve as a medical office and surgery. Dr. Wrinch spent one day each week in Hazelton. In a region where distances were reckoned in weeks, not miles, he used a horse and buggy (a cutter in winter), and sometimes walked on snowshoes accompanied by a St. Bernard dog.

use BACK button to return Hazelton Hospital, 1931

In 1900, Hazelton had a post office, an Indian office, an Indian day school, an Anglican church and three stores. There were between 30 and 40 non-Native settlers. Most of the Gitxsan population lived in the reserve village of Gitanmaax. In 1900, work began on the Yukon Telegraph line, and in 1904 a beginning was made on surveying possible routes for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.