Dorothy (Matson) Smith

Dorothy was born at St. Andrews Hospital and grew up in Atlin, B.C. Her mother died of the Spanish influenza virus. With this epidemic, the worst hits were the young and the healthy—those between 20 years and 50 years of age. It probably got to Atlin via rail to Carcross and then by boat to Atlin. Dorothy’s father, Axel Nelson, was left with a two-year-old little boy, George, and a baby girl. The Matson family took in Dorothy and her brother went to the Reinburg family. They were good to her and she had a happy childhood. They lived just north of the sawmill at the south end of town. The three families always kept in touch with each other.

When Dorothy was six years old, the family went to visit the Kershaws and she got to hear a radio for the first time, even though they could hear it only faintly. The station was CKJR out of Seattle, Washington. They thought it was wonderful that this voice came from more than a thousand miles away.

Dorothy went to the one-room schoolhouse in Atlin until Grade Eight. She worked for Mr. Clarence Sands in the hardware store for a dollar a day. She then worked with her mother cooking on Rudy Creek in the family mining camp and learned the ropes. The Matson family had a claim there and worked hydraulic mining as well as occasionally working underground. Later when Mrs. Matson was pregnant with a son, Ted, Dorothy worked in the camp by herself.

For fun times as a young girl, there were cross country skiing and skating—if they cleared off a patch of ice on the lake! In the summer, there was lots of hiking and berry picking. They never came across any bears in all of that time. One of her best friends was Mary Kate Sands. She was like a big sister to Dorothy. Mary Kate later married Frank Barr, the famous bush pilot.

The young people would put on dances and plays. Dorothy ran in the Victory Queen contest for July 1st when she was sixteen years old, along with Ann Bear and Mary Gordie. They sold tickets to raise money for the hospital. They collected ten thousand dollars and Dorothy won! She was the Victory Queen.

At that time, it would take one week for the family to go from Atlin to Vancouver. They travelled across the lakes by horse and sleigh in the winter staying in the two cabins along the way. The horses pulled a big sleigh and the men walked alongside. They stayed at the hotel in Carcross and then took the train from Carcross to Skagway and then the boat to Vancouver.

In 1940, Dorothy met Jim Smith in Atlin. He was working for Louis Schultz in a grocery store where he stayed for five years. They married in 1942. They had ordered a wedding cake from Spencers in Vancouver and when they went to cut the cake at their wedding, the knife could not cut through the icing. So they turned it upside down and scooped out the cake. The newly married couple lived across the street from the old hospital on Third Avenue.

Mrs. Matson and Jim have the same birthday date. The Smiths had a dog team of three in Atlin so they could get around in the winter and Jim would cut the logs for the stove. Mr. Matson, in one day, would cut two cords of wood for $4.50 per cord. There was no running water or electricity in Atlin at that time. They would carry the water up from the lake using a yolk that went around the back of the neck and had two square gas tins hanging down on each side. To have water delivered was too expensive; it cost five cents a bucket and they just could not afford it.

The Smiths moved to Whitehorse in 1947. They put the packed car, a Cabroilet 1936 Pontiac, on the Tarahne paddlewheel boat to cross the lake and onto the little railway pulled by the Duchess, then another boat, SS Tutshi, to Carcross and Jim then drove the car into Whitehorse. When he drove in, the car had a flat tire and that is where they stayed for twenty years. The car was later converted into a truck

Jim started working in Tourist Services grocery store. Dorothy helped in the store when they were setting it up. Now in her own home, she could turn the tap for water and flick the switch for the light.

Dorothy lost the first baby boy in 1951 after waiting for ten years. The Smiths raised a girl, Marilyn, born in 1953, and a boy, Erik, born two years later. They lived on Cook Street and went to the Presbyterian Church. Dorothy was a founding member of the original quilting group along with her daughter, Marilyn, Colleen Duncan, Dot Lattin and Dawn Bouquet.

Dorothy became the first lady of the Yukon in 1966 as the wife of the Commissioner of the Yukon, Jim Smith. It came as a surprise to her and she was not very enthusiastic about it, but she did it with dignity and enjoyed the experience. They met with two Governors General and their wives and stayed in Government House in Ottawa when visiting royalty. One of the wives of a Governor General wanted to go into Nelson’s hardware looking for antiques. “Mrs. G.G.” did not want Dorothy to tell anyone who she was. Dorothy said she would not, so in they went, wearing all their regalia. Dorothy found it surprising that the higher up the people were whom they met, the easier they were to deal with and the nicer they were. The Smiths were in the Commissioner’s residence for ten years.

Dorothy is very talented in needlepoint and joined an embroidery club in 1960’s. She has done Hardanger, a form of embroidery worked with white thread on white even-weave cloth, using counted thread and drawn thread work techniques. She has also done Brazilian embroidery, a type of surface work that uses the glossy rayon thread instead of cotton or wool. She has some of her work hanging in their living room. The pictures are very beautiful. Once when she was almost finished a cross-stitch picture, she laid it down not knowing there was an ink pen below. Well, the next morning, it was all stained in one corner but the Frame shop was able to cover it over by cutting an oval mat for the picture frame. She never did that again!

An expert card player, she and Jan Ogilvy, were partners in bridge for fifteen years. There was always a group of six to seven tables of four when they would meet for an evening of cards. Jan still plays bridge at the senior’s complex even now.

The Smiths have a small trailer in Atlin by the lake at Indian River. The trailer came from the Canol Road when the road project was shutting down. Son Erik has built a cabin there now and daughter, Marilyn, had been fixing up her cabin that she and Ann McCara started building when they were about sixteen years old.

Although she has hobnobbed with royalty Dorothy never lost that small town common touch. She is truly special and the Yukon is fortunate to have her.

And as Dorothy says—Enjoy Life!