14

Visitors to the Lakelse Hot Springs carried their luggage or pushed it in a wheelbarrow along a split cedar plank walk that spanned the half-mile between the hot springs and Lakelse Lake.

15

Split Cedar Boardwalk from Hot Springs to Lakeshore Hotel.
1912-1920
Lakelse Lake, British Columbia, Canada


Credits:
Caption on verso reads: '1912-20, split cedar walk from lake shore to Hotsprings Hotel.'

16

The lodge at the Lakelse Hot Springs served as the first post office on the mail route from Kitimat to Hazelton. On mail day, trappers, settlers, hatchery men, and miners gathered at the lodge to await their letters and to hear news from the outside.

17

Original Lodge at Lakelse Hot Springs.
Early 1910s
Lakelse Lake, British Columbia, Canada


Credits:
Caption on verso reads: 'Original Lakelse Hotel at Hot Springs. Early 1910s. Built in about 1910. By Bruce Johnstone.'

18

Omineca Herald Newspaper Advertisement
30 July 1915
Hazelton, British Columbia, Canada


Credits:
Located on page four of the 30 July 1915 edition of Hazelton's Omineca Herald.

19

Bruce Johnstone Holding Son Lloyd at the Hot Springs.
1916
Lakelse Lake, British Columbia, Canada


Credits:
Caption on front reads: 'Bruce + Lloyd.'
Caption on verso reads: 'Lloyd Melrose Johnstone - Lakelse Hot Springs _his 'Daddy', 1916.'

20

Lloyd and Bruce Johnstone on Lakelse Lake.
1917
Lakelse Lake, British Columbia, Canada


Credits:
Caption on verso reads: 'Me + Dad. 1917.'

21

Bruce Johnstone on the Cedar Boardwalk to the Hot Springs.
1920
Lakelse Lake, British Columbia, Canada


Credits:
Caption on verso reads: '1920 - Bruce Johnstone split cedar walk to Hotsprings.'

22

Bruce Johnstone promoted the Lakelse Hot Springs as a health spa in newspapers across the United States and Canada, and had a full register for most of his season, which ran May through October.

23

Woman Overlooking Main Pool at Lakelse Hot Springs.
1920
Lakelse Lake, British Columbia, Canada


Credits:
Caption on verso reads: 'main Hot Springs - Lakelse, 1920.'

24

The Johnstone family kept around fifteen cows as well as a vegetable garden to feed themselves and the guests at the lodge. Apparently, their garden was much more productive than Terrace settlers due to the minerals in the hot springs water. Today, Bert Orleans pipes the hot springs water into greenhouses, continuing to use the mineral water to grow enormous organic vegetables.

25

Lloyd Johnstone at the Lakelse Hot Springs Property.
1920
Lakelse Lake, British Columbia, Canada


Credits:
Caption on verso reads: 'Lloyd M Johnstone at Hotsprings, 1920.'

26

Women on Split-Cedar Plank Walk from Lakeshore to Hot Springs.
1910-1928
Lakelse Lake, British Columbia, Canada


Credits:
Caption on verso reads: 'The old Plank walk from Lake Shore to Hot Springs Built in 1911 By Bruce Johnstone followed aprox Course that Present Canal follows.'

27

Bruce Johnstone met Beatrice May Bradley during a winter furlough in Victoria in 1912. Bradley's brother-in-law was the head of the British Columbia Fisheries Department. They were married in the fall of 1913. At that point, Johnstone arranged to sell the hot springs property, and bought a home in Victoria. The sale of the hot springs fell through, and the newlyweds returned to Lakelse Lake in 1915.