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Local logging entrepreneur Ray Skoglund purchased the 320 acres comprising the Lakelse hot springs property from Lloyd Johnstone in the late 1950s, and operated the resort from 1958 into the 1970s. Skoglund immediately began an ambitious tiered development for the Lakelse Hotsprings Resort, which were later rechristened Skoglund Hotsprings Resort. While the new name, 'Skoglund Hotsprings Resort,' was assigned when Skoglund partnered with an investment company to advance his plans, it was occasionally used earlier. The original name, 'Lakelse Hotsprings Resort,' was still in use later, especially by local people. Because of this overlap, the Lakelse hot springs between 1958 and 1978 will be mainly referred to as Skoglund's Lakelse Hotsprings Resort [they are here spelled 'Hotsprings' in accordance with the standard during Skoglund's management, though this was also inconsistent].2
Ray Skoglund in Front of His Lakelse Hotsprings Development.1958
Lakelse Lake, British Columbia, Canada
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Skoglund purchased the hot springs in June of 1958. By the middle of August, he had constructed a large gravity-fed concrete pool complete with change rooms. It measured 23 by 5.5 metres, and sported hot springs water cooled to about 32 degrees Celsius. Fourteen duplex cabins with private baths were under construction, as was a snack bar.4
Outdoor Swimming Pool at Skoglund's Lakelse Hotsprings Resort.1958
Lakelse Lake, British Columbia, Canada
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View of Terrace from the Birch Bench a Few Years Before Skoglund Purchased the Lakelse Hot Springs.1950
Terrace, British Columbia, Canada
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Uncovered Outdoor Hot Pool at Skoglund's Lakelse Hotsprings Resort.June-November 1958
Lakelse Lake, British Columbia, Canada
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'When snow fell last winter I fully expected that the season had ended, but here again I was wrong. The cold weather didn't discourage the people of Terrace, Kitimat, and surrounding areas. Many Sundays we had over one hundred people in the pools and they invented a game. After soaking in the water that is almost 100 degrees F, they would jump out and throw themselves into fluffy snow,' Ray Skoglund marvelled in an article he wrote for the 1959 Northwest Digest entitled 'From Wilderness to Health Resort.'8
Swimmers Jumping into Snow After Soaking in Hot Swimming Pool at Skoglund Hotsprings Resort.1958
Lakelse Lake, British Columbia, Canada
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Fenced-off Main Hot Spring and All-Weather Hot Pool at Skoglund Hotsprings Resort.Late 1958
Lakelse Lake, British Columbia, Canada
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'Ray's personable manner and charismatic personality enabled him to be a great promoter of the resort and the whole northwest,' his daughter Alice Gellner wrote in her father's obituary in 2003. 'Wherever he went, he spread the news about the hot springs. His son, David, has a story of a trip across Canada on which Ray brought several hundred bumper stickers from the hotsprings and David's job was to attach them to as many billboards and poles as possible. Years later people would come in telling the story of having seen one of these on their travels.11
Skoglund's Lakelse Hotsprings Promotional Bumper Sticker.1958 through Early 1960s
Lakelse Lake, British Columbia, Canada
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Outdoor Swimming Pool at Skoglund Hotsprings Resort.1960
Lakelse Lake, British Columbia, Canada
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Over the first winter (1958-1959), the original pool was enclosed when the snow failed to discourage visitors from the surrounding region. 'I used to shiver just watching them,' Skoglund wrote of the intrepid swimmers. 'We decided to cover the small pool to make things more comfortable for those who preferred life a little less rugged but to leave the large pool uncovered for the hardy types.' A Gothic-style arch frame of laminated spruce was covered with plastic, which kept the pool warm and the snow out.14
Enclosed All-weather Pool at Skoglund's Lakelse Hotsprings Resort.1958-1968
Lakelse Lake, British Columbia, Canada
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