Self-directed Tours
Self-directed Tours
THE MUSEUM corner of Third and Trainor
THE MUSEUM
It was the first permanent school building in Atlin, built in 1902. Before that time, students met at the abandoned Board of Trade Hotel where they shivered with their teacher through icy days when the wind funnelled snow through rough board walls.
The next year a large second-hand tent became the school. It was spacious and light, at least until the days grew short. In the depth of winter two crackling wood stoves were not enough to hold back the cold from canvas walls. When this school was finally built, one room held all grades for many years. Eventually a wall was built and split the building into two classrooms. Two teachers had cramped quarters in the basement and the School Board hired either two men or two women to work there at a time. The confining winters took their toll of the most tolerant of souls and married couples proved to be the most effective stalwarts.
The school was spared in the 1914 fire that levelled the town’s centre as it was located one block to the south where the Northern Lights College is now located. This building was used until 1968, at which time it was the oldest operating school in Canada. A trailer was hauled into town in minus 60-degree weather and it became the new school. This building was condemned and about to be destroyed when the Community Club took it up as their new meeting hall. It was moved to this site and eventually the Atlin Historical Society took over ownership.
THE PYRAMID
THE PYRAMID corner of Second and Trainor
Perhaps the most photographed building in Atlin, this pyramid is not actually part of historic Atlin. Built by a holistic doctor and former mayor from Whitehorse, Don Branigan, the pyramid was built to scale of the dimensions of the Great Cheops Pyramid, however it is not aligned by the compass in the same way as those in Egypt as it was feared it would be too powerful. Branigan chose Atlin as the site for this structure because it is reputed to be situated on converging “lay-lines”, or powerful psychic energy fields. Other areas where lay-lines are said to converge are Victoria B.C., Sedona Arizona, and Geneva.
The pyramid was used as a daycare facility for many years and is now a private residence.
THE COURTHOUSE Second between Pearl and Trainor
THE ATLIN COURTHOUSE on Second between Pearl and Trainor
In August of 1900 this important building was officially opened with an elaborate affair that included recitations, vocal renditions and speeches. It was the largest government structure in northern British Columbia, designed by Edward Garden, a talented young architect who came to Atlin with the gold rush stampeders. When the Courthouse was built in 1900, it was located on Third Street between Pearl and Trainor.
The building is fifty feet square and the tower windows offer the best view in town. A long stairway in the central hallway leads to upstairs rooms, tucked under the roof, where the Gold Commissioner and his family once lived. Matters of law were settled in the Courtroom in the early twentieth century and still are today.
In 1955, the building was abandoned. Maintenance and heating became too expensive, and it was too large for a smaller, older Atlin. Private owners moved the Courthouse to it’s current location on Second Street, directly behind where it originally stood. The building’s concrete vault was not moved with the rest of the building; it was left buried in the rubble of the old basement, but the steel door remains in the wall of the recording office.
Restoration began in 1983; since that time the Courthouse has been rented by various organizations. The old Gold Commissioner’s apartment upstairs was often rented out during the summer months as office space to mining and exploration companies; the Mining Recorder’s office has been occupied by the Atlin Community Library for some years now; the Courtroom serves as an actual Courtroom for a day or two every month and it is also the venue for the Local Artists’ Co-operative during the summer months.
In recent years the building was in need of attention. After years of hard decision-making and grant writing and fundraising, the Atlin Historical Society moved the building to the east side of the lot, to ensure a dry foundation. In the photos above, note the position of the Canada flag. It indicates how far the building was moved.
