SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Lillian Martin was born in a cabin near the Tartan Rapids on May 1, 1937, and claims to be the first non-aboriginal child born in the Yellowknife area.

Lillian Martin, now a resident of Nelson, B.C., says she was the first non-aboriginal child born in the Yellowknife area. She was delivered by her father in the family cabin near the Tartan Rapids on May 1, 1937. - photo courtesy of Lillian Martin

Her father, Thomas John Cassidy, owned Cassidy mine, and Cassidy Point on Prosperous Lake - a short boat ride from Tartan Rapids - is the family's namesake.

"The doctor had to come from Fort Rae, but because I was born in May the airplanes couldn't land anywhere," said Martin, who now lives in Nelson, B.C.

"The only way they could get in at the time was by airplane - but they couldn't land because the ice was not thick enough. So my dad delivered me."

Martin is the oldest in a family of four.

She has two brothers, Tim and Patrick, and one sister still in Yellowknife named Eileen Mackie. All were born without a doctor except for Mackie, Martin said.

Martin remembers when her brother Patrick was born.

"This other guy who used to live at the rapids around the same time - Einar Broten - he had a cabin up there at the rapids," said Martin.

"Einar was outside with my brother and I around the fire and we were asking 'Where's mum?' and he'd say 'Oh, they'll be out in a little while, here - have some wieners,'" she laughed.

"In those days they didn't tell the kids anything, you know. We didn't have any idea mom was pregnant, so he was trying to keep us happy and quiet outside. I guess poor mom and dad were busy in there having this baby."

Broten is famous for his part in the birth of the Woodyard neighbourhood in Old Town, part of which is now known as the Einar Broten Historical Site.

Martin said her family was always swimming and boating while living at Tartan Rapids. Like many families back in the early days, they would use a canoe to get around in the summer, and a dog team to travel in the winter.

After a while, the family moved to what is now Cassidy Point and built a bigger cabin. Martin said her mother, Virginia, gave birth to another baby there, but he was premature and died within a few hours.

"A lot of people don't know that there's a little grave up there," she said.

Martin said after they moved away from their cabin at Cassidy Point, it was left to the elements. Some of the kids moved to other parts of Canada, and Virginia didn't care to go all the way back out there anymore.

"Eventually, it just started falling down," said Martin. "Some guy up there was worried that it might fall down on some kid or something and he took it all down - but we didn't know about that until they had taken it all down."

Martin said there was a big deal made about its demolition, "so they put a little plaque up there and called it Cassidy Point."

Martin left Yellowknife in 1959, after getting married and having two sons, and moved to Vancouver, where her husband was from.

"I never did like the way the kids were brought up at the time then when we had two of our own. I really didn't want them to grow up as wild and crazy as the kids did there (in Yellowknife)."

Martin had another son in Vancouver.

She comes back to Yellowknife every few years to visit relatives she still has here, including a trip back for the 75th anniversary celebrations which she enjoyed very much.

"I was at just about everything that I could - all the dances, all the barbecues - because I wanted see how many people I knew who lived there when I was there, and I did. I met a lot of them," said Martin. "I found that (Yellowknife) is not as warm and caring as it used to be. It's too fast - everybody's just going, going, going."

Martin said she likes her home in Nelson, B.C., and there's one aspect of Yellowknife she definitely does not miss.

"There's nothing I hate more about Yellowknife right now than the mosquitoes. Man, they're big and deadly now."