Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

NNSL (July 21/99) - A lot has changed since the Hood family had last been to Yellowknife, 58 years ago.

There was no running water and hardly any buildings or roads. The now bustling city of 17,000 was hardly recognizable to Harold and Marion Hood, who hadn't walked through the city's streets since 1941.

"The Wildcat Cafe is the only thing left here that I remember," Marion Hood said. "There's no recognition of anything. Did we live here or did we live over there? I don't know?"

For George and Marion Hood, their recent trip up to Yellowknife was made even more special by the inclusion of their son Gerry on their journey back through long-gone and almost forgotten days that marked the city's infancy. He was the first non-aboriginal boy born at the old Con Mine hospital site, delivered by noneother than the hospital's future namesake, Dr. Oliver Stanton.

"My middle name is Oliver," said Gerry Hood, who hasn't been back to town since his family packed up and left for Edmonton when he was a one-year-old. "Mom and dad named me after him."

"Mom was driven by dog sled to the hospital when she was ready to have me. That was the closest I've ever come to being in one since."

The Hoods made their home in the Yellowknife area between 1938-41. Harold Hood came North to learn about prospecting with his father-in-law, George Caywood, who was already making a good living during the gold boom.

"It was the hungry '30s," said Harold.

"I got a job at the Ptarmigan mine after spending the winter out at Pensive Lake learning about prospecting. In the summer we would use the canoe to get to town and walk in the winter.

"I used to be able to walk over from the dock to town over the ice (eight kilometres) in an hour and a half," he said.

Harold Hood was joined by his wife the following spring and the couple took up residence at the mine site on the eastern shore of Yellowknife Bay across from town.

"We were in the married quarters," Marion Hood recollected.

"It was just a little street with four canvass tents all facing each other. It wasn't always easy living there but the people were so good to each other."

Gerry Hood was born the following year and despite the lack of amenities, such as running water and fresh milk ‹ "Gerry was raised on powdered milk and he turned out just fine," Marion Hood pointed out ‹ the young family made the best of it.

Even though Gerry Hood has not been North since his first year, he maintains he always finds a special connection with Northerners he has met over the years.

"We met a lot of guys who've made their stake up in Yellowknife and have done quite well," Gerry Hood said. "Yellowknife seems like a good place to get your start."