Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 20/99) - Dick Hill can weave a yarn.

The former Inuvik mayor entertained a packed house at Centennial Library last week with a slide show and talk that focused on the town's early days. The slides came from his own extensive collection.

"Part of my nature is research based and that means collecting things -- like photos, papers and books," Hill explained. "I've got so many that half the time I can't find the damned things."

In fact Hill, who was Inuvik's first mayor after the town was incorporated in 1970, also helped establish Centennial Library in 1967 as one of the projects marking Canada's 100th birthday.

"The idea was that if I could have my own library at home, the public should have its own, too," he said.

Moreover, when Hill retired in 1995 and left the North after having spent 37 years here, he left something behind -- approximately 5,000 submissions to the library, in the form of books, papers, reports and articles that centre around the Northwest and western North America.

Head librarian Grant Karcich said Centennial is still sorting through the material, cataloguing it and making it available to the public. Karcich also gave Hill's presentation Thursday night high marks.

"It was wonderful getting to know Inuvik's history through the slides," he said. "There are buildings that we see every day without knowing the meaning or origins behind them."

Though Hill told the mixed crowd of tourists and locals who turned out for the show that he hadn't had time to prepare and know which slide was coming in what order, it didn't seem to bother him. In fact, it was clear he could have talked for a good long time on just about any slide that came up. With occasional help in identifying people in the slides from long-time residents like Frank Stephenson, Hill gave a talk that ranged in style from that of historical lecturer to storyteller.

Topics ranged from Victor Allen breaking the ground at Inuvik, to the town's early experimental greenhouse, Frank Hansen's bee hives, artist Mona Thrasher, the early days of the Gwich'in land claim and Freddy Carmichael's $8 plane rides to Aklavik.

Hill weaved his tales in a slow, relaxed drawl and ready sense of humour -- as illustrated in his description of the Finto Motor Hotel's flag staff.

"This is what we call a vertical pipeline," he said, showing the side, "and it's just one of Inuvik's many pipelines that serves no purpose -- it goes nowhere so had to be adapted by sticking a flag on it."

Hill's efforts were also appreciated by the public. Megan Briggs from Seattle, Washington, called the presentation "fascinating."

"It makes me want to come back up for the Muskrat Jamboree," she said, "and the mud wrestling they used to do at the arena looked interesting."

A self-described "southern bullshitter," Hill now spends his days with his wife, Birgitte, on their farm in Nottawa, Ont., near Georgian Bay, where he occasionally plays host to his daughters Jessie from Vancouver and Alice from Australia, and his grandchildren.

While Hill lives in the south, he remains firmly attached to the North -- and has the stories and pictures to help him remain so.