Hay River (Oct 06/03) - In the mid-1950s, Jerry Eyford was the first person to open a business in what is now Enterprise.

Eyford and his wife operated a service station, before Enterprise even existed.

In fact, he says his family were the first people to live there, noting the area was first called Jerry's Place and then Eyford Corner.

Eyford said he opened the business after he staked a claim for land in the area.

In 1954, seismic crews were exploring for oil in the area, and Eyford's trucking company was hauling fuel and camp supplies for them. A geologist with the seismic crews told Eyford to stake out the land. "He told me, 'I'm going to make you some money.'"

Eyford said the American geologist, the late Bob Cowden, predicted that a road to Yellowknife would one day go through Enterprise, along with a railroad and a pipeline.

One winter's night, Eyford said he and Cowden drove out to what is now Enterprise when it was minus 40 Celsius and staked out 1,500 square feet of land.

"It was straight moose pasture," he recalled.

Eyford thought Cowden was crazy with his predictions for the area. In the summer of 1955, work began on a winter road to Fort Simpson and Yellowknife, and Eyford opened the service station.

Eyford and his wife bought a building in Hay River and moved it to Enterprise.

"Every once in a while there was a bang. We thought the building was breaking in half, but we were hitting the sign posts along the road," he said.

Two years later, he sold the service station.

"We didn't make any money in the business," he said, but they did when it was sold.

Eyford said he and his ex-wife were happy to get rid of the business, noting they never worked so hard in their lives. "We worked our butts off out there."

He recalled that a trucker came knocking on their door at 4 a.m. to get some ginger ale to mix with his rye, and "that was about the end of it for us."

Eyford, now 80, ran Hay River Truck Lines for many years. He first came to the area in 1948 from Athabasca, Alberta. Although confined to a wheelchair with osteoporosis, Eyford stays active, making tape recording stories of his life. He began making the recordings about five years ago and now has several dozen.

"It's something to do," he explains. "I had a pretty damn good life."