SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Seventy-year-old Hark Wylie said he's never met so many friendly people as he did during a "bucket list" visit to the city he left 66 years ago.

The son of Willie Wylie - the man who built and opened the Wildcat Cafe in Old Town in 1937 with John Mainland Smokey" Stout - came to town Friday to visit the iconic eatery because doctors have told him he only has weeks left to live.

Hark Wylie visits the Wildcat - the restaurant his parents opened in 1937 - during a "bucket list" visit to Yellowknife on Friday. - Evan Kiyoshi French/NNSL photo

Wylie has AL Amyloidosis, a rare disease which occurs when the body's antibody-producing cells don't function and produce abnormal protein fibers which can form deposits in the body's organs. Doctors gave him two weeks to live three weeks ago, he said.

"Hark's only been given a short time to live but that's just what the doctors say. We don't necessarily believe them all," said Ray Duford, who says he was one of Willie Wylie's best friends.

"I was master of ceremonies at most of his kids' weddings," he said.

Wylie said he doesn't remember the city he left as a four year old; but he knows the stories like the back of his hand because his parents told him all about their life in the North and why they eventually left.

"My brother was born and he was really sick," he said. "Mom and dad had no choice but to take him to Edmonton."

Wylie said they weren't isolated from the Northern community in Alberta. Northern bush pilots - including Stan MacMillan, the former head of Pacific Western Airlines - used to make regular visits to the Wylie's in their Edmonton home.

He said he remembers when McMillan's home flooded and hundreds of family photographs were floating around. Wylie said he and his family when over to help salvage the photos.

Duford said Wylie recently scratched another item off his to-do list when he landed a seven-foot sturgeon out of the Fraser River, before making his journey to the territory.

"That's probably why I am tired," said Wylie, showing off pictures of his catch on his cellphone. "I caught five four-footers and that seven-and-a-half footer. When it came up to the boat, we couldn't get it up. We had to pull it over to the shore, and pull on hip waders. It was quite something."

Cafe history

The Wildcat was the first permanent restaurant in the city, built by Wylie, Stout, Margaret Wylie and Colin Wylie, according to the city's website. Carl and Dorothy Jensen bought the cafe in 1939 and added an ice cream and soft-drink parlour and ran a steam bath next door. On Nov. 11, 1939, the cafe obtained a liquor permit to serve a veteran's banquet, which is the earliest record of a licensed drinking function in the city during a time when NWT liquor laws were quite strict.

Jensen sold the cafe to Mah Gow - likely Yellowknife's first Chinese entrepreneur - in 1941. Business was good during the post-war years but when the new downtown core began to develop, activity at the Wildcat began to drop off. In poor health by 1951, Gow closed up shop and left town. Tungsten Corporation of Canada Limited acquired the property that year and used it for storage before Red Hamilton bought it and planned to demolish it in 1956. Citizens hoping to save the building convinced the city to buy it. Legal problems kept the doors closed throughout the 1960s and in 1970 it had deteriorated to the point that it needed to be pulled down. A proposal in 1972 from Territorial Hotels Limited aimed to restore the building and operate a licenced year-round restaurant. The rejuvenation only lasted a year. By 1973 the boards were up again.

Christine Bayly, of the Old Stope Association, took the lead to restore the place in 1976. Citizens volunteered time and materials and the city chipped in grant funding and after some delay the cafe opened for the summer of 1979, with Stephen Fancott managing. The cafe became the famous tourism destination it is today. A project in 2010 - costing $500,000 - fixed deteriorating foundation logs. Rick Muyres won the bid to rebuild the restaurant with a new roof and a new steel-pile foundation.

Wylie also visited the legislative assembly, the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre and the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre.

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