George Campbell Ford "Dal" Dalziel  (1908 - 1982)

George Dalziel trapped around Telegraph Creek and Dease Lake before he made his way into the Lower Post and Watson Lake area in 1926. He did a lot of exploring on foot, once walking for two months from Telegraph Creek to Fort Simpson in the NWT.((Dalziel slides featured.” //The Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 27 May 1987.)) That was when marten pelts were bringing in $100 each. He and two pack dogs lived off whatever he trapped and harvested enroute.((Jack McCallum, as told to Stephan Hill, //Tales of an old bold pilot who lived to tell his story of Flying The North.// Sicamous, BC: Hummingbird Press. 2004: 72-78.))\\

Dalziel learned to fly and bought a plane early in the 1930s. He used it to trap in the remote areas of southern Yukon and NWT. He became the subject of many government reports on the illegal use of planes for trapping activities and was considered a nuisance. During the Second World War and the CANOL Pipeline construction, Dalziel laid out air strips for the Bechtel-Price -Callahan company.((Don Barz, //Yukon Wanderlust.// Celticfrog Publishing, 2021: 76-77, 296.))\\

Dalziel was a good pilot and was once hired to teach US Air Force pilots to fly DC-3s on floats. It didn’t work because the floats used up the lift capacity. Dal bought a Taylor craft in Peace River to start up Peace River Air Services, which later became Northern BC Air Services flying out of Dease Lake. He also had a Curtis Robin aircraft purchased from “Wrong Way Corrigan”. Corrigan got his nickname because he flew across the Atlantic without permission. The Curtis Robin aircraft was known to be a plumber's nightmare – not the best plane for bush flying. During the war he contracted his BC – Yukon Air Services to US and Canadian outfits building the highway out of Watson Lake.((Jack McCallum, as told to Stephan Hill, //Tales of an old bold pilot who lived to tell his story of Flying The North.// Sicamous, BC: Hummingbird Press. 2004: 72-78.))\\ 

In the 1940s, Dalziel bought the Watson Lake Hotel, an historic landmark on the Alaska Highway at Watson Lake. It was the only hotel in the region and served as a residence for miners and single workers. The Dalziel family ran the hotel until 1972 when it was sold to Archie Lang. The building was boarded up around 2007 and burned in 2010 in a suspected arson case.((Roxanne Livingstone, “Town’s historic hotel gutted, arson suspected.” //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 19 April 2010.)) Dalziel built his family home, the first house in Watson Lake, in 1950/51.((Dalziel slides featured.” //The Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 27 May 1987.)) The historic house was burned around 2007 by suspected arsonists.((Roxanne Livingstone, “Town’s historic hotel gutted, arson suspected.” //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 19 April 2010.))\\
In the late 1940s, Daziel partnered with Skook Davison to run a big game hunting business. He collected trophy animals from around the world and had an impressive collection of Stone sheep. He was an avid photographer and always had his camera with him.((Dalziel slides featured.” //The Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 27 May 1987.)) In 1958, he sold all his other businesses and all but one plane and concentrated on outfitting.((Jack McCallum, as told to Stephan Hill, //Tales of an old bold pilot who lived to tell his story of Flying The North.// Sicamous, BC: Hummingbird Press. 2004: 72-78.))

Dalziel never filed a flight plan and no one but his wife had an idea of his schedule. He only had one accident. He was flying from Fort Nelson to Watson Lake one winter when he crashed his Waco biplane north of Muncho Lake. He set off with a can of strawberry jam for food and walked twenty-five to thirty miles through deep snow. It took him four days.((Jack McCallum, as told to Stephan Hill, //Tales of an old bold pilot who lived to tell his story of Flying The North.// Sicamous, BC: Hummingbird Press. 2004: 72-78.))

Dalziel had an “M” License as an Aircraft mechanic so made a little money on issuing certificates of air worthiness. He would get upset if others broke conservation rules but he was not good at obeying them himself. One year he was trapping beaver out of season and the locals threatened to shoot him. He came back one time with a hole in the fuselage and he was bit more careful after that. Other than a break for the war, Dal focused on outfitting and soon had his own hunting lodge and a territory where he was the only serious hunter. His clients went for deer, moose, caribou, grizzly, sheep and goats. He hired a very inexperienced Karl Schack to cook for his clients.((Jack McCallum, as told to Stephan Hill, //Tales of an old bold pilot who lived to tell his story of Flying The North.// Sicamous, BC: Hummingbird Press. 2004: 72-78.))\\
	
Dal is believed to have made the best part of a million dollars from his business ventures. He died doing what he loved best, hunting and guiding in the north.((Jack McCallum, as told to Stephan Hill, //Tales of an old bold pilot who lived to tell his story of Flying The North.// Sicamous, BC: Hummingbird Press. 2004: 72-78.)) His collection of thousands of photographs was inherited and treasured by his son Byron Dalziel.((Dalziel slides featured.” //The Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 27 May 1987.))
	
BC Yukon was still flying out of Dease Lake, British Columbia in 2015. Teri and Bruce McNaughton owned the company for twenty-five years. It was sold to Bill and Devlin Oestreich. Devlin is a granddaughter of George Dalziel and they were the sixth owners.((Teri, Bruce & Grady McNaughton, "Congratulations BC Yukon Air Service Ltd. Happy 65th Birthday," //Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 12 June 2015.))