William “Bud” Simpson
Bud Simpson met his future wife, Doris Callison at Telegraph, British Columbia in 1935 when she accompanied her family on an extended prospecting trip from Fort St. John. Bud and Doris were married in 1937 in Vancouver. 1)
After the Second World War, Alaska Highway lodges were built by the White Pass & Yukon Route wholly owned subsidiary British Yukon Navigation (BYN). BYN ran bus services along the highway from Dawson Creek to Fairbanks. Bud Simpson helped to construct the original Rancheria highway lodge log building with Ed Carey and a crew of six to eight men including Joe Schneider.2)
When the Rancheria Lodge was finished, the initial buyers backed out of the deal. Bud and Doris put down a down payment and started running it. A fire in 1958 wiped out an area of the road and the Simpsons started again from scratch. The lodge was a simple building until 1976 when the Simpsons added a beer parlour, a cocktail lodge, and motel rooms. Bud ran the tire shop, did anything mechanical, and managed the cocktail lounge. Doris ran the kitchen and took her turn at the gas pumps and in the beer parlour. Their children worked at the lodge and were always paid for their work. Like all the highway kids, they were educated through a combination of correspondence and school away from home. The Simpson’s sold the Rancheria Lodge to Beverly Dinning in 1976.3)