When World War II came to Northern Vancouver Island, it meant big changes for the area, including the construction of a military base and the influx of a large number of air force personnel.
An area just south of Port Hardy was selected for one of four air bases constructed on Vancouver Island at this time (1941). Originally known as a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) station (bomber reconnaissance) and Home War Operational Station it was later designated a Staging Unit (no 21).
As with other bases, the wives and girlfriends of enlisted men and officers were generally not provided housing on the base.
In areas close to towns, the servicemen's girlfriends and wives could relocate close to the base, but in remote locations like Port Hardy small makeshift communities sprang up for those who wanted to set up house.
During base construction lumber was easy to come by. Men took remnant lumber and built shacks, which generally didn't have running water, and consisted only of a front room, a bedroom, and an outhouse.
By 1945 a motley collection of these buildings had sprung up just off the air force base lands by the RCAF dock/ barge ramp, just to the north of Thomas Point.
Called 'Jokerville,' the shacks were built both by enlisted men and American employees of PanAmerican Airways, which used Port Hardy as a refueling stop on flights to Alaska.
The Americans reportedly rigged up a generator and plumbing to supply electricity and gravity-fed water from a nearby spring to the cabins, but when the introduction of larger airplanes cancelled the necessity of a PanAm stopover in Port Hardy the Americans took their generator away.
Cabins changed hands when personnel were transferred. At the time one of these squatters cabins could be purchased for about $300, and that included any furnishings the previous owner had acquired.
The RCAF stored their coal (used to power the base's generators) on a barge attached to a dock right at the end of the Jokerville Road, which was convenient for those trying to heat their poorly insulated shacks. A couple of kind words to the watchman would get you a bucket of coal for free.
Shopping was done at the Cadwallader store at the site of the old Fort Rupert, which was only a short walk away, and received orders by steamship every ten days.
Visitors usually arrived by ship in Port Hardy, then traveled by military vehicle over a bumpy road with a number of narrow bridges that some people called the "Burma Road," which led to the base and to Jokerville. Some referred to the collection of tar-paper shacks as a 'squatters town.'
There were parties and gambling in the community, but many of the servicemen were just happy to have a place to stay with their wives. Sometimes groups of boys from the base would come to Jokerville looking for a party, were the rules of the military were relaxed.
Many of the wives found the accommodations cozy, and there was an active social life as many inhabitants got together every day, usually at the house with heated water.
Wild animals were frequent visitors to the village, with more than one story being told of a prized fish, recently caught, being stolen off a front porch by a hungry bear or cougar. This was often a surprise to the 'city boys' in the Air Force, many of whom were not accustomed to living in the wilderness.
At the end of the war most of the original Jokerville residents walked away from their shacks in a return to civilian life, but in the 1960s the area was populated again, this time by hippies. Today the area is a part of Kwakiutl Indian Reserve - Thomas Point 5, although many local people still refer to the area as Jokerville.
In 1944 a Toronto Grade 11 student, presumably after a trip to the area, captured these thoughts about Jokerville as a writing assignment published in their high school year book:
"From early morning, to late evening the hoarse croaking of crows is heard mingling
in an unearthy din of barking dogs, squalling cats, and huge
American bombers which fly overhead every day—all day.
This is Jokerville,
the “metropolis” of North Vancouver Island."
Emmott, NM. Jokerville in Raincoast Chronicles Eleven Up (Howard White, Editor). Issue 13. Harbour Publishing. 1994. p. 186-191.
http://www.mocavo.ca/Vox-Fluminis-Riverbend-School-for-Girls-1944/849974/35
http://www.101nisquadron.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/RCAF-Port-Hardy-30-X-30-plaque-v6a.pdf
Thanks to George Kearey for his memories of walking through Jokerville in the 60s/70s.
