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tapley visit

"Now I can see why Myrtle stayed out here." Those were the words of Betty Tapley Worth, niece of Alta Lake pioneer Myrtle Philip, after her first visit to Whistler, which concluded last week.

"Now I can see why Myrtle stayed out here." Those were the words of Betty Tapley Worth, niece of Alta Lake pioneer Myrtle Philip, after her first visit to Whistler, which concluded last week. Betty Tapley Worth (daughter of Paul Tapley, niece to Myrtle), her husband Ed Worth and their daughter Joan Davidson and husband Owen Davidson had only witnessed Whistler’s existence through pictures prior to their week-long vacation. The four Brooksville, Maine-landers were surprised and overwhelmed by the resort as it looks today. "What a great area, beautiful and breathtaking," said Joan Davidson. "The weather was good and we were treated like royalty." In 1913, after a long train ride from Maine to Vancouver, and an even longer horseback ride from Vancouver to Alta Lake, construction of Rainbow Lodge began on the site which is now Rainbow Park. Rainbow Lodge turned the small community of Alta Lake into a destination resort, in large part due to the personalities of Alex and Myrtle Philip. But long before Rainbow Lodge, Myrtle Tapley was a teacher. In 1908, after graduation from the Bluehill-George Stevens Academy, Myrtle Tapley’s first teaching position took her to Brooksville, Maine where she boarded with the Philip family. It was there that she met her husband to be, Alex Philip. In 1911, a year after Myrtle Tapley travelled west from Maine, her brother Philip, a carpenter, came west to Squamish, B.C., and then later went north to Alta Lake to help his sister in the construction of Rainbow Lodge. Their father Sewell, brother Frank, and sisters, Jean and Margaret, travelled from Maine to help clear the land for the Rainbow Lodge. During their week in Whistler the visiting Tapleys spent a lot of their time walking around Alta Lake, playing tennis, and sightseeing. They visited the cemetery, Whistler Museum and Archives and Tapley’s Neighbourhood Pub. "We’ve had a great time, the views are great, the people are great, we’ve loved every minute of it," said Betty Tapley, 78. "We had never been here before, but we’ll definitely be back. It certainly is the little town that grew."