Sperry Cline

Sperry Cline,

.

Early life

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Cline was born near

While Cline lived in Hazelton he became acquainted with the mule-packer Cataline and the two men would often engage in long conversations. To a casual eavesdropper, these conversations would have sounded quite strange indeed: like Cline, Cataline also spoke in several different languages at once—in Cataline's case, French, Spanish, and one of his own invention. Nevertheless, the two men understood each other perfectly.^{[citation needed]}

As a frontier policeman, Cline often found himself in the role of prosecuting attorney as well as arresting officer. It was through these court battles that he became acquainted with the criminal defense lawyer, Stuart Hendersen. In 1919, Cline contacted Hendersen to represent Simon Gunanoot. The case received national press attention and was one of the most talked about trials of that era.^[3] Gunanoot was found not guilty.

Throughout his years on the Hazelton police force, he became known as a man of common sense and integrity, often willing to apply practical solutions to a situation, rather than always going "by the book". He had a wheelbarrow in which he would haul the patrons of the local hotels who had imbibed too freely off to the

When Cline left Hazelton in the 1920s, he moved onto the police force in Smithers and then on to the Chemainus police force, from where he was transferred to the Police Training School in Victoria.^{[citation needed]}

Cline retired from the British Columbia Provincial Police in 1946 and went on to write a series of articles about his adventures in Hazelton, which he entitled Policing the Skeena.[1] Many of these stories would be featured in the magazine BC Outdoors and some would go on to be published in Art Down's Pioneer Days in British Columbia series.

With pioneer sternwheeler historian, Wiggs O'Neill, Cline co-authored, Along the Totem Trail: Port Essington to Hazelton.[2]

Cline died in Burnaby on 8 May 1964.^[2]

Near Hazelton, Cline Peak and Sperry Creek were named in his honor.^[4]

• Pioneer Days in British Columbia Volume 4 Article 6, Cecil Clark and Art Downs
  ISBN 0-9690546-8-8
• The Far Land, Eva MacLean
  ISBN 0-920576-41-9

• Sperry Cline's online article on Cataline
• Chasing Shadows The Simon Gunanoot Story by Monty Basset for the History Channel