Item T2745:0001 - Cariboo pioneers

SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Two short interviews with people of the Cariboo. (1) Mrs. Elizabeth Wendel, who came to the Cariboo in 1910, describes how she learned to ride and hunt, and recalls her first hunting experience of shooting a grizzly bear with a .22 rifle [ca. 8 minutes]. (2) The next interview is with an unnamed steamboat captain (born ca. 1874). In 1900, he was piloting steamboats for the Canadian National line between Victoria and Vancouver, and landed a new job running riverboats on the Fraser River between Soda Creek and Quesnel. After some blasting to clear rocks along the route, the service was extended to Prince George in 1909. Later on, two steamboats built by Foley, Welch and Stewart operated between Tete Jaune Cache and Prince George, south to Soda Creek, and up the Nechako to the site of Vanderhoof. He discusses the three companies running boats on the Upper Fraser: the Fort George Trading and Lumber Company; Foley, Welch and Stewart; and the BX (Barnard's Express) company. His account includes descriptions of the boat schedules and the boats themselves, which operated on the Fraser until 1920. The boats burned wood for fuel and had a crew of about twenty. Some discussion of passengers and freight carried. Stories about the packer Jean Caux, known as "Cataline". [ca. 17 minutes] (3) The final piece is an editorial by Willis about cowboy heroes on radio and television and in movies, as compared to the reality of being a cowboy. [ca. 4 minutes] [TRACK 2: blank.]