Item T1096:0001 - 0002 - Garnet Willis interview

CALL NUMBER: T1096:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-05-28 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Garnet E. Willis talks about his father and the people of the Chilliwack and the Similkameen region, 1894 to 1916. He describes how his family farmed near Sardis; what Chilliwack was like in his youth; steamboats on the Fraser; Harrison House; hard work on farms; school days; stories about Bill Miner; stories about John Ryder and his family; the Nelson brothers; how his father hauled freight; his father's background with the fur brigade; a discussion of the brigade route; details of his father's travels in Fort Garry, California and BC; his father's claims in the Cariboo; how his father logged on the present site of Vancouver; and John Beatty. TRACK 2: Mr. Willis continues with a story about an old man; the circumstances by which he came to the Similkameen area with his father in 1914; an anecdote about his father and the farm at Sumas; a comparison of Chilliwack and Similkameen areas; cattle and cattle drives over the Dewdney Trail; several stories about travels on the Hope Trail; a discussion of Herman Grell, known as "Shorty" Dunn; Jack Budd; and train robber Bill Miner.

CALL NUMBER: T1096:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-05-28 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Willis continues with more on Shorty Dunn of Bill Miner's gang; a story about Pat Kennedy of Princeton; Jim Slater; a story about Charlie Rheinhardt; Price Chandler; the beginning of Keremeos; Keremeos centre; the town of Loomis, Washington; a description of Princeton in 1913; Bill Allison; Mr. Willis' own place near Princeton; several stories about August Carlson; a story about Steve Mangat; the Olalla Mine; other mines and drilling. TRACK 2: Mr. Willis offers a story about Duncan Woods of the Hedley Mascot Mine; a discussion of his wife's uncle, a packer named John Worth; Bill Bristol and his stopping house east of Hope; a discussion of "Colonel" Robert Stevenson and his tall stories; a story about tracking lost cattle; more about Stevenson; more about Jack Budd and Bill Miner; and a story about a foot race in Montana.