RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-09-10 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. A.W. Lymbery remembers his first years at Gray Creek. He came to BC in 1911 from Nottingham; England and he discusses the reasons why. He discusses his view that Canadian games and sports are disappointing. He discusses Government relations; the decision to settle at Gray Creek; building a house and making a living; Sir John Wilmot's, a local landowner's, place; the naming of Gray Creek; early settlement and the Gray Creek regatta. Then Mrs. K. Lymbery talks about early English settlers. She came from England in 1919 and she describes the journey in; the monetary system; roads; early fruit farming and early days. [TRACK 2: blank.]

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-09-11 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. George Oliver recalls the early years at Gray Creek. His parents came from England in 1888 and moved to Gray Creek in 1906. They purchased land from a real estate agent in Winnipeg; the large ranch on the other side of the creek. The lived on the first ranch from 1906 to 1929. He discusses the background of their farm land; the Kootenays not as rich as the Okanagan; change from fruit to subsistence farming; fruit prices in the early years; secondary sources of income; English immigrants such as Harry Mawdsley; and experiences exploring the mountains. [TRACK 2: blank.]

CALL NUMBER: T0934:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-09-08 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Harry Mawdsley talks about life in the Kootenay Lake region prior to 1900. He describes his family background and how he came to Crawford Bay in 1895. He discusses steamers; Crawford Bay in 1895; packing from Crawford Bay; trails; more about packing and adventures while packing; Silver Hill Mine; ore shipped to Nelson; Pilot Bay and Marysville smelters; lead and zinc separation; Pilot Bay and Crawford Bay settlement, and Gray Creek. TRACK 2: He continues with more on Silver Hill Mine and Rainville; parties; bringing in the first plough to Crawford Bay; his father-in-law, Alfred McClellan, at Pilot Bay; the sinking of the "Ainsworth"; races between the CPR and GN boats; Jean Montreuil; Dave Clarke; Morice; the railroad; the "Kuskanook"; more about the railroad; and grizzly hunting near Crawford Bay.

CALL NUMBER: T0934:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-09-08 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Mawdsley describes an incident while packing on St. Mary's trail; Charlie Sherwin; Ainsworth; practical jokes; hotels; mining; Nelson; Kaslo; Slocan; Fort Steele; St. Eugene Mission; more; about Fort Steele; CPR boats in the East Kootenays. [TRACK 2: blank.]

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1966-01-30 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. and Mrs. Clark recall Gray Creek and the area from 1912 to 1920. Mr. Leonard Clark describes how he came to California and then on to BC in 1912; he purchased land at Gray Creek and worked on fruit farm development until 1914; the Gray Creek settlement as it was in 1912; returning to Gray Creek in 1919; the Smith family; Boswell; Crawford Bay; Nelson; and Doukhobors. Mrs. Katherine; Clark then discusses how Crawford Bay is also know as 'Dogpatch'; the people around Crawford Bay; Boswell; Gray Creek; Bill Fraser; Mrs. Russel; 'Ma' Fournier; Oscar Burden; the attitude of hotel owners; Crawford Bay's Commander Harrison; the population of Crawford Bay and more about 'Ma' Fournier. TRACK 2: Mrs. Clark continues with more on Oscar Burden's houseboat; her family, the Smiths, who ;arrived at Grey Creek in 1914; her first impressions; the journey; entertaining; the Gray Creek population was predominantly bachelors; Colin Hadden; Len Clark's place; a horse back riding tour with Mrs. Wakefield in 1915; R.T. Deane and the effect of the countryside.

The sub-series consists of oral history interviews recorded in the Kootenay Lake region and mainly dealing with the history of that region from the 1830s to the 1960s, as well as the history of some communities in the Arrow Lakes and East Kootenay regions.

CALL NUMBER: T0904:0001 - 0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-09-10 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Margaret F. Draper remembers her childhood at Crawford Bay. She offers her memories of coming out to Canada in 1905 as a child on the SS "Vancouver" from Liverpool; her adventures on the train from Montreal to Winnipeg; her parents deciding to come to Nelson; her father, Frederick W. Simpson, bought land at Crawford Bay; reasons for coming to Canada and why they had to stay; her father was a school teacher and her mother, Eve Simpson, was a nurse. She describes her mother and Edith Cavell and the World War I soldiers' tuberculosis sanitariums at Balfour, B.C., from 1917 to 1918. Her mother found the adjustment to the new life in Canada difficult; no servants. Their house burned down in 1908; her father had a private income; bought land at Crawford Bay and she describes the move from Nelson to Crawford Bay. TRACK 2: Mrs. Draper continues with the family's move to Crawford Bay; her first days at Crawford Bay; Jack Horton and his family; starting school; her father was a volunteer teacher; the development of the Crawford Bay settlement; remittance men; Commander and Mrs. Harrison; the first years of fruit growing; Kootenay Indians; Pete and Martha who were two Kootenay Indians; and the Gray Creek settlement.

CALL NUMBER: T0904:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-09-10 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Draper continues with more on Kootenay Indians, such as their clothing and details about trapping; Edward "Teddy" Wakefield's store; the Farmer's Institute in 1914; the impact of World War I; the impact of the Depression; the highway; 1947 steamers and tugboats on Kootenay Lake; regattas and races; the Pilot Bay community; the family named their farm St. Dunstan's Ranch after a boys' school in England; the Burden and Watson sawmill in 1908; clearing land; George Zimmer; August "Gus" Hout and more on Teddy Wakefield. TRACK 2: Mrs. Draper concludes with a description of how William "Will" Bayliss captures everyday events in cartoons; an anecdote about "greenhorns"; recreation and amusements; boats from Gray Creek are described; tragedies; nostalgia; no church at Crawford Bay; weddings; Mr. William Goodwin; her father's death; her father in World War I, in Bonnington Falls and Field BC; a prisoner of war story; her mother as a nurse in the Crawford Bay area; and Eugene "Gene" Montreuil.