Case files and related correspondence.

Amateur film. "Road sign: 'Source of the Columbia River. Prevent Forest Fires.' Pan across end of Columbia Lake and snow-capped hills. Columbia Lake in winter. Wild swans on Columbia Lake - summer - they take off and fly away. [Long shot of] Kimberley Mines. Crowsnest Mountain. Locomotive with several long ore cars and caboose passing by, with forest in [background]. Paving at Fernie. Men working with truck dumping gravel into a paving attachment moving slowly along the road. Different view of Crowsnest Mountain. Frank Slide, camera follows course of slide down mountain. Small rock bluff with vehicles beside it -- paving at Michel. Crusher at Mud Creek. Mixers at Spring Brook. Mud Creek: a frog, a porcupine and a deer. Scenic shot of mountain in Fall. Moyie Lake. Reflection of mountain on Moyie Lake. Crooked Tree Camp in mountains. Jack and Yorky. Shovel working at Windermere cut, with two trucks in attendance. Shovel working in a deep, sandy pit with trucks. Carryall in pit. Truck moving along road away from camera. Truck dumping fill onto road. Bulldozer, shovel, trucks assembled and working at pit. Several shots of bulldozer pushing fill around, shovel in [foreground]. [Close-up of] shovel at work. [Close-up of] cat at work. [Close-up of] shovel at edge of Columbia River in preparation for crossing. Shovel ploughing through water across the river." (Colin Browne)

Travelogue. From Revelstoke to Golden over the Big Bend Highway, and south to the U.S. border and Creston, with views of Kootenay and Yoho National Parks and southeastern BC. Footage of interest includes: Revelstoke station and rail yards with locomotives; coal mines and miners at Fernie; coke ovens at Michel; farming in Creston area.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-04 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Pasquale Baratelli came from northern Italy; mined for a few months then became section foreman for Spokane International Construction owned by D.C. Corbin; was a tracklayer at the Corbin; mine; Corbin is described as being better than Michel due to higher pay and steady work; Corbin was a safe mine; strike at Corbin in 1935; a dispute between tunnel miners and truck drivers; police fr;om Vancouver were brought in; seventy-five people injured and three killed in one night. Then Mrs. Baratelli describes how she came out from northern Italy in 1911; she valued the freedom of Canada; ;in 1930 a large fire burnt out the whole area but missed the town; Spokane International closed down in 1935; CM & S leased it for a few years during WWII. [TRACK 2: blank.]

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-03 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Robert Winstanley describes the Michel Mine through the eyes of the local magistrate; came to Michel from Staffordshire in 1912; Michel established in 1898 when Crowsnest railroad came through; many miners earned money and bought farms; Mr. Winstanley was the timekeeper at the mine, and later was in charge of the office; at first he had difficulty understanding the many other English; dialects he encountered at Michel; many different ethnic groups; Italians were the largest; little opportunities for young people at Michel; mining going downhill since the twenties; Michel considered a safe mine. TRACK 2: Local labour relations were always good; big strikes in 1911 and 1919; it is Michel's coal production and the market for it in Trail which has enabled Michel to survive; Mr. Winstanley was the magistrate for thirty years; less camaraderie among miners now.

CALL NUMBER: T0889:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-04 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Tom Gorrie recalls coal mining hazards and the Fernie fire: came from Dumfermline in June 1902; worked in various coal mining towns around Fernie from 1903 to 1907; in 1907, bought Coal Creek Dairy; in 1909, did assessing for CPR, their cook quit; he was made the new cook and has been doing it ever since; description of different gasses and explosions in coal mines; the Chinese at Michel; the loop. TRACK 2: Mr. Gorrie describes the system by which each miner had his backhand abolished in 1905 [?]; the 1903 strike at Morrissey, and how the workers ended up going back to work for; less wages than they were making before the strike; the magistrate read the riot act at the strike; a detailed description of the 1908 fire; becoming a cook at Elk Valley; various old timers and boot;legging.;

CALL NUMBER: T0889:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-04 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Gorrie continues with more on bootlegging; a twenty dollar case of whiskey could bring one hundred dollars at the border; one hundred and fifty dollars further south; an anecdote about a ;close call with a Montana Sheriff on his last whisky run; Fred Roo, who ran the store at Roosville and Elko; how Indians today are not "the same class" as Indians before; an anecdote about when he had; a bottle of whisky stolen from him in a reserve and he was fined forty dollars for carrying liquor through a reserve. [TRACK 2: blank.]