Amateur film. Travel footage showing places and scenery in British Columbia's southern interior, including the Okanagan, Boundary, Arrow Lakes, Slocan, Shuswap, Nicola and Big Bend regions. Also includes footage showing activities in Zeballos and vicinity during the gold rush there: mining, community celebrations and sports, a flood, and various transport aircraft serving the area. There is also footage showing logging operations, presumably on Vancouver Island.

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): The Real William "Billy" Barker of Barkerville : talk by Dorothy Sweet RECORDED: Victoria (B.C.), 1987-01-13 SUMMARY: In a talk to the Victoria Historical Society, Dorothy Sweet discusses her research into the genealogy of "Billy" Barker of Barkerville.;

SUMMARY: Earl Weston provides a running commentary on the amateur film "[Bralorne Mines, ca. 1955]", shot by C.B. Cunningham. The film shows the mine and concentrator at Bralorne, and depicts the techniques of; refining gold, pouring gold bricks, and assaying them. Weston's commentary explains the processing of the gold, as well as technical terms, and names the people seen in the film.;

The item is a documentary made around 1936 by the Government of British Columbia. It shows "a detailed look at one of the government camps set up during the Depression to keep young men occupied and teach them some skills and optimism. Instructor Ben Barlow points out wing dam, comstock, flumes, pressure tank and sluice boxes with various riffles and grids. As well, young men are shown rocking and panning for gold in the black sand that gathers after sluicing. Each scene includes many shots of young men working on Emory Creek, pushing boulders around, staggering about in rushing water. Also shown are daily lectures in mining theory, held by Barlow, and various comic scenes about the cookhouse with chefs and methods of cooking in the woods. Good [close-up] of Ben Barlow. Young men playing baseball alongside railway." (Colin Browne)

CALL NUMBER: T0305:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-03-08 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Ernest "Ernie" Fredrick Lang talks about the Keithley Creek area, and recalls his experiences as a German immigrant before World War I. An unidentified woman speaks for about three minutes. Then, Lang describes how he came to Canada in 1912, homesteaded and worked in mines. He mined in the area until 1940. He tells a story about going down Fraser River on a scow and finding a dead man in the mountains. He describes the countryside of the Quesnel Highlands and talks about Bob Borland, Jim Adams and the Mile Tunnel. Then he discusses Mrs. Lee who grazed sheep in the hills before an unidentified man and woman speak again for about three more minutes.

TRACK 2: Lang discusses his background and experiences in Germany, coming to North America, hard times and experiences in New York, coming to Canada as an immigrant labourer, working on a farm near Brantford, Ontario, and coming to BC to work on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad. Then he tells a story of a journey through the woods in winter and an elaboration of the story about traveling the Fraser River on a scow.

CALL NUMBER: T0305:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-03-08 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Lang describes working on a farm near 153 Mile House, incidents evolving out of the language barrier, working for Louis Corsina at 153 Mile House, stories about being a German in Canada during World War I, activities in the area of South Fort George circa 1915, mining at 20 Mile House, mining at Keithley Creek, gold in the old river channels and more on mining up to 1925.

TRACK 2: Mr. Lang describes early gold mining in the area between 1860 and 1880, Jim Adams and the Mile Tunnel at Snowshoe Creek, Keithley Creek, staking claims in the snow, the Barkerville Road, the effect WWII had on mining and economics, gold fever, encounters with bears, settlement at Likely and Quesnel Forks, an encounter with a cougar and his wife's death.

The item is an audio recording of an interview with Gilbert Forbes in 1976.
T0330:0001 track 1: Mr. Forbes discusses his background: born in 1889 at 100 Mile House; father was a rancher; moved to 122 Mile (Lac La Hache) in 1893; family ran the 122 Mile House as a ranch and a stopping house on the Cariboo road. The operation of a stopping house. School. Worked for Bank of British North America in Ashcroft, ca. 1906-08. Worked with Frank Swannell survey party, 1908. Experiences while working with Swannell in Nechako region. T0330:0001 track 2: More about surveying with Swannell. Worked on mining construction, 1909-10. Mining camp conditions. Trip to South America, 1912-13. Anecdotes about Forbes' trip in Argentina, Bermuda and the United States and his return to Lac La Hache, 1913. Anecdote about the death of "Bugs" at Lac La Hache, 1906.

T0330:0002 track 1: Worked on his father's ranch at 122 Mile House, 1913-22. Freight hauling on the Cariboo Road declines after 1919. Worked at Cedar Creek gold mine, 1922-23. Gold mining in the Cariboo region. Ranched and had a trap line during the Depression. Building with logs. Ranched during the 1940s.
T0330:0002 track 2: Brief account of activities in 1950s. Early freighters on the Cariboo Road described. Anecdotes about the teamsters on the Cariboo Road. Anecdotes about gambling. Preachers. (End of interview)