The item is a b&w documentary film from ca. 1928. "The Poultry Inspector from the British Columbia Department of Agriculture visits Rose Comb Red Farm and inspects their hens, chicks, cows, pigs and bees. He also visits a Boy's and Girl's Poultry Club in Grindrod, where the school principal has been instrumental in establishing such clubs. Later he visits another mixed farm and looks over 600 Barred Rock chicks. He marks and culls the 'slow featherers' and Looks over the pigs and cows. There is also a [long shot] of the 40-acre orchard." (Colin Browne)

Footage. Various shots of businesses, factories, farming, and social life in the North Okanagan and Shuswap regions. Armstrong shots include: overview of valley, Triangle Poultry Farm, main street businesses, rail yard and station, prosperous family at home, Golden Gate Cafe, Interior Provincial Exhibition livestock competition, horse race, fairgrounds. Enderby footage shows main street, including Sutherland's Bakery and King Edward Hotel, bus on highway, pasturing of cattle, celery packing. Salmon Arm subjects include Safe Community Store and other store fronts, box mill, fruit packing, a bottling plant, a man guzzling soft drinks, men examining a crop field, apple packing, railway station, more packing, Shuswap Lake. Last shots show a display of Okanagan apples and fruit (in the Okanagan or at the PNE, Vancouver?).

The item consists of an audio interview with H.H. Stevens, recorded in 1966.
T0327:0001 summary
Track 1: Mr. Stevens, who came to Vernon in 1894, talks about his early experiences and memories of the Okanagan, including driving the stage from Penticton to Grand Forks in 1897; Camp McKinney; Fairview; Rossland; Phoenix; Greenwood; Grand Forks; Crows Nest Railway; Rock Creek; prospecting and mining and W.R. Meagaw. He describes Vernon; local residents; farms; ranches and the Aberdeen Ranch.
Track 2: Mr. Stevens continues with recollections about the Coldstream Ranch; Okanagan Lake; coming to Vancouver 1901; False Creek; CPR land holdings; real estate boom 1901 to 1912; sawmills and logging; Oppenheimer brothers; local personalities and wholesalers; Victoria wholesalers; North Vancouver ferry; Stewart; and the Dominion Trust Company.

T0327:0002 summary
Track 1: Mr. Stevens speaks about the Dominion Trust Company; the beginning of party politics in BC, 1903; and his election as a federal Conservative MP in 1911. He comments on federal political life; Vancouver in the boom period and depression, from 1911 to 1920; personalities; Alvo von Alvensleben; Hindus; Japanese; wholesalers and the Vancouver Hotel. [Track 2: blank.]

CALL NUMBER: T1085:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-12 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Paddy Acland remembers a few anecdotes about hunting and hiking in the BC interior. He explains how he came out to British Columbia from England after serving with the British Army duri;ng the Boer War. He describes expectations of life in BC and offers comments on the background of his father, John Acland. He arrived in BC in 1908; he describes the appearance of Summerland. He discusses his first jobs in the Okanagan; building his first log cabin; an anecdote about digging a basement for "Old Johnson"; buying and pre empting land in the Okanagan. TRACK 2: Paddy Acland describes the development of his own property near Eneas Lake between Peachland and Summerland. He discusses his first impressions of the Okanagan Valley, coming into it via train and boat. He describes ;the sternwheeler "Aberdeen"; labouring for a tobacco farmer in Kelowna; working for a dairy farmer, the meanest man Mr. Acland had ever met; comments on another employer, named "Fluffy" Williston. Mr. Acland offers further comments on British immigrants who came to the Okanagan during this era.

CALL NUMBER: T1085:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-12 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Paddy Acland mentions his first jobs in the Okanagan, including lumber sorting and surveying. Mr. Acland returned to England for two months, and then returned to the Okanagan. He offers an; anecdote about a man being thrown into Lake Okanagan with all of his belongings, for making a pass at a local girl, and the "rough" justice of the era. More anecdotes about promiscuity between wives; of landed settlers and hired working men. Mr. Acland discusses his marriage to a girl from Summerland, and a digression on the different types of English immigrants, including the class that settled; in Vernon during the early decades of the century, which he found snobbish and pretentious. He describes the mixture of settlers in Kelowna during this era. TRACK 2: Mr. Acland offers comments about the Edgelow family of Kelowna, particularly Mrs. Edgelow, who delighted in shocking Kelowna residents prior to World War I. He comments on the background of the Acland family and offers anecdotes ;about his mother-in-law, Mrs. Hutton of Kelowna, an ardent Catholic convert who often entertained in her large home. He tells a story about an English orchardist who planted his trees upside down, an;d describes dances and social activities in the Okanagan Valley during this era. He describes the growth and development of Summerland during its early years and reflects upon the different currents ;of immigrants and settlers which have made up the fabric of Canadian society.

CALL NUMBER: T1085:0003 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-12 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Paddy Acland discusses some early Okanagan Valley residents. He admits that he joined the Baptist church choir to meet young and single women. He discusses relations with the Indians in the reserve near Summerland; the story of Sam McGee; comments on how the capital of early settlers was used and misused; a recollection of J.M. Robinson; comments on the Manitoba farmers induced to come; to the Okanagan Valley by Robinson; comments on how young men made a living in the Okanagan during this era; a story about the fortunes of three young working men; and comments on the Dominion Experimental Farm at Summerland. TRACK 2: Mr. Acland recalls several characters at Cobble Hill, Duncan, and offers a comparison between Vancouver Island and the Okanagan Valley during the early years of t;he century. He discusses personalities and experiences at Thetis Island; then he tells a story about two young men who shot a policeman in the Okanagan Valley, and were hunted by posses throughout the valley. More comments on English settlers; the story of the Belleview Hotel; anecdotes about the antics at the Belleview Hotel, and a physical description of the hotel.;

CALL NUMBER: T1085:0004 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-12 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Paddy Acland retraces early working experiences and life in the Okanagan Valley. He describes Okanagan Falls around the time of the First World War; the town of Kaleden; a story about Tom E;llis; stories about rattlesnakes; a story about competing in the long jump against an Indian at Penticton; comments about Penticton and Naramata; a description of Peachland; comments about settlements; on the west side of Okanagan Lake; J.C. Dun-Waters and the building of Fintry; dairy farming; comments about the simple funerals of several wealthy Okanagan residents; and an anecdote about the funeral of Matt Wilson. TRACK 2: Mr. Acland recalls his service with a military regiment in the Okanagan Valley; organizational and disciplinary problems with the Okanagan military regiment; military stories and training with different military regiments in BC and eastern Canada.;

CALL NUMBER: T1085:0005 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-12 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Paddy Acland discusses military training and service overseas with a Canadian battalion during the First World War. He offers further recollections of aspects of military training in British Columbia. TRACK 2: Mr. Acland tells a story of bear hunting behind his homestead with a local Indian. He describes his service as a government weed inspector along Lake Okanagan, and tells a story; about entry into the military. He comments about training in the Okanagan and he traces his military career.

CALL NUMBER: T1085:0006 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-12 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Paddy Acland discusses further aspects of his military experience overseas during World War I. TRACK 2: Mr. Acland offers recollections about flying aircraft and training pilots during World War I; returning to the Okanagan Valley after the war; a story about losing his land after the war, and serving as a manager at the Eldorado ranch. Finally, he discusses hard times.

CALL NUMBER: T0612:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Fruit farming in the Penticton area, 1906-1950 PERIOD COVERED: 1906-1950 RECORDED: Penticton (B.C.), 1976 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Harris describes his background: born Oak River, Manitoba, 1910; family to Penticton, BC, 1917. Mr. Harris discusses: the Ellis Ranch; Southern Okanagan Land Company; irrigation of the Penticton area. Details about the construction of early irrigation works, circa 1906 to 1910. Details about irrigation. Thomas Ellis and the Ellis Ranch. Orchard and irrigation work. Varieties of fruit. TRACK 2: More on varieties of fruit. Attitudes and ideas of early orchardists. Learning the fruit business. Insects and pest control. Spraying techniques. Poison problems with insecticides. Changes in the fruit industry. Harris' early memories of fruit farming. Sizes of orchards. Changes in fruit marketing. CALL NUMBER: T0612:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): The Okanagan fruit industry, 1920-1960 PERIOD COVERED: 1920-1960 RECORDED: Penticton (B.C.), 1976 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Harris discusses: the formation of fruit marketing co-operatives after 1920; problems of fruit marketing, 1930s; B.C. Fruit Growers Association; conflicts between growers and shippers; problems of the fruit economy; the seasonal round of work in the fruit industry in the 1920s. TRACK 2: The seasonal round of work (cont'd). Holidays and celebrations. August heat. Mosquitoes. Orchard workers. (End of interview)

Stock shots. Compiled from the outs of sundry Parry productions, these rolls include footage of cannery operations, cattle ranching, farming, fishing, a foundry, logging, pipe laying, powerhouse and power line construction (Kemano), sawmilling and shipping. In addition, there are such sequences as an amphibious aircraft landing on a lake and taxiing onto land; a CPA DC-8 airliner taking off and in flight; Kelowna's Royal Anne Hotel; CPR locomotive 374 (retired) at Kitsilano Park; Mission Dam; Okanagan Valley apple blossoms; Rocky Mountain scenery and locales; Stanley Park; a fire in a Vancouver shipyard; and Vancouver's streets, skyline & waterfront. 76.3 has some particularly good mid-1950s Vancouver street scenes (with newsboys hawking papers on busy streets), as well as good footage of the waterfront and docks, various cargoes being loaded or unloaded, etc.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-05-16 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Richard Mellish talks about growing up in the Armstrong/Grandview Flat area, 1896 to 1910. He describes how he came to Kelowna from P.E.I. with his family in 1896, when he was six, including details of his arrival and the school and farm there; he moved to Grandview Flat, and he describes the farmland there. including crops and orchards and livestock; he also discusses settlers in the area; the Seventh Day Adventists; community life; stories about Frank Eden from Barkerville; the Evans; a story about a doctor going to help his mother; riding horses at Round Lake, and a friend who; drowned there; dances; stories about his schoolteacher; the development of and comments about Armstrong, and stories about Indians. [TRACK 2: blank.]

CALL NUMBER: T1072:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-02-28 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Ronald Helmer talks about agriculture and life in the Okanagan, 1900 to 1910. He explains how he came to Canada; incidents on the train; his arrival in the Okanagan; his impressions of ;the valley and of the people and the economic situation; cooperatives; the Combines Act; why he came to BC; his arrival in Vernon and going to see W.C. Ricardo; fruit growing at that time; odd jobs; Coldstream Ranch; the Indian hop pickers; an incident with an Indian in a store; and how people were trustworthy. TRACK 2: Mr. Helmer offers an anecdote about two men in Kamloops; banquets at bull sales in Kamloops; an anecdote about the bull sale committee; the development of irrigation; financial problems over irrigation; irrigation districts; irrigation systems; a man shot over stealing irrigation water in 1913 or 1915; remittance men in general, and a story about one in particular.

CALL NUMBER: T1072:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-02-28 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Helmer discusses early jobs; working on CPR lots at Summerland; working for fruit farmer R.H. Agur at Summerland; work with the government fruit inspector; he became the first superintendent; the Summerland Dominion Experimental Farm in 1914; a story of a trip to Penticton by wagon; work at an experimental farm working on tomato growing and fruit experiments; World War I and seed production; the importance of the experimental farm to the valley; and the Okanagan Horticultural Club. TRACK 2: Mr. Helmer discusses the organization of Chautauquas; a discussion of varieties of apples; the development of strains of apples including Delicious and McIntosh; grape growing; varieties; illustration farms; cover crops; vegetable growing; tomatoes; big influx of people from 1900 to 1910; other fruit experiments.

CALL NUMBER: T1072:0003 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-02-28 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Helmer compares fruit to vegetable growing; and discusses fertilizer salesmen; cover crops; ploughing; the people who came out to grow fruit; types of fruit grown in various parts of the Okanagan; winter kill; a story about the Bank of Montreal in Vernon and banker G.A. Henderson; steamboats on Okanagan Lake; how Mr. Helmer left the experimental farm; work on a stock farm at Nicola; running for office for Kamloops and Yale and losing. [TRACK 2: blank.]

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-03-15 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Victor MacDonald discusses traveling across Canada to Chilliwack in 1897; various jobs he held; incidents and memories of Chilliwack and Five Corners; recollections; living in the Okanagan in 1903; other employment; Morris Valley; stories about Dick Ward. TRACK 2: Mr. MacDonald continues with stories about Dick Ward; Sasquatch stories; Morris Valley life; farming; families; Morris Creek school; preachers and churches; Fraser River boats; the fire in New Westminster.