CALL NUMBER: T3217:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1978 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Don MacLaren discusses: background- born in Ottawa, moved to Calgary in 1898, went to McGill University in 1912, joined Royal Flying Corps in Toronto in 1917, with air force until 1920; locating seaplane station at Jericho Beach; fisheries patrol, forestry work done by seaplane station; 1924, he decided to go into business himself -- bought a seaplane, took over Jericho Beach station, bought a flying boat; at this time, the air board became the Royal Canadian Airforce; got fisheries contract from military; partner at the time of Ernest Rogers; cost of buying good new planes- Fokkers, Fairchilds, Junkers; decided to sell company to Western Canadian Airways, but he stayed on; opened base in False Creek area and business started- taxi service to anywhere in province, 2 trips a day to Seattle; passenger load of planes at the time; jobs done- carrying miners up north, ridding the hemlock of an inch worm, dealing with a spruce budworm up north, ambulance cases, photography for timber cruisers, fishery patrol, mail contract. TRACK 2: Don MacLaren discusses: getting the mail contract (cont'd); navigation in the 1920s and '30s; differences between types of planes; training he received at Long Branch; bush pilot business; the Aero Club of B.C.; anecdote about a military parade; Burns Lake operation. CALL NUMBER: T3217:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1978 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Don MacLaren discusses: the emergence of Canadian Airways; training pilots in Winnipeg; communication on airplanes in mid 1920s- no reliable radio; more about the Aero Club; Sea Island story; difficulty in convincing people that airplanes were a good form of transportation; H.R. MacMillan; near accident anecdote. TRACK 2: Don MacLaren discusses: difficulties with injured people in the bush; round-the-world flights; lack of training caused the downfall of some operations; problem of landing on glassy water; difference between bush flights and commercial flights; experiences in the Queen Charlottes; pilchard patrol story; relationship between CNR and the airline; Grant McConnachie; story about Paddy Burke. CALL NUMBER: T3217:0003 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1978 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Don MacLaren discusses: more on the Paddy Burke crash story; no search-and-rescue formal operation until the war; McAlpin expedition; gliding; more on the Aero Club of B.C. (End of interview)

CALL NUMBER: T1983:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Don Watt : medical missionary work, United Church PERIOD COVERED: 1940-1960 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1976-01-16 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Personal background in Ontario; medical positions held; Skidegate Inlet, 1946; Queen Charlotte Hospital, 1955; type of medical work there, coronary work; life style in the Queen Charlottes; influence of church on Dr. Watt; effects of United Church medical work; Bella Bella, 1942 -1960, large growth; tuberculosis in BC; Port Simpson Hospital; types of medical problems in United Church Hosp;itals. TRACK 2: Christianity and medicine; income of United Church doctors; payment other than money; income tax; Government subsidy for rural isolated doctors; payment for services; regional hospital districts; United Church and government takeover of Bella Bella Hospital; penicillin; x-ray equipment; technical advances in rural medicine; satellite communication.;

CALL NUMBER: T1983:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Don Watt; Medical Missionary Work, United Church PERIOD COVERED: 1940-1976 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1976-01-16 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Dr. Hugh McGuire, an outstanding surgeon from Alabama with futuristic ideas for rural medicine; liaison between city and country; United Church involvement; use of specialist from UBC Faculty of Medicine for medical programs; veterinary experiences. TRACK 2: Humourous veterinary experiences; work anecdotes; Red Cross; Indians in society; birth control; sterilization; abortion.

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Dorothy Richardson's life in the Queen Charlottes and her family's involvement in its development PERIOD COVERED: 1908-1969 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1969 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Dorothy R. Richardson speaks about her family history, her grandfather (Willliam Leary) who came to the Queen Charlotte Islands in 1908, her father (Richard Husband), her family, growing up and the Depression era. She describes early memories of the Tlell, Skidegate area, residents, the Eric Ross family, settlements, the Husband family, their cattle ranch, problems with cattle in the area; and "Mexican Tom". She also comments about current conditions, roads, schooling, neighboring communities, "St. Mary's Spring", local jobs and unions. TRACK 2: Dorothy Richardson is interviewed standing outside on her property in Tlell; she speaks about the weather, roads, local conditions, the surrounding property, sport fishing, gardening, local Haida names for the area, beachcombing and other residents.

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Doug Leach and his family's impressions and activities on the Queen Charlotte Islands RECORDED: Tlell (B.C.), 1969 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Doug Leach speaks about his family and their activities on the Queen Charlotte Islands, food gardening and living on the islands, Mrs. Leach, sounds of life on the islands, types of animals and crops raised, reasons for settling and establishing the "Island Observer". Mrs. Leach speaks about her impressions and her family, schooling and changes on the islands. Tom and Richard Leach speak ;about growing up on the islands.

RECORDED: [location unknown], [1969?] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: This tape was recorded on a windy beach in the Queen Charlotte Islands. An unidentified Haida woman is interviewed about the process of collecting and drying kelp for the herring spawn; and various methods used to prepare it to eat. [TRACK 2: blank.]

RECORDED: [location unknown], [196-?] SUMMARY: In an oral history interview with Imbert Orchard, Dwyer Brown of Skidegate discusses Copper River [i.e., Copper Bay?]; how to make a traditional cedar canoe, using axe, adze and steam; the seasons of ;the "Indian year"; camping in the abandoned Haida villages of Cumshewa and Skedans; totem poles in the old villages; etc. The last tape ends with 5-6 minutes of recorded sounds, including: a ferry or fishing boat, approaching and in the distance; footsteps on a dock; boat engine sounds; distant explosion. [Note: This summary is based on incomplete notes in the file.]

CALL NUMBER: T3215:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1978 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Earl MacLeod discusses: anecdote about flying with Alan in the summer of 1923; first job at Jericho Beach was riding a three track tractor for the air board; describes first plane he ever saw; training to be a Royal Naval Air Service officer in Halifax; sent to central France; instruction in the air given through a one-way telephone from the instructor in the front cockpit to the student in the rear cockpit; more on his WW I service; story about narcotic trafficking; anecdote about bootleg retailers. TRACK 2: Earl MacLeod discusses: surveying in southern British Columbia mountain ranges; making a mosaic of the Vancouver Harbour for geodetic surveying; researching a timber disease for the Department of Agriculture in 1922 -- story about lead researcher Dave Davidson; trip to Harrison Hot Springs; recounts names of some of his more prominent passengers; use of his aircraft for Department of Fisheries; landing in the Queen Charlottes -- response to plane, story of taking Chief Edenshaw up in the air. CALL NUMBER: T3215:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1978 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Earl MacLeod discusses: story of Major MacLaren; expansion of air mapping in the 1920s and 1930s; describes the rules established in 1914 by the Military Division No. II Victoria, which accepted responsibility for aviation in British Columbia; first airmail between Canada and the U.S. was in 1919; assisting Colonel E.L. Broom in organizing a Vickers Vulture around the World flight, flown by A.S.C. MacLaren and W.N. Plenderleith -- story behind this adventure; using pigeons in the early days of flying -- one pigeon on each plane in case of problems; records MacLeod set while flying; the Canadian Air Board -- carried out civilian duties under its auspices. TRACK 2: Earl MacLeod: reads a message carried by pigeon from Cultus Lake to air station in Vancouver; anecdote about a neighbour using a telescope to watch him land his plane; situation in Kamloops in 1921; convincing the government of the necessity of the Canadian Air Board; he helped select the base at Jericho Beach; Joe Hobbs. (End of interview)

CALL NUMBER: T1155:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Eric Ross recalls the changes in mining, fishing and logging since 1937 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1969 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Eric Ross speaks about his childhood on the Queen Charlotte Islands, the family homestead, other residents in the area (Southeast Harbour, Tlell), farming and oxen. He compares early and pre;sent-day logging methods and operations, equipment, location of logging sites and mills. TRACK 2: Mr. Ross talks about historic and modern mining operations in Jedway and Tasu, iron ore and copper deposits, the fishing industry, canneries -- changes in methods and operations, fish and shellfish stock and whaling stations. He describes modern settlements at: Masset, Port Clements, Juskatla, Tlell, Skidegate, Queen Charlotte, Sandspit, Moresby and Tasu.

CALL NUMBER: T1155:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Eric Ross describes geography, wildlife, people, and general situation in the Queen Charlottes RECORDED: [location unknown], 1969 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Eric Ross describes the geography and location of the Queen Charlotte Islands, physical attributes, terrain, geology, lakes, the coastline, west coast, appearance, sounds, vegetation, climate, winds, waves, earthquakes and argillite deposits. TRACK 2: Eric Ross speaks about the local wildlife, the importation of deer, black bear, birds, the islanders, changes, transportation, the local population, prospecting, community organizations, the DND facility in Masset, Indian and white integrated education, the local school board and effects of modern civilization on the islands.

RECORDED: [location unknown], [196-] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Eva Marie Sweeney (daughter of Captain Victor Jacobson) discusses her father's life beginning with a club that he founded in 1936 after he retired from a life at sea; he died at 97 in 1949. She describes his birth in Finland and his childhood, coming to Victoria. She discusses his experiences on sealing schooners which led him to get his own schooner called, "The Mountain Chief", and other boats he owned, details about a ship called "Thermopylae". She tells a story about her father's sealing expedition in the Bering Sea when Americans seized Canadian ships and tells another story about a boat her father bought that was chartered by Robert Louis Stevenson for the sealing trade. She describes other boats he owned, living aboard the boats, the process of selling seal skins and having to pay Indian hunters in gold. She tells how later her father went into the real estate then reverts to more stories about sealing days including interactions and relationships with Indians. TRACK 2: Eva Marie Sweeny continues with more stories about experiences in the Bering Sea including one where Captain Jacobsen broke his jaw and another about the cat on the ship, about Indian superstitions and an encounter with an octopus. She tells about her grandmother who came from Sweden when she was 70 and went fishing in a sealing boat. She recalls the time her father brought home a baby seal as a pet, the Rogers family of Rogers Chocolates, and a freighting trip her father took to the Queen Charlotte Islands in 1912.

SUMMARY: Presumably location sounds recorded for use in Imbert Orchard's radio documentary "Far Western Islands" (about life on the Queen Charlotte Islands). The sounds include: a motorboat; welcome song; chopping with an adze; and bells (2 versions).

Records depict logging operations of J.C. and C.A. Fields of Victoria, B.C. John Cass Fields and Charles Arthur Fields operated a timber cruising operation on the Queen Charlotte Islands, holding at least 31 timber licenses there.

The images were most likely taken for publicity efforts ca.1909-1917 on Moresby Island.

CALL NUMBER: T4255:0086 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Fish boats #1 : Masset SUMMARY: [No content information available.]

CALL NUMBER: T4255:0087 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Fish boats #2 : Masset : sound SUMMARY: [No content information available.]