Railroads--British Columbia--Okanagan

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Railroads--British Columbia--Okanagan

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Railroads--British Columbia--Okanagan

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Railroads--British Columbia--Okanagan

6 Archival description results for Railroads--British Columbia--Okanagan

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Arthur A. Stiffe interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1979-10-09 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: In an interview with Robert Turner, Arthurs Stiffe discusses his memories of the Kettle Valley Railway, World War I, and general biographic material: his mother dying when he was 14 and being responsible for caring for 4 younger siblings; living with his father at Naramata and starting on the railway; describes the gang who worked on this railroad -- about 80 men; anecdotes about the Italian workers; role of jackmen; description of how railway track is laid. Mr. Stiffe then looks at pictures and identifies individuals, locations, and items in them. Further description of the rail laying process; spiking. First passenger train went through this area in 1915. Explains process of ballasting and how big rocks were moved. [Remainder of interview not transcribed.]

H.V. "Paddy" Acland interview

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.

J.B. Knowles interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1955 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. James Bacon Knowles discusses the development of Kelowna from 1905; the coming of the railways; aquatic associations; the water supply; ferry service; the civic centre and city parks. TRACK 2: Mr. Knowles discusses the first white men in the Okanagan in 1811; details of their travels; the Okanagan brigade trail; fur trading in the area; mining around Rock Creek; Father Pandosy and the first white settlement in the valley; other early settlers; transportation; land development; Mr. Knowles' arrival in the area; his first impressions of Kelowna in 1905; Kelowna people; orchards in the area; the development of Kelowna; recreation; social life; the Guisachan property at Kelowna and more on Guisachan Ranch.;

Maria MacDonald interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-11 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Maria MacDonald talks about early days in the Armstrong area, 1885 to 1900. She discusses how she was born in Granville; Quebec; why and how her father came to BC; his background; rail;road work; a trip to the Okanagan from Nicomen; first impressions of the valley; Lansdowne; Enderby; her father's work on a boat owned by R.P. Rithet; how her husband walked in from Vancouver in 1889; her husband's work; pioneer life; the railway and Armstrong; Robert Wood; her father's work on a sternwheeler; fruit farms; her house; and development in the area. [TRACK 2: blank.]

R.E. Gamman interview

CALL NUMBER: T0322:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-15 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Robert E. Gamman recalls life in the Okanagan; 1908 to 1914. He describes how he came to the Okanagan in 1908 via the U.S.; odd jobs in Vernon; trapping; J.M. Robinson and Naramata; land dealings; irrigation; life as a greenhorn in a cabin; the man who lent him the cabin; "real men"; a story of a man who froze to death on a trail; Nahun Landing; trapping in the Monashee area; the story of how he came to Naramata; work there and surveying. TRACK 2: Mr. Gamman describes early days in Naramata; survey work in the South Okanagan; an encounter with wild cattle; Mrs. Kruger and her boys; hospitality then as compared to today; Okanagan Falls; packing into Camp McKinney; the story of Arnott, who had owned the site of Kaleden, and his partner Bill Hines; their ranch; other characters; a visit from a game warden regarding deer; and the town of Fairview.

CALL NUMBER: T0322:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-15 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Gamman describes surveying and the construction of the Kettle Valley Railway; accidents; survey work; work in Northern BC; surveying the watershed of Deadman River; an anecdote about the; beginning of World War I; Kelowna and remittance men, including one who pretended to own a ranch; a description of Kelowna; Vernon; bad debts back then; other people such as Tommy Wilmot and Paddy Acland; early days in Penticton; Naramata; more on J.M. Robinson who was "a real pioneer"; early growth in Naramata and irrigation. TRACK 2: Mr. Gamman tells stories of people in Naramata; development ;in Naramata over World War I; land between there and Penticton; his own early life there; the Green family of Green Mountain; a story about getting locked up overnight in Kelowna; various odd jobs such as prospecting and pruning trees.

Reid Johnston interview

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Railroading in B.C. : Reid Johnston RECORDED: [location unknown], 1980-01-23 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: In an interview with Robert Turner, Reid Johnston discusses his memories of railroading: background -- born 1893 in Washington state; spent much of his early life in California; became office boy at Nakusp for the CPR at age 16; after a year, he became a station agent at Halcyon Hot Springs for 8 years; then worked in telegraph agency in Kelowna, then Penticton; becoming a brake man; returning to being dispatcher at a number of different stations; retiring in Summerland; becoming magistrate; became president of CPR pioneers association; describes operation at Nakusp, Hotsprings, Penticton braking experience, job at Nicola, night shift in Merritt; his love of telegraphing; living in a box car at Beaverdell; anecdote about mixed-up caskets in Summerland. TRACK 2: Mr. Johnston discusses: working at Coalmont; disaster at Coalmont after he left were 13 men were killed; working at Summerland -- Japanese community, large amounts of fruit being shipped, mostly handled passenger traffic; he had 1200 employees under his jurisdiction at one point; union politics; jobs in railroading dropped severely in later years; opinion of CPR as employer; later life; sale of property; story of a robbery of a safe in Summerland. (End of interview)