CALL NUMBER: T2792:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Harry Brown's family; Dairy farming in the Fraser Valley before the Depression; selling milk to individual buyers; organisation of Fraser Valley Milk Producers; moving to the Cariboo, Likely; and Horsefly; ranching in Beaver Valley during the 1940s; what the place was like when he bought it; getting the ranch going; haying; feeding cattle; daily chores and routine; milking cows and shipping; cream to Williams Lake and Quesnel. TRACK 2: Ranching Beaver Valley; leisure time in the winter; feeding cattle in the winter; travel by horse and cutter in winter time; condition of roads; cattle drives to Williams Lake; Williams Lake in the 1940s; operating a general store in Horsefly in the 1950s; managing a men's clothing store in Williams Lake; Horsefly in the early 1940s; the general store in Horsefly from 1950 to 1958. CALL NUMBER: T2792:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977 SUMMARY: Harry talks about his years living in the Corner House, a large rambling log house in the centre of Horsefly; taking in boarders; feeding people; the General Store in Horsefly in the 1950s; bringing in beer for the local population; Niquidet's freight line from Williams Lake to Horsefly in the 1950s; customers; trappers, hunters, locals, tourists, forestry people; store goods; on the ranch in Beaver Valley; chores, fencing, irrigation; buying seed; pigs; the log home that was on the place when Harry moved in; building a barn; comparison between farming in the Fraser Valley and the Cariboo; winter on the ranch; Melba's father, Harry's father-in-law; food on the ranch.

CALL NUMBER: T1657:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-05-02 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Weaver recounts his parents' arrival in Vancouver from Cheshire; England in 1887; his grandfather [Woodward] was already living in BC; his family later moved to Delta in 1894. He discuss;es early life on the family farm; schooling; game; draining and preparation of the land; mud shoes for the horses; ploughing; soil conditions; drinking water; crops; Brackman and Ker; transportation; ;roads; schooling; other settlers; the McKee family; farm produce; West Delta settlement; flooding and dyking. TRACK 2 Mr. Weaver continues his discussion about the dredging operation; the Oliver Slough; the Great Northern Railway; Old Man Morgan; recollections of John Oliver; fish trapping; picnics at Blackie's Spit; Frank Burns; early settlers; Old Man Morgan; John Woodward; logging in the area.

CALL NUMBER: T1657:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-05-02 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Weaver talks about the roads in the area; weather conditions; mosquitoes; Butler's Corner; Tom Ladner's property; threshing work; [pause]; local incidents. [TRACK 2: blank.]

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Helen and John Stevenson : Lardeau Valley, 1952-1964 PERIOD COVERED: 1952-1964 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1979 SUMMARY: Helen and John Stevenson discuss moving to Argenta from California in 1952. Reasons why they moved. Helen was a teacher and they set up the school at Argenta. Discusses others that moved to the area at the same time. Community members. The Delta Farmers Co-op. Living in California. Number of families grew in the mid-1950s. Organization of Delta Co-op. Contracted to build rural centre. Planned to centre settlement on the flats. Bridge built across the Duncan River at Cooper Creek. Before bridge was built, people would signal for a ride from Lardeau using headlights or a fire. Boarding school develops out of visiting young people.

The item is a reel of film footage. Shot for engineering purposes, this footage uses single-frame or "time-lapse" cinematography, shot from inside a vehicle, to record automobile traffic. The first section appears to show the Squamish Highway going north. The section travels on the highway through West Vancouver, across Lions Gate Bridge, and onto Denman and Davie Streets in downtown Vancouver. The third section appears to have been shot on an interior highway south of Kamloops.

The item is a composite print of a travelogue film from 1974. It depicts the scenic and recreational attractions along the Trans-Canada Highway #1 from Calgary and Banff to Victoria. It updates East 1, West 1.

This series consists of project records from the Department of Highways, 1926-1971. Boxes 1-3 contain publications, reports, survey notes, maps and photographs, statistics, correspondence, conference material and other background material assembled preliminary to the construction of the Alaska Highway (1926-1947). These records were organized by the Department of Highways library. Box 4 contains Department of Highways records regarding Federal-Provincial agreements on the Trans-Canada Highway, 1949-1971. Boxes 5 and 6 (a bound volume) are Department of Highways records regarding the following bridges: Alexandria Bridge at Spuzzum, First Narrows, Oak Street, Farwell Canyon and a proposed third crossing of Burrard Inlet (1933-1966). Box 5 also includes commendation and photographs of the Department of Highways Traffic Patrol (1959-1961).

This series contains miscellaneous historical records and documents relating to B.C. roads and bridges including typescript "History of Roads in British Columbia".

Footage. Miscellaneous shots: boat heading along a shore, highway beside a river, a couple beside their cabin, horses in corral, fall foliage, women and horses, fishing on a lake. Also shows the first helicopter owned by Okanagan Helicopters (an open-cockpit Bell 47B-3, registration CF-FZX) being viewed by curious residents. (The helicopter pilots may be Carl Agar and Bill McLeod.)

This series contains International Fact Finding Committee records to October 1931. In the early 1930s, separate Canadian and American committees (Canadian 1931, US 1930) were formed to study the proposed B.C.-Yukon-Alaska highway. The two committees met as a joint fact finding committee in Victoria in 1931. The Canadian committee did not publish a report but reported the results of its investigation to the U.S. Dept. of the Interior. The published report of the American commission contains information collected by the Canadian committee. This volume, which contains material relating to the study and the joint meeting, consists of notes on the joint meeting, route reconnaissance reports, preliminary construction estimates and individual reports on mineral, forest and water resources in the proposed route areas of British Columbia (2 copies).

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-02-04 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Hall recounts her family history; her early life in Britain and the family's immigration to BC. She recalls the family settling at Terra Nova; Lulu Island in 1888; the journey to the family farm; family life; the family farm; other residents; farm produce; her father's [Gordon Robert] work as a carpenter; a description of the area in 1900; dyking; drinking water; bridges; a description of Sea Island; river traffic; supplies; the stage route; Mr. Steves; Mr. Mellis; roads. TRACK 2: Mrs. Hall continues with her discussion about road conditions; early Vancouver; William Gray; clearing flood boxes; Bridgeport; the Mellis family; Mr. Yewdall; canneries; the Terra Nova Cannery; Indian and Chinese labour; the flood of 1894; entertainment.;

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-23 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. James Isnardy talks about the Cariboo, and plays some old time fiddle music. Mr. Isnardy discusses his background, how his father Amadie Isnardy came from Nice to the Cariboo via California, and the Cariboo gold rush. Mr. Isnardy describes how his father started a ranch at Chimney Creek, and drove cattle to Peace River, Isnardy's schooling in New Westminster, travel on the Cariboo Road, stopping houses along the road, various early settlers, countryside at site of Williams Lake, and playing the fiddle at dances. Then he plays two songs on the fiddle including the Victoria Waltz. TRACK 2: Isnardy plays: Dream Waltz, Springhouse Waltz, Carlyle's Reel, MacDonald's Reel, Oxford Reel, Where Is My Darling Tonight?, Smash The Window, Old Hall and several more.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-24 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. James "Jim" W. Keefe talks about his experiences in the Soda Creek area of the Cariboo, 1912 to 1930. Mr. Keefe discusses how he arrived from Colorado in 1912 along the Cariboo Road. He describes transporting a bull on a riverboat and the ferry at Soda Creek. He bought Buckskin Ranch after WWI. He describes hunting deer, more on the Soda Creek ferries and riverboats, his partnership on Buckskin Ranch with Joe Demarre, a description of Soda Creek, placer mining, a prospector named Talbot, the Bryant family at Soda Creek, his family background, the American Midwest, Buffalo Bill Cody and Indians.

TRACK 2: Mr. Keefe describes his childhood in the U.S., stories about hunting wild horses, Christmas, an old prospector, bootlegging in Soda Creek, more on the Soda Creek ferry, and finally the story of a bull and a wild boar on the ferry.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-12-03 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. James Robertson remembers life as a rancher and as a freighter. Mr. Robertson describes how he came from Scotland to Banff in 1904; his work on the Canadian Pacific Railway; the Gang Ranch from 1905 to 1907; Vancouver in 1907; more on the Gang Ranch; the Dog Creek Ranch (the Joseph place); more about the Gang Ranch to 1910; other ranches; a strike at the Gang Ranch; J.D. Prentice, Managing Director, Western Canadian Ranching Co.; owners of the Gang Ranch; fishing; 100 Mile House, Benjamin "Benjy" McNeil of the 105 Mile Ranch; and the BX Stage. TRACK 2: Mr. Robertson continues about the BX Stage; "Drummers", traveling salesmen; his own freighting business; Ashcroft in 1910; Horsefly in 1915; Cataline, Miocene; and the Cariboo Road from 1911 to 1914.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-20 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Janet Yorston talks about the Australian Ranch, the stages on the Cariboo Road and various Cariboo people, from 1860 to 1914. Mr. Yorston describes how Andrew Olsen and Steve Downes came to the Cariboo and started the Australian Ranch; farming and activities there; how they sold produce to miners; settlers in the area; Chinese miners; Fort Alexandria; more on the Australian Ranch and how it was purchased by her husband John Yorston; the stopping house; and life on the ranch. TRACK 2: Mrs. Yorston tells stories of two Barkerville old-timers, Harry Jones and the "Duke Of York". She describes details of stagecoaches, travel and places on the Cariboo Road.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-17 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. John Kemp recalls his arrival as a HBC man in Canada and his reasons for coming. He offers a description of his journey through BC to Fort Fraser, the first road into the Interior, his impressions of the Nechako valley in 1911, working with the HBC, a description of Fort St. James as it was in 1911, Father Coccola, his impression of Native Indians, and random thoughts including an anecdote about cooking rice. [TRACK 2: blank.]

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-04-04 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: John Kosikar recounts his father's coming to homestead in the Columbia Valley in 1889; US/Canada border and land registration; clearing the homestead; farming; pioneer life; roads; working; Sumas; early settlers; logging; railways; the border; social events; schooling; smugglers. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Amateur film. Exterior views of the Provincial Gaol and the Provincial Home at Kamloops, including the grounds and orchards behind the buildings. Continues with footage showing the highway and countryside between Kamloops and Clearwater, as well as road and bridge work crews and a moose pasture. Murtle River and Dawson Falls (in Well Gray Park). Recreational activities at a corrections forestry work camp. Filmed April-May, 1959.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-03-15 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Kate Mellard recalls coming to Chilliwack with her family in 1887; family members in the area; transportation; George Ashwell; the Old Yale Road; Centreville; her husband's work in the post office; hotels; the telegraph trail; anecdotes of life in Chilliwack. TRACK 2: She continues with her recollections about the community of Chilliwack; stores; childhood pranks; entertainment; interesting characters; her husband's work as justice of the peace; schooling; 24 May 1897; Five Corners; hotels; early residents.

SUMMARY: Unidentified male speakers talk about the Kensington overpass in Burnaby. Includes extended interview with a Greater Vancouver Regional District head planner.;

This series consists of Department of Lands and Works correspondence and reports regarding roads, trails and other diverse topics. Includes correspondence regarding the resignation of Benjamin W. Pearse and the appointment of Edgar Dewdney as Surveyor General, the Omineca gold rush, and various Indian reserves.

CALL NUMBER: T1038:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-17 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Lawrence Dickinson recalls his journey from Wisconsin and arrival at Francois Lake in 1910, when he was about 15 years old. He describes his journey along the Cariboo Road; stopping in Quesnel Forks to help mine for the winter; the route he had to take to Francois Lake; filing preemptions upon arriving in Francois Lake; joining a survey crew for Swannell company; life as a surveyor ;in the Fort Fraser, Prince George and general Upper Nechako area in 1910. He describes Fort St. James and the HBC post located there in the summer of 1911; the old trails in the area, leisure activities at Fort St. James, and how much everyone enjoyed the area; A.G. Hamilton's trading post in Fort St. James; work he did over the next several winters; how the war disrupted life; his father's trading post at Fort Fraser in 1915; how he and his brother bought out the trading post and went into business for themselves; the kind of people in Fort St. James before the war, including railroad construction men and other old timers; Mr. Murray who was a factor for the HBC and other characters; what makes the area so attractive; the difficulty nowadays at making a living as a trapper; shifts in mining techniques, changes in the Necoslie Valley after WWI; and how Fort St. James continues to be a jumping off point for miners and people of various vocations. TRACK 2: Mr. Dickinson continues how t;he HBC got supplies to their forts; how the war affected business in the area and how the mercury mine boosted the economy; how preemptors could not get good land because companies took all the prime ;real estate.;

CALL NUMBER: T1038:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1971 [summer] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Dickinson comments on the attitudes of people and various characters in Vanderhoof from his past; anecdotes about gold miners and how the landscape has changed; buildings at Fort St. Jam;es that are no longer standing; how the younger generation is not as reliable as the older generations; the fur trade around Fort St. James and how the local buyers had the monopoly; and a few old timers. TRACK 2: Mr. Dickinson describes traffic going through Fort St. James; changes in the area resulting in growing industry and construction; the rivalry among stores between the HBC and Dickinson and others; placer mining areas; freight service into the Nechako Valley by the HBC, Dickenson's surveying career from 1910 to 1913, including descriptions of places he surveyed; and miscellaneous comments about today's pioneers and industries.;

Photocopy of a diary kept by Captain Lempriere during his service in British Columbia. Arthur Reid Lempriere was an officer in the third group of Royal Engineers to arrive in British Columbia. He arrived at Esquimalt Harbour on April 12, 1859, aboard the Thames City. Captain Lempriere and a small party of sappers surveyed and built the Boston Bar Trail, from Hope to Lytton by way of the Coquihalla River.

Copied from copy held by Special Collections, University of British Columbia with permission of National Army Museum (London, England)

CALL NUMBER: T3123:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Terrace in the 1950s and 1960s PERIOD COVERED: 1956-1977 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977-08-09 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Leo Edward L'Estrange (truck driver, skidder, miner, owner of Red's Billiards) was born on June 12, 1937 in Prince George. Background about parents. Arrived in Terrace first in 1949 for work. Drove team of horses. Visited Terrace again in 1952. (blank gap). Came to live in Terrace in 1956. Changes in Terrace during these visits. Various jobs after settling in Terrace. Sports and other social activities. Roads and automobiles. Hiking and hunting. Houses and where they were situated. Sewage and power facilities. Medical facilities. Business community in 1956. Worked for Ernie Sandy. Changes that occurred around house on Straume. Changes across tracks near Agar, proposed shopping plaza. Farming near Terrace. Fruit growing. Evidence of the military occupation. Location of some military buildings. TRACK 2: Impact of Kitimat on Terrace. Rail to Kitimat. Sewage problems in Terrace. Use of hot springs. Effects of increased population on environment. Fishing. Exploitation of tourists. Government control over exploitation. Changes that have occurred; environment; community spirit. Lack of community spirit and leadership. Deters large business establishment. Stability in community. CALL NUMBER: T3123:0001 Track 2 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Terrace in the 1950s and 1960s PERIOD COVERED: 1956-1977 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977-08-09 SUMMARY: Impact of Kitimat on Terrace. Rail to Kitimat. Sewage problems in Terrace. Use of hot springs. Effects of increased population on environment. Fishing. Exploitation of tourists. Government control over exploitation. Changes that have occurred; environment; community spirit. Lack of community spirit and leadership. Deters large business establishment. Stability in community. (blank).