The item is a recorded interview with Mr. Cornelius "Corny" Kelleher. Tape 1: Kelleher recalls his father, Mortimer Kelleher, Mortimer's early days in British Columbia, and his settlement in Mission City in 1868. He speaks about the mills in Mission City; the Oblates of Mary Immaculate Mission [OMI] settlement of the mission in 1862; First Nations people at the mission; construction and location of the mission buildings; the Sisters of St. Ann convent; his father's work for the mission; the Kelleher family farm; Passmore family; other settlers in the Mission area; childhood at Mission school, surveying for the CPR in 1882; clearing and construction for the CPR; first passenger trains in 1886; steamboats.

Tape 2: Mr. Kelleher discusses steamboat service; construction and maintenance of the dikes at Matsqui Prairie; Matsqui Land Company; the Maclure family; early settlers in Matsqui; the Purver family, discusses farming incidents; naming Abbotsford; CPR link to the U.S.; Huntington; Mission City; roads, railways; [period of silence on tape]; remittance men; Bellevue Hotel, Matsqui Hotel; railway bridge; shipping fish; sturgeon fishing; First Nations methods of fishing.

Tape 3: Mr. Kelleher continues with his recollections of fishing on the Fraser River; salmon fishing; Indigenous place names; other place names; Joe DeRoche; childhood adventures; First Nations stories about ;Hatzic Island; First Nations hunting methods and doctors; Sam McDonald and Frank Wade, Maclure, "Supple Jack" from the Matsqui reserve; Mount Baker; Jim Trethewey and family; ;saw and grist mills; description of the O.M.I. Mission; early settlers; subdivision of lots in Mission City; Riverside; C.B. Sword.;

Tape 4: Mr. Kelleher talks about Mr. Barnes, Mr. Sword, the Matsqui dike and other incidents.

Series consists of 208 photographs depicting the activities of land surveyors in British Columbia in the first half of the twentieth century. Many include detailed annotations on the verso. Most of the photographs are related to photo-topographical surveys, though there are a small number of aerial survey photographs as well. Although surveys throughout B.C. are depicted the highest concentration of photographs deal with the Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission of 1913-1924.

The records came from a variety of sources (see custodial history) and are arranged roughly according to survey expedition. Where this could not be determined records are arranged by size and format. Files in this series include the following:
Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission photographs
Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission photographs
Rocky mountain photographs
Air survey photographs
A.H. Ralf's Travel Bureau photographs
Duncan-Nanaimo survey photographs
Miscellaneous prints
B.C.L.S. mounted photographs
Conuma Peak photographs
Strathcona Provincial Park photographs
H.C. Stewart B.C.L.S.
Miscellaneous prints
Thomson negative
Photograph list and instruction manuals

Professional land surveyors have played a key role in the development of British Columbia. Their work of delineating and describing lands within the province was essential for both orderly settlement and the administration of the province's natural resources. Their work was essential in laying out town sites, surveying roads, railways, and telegraph routes, and in determining international and inter-provincial boundaries. Their concomitant role as explorers, geographers, and naturalists was also important to the province's history. The surveying profession was not strictly regulated in British Columbia until 1891. Before that date, however, the provincial government had recognized a cadre of professional surveyors, many of whom had been involved with such major projects as the 49th Parallel Boundary survey (1857-1862), the Collins Overland Telegraph survey (1864-1867), the CPR surveys (1871-1885) and the Canadian Geological Survey (1871-1908). These surveyors, of considerable experience and proven ability, were entitled to append the initials LS [Land Surveyor] after their names. In April 1891, the Legislative Assembly passed the Provincial Surveyors' Act [54 Vic., c. 17]. Framed by W.S. Gore, the Provincial Surveyor-General, the act was introduced to regulate practitioners. The act established a Board of Examiners, made up of the Surveyor-General and five other surveyors, and set down policies for articling pupils. Thereafter, only surveyors who were approved by the Board were allowed to practice in the province. Authorized surveyors were styled "Provincial Land Surveyors of the Province of British Columbia", they received a numbered commission and seal and were entitled to append the initials PLS after their names. The act also incorporated a governing body, the Association of Provincial Land Surveyors, for the profession. The PLS group of surveyors eventually numbered eighty-five members. However, the Association was relatively weak and in 1905 it was replaced by the Corporation of Lands Surveyors of the Province of British Columbia. The corporation was established under new legislation, the Provincial Land Surveyors' Act, 1905 [5 Ed.7, c.7] which strengthened the management of the profession. A new Board of Examiners was formed and, as before, only surveyors who were recognized by the Board were entitled to practice in the province. Those so recognized were designated by the initials BCLS. Although the Provincial Surveyors' Act has since been amended, the Corporation of Lands Surveyors continues to be the governing body of the profession. Includes records of the Association of Provincial Land Surveyors (1890-1905) and its successor, the Corporation of Land Surveyors (1905-1983). Records include Board of Examiners and Board of Management minutes, oaths of office and allegiance, letterbooks and financial reports. Also included are the biographical files of almost two hundred deceased BCLS members. The files contain summaries of the surveyors' careers and, in many cases, a considerable amount of genealogical information.

This series contains letters inward and outward of J.D. Pemberton and B.W. Pearse, Colonial Surveyors. It also includes copies of correspondence with Edward Stamp and Gilbert Malcolm Sproat pertaining to purchases of lands and various agreements on lands at Alberni and Barclay Sound in regard to the establishment and operation of a sawmill and a copper mining company. Includes a map of company land holdings in the Alberni valley.

The series consists of photocopies of three letters and a written "sketch" sent to friends and a brother in England. Hargreaves arrived in Victoria from England on July 2, 1862. The letter of Sept. 1, 1862 describes his first attempt to reach the Cariboo, from which he turned back, his work as a survey assistant in the Cowichan district, and his reaction to the articles written by Donald Fraser, the London TIMES correspondent. The second letter, Jan. 9, 1865, describes a trip to Cariboo in 1863 and the third item is a "sketch of a trip I made in the winter of 1875" describing a CPR exploratory survey in the Chilcotin. The final item, a letter of Feb 6, 1878, continues the account of his survey work in 1875, describing work in the Salmon (Kimsquit) River Valley at the head of Dean Channel, and in the Kemano River.

This series consists of correspondence inward and outward of the Chief Geographer of British Columbia, George Griffith Aitken. Records are arranged in rough alphabetical order.

The fonds consists of three photograph albums created by Donald Lawrence McMullan between 1928 and 1946. The photographs document his work on forest survey teams for both the provincial and federal governments, as well as surveys conducted by logging and railroad companies.

The first two albums contain photographs from several survey jobs, arranged chronologically. They are divided into sections with an introductory page and a cartographic drawing showing where the particular survey took place. The photographs are usually dated with captions and are as follows:
Album 1 (1928-1933)
Amiskwi and Beaverfoot survey, 1928, Forest Service, Dept. of the Interior, Canada
P.G.E. resources survey, 1929, Forest Resources Branch, British Columbia
Preliminary survey of a proposed logging railroad, 1930, Bloedel, Stewart & Welch Ltd. logging company
Elk Forest survey, 1930, British Columbia Forest Service
North Kamloops Survey, 1931, British Columbia Survey Branch
Railway belt survey, 1932, British Columbia Forest Service
Railroad logging operation, 1933, Industrial Timber Mills Ltd.
Album 2 (1934-1939):
Surveys for logging railroads, 1934-1935, UBO Industrial Timber Mills Ltd.
Kettle Forest Survey, 1935, British Columbia Forest Service
E&N Survey, 1936-1937
Harrison Survey, 1939

The third album, created between 1940 and 1946, contains photographs from McMullan's later career and show general forestry activities on Vancouver Island, mainland British Columbia, Yukon and Alaska. Captions and dates are inconsistently applied.

The fonds also includes a copy of McMullan's thesis entitled "The Work of the Surveys Division: British Columbia Forest Service" written in 1932 during McMullan's studies at the University of British Columbia. This thesis is illustrated with five b&w prints and an annotated map. Also included in the fonds is a notice of permanent appointment to the British Columbia civil service dated March 25, 1937 with attached salary schedule and a letter to McMullan dated January 20, 1938 regarding a new classification grading system for Foresters.

RECORDED: Wilmer (B.C.), 1983-12 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Accounts of hunting grizzly. Snowbound escape from Ice River area via Wolverine Pass. Walter Nixon (father) started packing ore in Parson area, 1907. Was game warden during WWI, political appointment. Gordon Nixon took out survey parties. David started in 1932. Outfit called 2N, was family operation and was sold after WWII. Hunting on Simpson River for moose and grizzly, got three record heads. TRACK 2: Seven point elk. Upper Simpson River had "tame" elk. Built original trail in Simpson Valley. Sir George Simpson's copper tea kettle found. Nixon built a number of other trails. Bill Harrison, Roy McDonald were guides. Some dude trips for CPR resort at Windermere. Packing for Alpine Club camps. Lake of Hanging Glacier. Photo in ice cave. Survey work was good money, climbing parties less so. Packing for surveys on Big Bend Highway. Brother was among those drowned on Kinbasket Lake then. Bugaboos. Nixons helped Conrad Kain. Wintered horses on Police Meadows at Edgewater. Walter Nixon died in 1952.

This series consists of a day book of expenditures of road and bridge construction, surveys and transport, 1862-1864; goods received from grocers, Hope, B.C., 1865; correspondence and specifications relating to the construction of the Burrard Inlet road, 1864-1865.

Series consists of 13 volumes of diaries of Canadian Pacific Railway exploration and construction. Also includes an account of a traverse of trail from Edmonton to Landing on the Athabasca River, August 1877, and an account book, 1885-1889.

Diary of Canadian Pacific Railway surveys, Port Moody and Fraser Valley.

Diary of survey of west coast of Vancouver Island (1926), with transcript and elaboration by the author (1970); identification cards. Photos transferred to Visual Records. Pamphlets transferred to BC Archives Library.

The series consists of microfilm copies of Frank Swannell's diaries from 1913 and 1914, originally copied from the originals by George V. Copley.

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Douglas B. Taylor : early life, 1895-1914 PERIOD COVERED: 1895-1914 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1956 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Personal background. Arrived in Vancouver, 1902. Born in Refrew, Ontario, 1895. Family from Scotland. Description of boat trip to Alaska, 1902. Trip from Skagway to Atlin. Taylor became a surveyor. Memories of Victoria from 1904: the causeway, James Bay, Fairfield. Mills in Victoria. Kelowna in 1910. Conditions in survey camps. Working as a surveyor for Green Brothers. Description of trip from Victoria to Hazelton. Town site surveys of South Hazelton, Smithers, Fort George. Comments on the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. TRACK 2: Surveying and cruising Timber Licenses, 1913-14. Frank Green, A.H. Green and Fred Burden, surveyors. Surveying methods. World War I broke out while Taylor surveying in the Interior. Taylor joined armed forces in fall of 1914. Had been enrolled in forestry at the University of Washington. Taylor's reasons for entering forestry. (End of interview)

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-05-24 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. D.W. Hodgson talks about his experiences in the Cariboo, coast, and southern Okanagan regions of BC, 1904 to 1946. He describes how he came to BC in 1904 and offers his impressions of Vancouver and Victoria at that time; various early jobs; encounters with Indians; automobiles in the Cariboo in 1910; looking for a railway pass in the Chilco area; impressions of Lillooet; stories abo;ut working with a survey crew for the BC Electric Railway; a discussion of early railway surveying; stories about survey crews; a discussion of work on the BC coast; examining inlets for hydro electric power possibilities in the early 1920s. TRACK 2: Mr. Hodgson continues with more stories about work on the coast in Rivers Inlet, Queen Charlotte Sound, and Knight Inlet, including details on the ;coastal landscape; looking for irrigation water for the south Okanagan before World War I; irrigation in the area; details of the soldier settlement scheme; irrigation; and orchard development in the Oliver/Osoyoos area after World War I.

Stock shots. Shows location crew surveying for road; clearing trees and preparing road area with caterpillar tractor, scraper and other heavy equipment; installing culverts; use of dredger and stone crusher; surfacing road with gravel. Also camp scenes, including cookhouse. Appears to be in the vicinity of Stone Creek and Willow River, in the Cariboo southeast of Prince George.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977 SUMMARY: Earle Birney reads an excerpt from his autobiography, describing his youthful experiences as an axeman for a survey crew in Waterton Lakes Park in the summer of 1921.;

The series consists of records created by the Geographic Division between 1916 and 1957, and contain the files of the Chief Geographer, G.G. Aitken, relating to cartography, toponymy, surveying, boundaries, and miscellaneous other geographical topics. The files include correspondence, memoranda, reports, drafts of publications, research notes, pamphlets and clippings and records of the Natural Resources and Map Committee, 1924-1934.

The series also contains 23 road, highway and rail maps and two photographs of an unidentified dam.

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): F. Arthur Hankin : some memories of the Hazelton area before 1900 PERIOD COVERED: 1866-1900 RECORDED: Hazelton (B.C.), 1966 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Arthur Hankin describes an excursion from the Hazelton area to the Omineca on a Grand Trunk Pacific survey crew; an incident involving Indian mental telepathy; Fort McLeod; Billy Ware, a Hudson's Bay Company factor; R.E. Loring (Mr. Hankin's stepfather), the Indian agent at Hazelton and an ertist; Hazelton before 1900; the first steamboat to arrived in Hazelton, the "Caledonia" (1891); Indians in the area; his father, Thomas Hankin, who established Hazelton; the first packers; the packer Jean Caux, known as Cataline; the trail to Babine; fur trade; Thomas Hankin; John Dorsey; Gabriel; LeCroix; Hankin's mother, Margaret McCall (sp?) of Fort Victoria. [TRACK 2: blank.]

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)

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1971-03-25 SUMMARY: [No content summary available.];

The fonds consists of diaries, photographs, field books, scrapbooks and files containing notes and correspondence. Fonds includes survey maps of land in Russia, Turkey, France, and British Columbia.

The records include: diaries, field books, scrapbooks and subject files containing notes and correspondence covering Swannell's career as a surveyor in Northern British Columbia, his army service in the First World War in Europe and Russia and his later travels in British Columbia, Europe and Asia. The diaries and field books are profusely illustrated with photos.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-03-16 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Sweatman talks about his arrival in Hammersley Prairie in 1903; he describes the area; the history of the area; Captain Agassiz and his wife, circa 1870; the Agassiz family; growing hops; vegetation in the valley; the village of Douglas; the trail to the Cariboo; Harrison Hot Springs; transportation from Vancouver; the Harrison River; Harrison Lake; the Harrison Hotel; logging on Harrison Lake and the Pemberton area. TRACK 2: Mr. Sweatman continues with a discussion about Captain Agassiz; a history of the Agassiz area; flooding in the area; recollections about his work in Mesopotamia from 1921 to 1925; his personal history in the surveying profession; the Fraser River flooding and drainage; community life; interesting characters and families; Madame Melba; humorous anecdote;s of the area.;

Out-takes. Career opportunities in the oil industry of western Canada. Shows steps involved in surveying, sounding, scientific testing, site determination, oil well drilling and refining. The film was mainly shot in Alberta, but there are some BC scenes.

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): A Chilcotin pioneer RECORDED: [location unknown], [196-] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Gabriel (Gay) Bayliff recalls how his father settled at the Chilancoh Ranch near Alexis Creek in the Chilcotin, and early days in the area. His father came from England, ca. 1880. Early work on ranches. Teaming up with Norman Lee to start ranch. Bull Canyon. Mother's medical experiences and riding skill. Polo teams. Cattle drives to Ashcroft. Stores in Ashcroft. Railway survey through the Chilcotin. Chinese labourers. Changes in the Chilcotin. [TRACK 2: blank.]