RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Ed Aiken was born in Clinton and moved in 1921 to the Quesnel area with his father to farm. His father was the former chief of police for the Cariboo at Clinton. Mr. Aiken comments that the area was not busy then and describes what the town consisted of. He mentions the owner of a stopping house, W.J. Anders. Mr. Aiken discusses what farming was like and potato farming. Aiken tells a story about his father and One-Armed Phillips. He describes what Quesnel was like in the 1920s; a cattle shipping point; farming; and a little lumbering. Then he describes Williams Lake and cougar hunting. The interview ends with Mr. Aiken discussing Fort Alexandria. [TRACK 2: blank.]

CALL NUMBER: T0373:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-24 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Emil Richard Krebs and his wife Gertrude Krebs recall their experiences in the Cariboo-Chilcotin region. Mr. Krebs discusses his father, Fred Krebs, who settled in Vernon. Mr. Krebs describes Okanagan ranches and Vernon circa 1908. He discloses his first experiences in the Chilcotin in 1928, Chilcotin ranches, several anecdotes, how he took up land at Dog Creek, the settlement of the Dog Creek area, the Chinese population, wild horses, and the trap line at Canim Lake in 1939. TRACK 2: Mr. Krebs offers an anecdote about trappers, pioneers at Canim Lake, the story of Buckskin Joe, the Indian population, the town of Likely, Quesnel Forks, and anecdotes about mining in the Keithley Creek-Likely area.

CALL NUMBER: T0373:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-24 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Gertrude Krebs, born in McLeod Lake in 1900, recalls Cariboo life. She offers the details of her birth, a brief summary of her life to 1919, a fire in Williams Lake, Williams Lake in the 1920s, and the first Williams Lake Stampedes. [TRACK 2: blank.]

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-06-30 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Fred W. Pinchbeck describes his father, William Pinchbeck, who came from England and settled a ranch and roadhouse above Williams Lake in the 1880s; Indians and other local ranchers; his own life with his widowed mother at Victoria and Kamloops; and Bill Miner stories. TRACK 2: Mr. Pinchbeck continues with more Bill Miner stories; work at Wilcox Hardware in Kamloops; the first cars; in the area; blacksmith work; local characters; bars and sporting houses; the McLean brothers; more blacksmith work; and railway construction.

CALL NUMBER: T0364:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-24 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. George Bryson Patenaude was born in St. Andrews, Quebec in 1893. He discusses mining in Horsefly, the story of Bob Borland, the early history of Williams Lake, a distillery in Williams Lake called Pinchbeck Distillery, his early life, a description of the 150 Mile House, freighting on the Cariboo Road, famous Cariboo freighters, an anecdote about stealing whisky, early commercial travelers, a detailed description of the Cariboo stagecoaches, stagecoach schedules, and keeping warm in the winter.

TRACK 2: Mr. Patenaude offers more details about stage coaches, stage coach drivers, and the techniques of driving. Then he discusses the river boats on the Fraser River between Soda Creek and Prince George, fares and schedules, Klondike gold rushers through 150 Mile House, and freighting and ox teams on the Cariboo Road.

CALL NUMBER: T0364:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-24 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Patenaude describes Ashcroft and holdups of Cariboo stagecoaches. Then he discusses Chinese people in 150 Mile House, a story of "Calamity Jane MacKenzie" of Williams Lake and her courthouse appearances, the story of the Cedar Creek gold rush of 1921, and the aftermath of the rush.

TRACK 2: Mr. Patenaude concludes his story of the Cedar Creek gold rush of 1921. He discusses the Bullion Mine, survey trips to the Peace River country in the 1930s, a discussion of the declined economy of Horsefly, the early history of Horsefly, Chinese miners in Horsefly in the 1880s, problems encountered in gold mining, and the story of Alec Meese, a hotel keeper in Horsefly.

CALL NUMBER: T3531:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Informal discussion on the subject of St. Joseph's Mission School, Williams Lake, B.C. RECORDED: Alkali Lake (B.C.), 1979-06-05 SUMMARY: Interviewees discuss their life at the Mission Indian Residential School. Many voices are heard, making it difficult to follow dialogue. TRACK 1: In this discussion, topics touched upon include: experiences at the Mission school; Sisters teaching at Mission; running away from the Mission; Father Aurore -- intelligent man; loss of the Native language; learning English; hard for parents to visit; Sisters Laura and Patricia were at Mission for many years; girls sewed clothing for themselves and for the boys' school; description of typical day. TRACK 2: Discussion of: Brother Collins; boys had to look after livestock; learning to cook; anecdote about making a fire at 3 am; ironing, washing clothes; mass every morning; relations between boys and girls were limited; teasing by the boys; story about one woman's wedding; visit of Bishop, confirmations; changes in Mission school layout.

CALL NUMBER: T3531:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Informal discussion on the subject of St. Joseph's Mission School, Williams Lake, B.C. RECORDED: Alkali Lake (B.C.), 1979-06-05 SUMMARY: Interviewees discuss their life at the Mission Indian Residential School. Many voices are heard making it difficult to follow dialogue. TRACK 1: Discussion of: train station near the Mission school; Indian graveyard rumours; years spent at the school; working for the Sisters in the summer; graduating, activities after graduation; games played; stories about other Natives in the community who went to the Mission school; boys were dressed as girls if they ran away; differences between lifestyle of Natives in the pre-war years, and now. (End of interview)

RECORDED: Williams Lake (B.C.), 1975-07-03 SUMMARY: An oral history interview with Canadian playwright Gwen Pharis Ringwood, who discusses her writing and drama career, as well as her life in Williams Lake (where she moved with her family in 1953).;

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.

Stock shots. Collecting spruce cones from tree tops with a helicopter. Shows process of preparing helicopter and equipment; collecting cones; landing at dump and unloading; safety measures; aerial views of harvesting area.

RECORDED: [location unknown], [196-] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Herb Gardner was interviewed while holding the office of Mayor of Williams Lake. He describes the federal building; the regional board; urban planning; and the electoral process. Before elections, people were appointed to the board. Demographics of the district. Mr. Gardner offers his own personal history; born in Quesnel and lived in Barkerville; stories about old timers; his father came into the country in 1900, and was a shoemaker before becoming a miner; eventually his father ran a stopping house on a ranch; in 1928 the family moved to Quesnel and worked in the saw mill business. He describes what Williams Lake was like back then.

TRACK 2: Mr. Gardner comments about how smaller sawmills were driven out by economics and larger ones took their place; the lumber industry and how it drives the economy of Williams Lake; prospecting and cattle ranching; stampedes; how much he likes living in Williams Lake. He compares living in Quesnel to living in Williams Lake. He discusses the future and the progress of Williams Lake.

The item is a reel of travelogue film showing scenic highlights and points of interest along Highway 97 in the Okanagan and Cariboo. Includes footage of car ferries (the M.V. "David Lloyd-Jones" and M.V. "Lequime") on Okanagan Lake; highlights of Kelowna International Regatta; abandoned mine equipment and shaft; Barkerville (before its restoration); sawmill in Quesnel; a parade and rodeo events at the Williams Lake Stampede.

SUMMARY: Consists of 52 "mini-programs" -- 90-second items -- on the history of Williams Lake, B.C. Read by Dr. John Roberts.

SUMMARY: Sixth in a series of six radio programs with Bob Harlow, announcer. Includes interviews with A.H. Drinkell, pioneer; Mr. and Mrs. Charles Place (?), ranchers; R.A. Moon (?), rancher; and Ken and Irene; McKenzie (?), dude ranchers, about: Williams Lake pioneer life, tourism and dude ranching.;

SUMMARY: Fifth in a series of six radio programs with Bob Harlow, announcer. Includes interviews with A.H. Bain (?), local dentist; Arthur Haddock (?), former stage coach driver; Rob McKenzie (?), local merchant; Hazel Eckshaw (?), pioneer; Jessie Foster (?), government agent; Bruce McGauphin (?), local pharmacist; Benny Abbott (?), resident. They discuss pioneer life in Williams Lake, British Columbia.

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], 1979-09-21 SUMMARY: Mrs. June Streigler (nee Day) tells of her training at Victoria Normal School and her years teaching at Springhouse (1940-41), Clinton (1942-44), 100 Mile House, Lac La Hache (several years), then Williams Lake, where she is principal of Marie Sharpe Elementary. She tells of getting to Springhouse by steamer and train; boarding place; her teaching methods and philosophy. (She is a highly regarded teacher and principal.)

Correspondence outward (1864, 1868) and inward (1861-1871) of Robert Ker, Colonial Auditor for Vancouver Island, with some of his commissions (1864, 1865, 1868), an indenture (1844), miscellaneous notes; correspondence of R.H.B. Ker and David Russell Kerr with General Crerar, 1944 (two letters), and of D.R. Ker with General Currie, 1917, and H. Joly de Lotbiniere, 1903 (two letters); clippings and photographs which have been transferred to Visual Records accession 198210-007. The Ker family lived in Victoria, B.C. Robert Henry Brackman Ker was an executive with a number of British Columbia business firms, including Ker and Stephenson Ltd. and Brackman-Ker Milling Company. He served on Victoria City Council, as President of the Victoria Chamber of Commerce, and as Aide-de-Camp to the Lieutenant-Governor of B.C. The records include correspondence inward and outward, miscellaneous notes, clippings and photographs. Photographs transferred to Visual Records accession 198210-007. Related records in MS-0793 and Visual Records accession 198208-038, 22 albums. Additional records are also available at the City of Victoria Archives, PR 48. Biographical sketch taken from BCAUL. Source: MS Finding Aids Presented by R.H.B Ker, Victoria, 1971. Finding aid: file list.

CALL NUMBER: T1483:0001 - 0002 RECORDED: Williams Lake (B.C.), 1975-06-26 & 29 SUMMARY: An oral history interview with Mrs. Laura Annie Moxon, the daughter of John Edward Moore of Alkali Lake, B.C. Moore came to Alkalai Lake in 1875. In 1909 he sold his ranch and bought the Onward Ranch at the south end of Williams Lake. Mrs. Moxon was educated in Victoria (1897) and in the east. She and her husband owned the Maple Leaf Hotel in Williams Lake in the 1930s. She recalls her father, the Onward Ranch and life there, local schools, and irrigation, as well as the packer Cataline (Jean Caux) and James Pinchbeck. Alkali Lake was originally called Paradise Valley.

CALL NUMBER: T1483:0002 RECORDED: Williams Lake (B.C.), 1975-06-29

RECORDED: [location unknown], [196-] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Louis Lobsinger came from Bruce County, Ontario, where his family had two farms. He describes the story of how he came to BC to visit his sister in the Nicola Valley, and was hired as a printer who eventually bought out his boss. The paper was the Nicola Herald, and he changed the name to the Merritt Herald. He describes a coal miners' strike in 1909; Mrs. Priest, who was the first school teacher in 1905; dances; in 1914 railroads changed from coal to oil and there was a depression in Merritt, until the saw mill opened in 1924; then in the 1930s the depression hit; various jobs he held; how he paid off debts; ranchers; the Cootley family; the 1934 stampede; his move to Williams Lake in 1952, and all the changes he saw there; the coal mines at Merritt; the cowboy/miner relationship; people passing through on their way to Fort George in 1909; finally he discusses the end of coal mining in Merritt. [TRACK 2: blank.]

This series consists of a Magistrate's Court charge and sentence book, 22 Feb 1898 - 29 Jun 1909 and list of defendents with surnames starting A-D giving charge and sentence, 1911-1921. The back of the volume contains Williams Lake policeman's daily reports 9 Aug - 24 Sep 1923.

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Malcolm Dawe RECORDED: [location unknown], [196-] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Malcolm Dawe of Williams Lake discusses stagecoaches and the north coast. Dawe begins by relating a story of a stagecoach which was robbed of its gold near Ashcroft and how the man who robbed; it was apprehended, how he came to Williams Lake and the nature of the community there, his father who came to BC from Newfoundland in the late 1880s and the story of how his family came to BC, growing up in Vancouver, his father's adventures aboard the "Capilano" during the Klondike gold rush, his father's jobs as a cannery manager on the mouth of the Skeena and his job as a captain on the Yukon River, and his visits to many places along the Skeena. [TRACK 2: Blank.]

CALL NUMBER: T4084:0001 RECORDED: Williams Lake (B.C.), 1981-09-22 SUMMARY: An oral history interview with Hannah "Mickey" Dorsey and Eve Chignall, pioneers in the Chilcotin region. TRACK 1: Mickey Dorsey (born 1910 [1911]) recalls her childhood in Vancouver and Bella Coola; early adulthood; marriage; teaching at Anahim Lake; childbirth. TRACK 2: Eve Chignall recalls giving birth in Tatla Lake, where she moved in 1935; ranch work; marriage. Mickey Dorsey talks about pack; trains; relationship with native women on the reserve; isolation; medical emergencies with children.; CALL NUMBER: T4084:0002 RECORDED: Williams Lake (B.C.), 1981-09-22 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mickey Dorsey: family life, living conditions; getting water, provisions, clothing; teaching at Rose Lake. TRACK 2: More on school teaching: started Indian school at Anahim Lake (first in ar;ea); moved to Williams Lake to put two youngest children through high school; taught in Williams Lake for 13 years (taught coninuously, 1930-1976); changes in teaching methods.; CALL NUMBER: T4084:0003 RECORDED: Williams Lake (B.C.), 1981-09-22 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mickey Dorsey describes the routine of a typical spring day with four children, five years old or younger; setting trap lines in early morning; carrying water on yokes; fording a stream. TRA;CK 2: Family history (current); cattle drive and cattle train to Vancouver; sounds of the Anahim area -- birds, coyotes, snow, spring break-up; changes in life style, attitudes, new equipment, etc.;

RECORDED: Williams Lake (B.C.), 1975-06-25 SUMMARY: An oral history interview with Mr. F. Nassau Sutton and Mrs. Tissie Sutton of Williams Lake, who discuss their background and the history of the area. Mr. Sutton came out from England in 1906; Mrs. Sutton was one of the Paxtons of the Onward Ranch.

Naturalization record book.

Amateur film. Harriet Gerry shot this film during an automobile journey from Rosedale to Williams Lake and Soda Creek on the Cariboo Highway, and part of the return trip via the Dog Creek Road, in the summer of 1941. Includes footage of wagons en route to the Williams Lake Stampede; rodeo events (various horse races, bucking broncs, etc.); Indians at stampede playing the team gambling game "lahal". Unidentified Indian village or mission settlement(s); boys at the swimming hole; women display their embroidery; fiddler plays and women with cane dances a jig. Livestock. Dip net fishing in Fraser River. School and convent buildings at St. Joseph's Mission, Williams Lake. Beaver aircraft at dock and taking off from lake. Staff of Williams Lake Indian Hospital. Views of landscape, back roads, wooden fences, steam shovel, etc. Dip net fishing. Dog Creek village scenes; displaying bead work. Views of and from the Dog Creek Road; Indians on horseback; cattle and cowboys on road. Examining a man with trachoma (eye condition). Car negotiating steep switchbacks; road conditions alternately dusty and muddy.