RECORDED: Cumberland (B.C.), 1979-08-14 SUMMARY: One in a series of interviews about the history of Vancouver Island's coal mining industry and mining communities. Arriving in Canada; timberman's helper; wages; Cumberland explosions; Orientals; boarding houses; entertainment; Blacks; ethnic; union; medical; pubs; company train; company houses.

RECORDED: [location unknown], [1962?] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Achille Stevens talks about his emigration from England to British Columbia in 1907; meeting Sir Wilfred Laurier on the journey; his train trip across Canada; first impressions of Canada; early employment in Cumberland and Victoria; his work as an agent for British manufacturers; establishment of Acme Press in 1909; boom days of Victoria, 1910 to 1912, and the Fairfield Chinese gardens. TRACK 2: Mr. Stevens recalls his impressions of Victoria in 1907; the Inner Harbour; Victoria Chemical Company (C.I.L.); boulevard plantings; trips to England; first jobs in British Columbia; Pender Island; relations between Victoria and Vancouver; his retirement; government work; and the Fifth Regiment with Colonel Currie.

Consists of three series. Series A: Canadian Collieries (Dunsmuir) Limited papers collected by Buckham; Series B: Buckham's official papers produced in his employment by the Geological Survey of Canada, and the British Columbia Public Service; and Series C: Buckam's private papers. Maps transferred to Map accession M845025. Alexander Fraser Buckham was born in Edmonton, Alberta on April 29, 1914. He obtained a Bachelor of Science in mining engineering from the University of Alberta in 1935 and Master of Science in geology from the same university in the following year. From 1936 to 1939 he worked on a Doctorate in Geology at the University of Wisconsin, however he never completed work on this degree, as he returned to Canada to join the Geological Survey in the summer of 1939. He remained with the Geological Survey for ten years specializing in the coal resources of western Canada. This work resulted in his being offered the position of Chief Geologist with Canadian Collieries (Dunsmuir) Limited (C.C.(D)L.) at Cumberland, B.C. in 1949. He remained with Canadian Collieries (Dunsmuir) Limited until the shut-down of Vancouver Island operations in 1960. He then worked with the Government of British Columbia. In this capacity he advised in the restoration of Barkerville and did geological work in connection with construction of main roads. Mr. Buckham had a keen interest in local history as well as geology. This resulted in his preserving many Canadian Collieries (Dunsmuir) Limited records from destruction and building a historical and geological archives parallel to his career. A list of publications transferred to the Northwest Library Collection is available at the end of this finding aid.

RECORDED: Nanaimo (B.C.), 1979-05-24 SUMMARY: One in a series of interviews about the history of Vancouver Island's coal mining industry and mining communities. First impressions; Granby; air shafts; strike; WWI; South Wellington flood; Reserve; Senini; Extension mine; Chinese; 1883 explosion No 1; mine smells; mules; into mine; lamps sulphur; Fiddicks; Morden; fun; the Depression; Cumberland; beer; bosses; Lewis dies.

RECORDED: [location unknown], [early 1979] SUMMARY: One in a series of interviews about the history of Vancouver Island's coal mining industry and mining communities. Origins; No. 1 cage; protection cage; No. 8 cage, Cumberland; Northfield cage; No. 8 Cumberland; school; running winch; Granby; drilling; blowouts; Longwall; shovels; stall work; WWII; fire boss ticket; shooting; explosions; deaths; Draeger; strikes; housing; hotels; the Chinese; recreation.

CALL NUMBER: T4133:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1984-03-28 & 30 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Birth at Peguis Reserve, Manitoba; early memories of Swampy Cree people at Peguis Reserve; memories of father, Reverend A.W. [Amos William] Mayse; father's tales of the Boer War; fraternizing with the enemy; father emigrated to Canada; worked as a carpenter, became minister; father was in WWI; war wounds; was in Boer prison camp; earlier release by Jan Smuts; YMCA rep in WWI; back to Winnipeg; refused commission in Black and Tans; rural ministry in Manitoba; took salary partly in trade and had first pick of charity clothes; Mr. Mayse hated school; his father was self-taught and had a good library; read everything, including religious material; moved to British Columbia. [TRACK 2: blank.]

CALL NUMBER: T4133:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1984-03-28 & 30 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Living in [Port] Hammond BC; first work experience; father's church in Nanaimo; primitive conditions in the coal mines; clothing and equipment of miners; many beer parlours in Nanaimo; father's popularity; favorite fishing spots; anecdote of hazardous fishing trip; Turner rowboats prized; commercial fishing; early commercial fishing methods and boats; memories of Sointula fishermen; Sointula pukka fighting; Nanaimo miners fished for trout, not salmon; early trout fishing equipment; social consciousness; father never was a union miner; lied to get into army; South Africa; Reverend Mayse went underground in Nanaimo mine accidents; panic in town; miners invited Reverend Mayse underground, managers didn't argue; dynamite misadventure. TRACK 2: Continuation of dynamite misadventure with Rev. Mayse; vegetable garden; powder bosses; Reverend Mayse destroyed cars; pit ponies on islands; Italian miners; soccer important in Nanaimo; library; Millstream Park; rugby versus soccer; holidays with father; Chinese persecuted in Nanaimo; Chinese accused of taking jobs; few Chinese women or children; fight between Chinese and Haida boys; Chinese cooks; idyllic but racist town; Mr. Mayse and friends made a water cannon to frighten Chinese; backfire; collecting cascara bark for money; cruel pranks; fights with air guns and crossbows made from umbrellas; good shot with slingshot; gangs racially mixed; miners lived in southern Nanaimo; some of the cottages still there [as of 1984].

CALL NUMBER: T4133:0003 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1984-03-28 & 30 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Nanaimo childhood; Guy Fawkes day was celebrated as Bonfire night; Hallowe'en destructive; Nanaimo's tamale wagon; miners' children; fishing and writing at Cowichan Bay; Reverend Mayse sided with the workers; holidays at Cowichan Bay; acquiring a dugout canoe; shaman procured canoe by threats; Indian fishing methods; most gear was cedar; old style Cowichan sweaters described; Padre Cook of Cowichan; Queen Victoria medal; John Page and the medal; shaman had grape arbor and soul box; healing and hurting with soul box; rite of boys purification among Cowichans; Wolf Song was stolen from the Haida after the Battle of Sansum Narrows circa 1820 to 1840. Haida blamed for other raids; Haida slaughters and weapons used. Reverend Mayse left Mr. Mayse to his own way on holidays. TRACK 2: 38; pound salmon won prize; Bruce McKelvie; first sale of fiction; principal angry but kept on; Oyster River with Reverend Mayse; memories of old-timer James McIvor; washed ashore from sloop; McIvor ran cattle; threatened loggers; tea with McIvor; McIvor's customs; McIvor angry when offered help; McIvor's nephew visited briefly; tried to buy wife; McIvor fishing with haywire; hated cities; died in Comox in 1940's. Walter Woodiss, Oyster River old-timer, storyteller; tall tale of salmon; Woodiss's feud with a black bear and accidental killing of same; Woodiss's Inn; Percy Elsie "mayor of Oyster River"; fried chicken known as fried seagull; ghost at Comox; WWII airman at Comox rode his bicycle through "Dancing Annie".

CALL NUMBER: T4133:0004 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1984-03-28 & 30 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Indian rancherees; shaman Cultus Tommy; Chinook trade jargon terms; Padre Cook well loved; friend at Cumberland; stories of Ginger Goodwin; Cumberland memories of Ginger Goodwin and hostility to trial and government; Dominion police were hated, man hunters; no shame in evading the draft; met Cougar (Cecil) Smith; Mr. Mayse now lives in Cougar Smith's house; Cougar Smith's peculiarities; Roderick Haig-Brown, great Canadian writer; friendship with Haig-Brown; dam on the Campbell River broke his heart; last meeting with Haig-Brown; last impressions; better known outside Canada; Haig-Brown a fine and pioneering fisherman; fished steelhead. Mr. Mayse disliked high school; paid for clothing with poetry prize won at UBC three years in a row. TRACK 2: Mr. Mayse paid UBC tuition by logging in the summer under a false name; BC loggers and equipment; railroad logging; unions; woods accidents; logged Upper Vancouver Island; logging camp cooks; anecdote of 'foul feeder'; fight between logger and foul feeder; logging camp cook; flunkies, bed makers, logging camp pump tenders; eccentric and proud train men; high riggers; Harold Larson would post on a spar; woods near-misses; spark catchers jobs; bunkhouse moving accident; Paddy the straw boss; Paddy nearly caught in a blast; lemon extract mad man incident; bringing out man lost in the woods; gone mad, tried to escape his friends; wild Great Dane dogs abandoned in woods; harassed spark catchers; Mayse had to shoot one.

CALL NUMBER: T4133:0005 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1984-03-28 & 30 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Great Danes hunted in Pike's Peak area; shot one; partner Paddy Gorman; Paddy attacked by a cougar while snoozing; scraps of loggers songs; never wrote them down, always regretted it; logging; company owners were remote; unions starting camps; decision logging versus writing; went to the Vancouver Province; space writing for Province; offered staff job; clannish and proud reporters; story of ascent of Mount Waddington; two expeditions at once; Mr. Mayse carried homing pigeons in a basket to file the story; rough country; beauty and tragedy of the pigeons; walking out to tidewater hungry; a ghost story at Leefall Point, Mount Waddington, where a climber had fallen to his death. TRACK 2: Worked at the Vancouver Province as Torchy Anderson's junior man; they covered a huge forest fire that threatened Campbell River and Courtenay on Vancouver Island [Sayward fire, 1938]; Torchy was Mr. Mayse's mentor and friend; longshoremen riots; Torchy was fearless; Torchy squealed when angry; his grandfather saw a Sasquatch; the Rum Tum Club and the Sonofabitch Club; creating a story on injured trapper at Mission. Mr. Mayse wrote police constable's report while drunk; cop demoted; Torchy and his wife Marion; moved to Saltspring Island; memories of Province newspaper women in 1930's Vancouver; wild party on Grouse Mountain; Christmas cheer and story of upside down reindeer; camps for single unemployed men; joining the American Newspaper Guild; had BC union card number 3; union's failure; left holding the bag; not fired but put behind the eight ball; refused marrying raise.

CALL NUMBER: T4133:0006 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1984-03-28 & 30 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Mayse quit the Vancouver Province and joined the Vancouver Sun. The Sun was tougher and wilder; front page exclusives as revenge; union succeeded later; hostility to union. Mr. Mayse drafted and discharged for TB scars; army lost files; returned to the Sun as military writer; Mr. Gallagher, an alleged spy; moved to Toronto with no job, $100, a wife and a dog. Selective service twits said there were no jobs; walked into a job at Maclean's. Toronto run of luck; sold short stories to the Saturday Evening Post; break fiction editor of Maclean's; a few good Canadian writers; editor bought fiction; Calvinist, liked gloomy tales, had to trick him; Canadian writers were "cry-babies"; Americans were pros. TRACK 2: Canadian writers resented criticism; Mayse emulated American writers; today's market poor for short stories; in the 1940s and 1950s the stories were not literary but a good product; wrote serials for Saturday Evening Post; later published as novels; approached by an agent; returned to the coast; end of fiction markets; never seen as a serious writer; writing is lonely work; Jack Scott criticized Mr. Mayse's success in the U.S.; considered a move to the U.S.; writer's; work should speak for itself; but book tours are necessary; dislikes writer's grants except for poets; many writers are poseurs; major literary figures in Canada; dislikes commercial versus literary distinction; Mr. Mayse now writes a newspaper column; wrote for "The Beachcombers"; column is a good platform; a lucky and happy man; importance of luck.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-08-02 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Grant, nee Coundley, recalls early family memories of Nanaimo and Cumberland, including the mines and mills. TRACK 2: Charlie Grant recalls early family memories of his father [Robert; Grant, M.P.] and his grandfather in the Nanaimo and Cumberland area. His family ran sawmills and had a business relationship with Robert Dunsmuir, known to them as "Bobby Dunsmuir". He describes th;e early days of Cumberland; the establishment of his father's mill and Dunsmuir's mines; and his recollections of Robert Dunsmuir. He recounts mining incidents including explosions; miners; strikes; strike breakers; racial disturbances; and the lack of police.

CALL NUMBER: T0826:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-08-04-& 06 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Ployart recounts his grandparent's settlement in the Courtenay area in the 1870s. He describes his early life; Comox; Courtenay; Cumberland; the Indian settlement; life on his family's farm. Later he became a logger and trapper. TRACK 2: Mr. Ployart continues with a description of his work on a fishing boat; and in a logging camp. He describes his reunion with his father in Alberta; the purchase of farm equipment; and his trek to the family's homestead. He recalls his time as a rancher; his trip to Vancouver; his time as a steam engineer; a successful logging operation.;

CALL NUMBER: T0826:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-08-04-& 06 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Ployart describes some of his logging and trapping experiences in the Courtenay area; operating a pack train for the government survey parties and CPR surveys; anecdotes of some mainland inlet settlers. TRACK 2: Mr. Ployart discusses the weather and storms common to the mainland inlets; a tugboat trip to Prince Rupert; boating incidents.

RECORDED: Cumberland (B.C.), 1979-08-14 SUMMARY: One in a series of interviews about the history of Vancouver Island's coal mining industry and mining communities. Christmas turkeys; young man into mines; origins; strike; riot; Chinese; union; blacklisting; No. 6 Cumberland explosion; football; bosses; wages; ticket; Tsable River; pension; "Cellar Gang"; tipple; police; telephone shifts; No. 4 Cumberland; later strike; the Depression; doctor; funds; No. 5 Cumberland; No. 8 Cumberland; Japanese; picking coal.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-08-04 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Thulin describes his parents' arrival in BC and settlement in Campbell River in 1909. He describes his early life; the family farm; transportation; "Willows"; logging camps; school; roads; Quadra Island; the growth of Campbell River. Miss Lillie Thulin recounts her parents coming to Campbell River; churches; hospitals; hotels; and famous tourists. Mrs. Margaret Thulin recalls early life in Cumberland. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Cause books, 1932-1937 and 1951-1953.

Chamber applications, (1 vol.).

CALL NUMBER: T1881:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Charles H. Grant : logging and milling in the Cumberland area, 1889-1902 PERIOD COVERED: 1889-1902 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1961 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Grant born in 1889 [actually 1881]. Father a Conservative associate of Robert Dunsmuir and Richard McBride. Father started a mill for Union Colleries. The story of the beginning of Union Mines (Cumberland). Father built mining camp at site of Union Mines. Operation of handloggers described. The introduction of saws as a tool for falling. Old-time falling methods. Building skid roads described. Logging and milling for his father. Methods of hauling with horses and oxen on skid roads. TRACK 2: More on hauling methods. Horses and oxen compared for hauling logs. Old bull punchers described. Humane and inhumane treatment of oxen and horses in the woods. More on skid road hauling methods. Sawmilling methods. A special order for long timber from England. CALL NUMBER: T1881:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Charles H. Grant : the Courtenay area, 1900-1943 PERIOD COVERED: 1900-1943 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1961 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Continuation of the story of the special long timber order. Logging camp conditions. Food in the camp. Early Comox settlers. Speculation as to the origin of Garry Oak. Story of the Riverside Hotel, Courtenay. Grant ran the hotel for a year, ca. 1902. Worked on coastal boats for a time. Was a government agent and tax collector for provincial government. Anecdotes about tax collecting. (End of interview)

Contracts, indentures, bonds, notes and mining licences relating to the Dunsmuir family mining and railroad activities.

Plaint and procedure books (some indexed). From 1957 includes Speedy Trials.

Cause books for civil cases.

Divorce cause books.

This series consists of probate or estate files from the Supreme Court of Courtenay from 1949-2007. Files are arranged by file number which are assigned in the order probates are filed with the court. Note that different filing systems were used over time.

County Court civil case files from Union, 1897, and from Cumberland, 1897-1941.

Civil case files under the Landlord and Tenant Act. These are records generated when Wellington Colliery Co. Ltd. evicted tenants from their homes in Union in 1903 and Canadian Collieries (Dunsmuir), Ltd. evicted tenants from homes in Union, "Japtown", Puntledge (Comox Lake), Union Bay, and Cumberland in 1912-1913.

Civil case files other than probate. Civil case files from 1897-1941 are found in GR-1949.

Correspondence files includes some dockets, copies of various court records, by-law correspondence, inquiries, appointments, etc. Court correspondence 1925-1940; Clerk of the Peace correspondence.

Plaint and procedure book, 3/1945 - 54/1951.

This series contains probate/estate files from Cumberland Supreme and County Courts.