Frontier and pioneer life--British Columbia

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Frontier and pioneer life--British Columbia

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Frontier and pioneer life--British Columbia

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The history of Lucius S. Edelblute

The item is a typescript titled "The history of Lucius S. Edelblute, his life and adventurez in calaforn[i]a & return and brit[is]h columbia and alazka and muntana...", written by Edelblute about his adventures between 1849 and 1873.

Reminiscences of Walter Bodington

The item is a photocopy of reminiscences concerning Bodington's boyhood in England, voyage to New York, and travels in Montana and Oregon (1884-1887). Reminiscences of Vancouver and of Bodington's career as farmer on Sea Island, in New Westminster, and in Vernon (1887-1906). Account of homesteading near Macklin, Saskatchewan (1907-1932) and author's later years in Winnipeg, Manitoba (1932-1935). Ms also concerns author's relationship with his father, Dr. George Fowler Bodington, Superintendent of British Columbia Insane Asylum (1893-1902).

Harold Allison interview

The item is an audio recording of an interview with Harold Allision. Harold Allison is a third generation cattle rancher in the Princeton-Similkameen Valley area. His grandfather John Fall Allison was the first white settler in the valley. The first Allison ran a cattle ranch and trading post in the area. The bounds of the ranch, types of cattle run, and early markets are discussed, as is the state of the present day (1977) ranch, and its bounds, stock and market.

Cornelius Kelleher interview

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.

Charles Bell interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-03-13 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Charlie Bell recalls his father; George Bell, who in 1872 pre-empted land on Fairfield Island in Chilliwack; other early settlers; Sheep Macdonald; freighters Joe Deroche and Sam Macdonald; old timers; the Garner family; the family farm and farming in the area; local Indians; the Kilby Store and the Menten family; the Deroche area and Nicomen Island; local characters; Malcolm. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Phyllis Martin interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1966-09-01 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. John Martin tells of her father, Carl Binns, coming to Ucluelet for the first time in 1895, with William Thompson. She recounts how her father rowed to Ucluelet; he found gold in 1899; worked at placer mining and eventually sold his claim returning to Ireland; he later ran boats along the Alberni Canal; and ran the Big Boy Mine at Herbert Arm. Mrs. Martin recalls her early life; growing up in New York and later moving to Ucluelet in 1914. She describes her impressions of Ucluelet; her family life; her mother; social life; politics; early settlers; pre-emptions; funerals; Frenchy's Cove or Spring Cove; the lifeboat station and the telephone system. TRACK 2: Mrs. Martin continues her recollections of early Ucluelet; Long Beach; roads; road work; settlers; beaches; tidal wave; "Carelmapu" wreck in 1915; Gibson family from Ahousat; transportation; CPR boats; HMCS "Givenchy"; dances; and rum-running.

Stan Carr interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], [196-] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Stan Carr talks about the Tete Jaune/Valemount area: old timers and the gold rush; how WWI affected the country; his own history; Dr. Alan Mosley of Tete Jaune Cache; guiding and packing; a story about a Grizzly bear; Mount Robson; the Fraser and Thompson Rivers; and miscellaneous comments. [TRACK 2: blank?];

Rhoda White and Dr. W.F. Shaw interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-06-28 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Rhoda M. White discusses her father, W.W. Shaw, who came from Ontario to the west, settled at Salmon Arm, sold his farm after ten years, and moved to Heffley Creek; became a ranch manager at Tranquille; the ranch at Heffley Creek in 1914; the first Christmas on the ranch; automobiles; Bill and Jane Fortune; Kamloops as a health resort; ranch horses; her father's character; her mother's character; the appearance of the area in the early days. TRACK 2: Mrs. White tells the story about a man and his mother; she discusses isolation; early schools; social life; changes after WWI; settlers at Lewis Creek 1906 to 1908; how her father burned out about 1900; her father took over Circle Bar Ranch; her grandfather and the Iroquois; her fathers first experiences at Heffley Creek and Tranquille. Then Dr. W.F. Shaw describes his family's ranch at Shaw Springs; gold in the Thompson River; hardships of pioneers; early characters -- Stage Billy, Tommy Spence, Murray the Trader. Then she discusses marmots and snakes; apples and other produce; other settlers and early conditions; and a ghost story.

Leah Shaw interview

CALL NUMBER: T0303:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-11-18 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Miss Leah Shaw describes her father, William Hugh Shaw, as a contractor for the railway with McKenzie and Mann when they built the first 100 miles from Gladstone to Dauphin [Manitoba] in 1896; eventually settled in Spences Bridge; kids went to school in Kamloops; how Shaw Springs was named, she describes how her father got involved in the railway business; his life; how her grandfather, Hunter Shaw, came to Canada from Scotland, how the Great Northern Pacific Railway was started by two Shaw brothers in Winnipeg; General Stuart; Shaw Springs; gold mining, how Spences Bridge was covered; by a landslide; Thompson River wagon tracks; Clapperton Trail. TRACK 2: Shaw continues by describing horse brigades; Lytton slide; road building; Spences Bridge known as Cook's Ferry, a murder by two Indians of a miner; the highway construction in 1921; Death Canyon and several whirlpools there, which killed many people; the Thompson River; local old timers, Johnny Moberly and Ned Stout; Chines;e in the area; jade; Spence's Bridge.

CALL NUMBER: T0303:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-11-18 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Miss Shaw continues by describing the Leboudais family who documented historical incidents; anecdotes about incidents in the area; stage coach stories; cleaning camps on Saturday mornings. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Rupert Duck interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-11-01 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Rupert Duck discusses his grandfather's brother, Jacob Duck, who went out to Monte Creek to mine gold in 1862, and bought the deeds to some land; he was the first one in the family to co;me to Canada; Rupert's father came out in 1883; the suspected origins of Monte Creek; more on Jacob Duck, including details on his character and his ranch; other families that came to the area, includ;ing the Harper brothers; his father, who was Albert William Duck, and details about his coming to Canada to work for his cousin; several anecdotes about characters, including one about a remittance ma;n; then evolution of the town at Grand Prairie into Westwold; more on Westwold, including people who lived there; a man named Whittaker who bought most of the land at Westwold around WWI; more characters in the area; details about Bill Miner from his own memory, including his recollections the trial and the holdup. TRACK 2: Mr. Duck continues with more on the arrest of Bill Miner; details on the holdup from two years later near Monte Creek after Miner's jailbreak; what life was like in these days; more on ranches in the area; sections which he has written for ranching books about the area; details about Mr. Bostock; other characters and anecdotes; a woman named Edith Morley.

John F. Bischoff interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-11-02 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. John F. Bischoff describes how he came to Vancouver in 1893 from Minnesota, and went to school in Vancouver until 1895; how the family was landed in Scotch Creek Flat by the CPR in July of 1895; how his father Henry Bischoff had gold fever and thus lived in Scotch Creek until 1901; how the rest of the family went to school in Notch Hill; what life was like in that area at that time; anecdotes about various characters in the area; how his family was the first white one in the area; his grandfather named Red Buse who was a sawmill owner; stories about prospectors including a man named Jimmy Ross; more on the Scotch Creek days, including details about the population that lived there; what it was like growing up in the area; a character named Fowler and another named Billy the Trapper, real name Billy Henstridge; other people in the area; his brother Henry who was known as Cook; the first few years of farming in the area and other jobs they would do such as building houses; an;d Steamboat Bay. [TRACK 2: blank.];

The bush and the salon : The old doctor : [parts 1 & 2]

SUMMARY: "The Bush and the Salon" was a series that recreates early Canadian life from letters, diaries and other sources. "The Old Doctor" comprises two one-hour programs based on the memoirs of Dr. John Seba;stian Helmcken, who was for many years the Hudson's Bay Company doctor at Fort Victoria. The programs trace the growth of Victoria from an HBC fort to a city, and describe what life was like during t;hat period. "The Old Doctor" is a CBC Vancouver production, written and researched by Peter Haworth (who is heard as Dr. Helmcken), and produced by Imbert Orchard. The actors include: Peter Haworth, Barbara Tremain, Pat Williams, Yvonne Adelian, Roy Brinson, Sam Payne, Robert Clothier, Roger Norman, John White, and Betty Phillips.;

August Castle interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-03-14 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. August Castle came to Yale in 1882. Born in Victoria, he liked fishing, hunting and prospecting. He discusses mining and prospecting in the area, the Western Nickel Mine, and the development of Yale. He describes the gold mining days, offering several anecdotes. TRACK 2: Mr. Castle continues with more anecdotes.

Hope and Yale

SUMMARY: Stories about the history of Hope, Yale and area, including the roles played by the Hudson's Bay Company and the Fraser River gold rush. Based on the CBC Radio documentary "Early Days in Hope and Yale;" (T2434:0001). The voices heard are: Gus Milliken; Martin Starret; Fred Bears; Bill Richmond; and Ed Barry.

Gus Milliken interview

CALL NUMBER: T0658:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-03-13 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Gus Milliken tells many stories from many different sources about the area around Yale. The first story takes place during the gold rush about a man who sells another man a claim to a mine which turned out to be a gravel mine, not a gold mine. Several other prospecting stories, some of which are fictitious. Early stories about the sternwheelers, including an argument between an engineer and the captain of a steamship; legends about the packer Cataline (Jean Caux); pack mules near Lytton; March 1858; a man named Hill, who discovered the first gold along the Fraser; the first hotels in the area; Joe MacKenzie, an original '58er; Ned Stout; Dewdney Landing; Bill MacKenzie, orchards, the building of the CPR station at Yale; some historical facts about the town of Yale; the first sawmill, first town council and first white male born in BC, Chinese miners and old timers. TRACK 2: Mr. Milliken describes how Yale got its name; its origins as a fort in 1846; the Hudson's Bay Company; the first buildings in Yale, L.T. Hill as the first person to discover gold in 1858; the relationship between the Hudson's Bay Company and San Francisco; the original Fort Hope, the people who worked in the first gold mines, activity in the area as it was being established, the first post office in 1916, Hope as a gold mining town; prospectors who had to move on to other places because all of the land had been staked; a dynamite plant; other early homes.

CALL NUMBER: T0658:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-03-13 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Milliken continues describing Andrew Onderdonk, who was "supposed to have built the railway but who was in fact the engineer". He describes the American company that paid for the building of the railway from Emory to beyond Yale. He discusses the construction of the railway; the first roads in the area; Indian trails in the area, including Douglas Portage and how Mr. Yale named it; he describes Mr. Yale; gold in Rock Creek; the Kettle Valley and the Canadian National Railroad [sic]; mills in the area; the Hope-Nicola trail and other trails.

Angela McDiarmid interview

CALL NUMBER: T0675:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Angela McDairmid was born in Princeton before it was known as Princeton; she discusses her earliest memories; where the house was; several anecdotes about her mother and her youth; her father; floods; her family history; her father's arrival in Victoria in 1858; the gold rush on the Fraser River; the pack trains; the area around Princeton as she remembers it; more stories. Susan Louise Moir was her mother, and she discusses her life; her parents' early married life; the first settlers in Princeton; gold mining in Granite Creek; John Chance and other prospectors; how Princeton got its name. TRACK 2: Mrs. McDairmid continues by describing the first mines in the area; the Hope Trail; some characters; Chinese workers who worked for her father; stories; some characters whom she remembers.

CALL NUMBER: T0675:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. McDairmid continues with stories about the land around Princeton, some bodies that were found, building a bridge, a shooting among Indians, the Allison town site, Judge Haynes, Indian boat races at the river, potlatches, a shooting, the killing of a Nicola Indian, Merritt as a coal mining town, Dr. Tuttle's hanging, superstition among the Indians. Finally, she discusses her father giving the copyright to his stories to her sister. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Al and Fred Bears interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-03-14 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Fred Bears describes how his father, John Henry Bears, came from California to BC for the gold rush in 1875 and settled in Hope. He also tells about platinum in Granite Creek, people who struck it rich, anecdotes about packers, prospectors, teaching people to mine, gold at Hills Bar, staking claims, the Hudson's Bay post run by 'Old Man Yates' who ran a small store, freighting cattle along the Fraser River, details about their route before the turn of the century, and Bill Bristol. TRACK 2: Fred Bears continues with his stories about Bill Bristol. Al Bears describes what Bill Bristol looked like, and that he came from England. Al goes on to discuss his life, where he went to school, the people who lived in Hope when he was young (there were only six families and they made their living off horses and packing); Luke Gibson; and the trails through Hope. Fred Bears then tells anecdotes about prospecting in the area and the clothes people wore.

Neil Cameron interview : [Orchard, 1964]

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-09 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Neil Cameron discusses trappers and prospectors in the Fort Steele area; came from Scotland with his family at the age of fifteen; worked for lumber companies and then surveyed; residents; of Fort Steele were; "a very fine class of people"; Wild Horse River was still producing at the turn of the century; Joe Walsh was the Fort Steele constable; Cameron became the game warden for Cranbrook district in 1928; traits of the old trappers. [TRACK 2: blank.]

From the mountains to the sea : Headwaters

SUMMARY: "Headwaters" is number 2 in the series. It tells the story of the development of the East Kootenay country from the days of the first explorers. Gold miners at Wildhorse and trouble between them and the Indians. The sad story of the British fruit farmers. Early days at Fort Steele. Voices heard include: Tracie Willams, Shelagh Dehart, Mrs. H. Williams, Madeline Turnor, Effie Turnor, Beryl Lum, Jimmy White, Vaughn Kimpton, Cliff Harrison, and Alex Ritchie.

Norman Evans-Atkinson interview : [Orchard, 1964]

CALL NUMBER: T0164:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Placer Mining and miners of the Cariboo, 1858 - 1920. RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-04-17 SUMMARY: Captain Norman "Cap" Evans-Atkinson talks about placer mining and miners in the Likely area of the Cariboo, 1858 to 1920. TRACK 1: The miners coming to the Cariboo, circa 1858; sailors who became miners; types of gold; detailed discussion of placer mining along creeks, techniques, equipment, terminology; mining settlements; hard rock mining. TRACK 2: Story of John Likely, J.B. Hobson, and the Bullion Mine; Likely and his books; Cedar Creek; phases of mining; claim jumpers; Cedar City; details of the Cariboo fire of 1869; the Quesnel Lake dam.; CALL NUMBER: T0164:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-04-17; 1964-05-05 SUMMARY: Captain Norman "Cap" Evans-Atkinson talks about Cariboo gold and gold miners, 1858 to 1930. TRACK 1: Miners in the backwoods; enmity between two miners; draft evaders; old-timers; Captain Mitchell's trail to the Barkerville gold fields; people at "Snarlburg" (French Snowshoe Creek); Murderer's Gulch; more on Captain Mitchell's trail; Angus McLean, who lived along the Quesnel River. TRACK 2: Story of how miners were guided by Indians, by the name of Tomah and Long Baptiste, to gold on the Horsefly River, beginning the Cariboo gold rush; potatoes brought in by Russian fur traders; hostility of Indians toward miners; massacre averted by Chief William; Indians co-operated with other prospecting parties; Long Baptiste guide/bodyguard for Judge Begbie; Long Baptiste probably had the earliest Cariboo gold. CALL NUMBER: T0164:0003 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-05-05 SUMMARY: Captain Norman "Cap" Evans-Atkinson talks about miners and other people of the Cariboo, 1860 to 1930. TRACK 1: Different types of gold found in the Cariboo; the Indians and the animals they hunted; caribou in the Cariboo; stories about a trapper named Franz who lived alone in the woods; Long Baptiste and Judge Begbie; more on Franz the trapper; eating porcupines; other stories about men living alone in the woods. TRACK 2: Captain Evans-Atkinson's background; came to the Cariboo circa 1912; Cariboo people; World War I service; impressed by Canadians; return to Cariboo; mining experiences; John Likely; gold strike above Quesnel Forks in 1921; staying at miners' cabins; the naming of Likely, more on John Likely, story of Bob Winkler, an old trapper; pokes, money belts; gold caches. CALL NUMBER: T0164:0004 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-05-05 SUMMARY: TRACK 1; Captain Norman "Cap" Evans-Atkinson discusses some aspects of the trapper's life in the Cariboo, 1912 to 1930. Finding gold caches; stories about old-time trappers living alone in the woods; their habits; coping with flies, mosquitoes, ticks; stories about Jack Glass, another old-timer; encounters with bears. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Joseph Wendle interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], [1955?] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Joseph Wendle describes how he came to the Cariboo in 1895; worked for the Cariboo Gold Fields Company and his own claims; hunted a Grizzly bear; a brief discussion of the old timers; the Cariboo Gold Fields Company; hydraulic mining; mechanical elevators; dredging; the yields in Williams Creek, Antler Creek, Grouse Creek, and Lightning Creek. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Joseph Morrison interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-02-19 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Joseph Morrison talks about the early years of Fort Langley from 1860 to 1890. Born at Fort Yale in 1861 [sic]. His father, Kenneth Morrison, came west via Edmonton. Buildings at Fort Langley. His grandfather, Ovid Allard, was Chief Factor. The steamboat "Fort Yale" blows up in 1861. Miners bound for Cariboo. Job on CPR construction. Indians living near Fort Langley. Visits of Judge Begbie and Sir James Douglas. Farms; school at the fort; more on the "Fort Yale". Arrival of fur brigades in the spring; celebrations. [TRACK 2: blank.]

James Isnardy interview

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.

Fred Tregillus interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], [195-?] SUMMARY: Mr. Fred J. Tregillus, "the grand old man of Barkerville", recalls some of his early experiences in the Cariboo, 1880 to 1920.

Artie Phair interview

CALL NUMBER: T0360:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-26 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Art H. Phair discusses his background; in that he was born in 1880, details of his father's work, his experience at private school in Victoria, the story of the Golden Cache Mine swindle of 1886-98. He describes the early history of Lillooet from 1856, the gold rush of 1858, Chinese miners around Lillooet in the 1880s, pre-war land boom and economic cycles in Lillooet.

TRACK 2: Phair discusses Indian life prior to European contact, strained White-Indian relations, bad relations between Indians, the Poole murder at Pemberton Meadows, murders and hangings, more on Lillooet Indians, Lillooet as a "melting pot" of many races, and the Chinese in Lillooet after 1884.

CALL NUMBER: T0360:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-26 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Phair offers anecdotes about Indians and Chinese people, more about his own childhood experiences at school in Victoria, adventures and "close calls", hunting and prospecting, tobacco growing near Lillooet, the meaning of the word "Lillooet", early farmers between Lillooet and Pavilion, gold panning as a young boy, his family background, the red light district in Lillooet and the flourishing of Lillooet between 1858 and 1864.

TRACK 2: Phair comments more on the Chinese in the area, he describes how his store was a social center, how it was robbed, Indians in the store, and the start of big game hunting in Lillooet after 1884. Phair describes the Pemberton to Lillooet road, his family's relations with Indians, the John Bull murder, old settlements near Lillooet, crossing the Fraser River at Lillooet, how his mother was a musician, uncle was a poet, an incident about a priest who alleged to have beaten an Indian woman, and finally his father's background.

William Johnston interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-20 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. William Alvin Johnston describes the Quesnel area before 1900. Mr. Johnston tells the story of how his father, W.A. Johnston, came to BC from Quebec in 1864. His mother, Rosalind Cadwell Crooker, came to the Nicola country in 1861. His father built a stopping house on Jackass Mountain, and later built a flour mill in 1884 and sawmills near Quesnel. He describes the Quesnel district; farms, roadhouses and the town itself. He tells the story of a murderer in 1848, the first miners; John Cameron Dunlevy and transportation; trails, steamers and mill ways.

TRACK 2: Mr. Johnston continues discussing railroads, the lumber industry and Johnston Flats. He discusses gold in the eastern Cariboo, the development of the Johnston Flats, near Quesnel; Jerome Harper, his childhood memories from the 1890s of school and the town of Quesnel. He mentions several people: James (Jim) Reed, John Cameron Dunlevy, John McLean and Bob McLeese. Finally, he describes Soda Creek.

Pearl DeBolt, Martin George and Dennis McConnel : [Quesnel Forks interviews]

CALL NUMBER: T1148:0001 [and T2747:0001]
RECORDED: [location unknown], 1972
SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Pearl DeBolt (formerly Pearl Whitmer) discusses how she came to the Quesnel Forks area in 1947, and the people in the area then (most of whom were miners). She describes the history of Quesnel Forks, which had a population of 8,000 in 1922, when the Cedar Creek boom hit; hunting; ranching; the gold commissioner, Mr. [William] Stephenson; how many white people moved to Barkerville and Chinese miners moved into Quesnel. Martin George discusses his life as a miner in Quesnel Forks after arriving in 1943. Both then discuss what they liked about living in Quesnel Forks, including the weather, geography, and hopes of finding gold. Mr. George describes the process of mining for gold and the value of gold back then (thirty dollars an ounce). Mr. George only made enough to survive; he never was able to accumulate wealth as a gold miner. Mrs. DeBolt discusses more about the geography and history of Quesnel Forks, including some people whose name became place names thanks to Simon Fraser. She recalls moving away from Quesnel Forks in 1965; she claims she was the last person to leave. She describes why the government would not save Quesnel Forks; she says it had to do with hydro power. She describes the roads in and around Quesnel Forks. All the Chinese miners moved north when Quesnel Forks closed down in the 1920s. It became a true ghost town in the mid-1960s. She offers details about the Chinese people in the area, including a ritual where, seven years after a Chinese person died, their bones were exhumed, cleaned and sent back to China. The remains of just three Chinese are left in the cemetery. A grave outside of the cemetery gate may be Mr. Stephenson's, but it may also belong to Mr. Winkley, for whom Winkley Creek is named.
TRACK 2: Mr. Dennis McConnel is interviewed on site in the abandoned Cariboo town of Quesnel Forks. He discusses the buildings in the area; the meeting of the two rivers; the buildings on the banks of the river, which are likely to collapse; tourists digging for relics, such as brass tokens and whisky bottles from the gambling hall; the erosion of the town. A story about moving Mrs. DeBolt's grand piano. Inside an abandoned house, Mr. McConnel and Jurgen Hesse discuss the condition of the house, vandalism, and the Chinese writing on the walls. McConnel discusses mining on the banks of the river; gold panning; artifacts he has found; and the old General Store at Quesnel Forks. [End of interviews]

William Riley interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-26 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. William C. Riley talks about the settlement of the Lillooet Area from 1860 to 1910. Riley discusses his grandfather's background and how his father Bill Riley brought a cattle herd up from the US in 1861. He tells a story about a saloon in Omineca, more on his grandfather who was a tobacco grower, his father's background, Lillooet as a wide-open town, Indians in the area, a story of two Indians hung for murder, more on his father and mother, the old mining town of Parsonville and his own early life. TRACK 2: Mr. Riley discusses his role on the first crew at the Bralorne Mine, community feeling among miners, working and living conditions, a story about the first gold mine at Bridge River, an altercation between and Indian Chief and a white prospector, and a story about a local desperado.

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