Print preview Close

Showing 6 results

Archival description
Begbie, Matthew Baillie, Sir, 1819-1894 Barkerville (B.C.)
Print preview View:

Alfred Drinkell interview

CALL NUMBER: T0314:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-23 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Alfred Joseph Drinkell tells some stories about the history of the Dog Creek area of the Cariboo, from 1860 to 1914. Drinkell discusses his arrival in BC in 1911. He describes the ranches he worked at around Ashcroft, Joseph Smith's place, and his financial problems and life before he came to BC. He tells anecdotes about Judge Begbie. He tells a story about Samsome, a local doctor, and the legendary packer Jean Caux ("Cataline").

TRACK 2: Drinkell relates the story of Cataline's last trip and describes many trails in the area. He speaks of Joy Sim, a Chinese doctor, and pioneer medicine. He discusses some of Cataline's packers: Robbins, Wiggins Dan Smith, and the first settlers in the area. He describes the Hudson's Bay Trail, freighting, roads in the area, stories about Phil Grinder of Jesmond, a local school teacher, and educated people.

CALL NUMBER: T0314:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-23 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Drinkell describes the early days of Ashcroft, the Chinese in the area, two anecdotes: the Wright of the Dog Creek Ferry and the Stobie of the Gang Ranch. He offers the background of the Gang Ranch and describes cattle drives, the Duke Of York, a Barkerville bartender, and local Indians.

TRACK 2: Drinkell discusses cowboys, social life and Christmas. Then he mentions Indian-White relationships and a story about Indians and the law. He discusses the Chilcotin and Shuswap Indians, problems with the reserve system, Chinese settlers in the Dog Creek area, and the importance of Chinese in the area. Finally, Drinkell tells the story of five Indian women who killed themselves over a white man, and how nails and gold dust were used as money.

Alice M. Earley interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], [1955?] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Alice M. Earley talks about coming into the Cariboo from Victoria in 1884; the journey by steamboat, train, and horse-drawn wagon to Quesnel, where she had been hired to teach. The Conco;rd stages. She describes Quesnel in the 1880s: the town; the fur traders; pack trains; the Klondike gold rush of 1898; the telegraph line; a plot by the Chilcotin [Tsilhqot'in] people; Barkerville; Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie; the school teacher; coins; prices and automobiles of a later era. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Fred Foster interview

CALL NUMBER: T0645:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], [196-] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Fred Foster begins with some anecdotes about the Foster family near Clinton. Then he goes back to his school days in 1881 in Victoria, and discusses Judge Matthew Begbie, including descr;iptions of the man and his character; a description of Begbie's house; the school on Belcher Avenue; his impressions of Victoria in those days, including the schools; an anecdote about a drunk man who; drove an ox team; a procedure for breaking camp at night while traveling on a pack train; his recollections of the packer Jean Caux (known as Cataline); a packer named Tate near Clinton; a story abou;t how Foster's father used to buy gold from the Chinese around the Fraser River, and the process of extracting the quicksilver from the gold; and the differences in gold between various creeks in the Cariboo. TRACK 2: Mr. Foster continues with details about his time in Atlin around 1902, and an anecdote about a dead body in a cabin; more anecdotes about his time in Atlin; running a farm in Clint;on, and eventually coming to Barkerville in 1906; a description of Barkerville at that time; an anecdote about spending New Years eve at Clinton around 1900; his time working on a steamship near Prince George; his experiences in Hazelton as a prospector just before WWI; what Hazelton was like at that time, including the Boyd family; the story of how his mother came to Canada in 1881 [?]; and the l;oss of the Skeena River steamer "Mount Royal".

CALL NUMBER: T0645:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], [196-] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Foster continues with details on how water for use the ships came from a spring at Royal Roads; a discussion of Hatley Park; his memories of Victoria as he first knew it; and characters a;round Victoria. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Nellie Gillespie interview

CALL NUMBER: T1311:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1962-03-28 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs."Nellie" Gillespie recounts the arrival of her father (J.H.Todd) in British Columbia in 1862, his grocery and cannery businesses, summer visits to the Fraser canneries, Skeena canneries, her father's early life in Ontario and BC, her childhood impressions of Victoria, Christmas celebrations, St.John's Church, childhood activities, schooling, theatricals, the Pooley family, recreation at Sooke Lake, and the navy in Victoria society. TRACK 2: Mrs.Gillespie continues with recollections about Begbie's funeral, the Birdcages, the Gillespie family, impressions of the city circa 1900, A;.E.Todd, Mayor of Victoria, the Klondike gold rush, the smallpox epidemic, her father's early activities in Victoria and Barkerville, and her views on tourism and the "Englishness" of Victoria.

CALL NUMBER: T1311:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1962-03-28 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs.Gillespie talks about getting to know people in Victoria, social life and her views on "Englishness". [TRACK 2: blank.]

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.]

Tom Carolan interview

CALL NUMBER: T0423:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Thomas "Tom" Carolan discusses various aspects of settlement and life in the Cariboo, 1850 to 1930. The interview begins with the story of William Pinchbeck, Cariboo pioneer. Stories follow about Amadie Isnardy; Mexican packers and the pack trains; Antonio Boitano; the Chilco Ranch area; the local history of the Cariboo; his perceptions of Native people; and the television series "Cariboo Country". Carolan discusses his own background in Alberta and hunting wild horses in the Cariboo, circa 1927. He tells stories about the famous packer Jean Caux ("Cataline"), the Tressiera family, and Rosetti.

TRACK 2: Carolan continues his stories about packers and Cataline. He describes fiddlers in the Cariboo; Johnny MacLean and the MacLean brothers; hangings in Williams Lake; Judge Begbie's justice; Charlie Skinner; the James railway survey circa 1870; more on William Pinchbeck; and the Cache Creek boarding school. Mr. Carolan discusses settlers entering the Chilcotin and the China Flats; and Chinese miners. He mentions Becher's place at Riske Creek; the Bryant family; and the hurdy-gurdy girls.

CALL NUMBER: T0423:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Carolan describes dances at the big ranches and changes in the Cariboo after WWI. Then he describes cattle in the Cariboo; Amedee Isnardy of Chimney Creek Ranch; the importance of Barkerville; and law and order. Mr. Carolan describes ranchers and ranches of the Chilcotin; the Harper family; Alkali Lake Ranch; Canoe Creek Ranch; Henry Koster; and Upper Dog Creek Ranch. Then he discusses the Big Bar area; raising pigs; and ranches on Chilcotin River.

TRACK 2: The final installment begins with a description of roads in the Chilcotin; Benny Franklin; the ways of the pioneers; Mr. Carolan's family background; and a discussion of Hudson's Bay company activities in the early 1800s. Fur trade routes are mentioned as well as Hudson's Bay Company posts at Anahim Lake. Finally, Pat McClinchy, an old timer of the western Chilotin; the Lee family; John Cook, a Gulf Island pioneer; and children of white/Indian parentage are discussed.