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Imbert Orchard fonds British Columbia Electric Railway Company
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Albert Drinkwater interview

CALL NUMBER: T0772:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-03-17 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Drinkwater recounts his parents' arrival in Langley Prairie, and later Surrey, in the 1890s. He describes schooling; early life; childhood experiences; incident with a bear; New Westminster fire of [1898]; potlatches at Semiahmoo; Indian encampments; family life; farm chores; fishing. TRACK 2: Mr. Drinkwater continues with a discussion about fishing; winter; logging in Surrey; sawmills; Ross McLaren Mill; Yale Road; traveling store, Kidds and Isaac; sounds common at the turn of the century; a cougar incident; railways.

CALL NUMBER: T0772:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-03-17 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Drinkwater continues with his discussion about logging; logging methods; equipment; working horses; teamsters; oxen teams; selection of timber; loggers; the scaler; skid roads; transportation of logs. TRACK 2: Mr. Drinkwater continues with his discussion about logging; life in the logging camps; skid roads and donkey engines. He talks about Surrey Centre; early residents; Reverend; Bell.

CALL NUMBER: T0772:0003 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-03-17 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Drinkwater continues with his recollections of early residents of Tynehead; the Bell family; Halls Prairie settlers; the MacKenzie family; the Robertson family; incidents; the Brown family; Johnny Wise and the Clarendon Hotel; riverboats. TRACK 2: Mr. Drinkwater talks about the Yale Road; dredging and dyking, methods, procedures and equipment; Sumas Prairie dyking; constructing the; route for BC Electric; logging.

Captain Hollis Young interview

CALL NUMBER: T0696:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1961-02-15 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Captain Young recalls his family's arrival in BC in 1889, and their work with sternwheelers carrying passengers and cargo on the Fraser River. He speaks about various boats the family owned; the shipping service; incidents; tow-boating, his work on the government dredge for twenty-one years; James Island. He recalls conditions on the Fraser route; customers; navigation; C.P.R. competition; the "Ramona", the "Paystreak", the "Hamlin" and the "New Westminster". TRACK 2: Captain Young continues with his recollections of his work along the Fraser; competition from the BC Electric Railway; local boat building; the flood of 1894; a May 24th excursion to Harrison Hot Springs; the Western Navigation Company, the "Ramona", and the "Paystreak"; Langley's waterfront hotels; crew; boat accommodation and navigation. He talks about his early family life and boating; travel to Chilliwack; accidents; seasonal navigation difficulties, and learning navigation.

CALL NUMBER: T0696:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1961-02-15 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Captain Young talks about his early boating years with his father; navigation licenses; and nostalgia for sternwheelers. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Charlotte Fatkin interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-02-20 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Charlotte Fatkin recounts her family's arrival in BC in 1889. She married Mr. Fatkin in 1908 and moved to Bradner in 1911 to grow daffodils and start a bulb business. She talks about the BC Electric shipping flowers; other bulb growers in the area; tulips; the Bradner Flower Show. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Constance Cruikshank interview

CALL NUMBER: T0436:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-03-12 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Miss Cruickshank recounts the arrival of the John Maclure family at Matsqui, 1868; Maclure family stories and incidents; C.B. Sword; the dyke at Matsqui; other settlers; Maclure family telegraph work; Sam Maclure; Sarah Maclure; Clayburn Brickworks; Maclure family stories. TRACK 2: Miss Cruickshank continues with her recollections of the Maclure family and Matsqui; other settlers; Indians; the Cruickshank family; subdivision and development; geography of the area; social life; the Women's Institute; the Maple Grove Dairy Company; remittance men; transportation; railways; roads; and; Abbotsford.

CALL NUMBER: T0436:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-03-12 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Miss Cruickshank discusses the naming of Abbotsford; the Purver family; doctors; lumbering at Abbotsford; the Hartnell family; lumber mills; railways; social life; BC Electric; and settlers. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Dan Cummings interview

CALL NUMBER: T0749:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-02-19 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Dan Cummings talks about his father [Rod Cummings] coming west from P.E.I. in 1879 to Vancouver; his father and uncle homesteading in Langley in 1888; logging bees; clearing land; burning out trees; statute labour; logging; Royal City Mills; logging mills and camps; Hamry's bus line; roads; New Westminster market; farming in the area; local incidents; more information about the New Westminster market. TRACK 2: Mr. Cummings continues with recollections about the New Westminster market; the land boom; river transportation; peddlers; Prefontaine; Langley Prairie, Innis' Corner; early ;crops; anecdotes about pioneer life; food; winter weather; sleigh bells; mosquitoes; peddlers; recollections about the development of Langley Prairie.; CALL NUMBER: T0749:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-02-19 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Cummings talks about the new Trans-Canada Highway; Murrayville; early stores in Langley; the Hughie Davidson and John Riddle store; the customs officer at Shortridge's Corner; Coulter an;d Berry store; growth of Murrayville; milk production; recreation and dances; teachers; schools; Otter School; Lochiel School; childhood memories and chores; churches and church life; Milner; the Hudson's Bay Company farm land; subdivision and land boom; Fruitvale; land development. TRACK 2: Mr. Cummings discusses the railway routes; the Great Northern Railway; BC Electric; construction of the railways; politics; road names; naming of Murrayville; the high school.

D.W. Hodgson 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.

Ed Smith interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-03-16 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Smith discusses his work for railroad companies starting in the U.S. and later for the BC Electric for thirty-six years on the Chilliwack line. He talks about the rolling stock; the freight business; lumber products; farm produce; milk-train operation; train incidents; the rail route; descriptions of areas along the route; day and night operation; hours and pay; and company officials. TRACK 2: Mr. Smith continues with his discussion about the railway; the reduction of the passenger service; duties of the conductor; company officials; passenger train crew; skills of the motorman; cattle on the line; incidents; trainmen's jargon; collisions; coaches; incidents along the line; signals; weather conditions.

Fraser Valley : general

The sub-series consists of oral history interviews recorded in Fraser Valley, mainly dealing with the history of the region in general. Two interviews deal with the history of the B.C. Electric Railway in the area.

Fred Sinclair interview

CALL NUMBER: T0307:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-04-04 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Fred Sinclair describes his work on the Great Northern in Seattle; railways around Chilliwack and the Fraser Valley. He talks about the V.V.E.; the Great Northern Railway; surveying and construction of BC Electric in 1907, Vancouver to Chilliwack. TRACK 2: Mr. Sinclair continues with his discussion about the survey and construction of the BC Electric line from Vancouver to Chilliwack. He speaks about the problems that occurred during construction; his work as divisional engineer; labourers; operation of the line; the official opening of the line and the last spike by Premier McBride.

CALL NUMBER: T0307:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-04-04 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Sinclair discusses construction of the section of the line from Langley Prairie to Matsqui Prairie. He was involved in developing various schemes for the dyking of Sumas after his employment at BC Electric; in 1919 he completed a detailed survey of the proposed project. TRACK 2: Mr. Sinclair continues his discussion of the Sumas dyking project; government approval; the Marshborne Construction Company; building the Vedder Canal; Sumas River Dam; completion of the project; political opposition.

Fred Toop interview

CALL NUMBER: T0717:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-03-15 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Toop recounts the early history of the Yarrow District; Volkart Vedder and family; early settlers; the Toop family who came to Chilliwack in 1874; incidents involving the changing course; of the Vedder River; family history; Sampson Toop; homesteading; roads and trails. TRACK 2: Mr. Toop talks about his family's journey to Chilliwack; the flood of 1894; dairy products; shipping to t;he creamery, Fraser Valley Milk Producers Association; BC Electric; childhood memories; Sumas United Church; growing hops; draining of Sumas Lake.

CALL NUMBER: T0717:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-03-15 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Toop continues with his discussion of draining the Sumas Lake; early schemes for dyking Sumas; the Mennonite community; Yarrow; early settlers; the Vedder family; Sardis. [TRACK 2: blank;.]

Fred Zink interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-04-01 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Fred Zink recounts his father's [Jacob Zink] coming to the Rosedale area in 1891 and later to the Sardis District; Yarrow and the Chilliwack area in 1900. Mr. Zink talks about river transportation; clearing land; marginal land; the Chilliwack River; the Vedder River; Yarrow; his wife's family including Henry Hall and Sampson Toop; floods; school days. TRACK 2: Mr. Zink discusses churches in Chilliwack; Indian place names; the Miller family; river landings; the flood of 1894; plans for the reclamation of the Sumas area; dyking schemes; the Fraser Valley Milk Producers Association; BC Electric.

Hugh H. Logan interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], [1960?] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Logan recounts his parents' early life in Esquimalt; the family moved to New Westminster in 1909. Mr. Logan started with the BC Electric at age thirteen; he describes his first job; financial background of BCE; his first trip to Chilliwack; weekender special trains to Sumas; World War I; job advancement; post-war; his employment in various positions; train dispatching; train master; and the superintendent for rail operations. He discusses the railway's effect on the Fraser Valley's economic development; the station buildings; the route; mills and logging shipments; freight; population of the valley; milk-trains; pride of the employees; and the M.B. King Lumber Co. at Newton. TRACK 2: Mr. Logan discusses transcontinental freight rates; international trade; freight traffic; financial arrangements with the CPR; BC Electric services; the train route and stations from New Westminster to Chilliwack; local traffic; farm freight; truck traffic; World War II; the end of passenger service in 1950; bus traffic; Pacific Stages; trainmen; "bloomer days"; and traffic growth.

Ira Biggar interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-01-22 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Biggar recounts his father's coming from P.E.I. to the Langley area in 1887; homesteading in Biggar Prairie; other settlers from P.E.I.; settling the prairie; building; flooding; early settlers; Eric Anderson; schooling; comparison to P.E.I.; winter on the prairie; the railway; Blaine; pioneer life; improvements to the homestead; farming; taking produce to market; roads and trail; livestock. TRACK 2: Mr. Biggar discusses various jobs; the BC Electric; Fred Sinclair; working for the BC Electric; storms; Biggar homesteads; logging; churches; Alexander Tate; doctors; naming of the; community.

J. Clarke Brannick interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-03-15 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Brannick recounts the arrival of his father [Joseph Brannick] in 1882 in East Chilliwack; homesteading in the area; drainage; land clearing; trails; roads; wildlife; farming; dairy cattle; butter shipments; transportation; their log house; a description of East Chilliwack land conditions; flood of 1894; mills at Elk Creek and Popkum; horse trading; farm produce; Chinese labour; horses; crops; farm life. TRACK 2: Mr. Brannick talks about his schooling; dredges; BC Electric improving transportation; Chilliwack Creamery; Fraser Valley Milk Producers in 1913; Captain Sam Gardiner; the Jack Parker family; the Ford family; early settlers; young people's social life; churches.

Jack Henderson interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-04-02 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Henderson recounts his father's [John Calvin Henderson] and grandfather's settlement at Popkum and their later move to Chilliwack. He describes Popkum's Landing; his father's store; boa;t traffic; freight; settlers; childhood memories; schooling; his father's undertaking business; playing in a band; May 24th boat excursion to Harrison Hot Springs; New Year's celebrations; arrival of ;BC Electric in 1910; Brackman and Ker Milling. TRACK 2: Mr.Harrison talks about the ferry to Minto Landing; the Agassiz ferry; Mr. MacDonald's canoes at Camp Slough; Harrison Hotel; the Ryder family; the 1894 flood; fire brigade; Bill Miner; politics.

Jessie Boston interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-02-22 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Boston recounts her parents arrival in Milner; they later homesteaded in Aldergrove in 1887; early settlers; pioneer life; the farm; mail service; mills; the Home Improvement Company; churches; Reverend Dunn; the first school; Aldergrove; logging; the Great Northern Railway; the BC Electric Railway; dairy farming; schooling; family life; bus service to New Westminster; Goodman Hamray; peddlers; Richmond A. Payne. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Joe Louie interview

CALL NUMBER: T0437:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1967-01-04 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Louie speaks about Indian languages of the Fraser Valley; legends about drought and Cultus Lake; Indian religions and values; Indian boundaries respecting land, hunting, and fishing, and; the preservation and respect of natural resources. TRACK 2: Mr. Louie continues to speak about respect for life and beliefs associated with hunting; the Indians' quality of respect that was the sam;e as prayer; respect for elders; elders teaching of skills; Indian life; skills; longhouses; trails in the Abbotsford area; Indian names in the area; and the treatment of Indians by white men.

CALL NUMBER: T0437:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1967-01-04 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Louie discusses Indian-white relations; chiefs in his family; the Matsqui settlers' relationships with Indians; education; Coqualeetza School; Indians in the work force; Mount Baker; BC Electric; East Indian workers; conditions of Indians in Washington State; and his father, Chief Joe Kelly. [TRACK 2: blank.]

John James Brown interview

CALL NUMBER: T0767:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-02-07 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Brown recounts his parent's journey to BC from Ireland and settlement in Surrey in 1879. He talks about roads and their names; his father's farm, Colebrook; railways; clearing and draining land; logging; mills; flooding; tide gates; soil conditions. TRACK 2: Mr. Brown continues with a discussion of land conditions and settlement; early settlers; development of Surrey; types of farming; marketing produce; BC Electric railway; truck transportation; settlement; clearing land; contract workers; Chinese labour; East Indian labour; community life; social life; interesting characters; R.H.L. Morgan; John Oliver.

CALL NUMBER: T0767:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-02-07 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Brown talks about wildlife in the Surrey area; incidents; the Drinkwater bear incident; John Oliver; "English recruits"; climate; farm crops; school; childhood in Surrey. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Levi Wildgrube interview

CALL NUMBER: T0778:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-03-18 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Wildgrube recounts his family's early life and experiences at Lund, Cortes Island and Read Island. He talks about lumber camps; Don Messer; fiddlers and dancing; entertainment; the first phonograph; his father's musical career and performances in Vancouver; his father's logging career; speaking in Chinook; the family homestead at Enderby Hill; Surrey and the journey to the homestead;. TRACK 2: Mr. Wildgrube continues with the journey to the homestead from New Westminster; settling in at the homestead; other residents; anecdotes about John Oliver; the community of Brownsville; Colonel Morgan.

CALL NUMBER: T0778:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-03-18 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Wildgrube continues with recollections about Colonel Morgan; Strawberry Hill; Brownsville; South Westminster; Johnny Wise and his hotels; the Cline family; local incidents; logging experiences. TRACK 2: Mr. Wildgrube recalls incidents about Fred Clark; logging and mills; Green Timbers; Pat Davoy; BC Electric; bridges.

Lillian and W.G. Fadden and Rita Starr : interview

CALL NUMBER: T0706:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-04-01 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Fadden recalls the store at Whonnock owned by her father [L.C. York]; Bill Miner; the settlement at Whonnock. Mr. Fadden recounts his father's arrival in Sumas in 1885; family history; floods of 1894; the lynching of "Indian Louie" [i.e., Louie Sam]; the family farm; Sumas Lake; first settlers; Fraser York; mosquitoes; early memories. TRACK 2: Mr. Fadden continues with childhood ;memories and pranks. Mrs. Rita Starr [Winford's sister, Mary Marguerite Fadden] reads from her mother's diary relating to the flood of 1894, household entries, and day-to-day events. Mrs. Starr recounts her own memories of the flood; saving the farm animals; life during the flood; swimming; picnics; Sumas Lake; school days; social activities; Tommy York; early settlers.;

CALL NUMBER: T0706:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-04-01 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Starr continues with stories about local characters; Sumas Indians; farm life. Mr. Fadden talks about BC Electric; shipping farm produce; dyking Sumas Lake; land tax; shipping milk; Nooksack, Lyden and Sumas [rivers?]. Mrs. Starr reads from her mother's diary on the subject of Abbotsford; the old man in the stump; Freeman; the naming of Abbotsford. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Living memory : Langley Prairie

SUMMARY: "Langley Prairie", the fifth episode, features people of Milner and Murrayville. The voices heard include Dan Cummings, Bert Williams and Mrs. Jenny Medd.

The recording is incomplete.

Norah Mercer interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-04-02 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Norah (Mrs. Alec) Mercer, nee Reece, recounts her father's arrival in Chilliwack in 1858; his settlement; the Corners; Harrison House Hotel; Bummers Roost; old characters; Jeff Harrison; "Sheep" MacDonald; Minto; the changeable Fraser River; the community of Chilliwack; Centreville; telegraph office; schooling. TRACK 2: Mrs. Mercer recalls memories of the flood of 1894; BC Electric trains; remittance men; Indians; community members; changes in the landscape; pioneer life.

William E. Pinson interview

CALL NUMBER: T0697:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-03-16 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Pinson recalls his early years (1910 to the 1950s) railroading in BC. He talks about many incidents and events which occurred while railroading on the BC Electric; bootleggers; freight; passenger trade; winter storms; the route through the Fraser Valley; the "Owl"; scheduled trains; freight trains; special trains; train accidents; and "the juice line". TRACK 2: Mr. Pinson continues discussing the route through the Fraser Valley; bootleggers; farm freight; BC Electric and the building of the Alaska Highway; passenger service; excursions; Bradner and the Japanese gardeners; farmers and characters along the train line; famous trainmen; motorman skills and train terms.

CALL NUMBER: T0697:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-03-16 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Pinson recalls problems with gangs of kids; miners on the E & N route; the "Nanaimo Street Gang". He talks about the years 1910 to 1915 on the E & N; building the line; industries and communities along the route. He discusses wildlife along the line; hunters and fishermen's special trains; game wardens; fishing. [TRACK 2: blank.]

William McClughan interview

CALL NUMBER: T0755:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-02-19 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Bill McClughan relates some amusing early incidents from Langley; family history about his father, Samuel McClughan, who came from Ireland to Ontario, then Fort Langley in 1877; life of earl;y settlers; clearing land; the log cabin; homesteading; hunting; fishing; crops; fruit; steamboat travel. TRACK 2: Bill McClughan continues with recollections about steamboat travel; childhood memories; schooling; chores; driving oxen; clothing; churches and preachers; Reverend Bell; Reverend Dunn; peddlers and stores; description of Port Kells; Barnston Island; interesting characters.;

CALL NUMBER: T0755:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-02-19 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Bill McClughan continues with stories about interesting characters; MacLartey; the Chinese labourer on the farm; the BC Electric Railway and surveying for the line; agricultural land and soil; conditions in Langley. [TRACK 2: blank.]