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Columbia Valley Irrigated Fruit Lands, Limited Windermere (B.C.)
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Alexander and Elizabeth Ritchie interview

CALL NUMBER: T0883:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-02 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Alexander Ritchie describes how he came from Calgary in 1896; drove a stage between Fort Steele and Windermere for a few months; went back to Calgary, but returned to Windermere in 1898; worked on ranches and mined until 1910; was part owner of CVI [Columbia Valley Irrigated Fruit Lands, Limited] with [R.R.] Bruce for five years; broke up with Bruce and eventually owned the whole company and site; CPR board of directors were the driving force behind CVI; KCRR [Kootenay Central Railway] reached Athalmer in 1912; the Paradise Mine and some anecdotes. TRACK 2: Mr. Ritchie continue;s by discussing Fort Steele as a "wide open town" in the 1890s and the stage run from Fort Steele to Windermere. He then discusses democrats (i.e., type of wagon).

CALL NUMBER: T0883:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-02 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Ritchie continues his description of the Fort Steele to Windermere stage run; more anecdotes; Windermere as the earliest settlement in the area; Mr. Ritchie's several trips across the Rockies and taking horses east to sell in Alberta. TRACK 2: Mr. Ritchie describes an incident at Banff with Indians and selling horses as far north as Grande Prairie. Then Mrs. Lizzie Ritchie describes how she came from London to Winnipeg in 1904; her first husband was Charles Burgess, who was bookkeeper for a lumber company; Waldo as the first ghost town; and some anecdotes about the lumber industry.

Minnie Irvin interview

CALL NUMBER: T0920:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-06-02 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Minnie Caldwell Irvin came to Arrowhead BC from Nova Scotia in 1911. She mentions her father Edward C. Smith. She discusses her marriage to Sam Irvin and her reasons for coming west. She offers her impressions upon arrival in Arrowhead, and some early memories of Arrowhead; boats on the Arrow Lakes; Halcyon Hot Springs; St. Leon; Revelstoke; Arrowhead and Arrowhead Hotels; a lands;lide at Whisky Point; recreation, such as skating. She discusses her husband's background, and then discusses the lumber industry; lake boats and Captain Cambourne; Rossland's red light district; Rossland in 1896; the decline of Arrowhead, and her move to Athalmer in the Columbia Valley in 1912. TRACK 2: Mrs. Irvin describes the Columbia Valley stage: Jim McKay; Sir Randolph Bruce; 'Whistling' Rufe Kempton; Mr. and 'Ma' Henderson. She discusses riverboats; Sir Randolph Bruce and the Columbia Valley orchards land scheme; the Athalmer area economy; railroad construction. She then compares Windermere; Invermere; Athalmer and Wilmer. She discusses Kootenay and Shuswap Indians and comments on Indian-White relations; recreation; more about 'Whistling' Rufe. She describes the Athalmer Hotel in 1912; the coronation of the hotel at Arrowhead; social life and recreation at Athalmer; cock fighting; Fairmont and Radium Hot Springs.

CALL NUMBER: T0920:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-06-02 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Irvin continues with the story of how she came to Rossland from Athalmer in 1915, and stayed until 1958, operating the Irvin Hotel. She describes the red light district of Rossland; the; trip to Rossland in 1915; facilities at the hotel and making lunches for the miners. She describes Rossland in the 1930s and stories about finding and mining minerals. She discusses transportation ;and compares Athalmer to Rossland. She then compares Rossland to other mining towns. TRACK 2: Mrs. Irvin describes the scenery near Rossland; recreation such as horseback riding, a first in the tow;n in the 1920s; Rossland's beginnings; the history of the Irvin Hotel; the explosion of 1905; hotels; and an incident with 'Calgary Red'.; CALL NUMBER: T0920:0003 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-06-02 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Irvin discusses 'Old Lady Jess'; Rossland buildings as they were before the fire in the 1920s. She describes the home of Ross Thompson, who Rossland was named after; Trail; Mary's Flats; at Trail; the Italian population at Trail; Mrs. Essling; an M.P.'s travel to Trail; the Sullivan Mine at Kimberly; and miscellaneous comments about the Rossland area. [TRACK 2: blank.];