CALL NUMBER: T1782:0001 - 0004 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1970-06 SUMMARY: A series of recordings made by Imbert Orchard on a trip through the Cariboo-Chilcotin area with Mrs. Phyllis Bryant Kellis in June 1970 . The object of the trip was to retrace the Bryant family's journey from Clinton to Tatla Lake between 1919 and 1924. Mr. Orchard and Mrs. Kellis comment on both journeys, and talk to local people who recall the area as it was then. Portions of the recordings were used by Orchard in his CBC program "The Chilcotin Revisited" (T3289:0001). The tapes include ambient sound and commentary recorded at various locations, as well as the voices of: Peggy Keefe, Jim Keefe, Clarence Roberts, Elliot Weisgarber and other unidentified speakers. Locations visited include Clinton, Soda Creek, and the ferry across the Fraser River near Soda Creek.
CALL NUMBER: T1782:0001 tracks 1 - 4 [CDR] RECORDED: [location unknown], 1970-06 SUMMARY: [Dubbed from source reels T1782:01 to T1782:04.] Track 1: Mrs. Kellis discusses her 3-day train ride, the beauty of the countryside, the Clinton hotel, and hotel manager Charlie Miner. (7 minutes) Track 2: Peggy Keefe describes how she came to know the Bryant family. The school near Soda Creek that Jane, Caroline and Alfred Bryant attended. She recalls the children and the piano. (5 minutes) Track 3: Jim Keefe recalls the Bryant family: their meals, their log cabin where, the family preparing for their trip. Sound of a train going by. Clarence Roberts discusses the Overland Charter Telegraph in Soda Creek, Mrs. Bryant (who cared for his mother in 1954), the old community hall, the old hotel, and a description of the town in earlier times. (13 minutes) Track 4: Unidentified speaker discusses a person who brought farming equipment to Soda Creek from Alberta 50 years earlier, then decided that the area was too rocky to farm, so sold his things and went home. The speaker describes the town as it was then, ferrymen, and members of the community. (13 minutes)
CALL NUMBER: T1782:0001 tracks 5 - 7 [CDR] RECORDED: [location unknown], 1970-06 SUMMARY: [Dubbed from source reels T1782:05 to T1782:07.] Track 5: Recorded at the ferry dock 1 mile below Soda Creek. Mr. Orchard describes the landscape. Mrs. Kellis describes the ferry dock, and tells a story about a cougar and a dog. The recording continues on the ferry as it crosses the river. Ambience. Mrs. Kellis recalls where some gold was found. Discussion turns to the log cabin where the Bryants lived in Meldrum Creek. Mrs. Kellis describes where the well was dug. (11 minutes) Track 6: Mrs. Kellis continues the cougar story, and recalls the history of this specific cabin, where they lived after they leaving Sutton. The cabin as it is now, described by Mr. Orchard. Ranching in the U.S. and in B.C. Specific fences they used to keep away moose. Bachelors on ranches. (11 minutes) Track 7: A description of Buckskin Creek as an introduction to Jim Keefe's home, where the Bryants stayed after living at the Alger house. Mrs. Kellis describes the house, where lived there for a year to be closer to the school. The Gentle place near Charlie Ross' property just after the family lived at Sutton. An anecdote about chopping wood. Her feelings about the home at Bruin Ranch. Mr. Orchard describes the woods they have passed through to get to another log house owned by Mr. Sutton at Meldrum Creek. (11 minutes)
CALL NUMBER: T1782:0002 [CDR] RECORDED: [location unknown], 1970-06 SUMMARY: [Dubbed from source reels T1782:09 to T1782:14.] Track 1: A speaker (possibly Willena Hodson) discusses how a home was broken into and robbed. Mr. Orchard describes the rooms and their functions. The house was built between 1914 and 1918. Mrs. Kellis recalls what the house was like when her family lived there. The first stagecoaches belonged to Mr. Hodson, just beyond Riske Creek and the Dark Cabin where Indians lived. (12 minutes) Track 2: Ambient sounds, followed by an interview with an unidentified man about different ways of getting to Williams Lake, ranching, working the cattle, economics of ranching, and a German princess who bought a ranch in the area. (7 minutes) Track 3: Most of the ranches in the sera have stayed with the same families over generations. The unidentified man discusses his family's ranch, and how the ranch may be shared/split in the future. Anna French describes the Bryant family upon their arrival at the Knowles place, the family as they were at Tatla Lake, Cyrus Bryant's father, life in Anahim Lake, feeding cattle in winter, and the "lively" Bryant children. (13 minutes) Track 4: Mrs. Kellis recalls the school teacher. A sink she installed. She describes another home the family lived in at Tatla Lake, the old chicken roost built by Cyrus and his father, and the barn. (9 minutes) Track 5: Mrs. Kellis discusses: a uncompleted bridge, more about the barn, a story about Alfred knocking himself out, a fight with the Graeme family and the pranks the kids pulled, more description of the landscape, One-Eye Lake, local families, and the four kids they boarded. (11 minutes) Track 6: Mrs. Kellis discusses the mountains in the distance; she was so busy that she never had an opportunity to appreciate scenery. Walks the family would take. How she felt about living at Tatla Lake as compared to Anahim Lake. Getting work in Williams Lake. Teaching kids to dance. Her first trip to Bella Coola from Williams Lake in the summer of 1930. (14 minutes)
CALL NUMBER: T1782:0003 [CDR] RECORDED: [location unknown], 1970-06 SUMMARY: [Dubbed from source reels T1782:15 to T1782:19.] Track 1: Mrs. Kellis tells a story about apples being kept in the cellar, where Alfred would often smuggle them out to the other kids. More description and editorial by Mr. Orchard of the home and the Johnny Bull Creek and stream at Tatla Lake. Mrs. Kellis discusses what happened to the school when the family moved to Williams Lake, the whitewashed logs that they used to build the cabin, paint and colors. (12 minutes) Track 2: Ambience. Description of the location: the meadows around Tatla Lake during a race. More ambience. Harry McGhee, who was the postmaster at Tatla Lake, describes and discusses the meaning of Tatlayoko Lake: big wind. He describes his experience of coming to live at Williams Lake and then Tatlayoko Lake. (16 minutes) Track 3: Mr. McGhee continues by describing his first winter in Canada. His first impressions of the Bryant family. What life was like at that time. Tommy Hudson, who owned a freight ride. The small mills in the 1940s, and the effects on local ranchers of corporate mills. Mechanization. Ranches sold to outsiders. (12 minutes) Track 4: Mr. McGhee continues, discussing his garden, a character named Benny Franklin who opened up many roads in the area, stores in Williams Lake, a man named Sutton, experiences in winter trapping, and stories about Indians. (15 minutes) Track 5: Ambience. Discussion with an unidentified man about the Bryants when they lived at Tatla Lake. He tells stories about eggs, Tatla Lake snowfalls, freighting, his first impressions on meeting the Bryants at Tatla Lake, a story about a bull the Bryants owned, and his impressions of their house. (13 minutes)
CALL NUMBER: T1782:0004 [CDR] RECORDED: [location unknown], 1970-06 SUMMARY: [Dubbed from source reel T1782:20.] Track 1: An unidentified woman (possibly Lillian Collier) discusses the stampede at Riske Creek many years prior, Indians, Joe Elkins, country dances, rodeos, and the impact of alcohol on the Indian people. (11 minutes)
