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The Western Canadian Ranching Company (WCRC) was incorporated in England to acquire, develop and manage ranches throughout the Province of British Columbia, Canada, and the United States. The WCRC was registered in British Columbia as an extra-provincial company on Jan. 3, 1898. Ranches under its management included the Harper Ranch near Kamloops, the Gang Ranch and the Perry Ranch, near Ashcroft. Throughout its existence, the company maintained its head office in England with a branch office in Victoria. The British Columbia Land and Investment Agency served as its financial agent. The WCRC wound up its business in the 1950s. Fonds consists of correspondence and miscellaneous bills, photographs, maps and the transcript of a court case. The correspondence documents operations of the ranches and the administrative and financial relationships between the head office, the Victoria office and the various operational centres. Series 6 documents the background to the acquisition of the Harper Ranch. Series 9 consists of City of Victoria Archives accession 98401-22: research notes and copies made by City of Victoria Archives staff and volunteers.

The series consists of Forest Branch records created between 1912 and 1914. The series contains timber cruiser reports by W.J. Kelly on diverse tracts, including holdings of the Lillooet and Cariboo Land Company, Ltd. Reports include numerous photographs and maps.

Stanley Howard Frame (1878-1973) was a surveyor who worked as a District Hydrometric Engineer for the Department of the Interior in Alberta, as Assistant Engineer, Irrigation Block in Alberta, and as a hydraulic engineer at the B.C. Water Rights Branch (1928-1947).

Diaries, 1916-1972, covering Frame's work as District Hydrometric Engineer, for the Dept. of the Interior, Cardston and McLeod districts, Alberta, 1916-1918; as Assistant Engineer, Irrigation Block, Brooks, Alberta for the CPR Dept. of Natural Resources, 1918-1928; and as hydraulic engineer, British Columbia Water Rights Branch, 1928-1947. The diaries also covers his life in Victoria to 1972. Memoirs, 1903-1913 of work as Grand Trunk Pacific engineer, Prairies, Prince Rupert and Calgary. A genealogical and historical record of some pioneer families of Nova Scotia and New England. Dance and conference programmes.

Letters inward, 1934-1977, mainly concerning Cassiar district, the South Nahanni, Liard and Finlay rivers, and the Alberta foothills; copies of pages of Guy Lawrence, "40 years on the Yukon Telegraph" annotated by T.F. Harper Reed. Microfilm (neg.) 1934-1977 35 mm [A00953(1)] Photocopies ca. 1960 1 cm Raymond Murray Patterson was born in Country Durham, England, on May 13, 1898. He was educated at Rossall School, and in 1917 went directly from school into the British army. He served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery, was captured in the spring of 1918, and spent the remainder of the war in a Prisoner of War camp in Silesia. After the war, he attended Oxford University and then joined the Bank of England. In 1924, Mr. Patterson came to Canada. After working briefly on a dairy farm in the Fraser Valley, he homesteaded in the Battle River area of the Peace River District of Alberta. In the summer of 1927, he made the first of the northern journeys which formed the subject of much of his later writings. Travelling by way of Fort Simpson, he spent the summer on the South Nahanni River, returning south by way of a difficult journey via the Fort Nelson River and Fort St. John. He returned to the South Nahanni in the spring of 1928 and remained there with his partner, Gordon Matthews, until the spring of 1929. Mr. Patterson returned to England to be married in 1929. Until 1946, he and his wife and family lived in Alberta, first sheep ranching in the Bow River Valley, and then running the Buffalo Head Ranch in the Highwood River Valley in the Alberta foothills. The Pattersons moved to Vancouver Island in 1946, living first near Sidney and later in Victoria, from 1962 on. In the late 1940s, Mr. Patterson made two more northern trips, again, largely by canoe. With his experiences on the South Nahanni, they formed the basis for three of his books. In 1948, he travelled from Wrangell up the Stikine River to Telegraph Creek and then down the Dease to Lower Post. In 1949, he went from Prince George via the Crooked River to Finlay Forks and then up the Finlay River. In the 1940s, Patterson began to publish articles in magazines such as The Beaver and Blackwoods on his experiences as a homesteader and his northern travels. In 1954, The Dangerous River, the first of his five books, was published. It was based on his experiences on the South Nahanni River, 1927-1929. The Dangerous River was followed by The Buffalo Head, 1961, which was partly about his early life in England and on his Alberta homestead, but mainly about his life in the Alberta foothills. Far Pastures, published in 1963, consisted of articles previously published in magazines with additional chapters on homesteading and later travels in the north. In Trail to the Interior, 1966 and Finlay's River, 1968, Patterson used his journeys on the Stikine and Dease in 1948 and on the Finlay in 1949 as a framework to write about the history of those rivers. In addition to his own books, Patterson wrote the introduction to the Hudson's Bay Record Society's edition of the Journals of Samuel Black, published in 1955. Raymond Murray Patterson died in Victoria in 1984. Records include: letters inward, 1934-1977, mainly concerning Cassiar district, the South Nahanni, Liard and Finlay Rivers, and the Alberta foothills; and copies of pages of Guy Lawrence, 40 years on the Yukon Telegraph annotated by T.F. Harper Reed. Related records include MS-2762, Visual Records accession 198908-001, and Maps accession M89-038 Photocopy Guy Lawrence's 40 years on the Yukon Telegraph annotated by T.F. Harper Reed. Source: MS Finding Aids Finding aid.

Two record books containing brand registers for Kamloops and Clinton districts 1873-1914, as well as water records for Clinton district 1877-1879. The Kamloops volume also includes collectorate records from the Gold Commissioner at Yale for 1861. The index for the Clinton volume is in GR-1487, box 2, file 1. Also included are 6 volumes of office diaries, 1948, 1951-1953, 1955-1956, used by Thomas Moore, Recorder of brands.

Minutes, 1960-1975; correspondence, 1960-1976; correspondence re land applications and cattle increases, 1964-1971; correspondence re land applications, 1968-1975; correspondence with B.C. Cattlemen, 1972-1977.

Series consists of private papers and business correspondence, agreements, etc. relating to mining companies promoted by A.K. Shives and his associates. Includes material relating to Empress Gold Mines, Gold Valley (properties in Similkameen District), Moose Dome area (Alberta) and others. Also includes some early reconnaissance and timber cruising reports for areas in the North Cariboo and Chilcotin and a letter from Arnold K. Shives to General Victor Odlum regarding Goldbridge Placer Leaser #564, Oct. 7, 1939.

The series consists of records created by Tommy Walker between 1926 and 1989 and documents the life and work of Tommy and Marion Walker in the Bella Coola Valley.

The records consist of diaries, notebooks, literary papers and manuscripts, guest books, business records, news clippings, motion picture films, maps, photographs, and a diversity of correspondence and subject files.

The diaries include a detailed record, with photographs, of the 1948 pack trip to Cold Fish Lake. The subject/correspondence files contain letters both inward and outward; most outgoing letters are typed carbon copies. Much of the correspondence listed under personal file names is with clients. These early exchanges usually deal with travel arrangements and overall costs of a hunt (or fishing trip). Later letters often reflect the developing friendships between the Walkers and their clients, many of whom were prominent United States businessmen. The general correspondence covers a wide variety of business and personal concerns, with one or two letters per correspondent.

The second largest component within the subject/correspondence files deals with the efforts to establish the park at Spatsizi, and with the Spatsizi Association for Biological Research. There are many exchanges of letters with university scientists such as Vladimir Krajina and Ian McTaggart-Cowan. These and other individuals are also represented in separate files under their own names.

Walker was a member of the Public Advisory Board of the Habitat Conservation Fund, and a large group of files relates to habitat enhancement proposals placed before the Board. Among the notable individuals amply represented in the correspondence are H.R. MacMillan and E.C.W. Lamarque. MacMillan was a hunting companion of Walker's. Lamarque reminisced extensively about his early days of travel in western Canada and some of these letters are illustrated with sketches and maps.

The "Annual letters" are a fine record of the Walkers' life and activities. These were sent each Christmas and are a blend of personal anecdotes, the state of their business, and Mr. Walker's strong views about northern development. He was involved in a number of environmental organizations watching over northern and north west industrial development. This is documented by correspondence, pamphlets, and newsletters such as Northern B.C. Development Newsletter. The literary papers and manuscripts relating to Spatsizi, Mr. Walker's only published work, consist primarily of various drafts and correspondence with publishers.

Also included is an unpublished manuscript, Heartland of the Cassiar. At the time of his death Mr. Walker was working on this history of the exploration and surveying of northern B.C., particularly the headwater areas of the Stikine, Finlay, Turnagain and Skeena Rivers. One of the three completed chapters is devoted to E.C.W. Lamarque.

Business records in this collection date from the early days of Stuie Lodge (account books, 1931-1945), through 1972. They are arranged partly under ledgers and account books and the rest gathered mainly in subject files under the names of his two principal business. The big game outfit at Cold Fish Lake operated under the name of Walker Frontier Services; relevant financial records here cover 1964-1971. The Tatogga Lake files contain mostly business and legal correspondence and documents relating to the lease, purchase, operation, and eventual sale of the land and buildings (store and sawmill).

This series contains working records consisting of: File 1. Land Use and Land Alienation, Forestry vs. Ranching in the Interior of British Columbia, a xerographic copy of a paper presented to a hearing on land use at Quesnel on November 15, 1968; File 2. Memoranda on range management training 1978; File 3. Agenda for the 1978 Range Managers' meeting.

Minute book.

Personal papers; subject files consisting of newspaper clippings, notes of interviews, drafts of articles, correspondence, and photographs relating to LeBourdais' interest in the history of the Cariboo district. Louis LeBourdais was born in Clinton in 1888 and died in Quesnel in 1947. He was the son of Adalbert LeBourdais, telegrapher and postmaster at Clinton and Eleanore LeBourdais. Louis LeBourdais also became a telegraph operator. He worked in Kootenay and Okanagan districts for the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Dominion Government Telegraph Service, before settling in Quesnel, apparently in the early years of World War I, as telegrapher for the Dominion Government Telegraph Service. In 1937 he became an insurance agent for the Confederation Life Association. He was elected to the provincial Legislature in 1937 as the liberal member for Cariboo district, and was re-elected in 1941 and 1945. LeBourdais was keenly interested in the history of the Cariboo district and the Central Interior in general. He wrote and sold articles on the past history of the region and on current economic trends to a number of magazines and newspapers, and was a correspondent for the Vancouver Daily Province. His topics included gold mining and the "back to the land" movement. The records were accumulated primarily in connection with LeBourdais' historical interests. Records include: papers and newspaper clippings of general interest, and subject files arranged alphabetically. The subject files consist of newspaper clippings, handwritten and typewritten drafts of articles, notes of interviews, correspondence and photographs. The bulk of the records date from the 1930s and are concerned with old timers, mining, particularly the resurgence of gold quartz mining, and the "back to the land" movement. Some subject files contain photographs. Printed material transferred to the North West Library Collection is identified in the finding aid. Approximately 450 black and white photographs, 75 black and white negatives, and nine glass negatives of various subjects, and approximately two hundred lantern slides of the Cariboo-Barkerville area were transferred to Visual Records accession, 198501-11. Mining maps of the Central Interior of British Columbia have been transferred to map registration numbers: 12916-12928. A list of maps is available at the end of the attached finding aid. Related records in MS-0361.

This series consists of seven volumes of records of the Water Commissioner, Lillooet, B.C., related to water rights, 1859-1915. Includes grants of water right, licences, plans, notices, etc. Volume 5 covers area from south of Lillooet to 150 Mile House and includes Hanceville and Big Creek; volume 3 includes lots on the North Thompson.

The series consists of photocopies of letters written from British Columbia to Hugh Booth Lee of Whitchurch, Shropshire, England, 1913-1914. Most of the letters were written by Hugh's mother, Mrs. Agnes Nash, during a visit she made to her children, Nessie (Mrs. Norman Lee), of Hanceville, Tom, of Alexis Creek, and Alfred, of Nicola and Alberni. The collection also contains letters from Tom and Nessie Hugh. Mrs. Nash was in the Chilcotin from March to May 1913, at Nicola from July to September, and in Victoria, where she lived with Nessie and Norman Lee, from October 1913 to June 1914. Mrs. Nash was very sociable and the letters are full of news of people met in B.C. and of the family in England.

Diary of E.P. Lee (1871?-1960), 1899, 1903-1913 (intermittent entries); day book, 1898-1906, and fur list, 1900-1906; Bank of Montreal accounts, 1919-1960; fur list, 1943-1945.

The series consists of a ledger.

The collection includes a letterbook, 1888-1893, belonging to S.K Twigge, Sidney A.J. Kenworthy's father, business documents and correspondence from the Empire Valley Ranch, documents from the Empire Valley School, two letters to men on the Empire Valley Ranch, and Kenworthy family correspondence. Photographs transferred to Visual Records accession 199205-010.

Received from the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature.

Finding aid: file list.

Series consists of articles, typescript drafts, essays, biographies, notes, clippings, etc. relating to Alaska, the history of British Columbia, historic sites in British Columbia, Indigenous people of British Columbia, the pelagic sealing industry, etc. The series also includes invitations to events and 124 black and white photographs, mostly of Smith's time in Japan and China.

Correspondence re the Gang Ranch, the Western Canadian Ranching Co., British Columbia Land and Investment Agency, and appointment of James Douglas Prentice as manager of the Gang Ranch, 1935-1939, 1946; typescripts of two novels and two short stories, three of which take place on a ranch in the Cariboo-Chilcotin, likely written between 1946-1957.

Family papers (certificates, correspondence re his daughters hospitalization): papers re cattle (grazing, brands, sales, etc.); papers re guiding and trapping; correspondence re land; papers re mining; bills.

The series consists of a diary kept by Hargreaves while a member of "W.X.Y." division during a C.P.R. survey of Bute Inlet, 1872. Also includes a typescript diary and survey notes, May to October 1874, kept while surveying between Burrard Inlet and Pender Harbour.

Diary of a survey carried out for the Water Rights Branch, August and September, 1929, between Chilco Lake and Bishop River and between Franklyn Arm of Chilco Lake and the forks of the Southgate and Bishop Rivers, with a view to determining the possibility of diverting Chilco Lake either by a tunnel through Mt. Chilco or by a Tunnel from Franklyn Arm to Southgate River. Also contains survey notes and pencil sketches. Map transferred to Map Collection, accession 18445.

Diaries of H.E. Church, 1890-1933; account book and personal papers of R.H. Church, 1927-1969; business papers re the Church ranch; papers of the Big Creek Stock Breeders Association, 1923-1969. H.E. Church emigrated from England to Canada in 1886. He homesteaded on Sheep Creek in Southern Alberta from 1887 to 1897, farmed at Comox, B.C. from 1897 to 1902, and in 1903 moved to Big Creek, B.C.

Daybook, 1906-1910 and 1920-1926.

This series consists of Correspondence files of the Cariboo District Forester relating to timber sales, 1917-1933. Includes logging inspection reports, timber sale reports, status inquiries, surveys, and sale contracts.

The series contains letters concerning the publication of short stories and "Three Against the Wilderness"; a letter to the Game Commissioner re the antlerless deer season; a letter from his brother in England re family matters; various financial records; notebooks; typescript and galley proofs of "Three Against the Wilderness"; manuscripts of short stories and clippings.

Letter to Provincial Archivist E.O.S. Scholefield from Anthropologist James A. Teit regarding Simon Fraser's identifications of the Shuswap, Chilcotin and Thompson River Indians.

The series consists of photocopies of three letters and a written "sketch" sent to friends and a brother in England. Hargreaves arrived in Victoria from England on July 2, 1862. The letter of Sept. 1, 1862 describes his first attempt to reach the Cariboo, from which he turned back, his work as a survey assistant in the Cowichan district, and his reaction to the articles written by Donald Fraser, the London TIMES correspondent. The second letter, Jan. 9, 1865, describes a trip to Cariboo in 1863 and the third item is a "sketch of a trip I made in the winter of 1875" describing a CPR exploratory survey in the Chilcotin. The final item, a letter of Feb 6, 1878, continues the account of his survey work in 1875, describing work in the Salmon (Kimsquit) River Valley at the head of Dean Channel, and in the Kemano River.

The series consists of records created by the Department of Lands between 1888 and 1953. It contains a Coast Land District, Range 3 lot register, covering lots 1-720. The register lists the lots in numerical order and records the alienation of land from the Crown (by purchaser, pre-emption, lease, etc.). Information may include the name of the purchaser, dates and numbers of certificates issued (including Crown Grants), dates and amounts of payments, and reference numbers to correspondence files and field books. The volume contains an alphabetical name index.

The series consists of records created by the Department of Lands between 1882 and 1923. It contains a Coast Land District, Range 2 lot register for lots 1-693. The register lists the lots in numerical order and records the alienation of land from the Crown (by purchaser, pre-emption, lease, etc.). Information may include the name of the purchaser, dates and numbers of certificates issued (including Crown Grants), dates and amounts of payments, and reference numbers to correspondence files and field books. The volume contains an alphabetical name index.