Showing 327 results

The series consists of probate files created by the Nelson Supreme Court between 1895 and 2007.
The records are filed alphabetically within the year, 1895-1922, although some names are out of the alphabetical sequence. Files after 1922 are filed chronologically.

Files 27/1939 to 43/1940 were accidentally destroyed prior to microfilming.

Probate files from 1990-2007 are in textual format.

The fonds consists of Kunst family records and contain the following: Memoir of Milton Kunst; photographs, both negatives and prints, taken or acquired by Milton Kunst and biographical information about Dr. Johan Jurriaan Kunst and his family.

This series consists of timber tenures from the Kootenay Lake Forest District from 1976-1992. Some early records may have been created by the Nelson, Creston and Kaslo Forest Ranger.

Forest tenures in this series include non-replaceable timber sale licence cutting permits. Records regard the application, issuance, maintenance, administration, monitoring and cancellation of these tenures pursuant to the Forest Act.

Record types include legal documents such as permits and licences, correspondence, appraisals, stumpage rates and maps.

Records in this series are covered under ORCS numbers 19620-25 and 19620-45 in the Ministry of Forests records schedule (number 881261).

The ministries responsible for the creation of these records, and the years that they were responsible, are:

British Columbia. Ministry of Forests (1976-1986)
British Columbia. Ministry of Forests and Lands (1986-1988)
British Columbia. Ministry of Forests (1988-2005)

The item is a copy of the reminiscences of Freeda Bolton, entitled "Happiness is remembering." It includes memories of growing up in Nelson before the First World War; biographical information on her parents, John Fred Hume and Lydia Jane Irvine Hume. Illustrated with numerous photographs.

The item consists of an audio interview with Clare McAllister recorded in Victoria, B.C. on May 27, 1983.

Tape summary:
Track 1: Clare McAllister was born in Nelson, B.C. in 1906. Lived in the town of Nelson, and also had a summer home camp on the lake. Mother had a minor health problem therefore all laundry was sent to steam laundry, and female helpers were hired to help with the household chores. Describes the house she lived in as a child. Mainly the kitchen and some of the appliances in it. She took domestic science in Nelson in entrance class. Remembers the controversy in the town over teaching domestic sciences -- an insult to mothers and a waste of money.

Track 2: Clare McAllister remembers mainly the sewing classes and very little about the cooking classes in school, however there were no boys in the classes. Classes were compulsory and taken once a week. She talks about female roles -- they were not taught or discussed, just assumed. Set up her own home when she was first married in Sydney, Cape Breton. Remembers people being much more destitute there.

CALL NUMBER: T4135:0010 PERIOD COVERED: 1911-1929 RECORDED: Castlegar (B.C.), 1983-11-07 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Biographical information; father's first trip to Canada; father returns to Sweden during First World War; borrowed money to return to Canada in 1925; logging in Nelson; mother and brothers come to Canada; four days on immigrant train; father borrows money from the CPR to bring him over; route to Canada; immigrant trains; anecdote about trip; life in Sweden; logging in Sweden; anecdote about work; pay in Sweden; unions; workers; paper; union raiding; working for father on Silver King Mountain; driving horses; cut cedar poles and white pine for Mathes; prices and wages in 1928; anecdote; about supplying mine; anecdote about operation of mine; anecdote about supplying mine; anecdote about Eagan's eyeglasses; crew at mine; location and name; camp at Cahill Lake; anecdote about working log deck; anecdote about brutal foreman; camp conditions; wages and costs; flume to Slocan Lake; flume construction; ice chute for log; anecdote about brother's logging accident and hospitalization; compensation; brother loses leg; brother's life after accident; brother's life and family; father and Bystrom, piling lumber at Six Mile Lake, quit over pay dispute; Cotton Logging Company job above Boswell; tools for fallers; piecework cutting cedar poles; peeling poles; camp at Boswell, hot water, sinks. CALL NUMBER: T4135:0011 PERIOD COVERED: 1928-1935 RECORDED: Castlegar (B.C.), 1983-11-07 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Camp at Boswell; hot water tanks; camp quality; anecdote about cork boots; work hours; anecdote about hard worker; recreation in camps; stock crash of 1929; logging camps close; anecdote about trying for job outside of Castlegar; room and board; logging in Princeton; riding freight train to Vancouver; unemployment in Vancouver; hobos on train; freight train to Castlegar; CPR police; walking from Castlegar to Nelson; working in mine; packing equipment in; miners' candlestick; anecdote about packing steel out; father on relief; mother cutting wood; farm produce; homemade pipe boring machine; making pipes. TRACK 2: Wrapping pipe with wire; economics of pipe sales; homemade sawmill; Kootenay Landing; Proctor railroad; anecdote about poor wages; hand drilling for blasting; anecdote about diarrhea in camp; anecdote about driving to Hidden Creek; lived in trapper's cabin; anecdote about boss tricking them into working; work at China creek relief camp; work conditions at camp; anecdote about man being kicked out of camp and him leaving; people in camp; Willow Point relief work; prospectors classes and grubsteak relief program; groceries for a month; three weeks prospecting in Slocan area; came back for groceries; CMS called him to go to work --started June 27, 1934 in lead refinery; work hours; lead explosion; conditions in refinery; open transfer (fired) from refinery; labour gang; anecdote about Joe Fillapelli. CALL NUMBER: T4135:0012 PERIOD COVERED: 1934-1972 RECORDED: Castlegar (B.C.), 1983-11-07 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Anecdote about Joe Fillapelli; "barring down" the lead furnaces; anecdote about "safety first man"; construction with molten slag; lead contract; leaded work conditions; scrap yard; cutting shears; operation; meets wife; sick and crippled people in scrap yard; anecdote about quitting scrap yard; worked storage plant in Warfield until his retirement in 1972; 1942 work on Brilliant dam; work conditions on dam; anecdote about unloading cement; bicycling to work; contract system in storage plant; became shop steward; Castlegar board member; union split; reasons for not joining steel; Al King president; elected to convention in Olympia, Washington, barred from crossing into the U.S.; steelworkers and barring. TRACK 2: Stopped at border; Bert Herridge; anecdote about Herridge getting his border crossing privileges back; member of CCF; quit CCF because it was the political arm of the United Steelworkers Union; Murphy in Communist Party; met lots of Communist Party members; good men; approached to join the CP by Art Erins and Garfield Belenger; reminiscences about Belenger; anecdote about Harvey Murphy; benevolent society and six weeks of Murphy tries for better sick pay; vesting rights to pensions; 1940, moves to Castlegar; fresh air; terms and prices for lots; credit for lumber; built 14 x 20 shack; West owned water system; old lumber for new house; anecdote about pouring foundation; constructs an apartment building; layout of apartment building; sold apartments after he retired; present house bought as a kit from Vancouver; construction of house; contents of kit; agent helped assemble house; framed by nightfall; cost of kit. CALL NUMBER: T4135:0013 RECORDED: Castlegar (B.C.), 1983-11-07 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Food co-op; Sam Muirhead's idea; war rationed items were kept for storekeeper's friends; sold shares at 50 dollars each; bought three lots in Castlegar; lots cleared and building put up on volunteer basis; Cominco employees had two transportation societies; had garage by theatre; food co-op hired Walter Markin as first manager; later co-op in Vancouver recommended Jack Kirby for Manager; Kirby anti-union; first president was Muirhead; second was Bystrom; last president was Dalziel; co-op folded, Kirby fired, co-op liquidated; co-op expansion plans rejected; first co-op operated from his back porch; operations from porch; Transportation Society builds new building; operation of Transportation Society; NDP membership; anecdote about rejoining CCF-NDP; rejoined after merger with Steel; Columbo Lodge Hall meeting of Mine/Mill members where Murphy explained merger.

CALL NUMBER: T3948:0001
SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Radio CKLN, Nelson, 1927-1950
RECORDED: Nelson (B.C.), 1982-02-21
SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Alan Ramsden discusses: radio stations received in Nelson pre-1939; Earle Kelly at CKCD; effect of local conditions on reception; origins of local radio in Nelson; CKLN on-air, 1939; early equipment; effect of war years regarding personnel; CBC affiliation; personnel; women on radio; home radio sets (evolution of); "mystique" of radio; antennas used. TRACK 2: Mr. Ramsden discusses: "entrepreneurs" in B.C. radio industry; technical changes at CKLN transmitter; interference from passing trains and sawmill; line problems; original transmitter; transcription and transcription services; recording methods, including wire, early tape, disc cutters; working conditions and attraction of radio.

CALL NUMBER: T3948:0002
SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Radio CKLN, Nelson, 1945-1960
RECORDED: Nelson (B.C.), 1982-02-21
SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Ramsden discusses: story about curling broadcast from Nelson for CBC; live music on radio; use of 'reverb' in recording; live radio drama at CKLN; train whistle story; problems of Nelson as a radio market; competition for audience, etc; CKLN controlled by local paper; technical problems with Nelson transmitter site design, ca. 1958. TRACK 2: Mr. Ramsden discusses: transmitter site design (cont'd); FM stations; some CKLN personnel; response to arrival of television in Nelson, 1952; out-of-town hockey broadcasts popular; changes in CKLN programming after television; community involvement; American influence; origins of CJAT Trail, ca. 1930; network program, "Ghost Walker", originated in Trail.

CALL NUMBER: T3948:0003
SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Recollections of radio in Nelson and Trail, 1940-1950
RECORDED: Nelson (B.C.), 1982-02-21
SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Ramsden discusses: popular syndicated radio programs of the '30s and '40s; transportation to and from Nelson then and now; broadcast turntable and other equipment at CJAT Trail, 1946-49; duties at CJAT; relocation of CJAT transmitter, 1949; multiplicity of skills in radio; training; radio vs. television; first on-air experiences. [TRACK 2: blank ; end of interview]

Travelogue. Scenery and attractions of the West Kootenay region: Crowsnest Pass, the Kootenay Lake ferry, boating, fishing, the Glass House, Nakusp or Ainsworth hot springs, the retired sternwheeler S.S. "Moyie", golfing, Nelson curling bonspiel, caving, rodeo, spawning salmon, the Doukhobors, Fruitvale international dog show, miner's museum and Golden City Days Festival at Rossland, Wildlife Centre & Bird Sanctuary at Creston, hiking and skiing in the Valhalla Range. Other locales include Castlegar, Christina Lake, Grand Forks, Trail.

The item is a composite print of a travelogue film made in 1981-1982. It features the scenery and attractions of the West Kootenay region: Crowsnest Pass, the Kootenay Lake ferry, boating, fishing, the Glass House, Nakusp or Ainsworth hot springs, the retired sternwheeler S.S. "Moyie", golfing, Nelson curling bonspiel, caving, rodeo, spawning salmon, the Doukhobors, Fruitvale international dog show, miner's museum and Golden City Days Festival at Rossland, Wildlife Centre & Bird Sanctuary at Creston, hiking and skiing in the Valhalla Range. Other locales include Castlegar, Christina Lake, Grand Forks and Trail.

The item is a video travelogue. Scenery and attractions of the West Kootenay region: Crowsnest Pass, the Kootenay Lake ferry, boating, fishing, the Glass House, Nakusp or Ainsworth hot springs, the retired sternwheeler S.S. "Moyie", golfing, Nelson curling bonspiel, caving, rodeo, spawning salmon, the Doukhobors, Fruitvale international dog show, miner's museum and Golden City Days Festival at Rossland, Wildlife Centre & Bird Sanctuary at Creston, hiking and skiing in the Valhalla Range. Other locales include Castlegar, Christina Lake, Grand Forks, Trail.

This series consists of records related to land use, management and alienation in the Nelson, Revelstoke and Kootenay land districts. The records date from 1892-1980. Records include certificates of purchase and various land registers.

There are two survey systems used in the land registers: the district lot system and the township section system. Registers may also be arranged by plan number. The registers record the alienation of land from the Crown by purchase, pre-emption, lease, mineral claims, timber use, 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 series also includes several paper subject files and correspondence files with settlers discussing the pre-emption, lease and purchase of specific parcels of land with Government Agents in Nelson, Kaslo and Revelstoke. Most of these files have "O" file numbers assigned to them.

RECORDED: Nelson (B.C.), 1980-10-28 SUMMARY: Mrs. McDonald, daughter of a northern pioneer family, taught at a small school in the Boundary country. She talks of the famous pioneer Richter family and of her happy boarding situation in an old-fashioned ranch house. Also speaks of her social life in the farming community; of her visiting overnight at a ranch house with bush rats running through the room and bedbugs falling from the ceiling. After her marriage she returned to teaching as a home economist in Trafalgar school, Nelson. Advocates return to the basics in school and extols the one room school because of the moral training children received when they had only one teacher.

CALL NUMBER: T3715:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Rev. Yee Jing Chow : Chinese Christian missionary PERIOD COVERED: 1899-1980 RECORDED: Victoria (B.C.), 1980-06-27 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Discusses background: born in Hoiping, Kwantang, China on Aug.12, 1899; immigrated to Vancouver, B.C. 1912 to teach Chinese; early education; father immigrated to Ashcroft, B.C.; no contact with father; immigration would not exempt him from $500 head tax without his teacher's certificate; the Christian mission was able to obtain a refund. Stayed in Vancouver and worked for the mission teaching Chinese and playing the piano for almost 2 years. Dr. Osterhout head of mission: asked him to work in Nelson. Stayed in Nelson and travelled for the mission around the area, Rossland and Grand Forks. Tells of the many types of occupations the Chinese did in area (i.e., laundries, building the road, chopping wood). Travelled on paddlewheel boat on the Okanagan lakes. Talks of the good Chinese/white relations in the area and the kindness of the Chinese people who received him in every town. The United Church in Vancouver sponsor his return to China for four years to study theology. Returns to Vancouver in 1924 with wife and daughter to work in missions in interior of province. Talks of his work in the missions and the small towns. TRACK 2: Discusses the Depression: the Chinese mission; was not directly involved with the soup kitchens, so he helped in the Salvation Army storefronts. Tells a story of a Chinese man who donates to the church though he could not afford to. Relates Chinese social life and celebrations in B.C. interior towns: opium, Chinese women, meeting place. Moved to Victoria in 1946: description of Chinese United Church in Victoria; talks of woman missionary Miss Peters and her dedicated work in the church. Daily routines for the past 22 years of retirement. Refers to his present home which is the original building of the Oriental Girls' Home. CALL NUMBER: T3715:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Rev. Yee Jing Chow : Chinese Christian missionary PERIOD COVERED: 1920-1960 RECORDED: Victoria (B.C.), 1980-07-08 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Son born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Work as a missionary in Moose Jaw for 10 years and then moved to Kamloops, B.C. In Moose Jaw, he ministered the whole area up to Winnipeg. When he arrived in Victoria, the Oriental Girls' Home was already disbanded and the Home was administered by white folks (with Chinese aid). When first arrived in Canada, Rev. Chow learned to play the piano, and sang and preached outside in Vancouver streets. Some Chinese men in Victoria went back to China to fight the Japanese in WW II, but never saw action and returned to Canada. In Vancouver, Rev. Chow taught Chinese to about 10 students; taught some English to students at night school. He taught English by first learning and then re-teaching. Talks of the many shops in Vancouver Chinatown. Talks of his missionary work in the Vancouver district including Steveston farms and fish canneries. Speaks of a large Chinese farm whose owner was a Christian and welcomed him to visit. Description of that farm house. The roads that were supposed to connect many small towns in the interior were not completed so he quite often walked through trails to reach these towns. In Nelson there were only about four Chinese families and he taught the children there. TRACK 2: Describes the hand laundry delivery system. Performing marriage ceremonies. Talks of his children. Speaks of the rescue work of the Oriental Girls' Mission. Talks of his work in Moose Jaw, Sask. Speaks of his work and the function of the Chinese United Church in Victoria and how it helped the Chinese people. CALL NUMBER: T3715:0003 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Rev. Yee Jing Chow : Chinese Christian missionary PERIOD COVERED: 1950-1978 RECORDED: Victoria (B.C.), 1980-07-08 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Rev. Chow discusses: Sunday church picnics in Victoria; his children and grandchildren; future aspirations of reviving the Chinese mission; talks of the disbanding of the Chinese United Church and the selling of the property in Chinatown in Victoria. Description of the church and the mission school and living quarters. Speaks of the Chinese school teacher who taught at the school and his recent death. Speaks of Miss Peters, missionary woman who dedicated her life to help the Chinese in Victoria. (End of interview)

RECORDED: Nelson (B.C.), 1980-10-28 SUMMARY: Ex-teacher at Castlegar School talks of teaching 32 pupils and boarding with farmer family over their store. Describes the flu epidemic of 1918. In general, a tape about a conscientious girl who made teaching a lifetime career, and was well-loved in the town of Nelson.

RECORDED: Victoria (B.C.), 1979 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Clare McAllister was born in Nelson in 1906. She discusses her family background, her mother and father (McQuarrie). Father the mayor of Nelson, also in real estate, and with a physical handicap. Brother 12 years older. She discusses the winters in Nelson, deliveries and transportation by sleigh. "Our Chinaman", old Charlie and his duties. Her family's position in society in Nelson, the "Merchant" class of the town. Travel in the area (steamboat, railroad, Seattle). Christmas of 1917: the smell of Christmas; the tree -- candles, safety factor, when it was put up; stockings; Christmas morning; gifts and candies; nightgown; boudoir cap; dancing slipper bag. Comparison between Christmases then and now (1979). Brother overseas for WWI. Christmas dinner with family friends. "Emily" their servant-girl and her background. Details of the house. Dinner details. Brother's absence, army background, parcels to and from England, his wounds. "Game suppers" in Nelson just before Christmas. Moving to Vancouver after father and brother's deaths. Shopping trips from New Westminster to Vancouver. Transportation on interurban and trams in the 1920s. Persistence of family traditions. Stockings; for aged aunts. TRACK 2: The Depression years in Victoria. Beggars following the wood trucks. Stocking fodder -- toothbrushes. Christmases during the 1930s. Christmas morning routine. Finding the tree. Christmas decorations. The Victoria consumers' co-operative, measures of saving and conserving during the 1930s. "The vegetable Chinaman", lychee nuts just before Christmas, with lily and ginger. Chinese coconut lady. More on the vegetable man. Mrs. McAllister's education. Stores in Vancouver at Christmas in the 1920s. Ladies and kids' gloves, fur coats. Plays and theatres. Spencer's store. The "Tart man" in the window. Decorations on street and in Birks. Gifts for police and elevator girls. Toys for Depression-era children and other gifts.