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RECORDED: Victoria (B.C.), 1984-01 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Came to Canada from Norway in 1927. Trapped and guided out of Valemount from 1929 to 1936. Trap line with Ollie Lebeck, Wood River/Athabasca Pass. Historic Athabasca Trail. Oswald Svendsen. Fortress Lake, 1930. Darryl Zanuck hunting trip on Canoe and Columbia Rivers in 1932 or 1933. Ed Garrett, river guide. Hunters' death. Hunters' names. Guides Art Allen, Chuck Chesser, Oliver Travers, and Ted Abrams, cooks, Eric Swanson. Berg Lake dude rides. Hargreaves brothers. Stan Carr and Mount Robson area. TRACK 2: Topographic surveys, Kinbasket Lake/Canoe River 1936. Frank Swannell. Survey work on Vancouver Island and in the Rockies in 1939. Canadian Army. Relocation to Valemount. Hunting by boat in Canoe River area. Road along Canoe River. Trapping and guiding logistics. Al Huble. Curly Phillip's river boat. Canoe River hot springs.

The item is an audio recording of an interview with Gilbert Forbes in 1976.
T0330:0001 track 1: Mr. Forbes discusses his background: born in 1889 at 100 Mile House; father was a rancher; moved to 122 Mile (Lac La Hache) in 1893; family ran the 122 Mile House as a ranch and a stopping house on the Cariboo road. The operation of a stopping house. School. Worked for Bank of British North America in Ashcroft, ca. 1906-08. Worked with Frank Swannell survey party, 1908. Experiences while working with Swannell in Nechako region. T0330:0001 track 2: More about surveying with Swannell. Worked on mining construction, 1909-10. Mining camp conditions. Trip to South America, 1912-13. Anecdotes about Forbes' trip in Argentina, Bermuda and the United States and his return to Lac La Hache, 1913. Anecdote about the death of "Bugs" at Lac La Hache, 1906.

T0330:0002 track 1: Worked on his father's ranch at 122 Mile House, 1913-22. Freight hauling on the Cariboo Road declines after 1919. Worked at Cedar Creek gold mine, 1922-23. Gold mining in the Cariboo region. Ranched and had a trap line during the Depression. Building with logs. Ranched during the 1940s.
T0330:0002 track 2: Brief account of activities in 1950s. Early freighters on the Cariboo Road described. Anecdotes about the teamsters on the Cariboo Road. Anecdotes about gambling. Preachers. (End of interview)

CALL NUMBER: T1482:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): George Vancouver Copley : pioneer, surveyor, explorer and civil servant PERIOD COVERED: 1880-1920 RECORDED: Williams Lake (B.C.), 1975-06-17 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: George Copley tells story of his father who emigrated from Germany, and settled at Cobble Hill about 1876. Copley born 1880. Early life in Cobble Hill. Injured in a sawmill in Nanaimo. Lengthy series of operations to save his arm. A variety of jobs in Victoria. Meets Frank Swannell, famous surveyor. TRACK 2: Description of Frank Swannell. Surveying in British Columbia before 1920: Finlay; River, Liard River, Parsnip River, Cariboo, Pemberton Valley. Worked for B.C. Forest Service starting about 1914. Transportation in the central interior: stage coach and steamship. Steamship ride up the Nechako River. Horse and gas stages on the Cariboo Road. Arrival of stage at Soda Creek.

CALL NUMBER: T1482:0002 - 0006 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): George Vancouver Copley : pioneer, surveyor, explorer and civil servant RECORDED: Williams Lake (B.C.), 1975-06 & 07 SUMMARY: [No content documentation is available for these five tapes, which were recorded on June 17, 18 & 20 and July 2, 1975.]

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Experiences of a B.C. land surveyor PERIOD COVERED: 1910-1940 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1975 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Anecdotes about surveying parties with Frank Swannell in the northern interior of British Columbia. Wilderness living and survival techniques. [TRACK 2: blank.];

CALL NUMBER: T1038:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-17 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Lawrence Dickinson recalls his journey from Wisconsin and arrival at Francois Lake in 1910, when he was about 15 years old. He describes his journey along the Cariboo Road; stopping in Quesnel Forks to help mine for the winter; the route he had to take to Francois Lake; filing preemptions upon arriving in Francois Lake; joining a survey crew for Swannell company; life as a surveyor ;in the Fort Fraser, Prince George and general Upper Nechako area in 1910. He describes Fort St. James and the HBC post located there in the summer of 1911; the old trails in the area, leisure activities at Fort St. James, and how much everyone enjoyed the area; A.G. Hamilton's trading post in Fort St. James; work he did over the next several winters; how the war disrupted life; his father's trading post at Fort Fraser in 1915; how he and his brother bought out the trading post and went into business for themselves; the kind of people in Fort St. James before the war, including railroad construction men and other old timers; Mr. Murray who was a factor for the HBC and other characters; what makes the area so attractive; the difficulty nowadays at making a living as a trapper; shifts in mining techniques, changes in the Necoslie Valley after WWI; and how Fort St. James continues to be a jumping off point for miners and people of various vocations. TRACK 2: Mr. Dickinson continues how t;he HBC got supplies to their forts; how the war affected business in the area and how the mercury mine boosted the economy; how preemptors could not get good land because companies took all the prime ;real estate.;

CALL NUMBER: T1038:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1971 [summer] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Dickinson comments on the attitudes of people and various characters in Vanderhoof from his past; anecdotes about gold miners and how the landscape has changed; buildings at Fort St. Jam;es that are no longer standing; how the younger generation is not as reliable as the older generations; the fur trade around Fort St. James and how the local buyers had the monopoly; and a few old timers. TRACK 2: Mr. Dickinson describes traffic going through Fort St. James; changes in the area resulting in growing industry and construction; the rivalry among stores between the HBC and Dickinson and others; placer mining areas; freight service into the Nechako Valley by the HBC, Dickenson's surveying career from 1910 to 1913, including descriptions of places he surveyed; and miscellaneous comments about today's pioneers and industries.;

The fonds consists of diaries, photographs, field books, scrapbooks and files containing notes and correspondence. Fonds includes survey maps of land in Russia, Turkey, France, and British Columbia.

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Ranching near Tatla Lake since the 1920s RECORDED: [location unknown], 1967 SUMMARY: An oral history interview with Leonard Butler, who migrated from Spokane to Tatla Lake in the 1920s. Surveying with Frank Swannell. Ranching on the Homathko River. Clearing land and trapping.;