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Records of Britannia Mining and Smelting Company and related companies, including annual reports, correspondence, accounting records, exploration reports, engineering plans, leases, contracts and agreements. The related companies include: Britannia Copper Syndicate, Britannia Smelting Company, Chelan Copper Mining Company, El Potosi Mining Company, Howe Sound Company, Howe Sound Exploration Company, Howe Sound Power Company Also included are records of Barbara Theatres and Britannia Beach Community Club.

SUMMARY: MP Bert Herridge discusses the business of the House, the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, and other subjects.;

This series consists of records of the Railway Department, 1904-1952. Records include agreements regarding running rights over Fraser River bridge at New Westminster; certificate regarding the amalgamation of the Howe Sound and Northern Railway and the Pacific Great Eastern Railway; contract for PGER locomotives; and leases for land and equipment.

This series contains official reports and correspondence accumulated during the administrations of Premiers Tolmie, Pattullo, Hart, and Johnson. It includes Departmental, General, and Federal files, plus separate series of documents on Pacific Great Eastern Railway (1917-1945). It also includes applications for employment, petitions, press releases, speeches, and vouchers.

The records which comprise this unit were stored for many years in a maintenance shop adjacent to the Parliament Buildings. Storage conditions were less than ideal and in 1982 arrangements were made with the Premier's Office' to transfer the records to the Provincial Archives. It was a signal event, for the records provide documentation on virtually all facets of provincial life over a thirty-five year period. Additionally, the documents which make up GR-1222 provide a valuable record of the administrations of Premiers Tolmie (1928-1933), Pattullo (1933-1941), Hart (1941-1947) and Johnson (1947-1952). The records fall into three main categories or series, namely Departmental files, Federal files, and General files.

The fonds consists of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway roster from 1907 to 1975, train orders, correspondence, registers, photographs, sales records, employee examinations, and reports concerning construction equipment and operation of the railway. Fonds includes maps and plans of PGE railway works, bridges, and buildings. Fonds includes records of the Howe Sound Pemberton Valley and Northern Railway and the Howe Sound and Northern Railway. Fonds also includes copies of official timetables #1 to #18 (1913-1918) Squamish division, supplement to timetable #19 (1919) Squamish division, #20 (1919) Squamish and Lillooet subdivisions, 21 (1920) Squamish and Lillooet subdivisions, #23 (1923) Squamish, Lillooet, and Prince George subdivisions and invoices, 1972, from the catering department of Woodward Stores, Vancouver, for grocery items supplied to the British Columbia Railway Company for the Premier's private railway car "Caribou" (formerly "Northern Summit"). A technical drawing showing a profile of the PGE from Squamish Dock to Fort George from 1920 was added to the fonds in 2021.

The series consists of correspondence, 1913-1916, that was originally a part of the Provincial Secretary's Central Registry. The records include grant applications from charitable organizations (e.g. Salvation Army Rescue and Maternity Home, Vancouver); petitions from various citizens groups and trades organizations (e.g. re: Pacific Great Eastern railway, prohibition, and Weekly Half Holiday Act); plus files on diverse topics such as the Belgian Relief Fund (which was administered by the Provincial Secretary), the Progress Club of Vancouver, the provincial coat-of-arms, prohibition, half-day closing, the Provincial Archives and W.W. Walkem's "Stories of Early British Columbia".

The item is an audio recording of an interview with Ed Wilcox. Wilcox, the head of locomotive service for the BC Railway, describes his experiences driving steam and diesel locomotives for the Pacific Great Eastern Railway and the BCR.

The item is an audio recording of an interview with Ben Valde, the retired head of engineering for the Pacific Great Eastern Railway and BC Railway, discusses his civil engineering training; his early experiences on the CNR (Prince George to Prince Rupert); and the development of engineering on the PGE.

The item is an audio recording of an interview with Eric Stathers. He discusses his experiences working for the Pacific Great Eastern Railway as foreman of the car maintenance shops, including: Squamish in the 1920s; the development of the shops over the years; design and construction of special rolling stock; and service on wrecking crews.

The fonds comprises 27 film or videotape titles produced by or for BC Rail Ltd. and its predecessors, the British Columbia Railway Company and the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE). The larger part of the material is 16 mm film, including original footage, printing elements, sound tracks and workprints and/or release prints for 19 productions. There are also 10 video titles, some of which duplicate the films. Other than two films made for the PGE in 1945-47 and 1964, most of the productons date from 1974-1987 and document the activities of BC Rail and the British Columbia Railway.. There are a number of training films produced for internal use, as well as films meant to promote the company. Many of the films were produced in the 1970s by Art Grinke, who was BC Rail's Supervisor of Audio-Visual Instruction.

This series contains records relating to map production, map distribution, personnel and staff salaries. It includes miscellaneous memoranda on resources along the route of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (1936-1942) and a memorandum by F.C. Green on the Post-War Rehabilitation Council, 1943. This unit also includes three notebooks of G.G. Aitken, Chief Geographer, on map production, survey instructions, accounts, and acreages of streams and rivers in British Columbia.

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.

The series consists of five reels of amateur film created by the Billwiller family. Includes scenes of Britannia Beach townsite and the surrounding area, as well as a trip on the PGE Railway, building a road to Britannia Beach, May Day celebrations at Britannia (including crowning of the "Copper Queen"), Cub Scout gatherings, sports day events, and family scenes (Christmas, babies, children, friends and neighbours, fishing trips, etc.).

The series includes correspondence and reports concerning the construction, equipment and operations of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway from 1911-1929. It also includes papers about water licenses on the main line, and maps and plans. Many sections of the files are missing thus the series is incomplete and not fully representative of the railway for the period spanned by the papers. A technical drawing of the line of the PGE from Squamish Dock to Fort George drawn in 1920 was added to the series in 2021.

This series consists of incoming and outgoing general correspondence files, 1912-1953, concerning railways operating in British Columbia. Includes extensive correspondence files on the Westminster Bridge (the Fraser River railway bridge at New Westminster); the British Columbia Electric Railway; correspondence relating to common carriers and industrial railroads; legislation affecting the Railway Department, etc. Box 14, Files 1 to 28 are Minister of Railways: general [correspondence] and Box 14, Files 29 to 38 are miscellany.

The fonds consists of records from A.B. Sanderson Company, Ltd., primarily regarding project proposals, construction calculations and plans for engineering projects. The fonds includes: correspondence, calculations, plans and drawings regarding engineering contracts; reference material for engineers; newspaper clippings and promotional material on the company; and personal records of Adrian Barclay Sanderson. The company’s focus was on bridges, and the records represent work on major projects such as the MacDonald-Cartier Bridge, the Agassiz-Rosedale Bridge, and a number of Pacific Great Eastern Railway bridges.

In addition to bridges, the A.B. Sanderson Company was involved in a number of significant projects including the Mount Kobau observatory. Additional projects include the Esquimalt Sports Centre and the Mt. Tolmie Reservoir, as well as a number of schools, sports arenas, water treatment facilities, and industrial buildings on Vancouver Island and British Columbia. The records include inspection reports for the Canadian National Railway tunnels that connected the CNR lines to the Second Narrows rail bridge.

A. B. Sanderson was named as technical advisor to the Royal Commission inquiry into the Second Narrows Bridge collapse, and the records in this fonds related to the Second Narrows Bridge are primarily newspaper clippings and reports.

Financial records for the company were not in the custody of Ker, Priestman and Associates at the time of transfer and do not make up part of this fonds.

Oversize plans relating to specific jobs can often be found in containers 880055-0522 – 880055-0529, usually identified by the corresponding file or job code. An index to job numbers can be found in container 880059-1582.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-10-25 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Thomas Cole Hurley remembers early days in the Lillooet district. Mr. Hurley recalls how his father, Daniel Edward Hurley, arrived from Nova Scotia around 1883; his uncle Thomas Jameson Cole; more about his father; Bridge River mines and its amalgamation into Bralorne in later years; working at the mine in 1912; his father's Victoria Hotel built in 1900; the town of Lillooet in the 1890s; the Chinese miners; more about Lillooet; the Depression; more on Lillooet in the 1890s, the industry, the town; anecdotes about Halley's Comet; Old Bill; and a New Years Eve prank.

TRACK 2: Mr. Hurley tells two stories about law and order; Lillooet's Chinese section; more anecdotes; Frank Gott; Lytton in the 1890s; the stopping houses; the stages between Lillooet and Lytton; arrival of the PGE Railway from Squamish; hunting; minerals; travel by road; steamers and river traffic in the early years; and the opening of the Golden Cache Mine.

CALL NUMBER: T2611:0001 PERIOD COVERED: 1920-1973 RECORDED: Lillooet (B.C.), 1976-06-17 SUMMARY: Stan Malm, PGE locomotive foreman (1923-1973), Lillooet, BC, and Leo Cahill, PGE locomotive engineer (1920-1961) describe their experiences working for the Pacific Great Eastern Railway.;

CALL NUMBER: T2611:0002 - 0003 PERIOD COVERED: 1920-1973 RECORDED: Lillooet (B.C.), 1977 SUMMARY: Stan Malm, PGE locomotive foreman (1923-1973), Lillooet, BC, and Leo Cahill, PGE locomotive engineer (1920-1961) describe their experiences working for the Pacific Great Eastern Railway.;

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1986 SUMMARY: Marv Gammon: As Marv says, "Everyone started in Lillooet at one time or another." He started there in 1963. As of 1986, he was a trainman on the Fort Nelson run, based in Fort St. John.;

RECORDED: Lillooet (B.C.), 1986 SUMMARY: Arnold Malm: A third generation PGE-er, Arnold took control of his first engine in 1959 at the age of 19. When he retired, in 1986, he was road foreman of engines, based in Lillooet.;

Promotional film. The route of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway from its southern terminus at Squamish to the Central Interior, and aspects of the area served by the railway. Includes footage of a voyage from Vancouver to Squamish on Union Steamship's "Lady Alexandra", with a stop at Bowen Island; sports and recreation at Alta Lake; cattle drive; wheat fields; placer mining; logging; PGE crews at work.

Includes footage of: Anderson Lake, Barkerville, Bowen Island, Bridge River, Clinton, D'Arcy, Lillooet, Quesnel, Seton Lake, Squamish, Wells, Williams Lake, Alta Lake, Birkenhead River, Lac La Hache, Rainbow, Vancouver, Cariboo Region, Cheakamus River

Promotional film. A review of industrial development and economic growth in the province under the Social Credit government of W.A.C. Bennett, 1952-72, and an outline of the measures planned in its 1972 budget. A shortened version of the original release.

Promotional film. A review of industrial development and economic growth in the province under the Social Credit government of W.A.C. Bennett, 1952-72, and an outline of the measures planned in its 1972 budget. Beginning with a review of BC's economic situation in 1951-52, the film shows how Social Credit policies encouraged development through improved highways, the BC Ferry system, the encouragement of tourism, the extension of the PGE Railway and the construction of power projects on the Peace and Columbia Rivers. The planned expenditures and priorities of the 1972 budget are illustrated.

RECORDED: Prince George (B.C.), 1986 SUMMARY: Tony Kos: In 1949, Tony joined the railway's construction survey crew on the extension north of Quesnel. He left the railway, then returned soon after for the push north to the Peace River district. T;ony now owns and operates a contracting business in Prince George.;

The series consists a survey of resources of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway lands undertaken by the Government of British Columbia, the Canadian Pacific Railway Company and the Canadian National Railways. The contents include maps, drawings and photographs.

The item is a promotional film from ca. 1946 showing the route of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway from its southern terminus at Squamish to the Central Interior, and aspects of the area served by the railway. Includes footage of a voyage from Vancouver to Squamish on Union Steamship's "Lady Alexandra", with a stop at Bowen Island; sports and recreation at Alta Lake; cattle drive; wheat fields; placer mining; logging; PGE crews at work.

Includes footage of: Anderson Lake, Barkerville, Bowen Island, Bridge River, Clinton, D'Arcy, Lillooet, Quesnel, Seton Lake, Squamish, Wells, Williams Lake, Alta Lake, Birkenhead River, Lac La Hache, Rainbow, Vancouver, Cariboo Region, Cheakamus River

The item is a promotional film from 1964. It shows the history of the PGE, and a look at the area through which it passes. Shows inaugural run from North Vancouver to Fort St. John, Oct. 1958, (with Premier W.A.C. Bennett aboard) and driving of the Golden Spike at Fort St. John, Oct. 5 1958. Also includes footage of the Williams Lake Stampede, Peace River grain fields, oil/gas drilling and refining; also the operations of the PGE (North Vancouver rail yards, winter operations).