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Barkerville (B.C.) Chinese--British Columbia
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Alfred Drinkell interview

CALL NUMBER: T0314:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-23 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Alfred Joseph Drinkell tells some stories about the history of the Dog Creek area of the Cariboo, from 1860 to 1914. Drinkell discusses his arrival in BC in 1911. He describes the ranches he worked at around Ashcroft, Joseph Smith's place, and his financial problems and life before he came to BC. He tells anecdotes about Judge Begbie. He tells a story about Samsome, a local doctor, and the legendary packer Jean Caux ("Cataline").

TRACK 2: Drinkell relates the story of Cataline's last trip and describes many trails in the area. He speaks of Joy Sim, a Chinese doctor, and pioneer medicine. He discusses some of Cataline's packers: Robbins, Wiggins Dan Smith, and the first settlers in the area. He describes the Hudson's Bay Trail, freighting, roads in the area, stories about Phil Grinder of Jesmond, a local school teacher, and educated people.

CALL NUMBER: T0314:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-23 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Drinkell describes the early days of Ashcroft, the Chinese in the area, two anecdotes: the Wright of the Dog Creek Ferry and the Stobie of the Gang Ranch. He offers the background of the Gang Ranch and describes cattle drives, the Duke Of York, a Barkerville bartender, and local Indians.

TRACK 2: Drinkell discusses cowboys, social life and Christmas. Then he mentions Indian-White relationships and a story about Indians and the law. He discusses the Chilcotin and Shuswap Indians, problems with the reserve system, Chinese settlers in the Dog Creek area, and the importance of Chinese in the area. Finally, Drinkell tells the story of five Indian women who killed themselves over a white man, and how nails and gold dust were used as money.

Alice M. Earley interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], [1955?] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Alice M. Earley talks about coming into the Cariboo from Victoria in 1884; the journey by steamboat, train, and horse-drawn wagon to Quesnel, where she had been hired to teach. The Conco;rd stages. She describes Quesnel in the 1880s: the town; the fur traders; pack trains; the Klondike gold rush of 1898; the telegraph line; a plot by the Chilcotin [Tsilhqot'in] people; Barkerville; Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie; the school teacher; coins; prices and automobiles of a later era. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Business records

Business records of Kwong Lee and Co., and Hopkee and Co., including shares of British Columbia companies and agreement to transport Chinese to Victoria.

Presented by W.E. Knowlton, Kamloops, 1977.

Ed Barry interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-10-25 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Ed Barry discusses his grandfather, Ed Stout, who was a pioneer of Barkerville. His personality and several anecdotes are discussed. Then he discusses his father, Charles Barry, who came out to work on the railroads. He was a bridge builder. Mr. Barry describes many old-timers and the history and significance of Yale in great detail. He discusses the cemetery; the Chinese immigrants who worked on the railway; Yale as a railway and mining town; the things which have changed over time such as the educational system; the growth of Yale; several characters, and some anecdotes. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Fred Foster interview

CALL NUMBER: T0645:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], [196-] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Fred Foster begins with some anecdotes about the Foster family near Clinton. Then he goes back to his school days in 1881 in Victoria, and discusses Judge Matthew Begbie, including descr;iptions of the man and his character; a description of Begbie's house; the school on Belcher Avenue; his impressions of Victoria in those days, including the schools; an anecdote about a drunk man who; drove an ox team; a procedure for breaking camp at night while traveling on a pack train; his recollections of the packer Jean Caux (known as Cataline); a packer named Tate near Clinton; a story abou;t how Foster's father used to buy gold from the Chinese around the Fraser River, and the process of extracting the quicksilver from the gold; and the differences in gold between various creeks in the Cariboo. TRACK 2: Mr. Foster continues with details about his time in Atlin around 1902, and an anecdote about a dead body in a cabin; more anecdotes about his time in Atlin; running a farm in Clint;on, and eventually coming to Barkerville in 1906; a description of Barkerville at that time; an anecdote about spending New Years eve at Clinton around 1900; his time working on a steamship near Prince George; his experiences in Hazelton as a prospector just before WWI; what Hazelton was like at that time, including the Boyd family; the story of how his mother came to Canada in 1881 [?]; and the l;oss of the Skeena River steamer "Mount Royal".

CALL NUMBER: T0645:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], [196-] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Foster continues with details on how water for use the ships came from a spring at Royal Roads; a discussion of Hatley Park; his memories of Victoria as he first knew it; and characters a;round Victoria. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Fred Ludditt interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-20 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Alfred "Fred" William Ludditt tells the story of how he came to Barkerville in 1932. He describes the evolution of mining and mining equipment at Barkerville; Bill and John Houser's family; Johnny Butt; Chinese labourers; Andrew Kelly and the Kelly family, and the first Barkerville Museum, circa 1955. TRACK 2: Mr. Ludditt describes the Bowron Lakes Game Reserve, circa 1912 and Herb and Alf Brown. Then he tells anecdotes about Jack Campbell and Bill Livingstone; Seymour Baker; the government reduction works; the use of cyanide in mining; the recovery of magnetite iron, also known as "black sand"; Joe Mason; livestock; cattle and pigs; and the Chinese in the Cariboo.

Janet Yorston interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-20 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Janet Yorston talks about the Australian Ranch, the stages on the Cariboo Road and various Cariboo people, from 1860 to 1914. Mr. Yorston describes how Andrew Olsen and Steve Downes came to the Cariboo and started the Australian Ranch; farming and activities there; how they sold produce to miners; settlers in the area; Chinese miners; Fort Alexandria; more on the Australian Ranch and how it was purchased by her husband John Yorston; the stopping house; and life on the ranch. TRACK 2: Mrs. Yorston tells stories of two Barkerville old-timers, Harry Jones and the "Duke Of York". She describes details of stagecoaches, travel and places on the Cariboo Road.

Roddy Moffat interview : [Orchard. 1964]

CALL NUMBER: T0375:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-29 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Roderick "Roddy" Roy Moffat discusses how his father came out to the Chilcotin from Ontario and began ranching near Alexandria. Moffat offers several stories about his father when he drove a stagecoach. He discusses the tests necessary for a person to be a driver for the BC Line Company. He describes horses and drivers and the relationship between the two. There are many more stories about freighting days. Jerk-line teams had anywhere between four and twelve horses and three carriages. He describes how the horses were handled just outside of Ashcroft when the road became hilly and curved.

TRACK 2: Mr. Moffat discusses the competition between freighters to get the business of the Hudson's Bay Company out of Quesnel, alcohol consumption being a problem to achieving the contract, and then more on freighting. His father invented the snow roller for easier freighting in the winter. He describes the town of Barkerville. He discusses Chinese people as ranchers and as miners in the region. He discusses the Pinchbeck farm as the first farm in the area in Williams Lake and other early ranches: Levy Ranch in Soda Creek, McGuiness Ranch, 4 Mile Ranch, Sam Bohanon Ranch and that was all the farming until Quesnel. He describes many people in the area, old timers, and miners. Steve and Andrew Olsen are two characters he discusses, other Moffatts in the area, Alexander Flats, irrigation, the Hudson's Bay post at Alexandria, and the war between the Chilcotin Indians and the Alexander Indians.

CALL NUMBER: T0375:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-29 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Moffat describes the trail used by the Chilcotin Indians to invade the Alexander Indians, and how this route was used by Simon Fraser. He describes farmland and how technology has improved its uses. He discusses cattle farming near Quesnel. He describes his childhood and schooling. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Tom Carolan interview

CALL NUMBER: T0423:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Thomas "Tom" Carolan discusses various aspects of settlement and life in the Cariboo, 1850 to 1930. The interview begins with the story of William Pinchbeck, Cariboo pioneer. Stories follow about Amadie Isnardy; Mexican packers and the pack trains; Antonio Boitano; the Chilco Ranch area; the local history of the Cariboo; his perceptions of Native people; and the television series "Cariboo Country". Carolan discusses his own background in Alberta and hunting wild horses in the Cariboo, circa 1927. He tells stories about the famous packer Jean Caux ("Cataline"), the Tressiera family, and Rosetti.

TRACK 2: Carolan continues his stories about packers and Cataline. He describes fiddlers in the Cariboo; Johnny MacLean and the MacLean brothers; hangings in Williams Lake; Judge Begbie's justice; Charlie Skinner; the James railway survey circa 1870; more on William Pinchbeck; and the Cache Creek boarding school. Mr. Carolan discusses settlers entering the Chilcotin and the China Flats; and Chinese miners. He mentions Becher's place at Riske Creek; the Bryant family; and the hurdy-gurdy girls.

CALL NUMBER: T0423:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Carolan describes dances at the big ranches and changes in the Cariboo after WWI. Then he describes cattle in the Cariboo; Amedee Isnardy of Chimney Creek Ranch; the importance of Barkerville; and law and order. Mr. Carolan describes ranchers and ranches of the Chilcotin; the Harper family; Alkali Lake Ranch; Canoe Creek Ranch; Henry Koster; and Upper Dog Creek Ranch. Then he discusses the Big Bar area; raising pigs; and ranches on Chilcotin River.

TRACK 2: The final installment begins with a description of roads in the Chilcotin; Benny Franklin; the ways of the pioneers; Mr. Carolan's family background; and a discussion of Hudson's Bay company activities in the early 1800s. Fur trade routes are mentioned as well as Hudson's Bay Company posts at Anahim Lake. Finally, Pat McClinchy, an old timer of the western Chilotin; the Lee family; John Cook, a Gulf Island pioneer; and children of white/Indian parentage are discussed.