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RECORDED: [location unknown], [195-?] SUMMARY: Mr. Fred J. Tregillus, "the grand old man of Barkerville", recalls some of his early experiences in the Cariboo, 1880 to 1920.

CALL NUMBER: T0164:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Placer Mining and miners of the Cariboo, 1858 - 1920. RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-04-17 SUMMARY: Captain Norman "Cap" Evans-Atkinson talks about placer mining and miners in the Likely area of the Cariboo, 1858 to 1920. TRACK 1: The miners coming to the Cariboo, circa 1858; sailors who became miners; types of gold; detailed discussion of placer mining along creeks, techniques, equipment, terminology; mining settlements; hard rock mining. TRACK 2: Story of John Likely, J.B. Hobson, and the Bullion Mine; Likely and his books; Cedar Creek; phases of mining; claim jumpers; Cedar City; details of the Cariboo fire of 1869; the Quesnel Lake dam.; CALL NUMBER: T0164:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-04-17; 1964-05-05 SUMMARY: Captain Norman "Cap" Evans-Atkinson talks about Cariboo gold and gold miners, 1858 to 1930. TRACK 1: Miners in the backwoods; enmity between two miners; draft evaders; old-timers; Captain Mitchell's trail to the Barkerville gold fields; people at "Snarlburg" (French Snowshoe Creek); Murderer's Gulch; more on Captain Mitchell's trail; Angus McLean, who lived along the Quesnel River. TRACK 2: Story of how miners were guided by Indians, by the name of Tomah and Long Baptiste, to gold on the Horsefly River, beginning the Cariboo gold rush; potatoes brought in by Russian fur traders; hostility of Indians toward miners; massacre averted by Chief William; Indians co-operated with other prospecting parties; Long Baptiste guide/bodyguard for Judge Begbie; Long Baptiste probably had the earliest Cariboo gold. CALL NUMBER: T0164:0003 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-05-05 SUMMARY: Captain Norman "Cap" Evans-Atkinson talks about miners and other people of the Cariboo, 1860 to 1930. TRACK 1: Different types of gold found in the Cariboo; the Indians and the animals they hunted; caribou in the Cariboo; stories about a trapper named Franz who lived alone in the woods; Long Baptiste and Judge Begbie; more on Franz the trapper; eating porcupines; other stories about men living alone in the woods. TRACK 2: Captain Evans-Atkinson's background; came to the Cariboo circa 1912; Cariboo people; World War I service; impressed by Canadians; return to Cariboo; mining experiences; John Likely; gold strike above Quesnel Forks in 1921; staying at miners' cabins; the naming of Likely, more on John Likely, story of Bob Winkler, an old trapper; pokes, money belts; gold caches. CALL NUMBER: T0164:0004 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-05-05 SUMMARY: TRACK 1; Captain Norman "Cap" Evans-Atkinson discusses some aspects of the trapper's life in the Cariboo, 1912 to 1930. Finding gold caches; stories about old-time trappers living alone in the woods; their habits; coping with flies, mosquitoes, ticks; stories about Jack Glass, another old-timer; encounters with bears. [TRACK 2: blank.]

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-20 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Russ E. MacDougall talks about gold mining and the Barkerville area, 1900 to 1940. Mr. MacDougall explains how he came to Barkerville in 1921. He discusses hydraulic mining, mining are as Barkerville area, Williams Creek and Lightning Creek, tunneling, claims, details of mining methods and comments on two old time miners, Bill Brown and Julius Powell. He comments about the population in the area, the names of mines and Barkerville.

TRACK 2: Mr. MacDougall talks about Barkerville; the people there, stories, his journey to Barkerville, transportation, road conditions, old timers in the area, ways of business, description of the stores, the old fashioned atmosphere, and social life in Barkerville.

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.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-23 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. James Isnardy talks about the Cariboo, and plays some old time fiddle music. Mr. Isnardy discusses his background, how his father Amadie Isnardy came from Nice to the Cariboo via California, and the Cariboo gold rush. Mr. Isnardy describes how his father started a ranch at Chimney Creek, and drove cattle to Peace River, Isnardy's schooling in New Westminster, travel on the Cariboo Road, stopping houses along the road, various early settlers, countryside at site of Williams Lake, and playing the fiddle at dances. Then he plays two songs on the fiddle including the Victoria Waltz. TRACK 2: Isnardy plays: Dream Waltz, Springhouse Waltz, Carlyle's Reel, MacDonald's Reel, Oxford Reel, Where Is My Darling Tonight?, Smash The Window, Old Hall and several more.

The fonds consists of a journal of the Cariboo Consolidated Mining and Milling Company.

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.

Letters from Harry Jones, pioneer of Cariboo and MLA 1903-1909, containing his reminiscences of life in the Cariboo. Published in the Vancouver Province, 5 January - 6 April, 1935.

Series consists of correspondence inward, reminiscences, diary of a trip through the Cariboo to Stuart Lake (1913); research notes and drafts of Howay and Scholefield's History of British Columbia.

CALL NUMBER: T2785:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977-07-06 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Glenn begins with his birth in 1902 in South Bend, Washington; his mother went down to be with relatives for the birth and returned shortly after. His parents operated a ranch and one of the two hotels in Horsefly. Glen talks of the community when the three major mines were operating; the Hydraulic Mine operated by J.B. Hobson, who was also manager of the Bullion Mine at Likely; the Orientals, who dug ditches and worked in the mines; Ward's Mine; the Miocene Mine; I.D. and E. Co. (International Dredging Co.); the effects on the community of the closure of the mines; Glen began trapping when he was very young and has trapped for over sixty years. He talks about what a trap line is, where his was in the Quesnel Lake area, how much time he spent on the trap line and what he took with him. TRACK 2: Glen continues to talk about trapping; what it was like to live on a trap line for several months, what the trapping cabins were like; a few stories of his experiences on the trapline; about traps; how he sold the fur; how trapping today compares to trapping in the 1920s and 1930s.

CALL NUMBER: T2785:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977-07-06 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Trapping; supplies in trappers cabins; setting traps; stretching and tanning hides; first aid on the trap line; trapping regulations; big game hunting; guiding; began when he was about 19 years old; first time guiding hunters from California; supplies taken by hunters; hunting stones, etc. TRACK 2: Big game hunting; hunting stories; game population; decreasing and increasing numbers over the years; wolves across Quesnel Lake; changes in big game hunting; small game in the area; grouse and pheasant; dressing and preparing meat; brief description of the Williams Lake Stampede in the 1920s.

CALL NUMBER: T2785:0003 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977-07-06 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Father's ranch; the Walters's Ranch; work around the ranch; hired help; Ah Wee, the Chinese domestic and ranch hand; operations around the ranch; survey of ranches up Black Creek; mining at Eureka Creek in the early 1900s; ranches, pre-emptions along Horsefly Lake Road; ranches in Beaver Valley. TRACK 2: Ranches in Beaver Valley; cattle drives from Horsefly to Ashcroft and Williams Lake as late at the 1940s; early freighting along the Cariboo Road from Ashcroft; team and wagon; trips into Horsefly; freighting with trucks; goods brought into Horsefly; incident at home with family.

CALL NUMBER: T2785:0004 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977-07-12 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Glen talks about buying a small ranch in Horsefly from his mother and building up the ranch into a working operation; clearing land; seeding; irrigation; haying; Indian crews; trading with locals; winter campgrounds; battle on Cariboo Island and the reason there are no Indians in Horsefly. TRACK 2: 108 Road; original road into Horsefly before the road from 150 Mile; his father had the mail route over 108 Road; original road through Horsefly to Quesnel Lake and across to the gold fields around Barkerville and Keithley Creek.

CALL NUMBER: T2785:0005 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Glen remembers the wild horses in the area before they died out; role of women on the ranches; fencing in the early days; Farmer's Institute; buying seed in the early days; effects of the First World War on ranching, as well as the Depression and the Second World War. TRACK 2: Differences between ranching in the early days and ranching today; early roads around Horsefly; road-building crews; horse graders; corduroying; changeover to power graders; trucks; freighting with trucks and traffic along 150 Road in the 1920s; conditions of the roads.

CALL NUMBER: T2785:0006 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Glen's father owned and operated the Walters Hotel which was one of two hotels during the early 1900s; the bunkhouses used by miners; the Meiss Hotel; the main hotel also called the City Hotel, had a small store; description of it, saloon, dining room, livery stables, rooms, services provided; patrons; gambling; miners; Walters Hotel also called the Horsefly Hotel; rooms; livery stables; dining room, meals; Harry Walters carried gold for Hobson and was also an early forest ranger. TRACK 2: House of ill repute in Horsefly; hotel patrons; celebrations at hotels; first phone installed in Horsefly.

The series consists of various records created by King including reminiscences entitled "Trip to California"; a typewritten transcript of a trip from New Brunswick to Quesnel via Panama, 1863-1864, with a brief account of activities in Quesnel in 1865; pocket diary from 1864 containing accounting entries, and under dates March 16-21, an account of a "Trip from Mouth Quesnelle to Big Bend" dated March 25 to April 12; seven letters addressed to "Willie", from R.W. Carrall dated Barkerville, 1867 and 1868; conveyances to W.C. King of interest in Minnehaha and the United Mining Company by R.W. Carrall, 1868.