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Barkerville (B.C.) Frontier and pioneer life--British Columbia
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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.]

Norman Evans-Atkinson interview : [Orchard, 1964]

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.]

Nellie Baker interview : [Orchard, 1964]

CALL NUMBER: T0376:0001 RECORDED: Quesnel (B.C.), 1964-07-19 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Nellie Baker talks about her experiences in the Cache Creek, Ashcroft and Quesnel area, 1890 to 1910. Mrs. Baker speaks about her father coming to BC in 1864 and the story of her father and mother coming to Chilcotin in 1884 before buying Bonaparte Ranch near Cache Creek, where Nelly was born. She describes activity along the Cariboo Road; wagons, stages, stopping places and drivers. She speaks about life at the Cache Creek boarding school and her relations with the native children.

TRACK 2: She moved to a ranch between Spences Bridge and Ashcroft where she used to capture wild horses. She discusses the Little Mountain slide at Spences Bridge as well as the sheep and cattle on her father's ranch. She discusses her life after she was married in Ashcroft, as well as pack trains, memories of the famous packer Jean Caux ("Cataline"), Quesnel in 1910, and activity in the area. She mentions that her husband was a doctor.

CALL NUMBER: T0376:0002 RECORDED: Quesnel (B.C.), 1964-07-19 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Baker discusses her traveling and her experiences working with her husband in the area west of Quesnel. She describes the social life and recreation of Wells and Barkerville; working outdoors, a story about eating wild parsnips, and rattlesnakes. She comments on bars and liquor and her upbringing and adventures on her father's ranch near Ashcroft. She talks about her marriage in 1907, the Mormons in Salt Lake City, more experiences with her husband, and horse racing. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Kenneth McKenzie family personal and business papers

The McKenzie Family collection consists of the business and personal papers of Kenneth McKenzie (1811-1874), his ancestors and descendants, including correspondence, notebooks, diaries, and other papers. It documents over one hundred and fifty years of family history. The collection is divided into those records relating to Vancouver Island (Boxes 1-19) and those relating to Scotland (Boxes 20-25). The Vancouver Island papers contain correspondence and documents pertaining to Lakehill Farm, the settlement of estates, official appointments, and other family matters. They also chronicle the organization and operation of Craigflower Farm and, to a lesser extent, the other farms operated by the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company on Vancouver Island. The Scottish papers document family events, relationships and property from 1779 to 1852. Included is an extensive record of the protracted settlement of the estate of William Blair (Boxes 22-23). William Blair was the father of Janet McKenzie (Blair).

Born in Edinburgh October 5, 1811, the son of Dr. Kenneth McKenzie (1786-1844) and Janet Blair (1784-1820), Kenneth McKenzie was raised and educated in the same city. Later he moved to his father's estate of Rentonhall, Haddingtonshire, East Lothian where he managed the operations. The estate was sold in 1851 and McKenzie, his wife Agnes Russell (1823-1897) and their six children emigrated to Vancouver Island in 1853. McKenzie had been hired by the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company to oversee the establishment and operation of Craigflower Farm near Victoria. In 1866 the family, now with eight children, moved to Lakehill Farm just north of Victoria. Kenneth McKenzie died there April 10, 1874. A comprehensive biography of Kenneth McKenzie by William R. Sampson is in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, X, pp.477-479. A rough genealogy of the McKenzie Family is provided in the hardcopy version of the finding aid.

Numbers appearing at the upper left corner of documents are references to the old catalogue system and should not be used for citation.

Boxes 1-4: Kenneth McKenzie (1811-1874) and family: correspondence inward
Box 5: McKenzie, Kenneth (1846-1906): correspondence inward
Box 6: Kenneth McKenzie (1811-1874) and Kenneth McKenzie (1846-1906): correspondence outward
Box 7: Kenneth McKenzie (1811-1874): notebooks and personal papers
Box 8: McKenzie Family: notebooks, diaries, correspondence and personal papers
Box 9: McKenzie Family: material relating to Lakehill property
Boxes 10-18: Craigflower Farm
Box 19: Puget's Sound Agricultural Company
Boxes 20-25: McKenzie family: material relating to Scotland. N.B. See also box 25 for further material relating to the estate of William Blair, d.1800

Joseph Wendle interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], [1955?] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Joseph Wendle describes how he came to the Cariboo in 1895; worked for the Cariboo Gold Fields Company and his own claims; hunted a Grizzly bear; a brief discussion of the old timers; the Cariboo Gold Fields Company; hydraulic mining; mechanical elevators; dredging; the yields in Williams Creek, Antler Creek, Grouse Creek, and Lightning Creek. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Hugh Cornwall interview

CALL NUMBER: T0362:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-28 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Hugh Cornwall tells the story of his grandfather, Clement F. Cornwall, who settled in Ashcroft in 1862, including his early days on the ranch, hunting coyotes with hounds, and Ashcroft Manor serving as a stopping house. His grandfather was a politician and Lieutenant Governor of BC. There is more on the operation of the ranch at Ashcroft, which Hugh's father managed after 1910. Markets for cattle changed. More on Ashcroft Manor. TRACK 2: The Ashcroft estate burned down in the late 1930s. Cornwall comments on the veracity of historical accounts.

CALL NUMBER: T0362:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-28 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: The Cornwalls of Ashcroft are described, as is the naming of Cache Creek. The McLean boys are described -- Allen McLean, Charlie McLean, Archie McLean, and Alex Hare. The Cornwalls are described in terms of fox-hunting, law and order, and the gold rush. Finally, Cornwall describes Barkerville during its boom days. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Harry Ferguson interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-28 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Harry A. Ferguson describes his father's life as a gold miner who came over in 1862 from Belfast via San Francisco; he went to Barkerville; he built a hotel in Clinton and then bought a hotel on the south side of the lake in 1885; in 1874 his father took the first horses to Alberta with 300 head for the Mounted Police; a description of his father's journey is given; and he describes growing up in Salmon Arm. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Fred Tregillus interview

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.

Dennis Walker interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-08-06 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Dennis Walker recalls the journey from England to Vancouver with his parents in 1892, and their eventual move to the head of Bute Inlet; his father's name was William George Walker. He ;then describes building a homestead; the slow influx of other settlers; the growth of the community around Mr. Walker's original home site; social events in the community of Bute Inlet; various attempts by his father to sell farm produce in Vancouver; the problems which arise from being so far from the market; and stories of other families in the town. TRACK 2: Mr. Walker continues by describing; a trip with other youths up the Southgate River to the Chilcotin; a description of the salmon spawning season; comments on wildlife in the area; the death and burial of three Walker children; the destruction of the township by fire; an anecdote about original settler Tony Bernhardt; the death of Shorty Hibbs at the hands of the Indians; comments on coast and interior Indians; the unused Mallard Company Tannery; the climate and physical setting of the township; his father's departure for work in Vancouver; the gradual departure of the other settlers when the railroad failed to materialize; and; his travels through BC, especially Barkerville, as a machinist.

Cattle ranching in the Nicola

SUMMARY: The story of cattle ranching in the Nicola Valley: its beginnings in the days of the Cariboo gold rush, and the work of ranchers and cowboys at the Douglas Lake Cattle Company. The voices heard are: Bill Brennan; Alex Bulman; Gerald Guichon; Fred Irwin; Doug Palmer; and Martin Starret.

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.]