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The file consists of "History of the K.L.O. Benches, their tragedies and comedies": the reminiscences of T.L. Gillespie who moved to east Kelowna in 1910 and operated his orchard on the Lower Bench until 1922 with the exception of the war years when he served at the internment camps at Vernon and Kapuskasing. Includes capsule descriptions of most of his neighbours in East Kelowna.

SUMMARY: Meeting and debates at the annual conventions of the B.C. Fruit Growers' Association, including addresses of the Ministers of Agriculture to the conventions. No other content documentation on file.;

CALL NUMBER: T4135:0004 PERIOD COVERED: 1913-1983 RECORDED: Castlegar (B.C.), 1983-10-20 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Biographical information. Father wants to leave Doukhobor faith; comes to Brilliant in 1913; anecdote about immigrant train; communal life in Brilliant; privation of settlers; graft in commune; father quits commune and moves to Grand Forks; mother, ostracized because her husband left, leaves commune. Anecdote about Grand Forks brothel. Father moves to Trail; family moves to Blaine Lake, Saskatchewan; life in Blaine Lake; moves back to Trail in 1924; train and boat trip back; anecdote about boat ride; child molester; anecdote, father leaded in 1928; 1927 polio outbreak. TRACK 2: Recovery from polio; high school in Trail; father sick; Normal School in Victoria; Mr. McClarren, (principal) started first Doukhobor schools; teaching certificates; back to Trail in 1931; Doukhobor school trustee, Mr. Sheffield, offers her a job; anecdote about Sheffield coming to her house; teaches at Ootischenia school for 114 dollars a month. School in cobbler's shop; teacherage in commune; trials and tribulations of teaching; Sons of Freedom children returned from foster homes; salary cut to 90 dollars a month; moves to Glade, becomes principal; accident kills several teachers; Major Clarke takes over from Sheffield; Glade school bombed in 1936; rebuilt school burned same year it was rebuilt; was paid to call the roll at burned school to keep it open; anecdote about poor heat in school; guard at Glade School; reminiscences about recreation at Ootischenia; anecdote about Glade ferry. CALL NUMBER: T4135:0005 PERIOD COVERED: 1913-1983 RECORDED: Castlegar (B.C.), 1983-10-20 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Anecdotes about Glade ferry; recreation; relief camp at Shoreacres; ferry operation; relief camp worker anecdote; transients calling for food and clothing during the Depression; anecdote about clothing; KC jam factory; Brilliant Doukhobor library; Depression life and commerce; local economy of the Kootenays; CPR and local economy; first radio in Ootischenia; Pat Romaine on local economy; dances at the Castlegar community hall; anecdote about courting; Swedish immigrants in Castlegar; immigration during the 1920s; Ukrainians in Castlegar; Eremenko's first store; Plotnikoff's store; White Russians arrive in the 1920s; Castlegar boomed with car pools; bought land in 1943. TRACK 2: Kinsman Park donated to city; Pauline meets Pat Romaine; father in hospital; courting Pat Romaine; anecdote about homemade beer in Trail; anecdote about a dance at Deer Park; moving to Castlegar in 1944; brother killed at Cominco; father leaded at Cominco; moved in with parents; lead poisoning and compensation; brother killed on hill; Pat Romaine on unionism; conditions before unions; move to Deer Park; electioneering in Deer Park; party at road opening; Robert Sommers as Social Credit candidate; Pauline hired as teacher; bad feelings against her as a teacher; rewards of working with children. CALL NUMBER: T4135:0006 RECORDED: Castlegar (B.C.), 1983-10-20 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: How the children she taught turned out; discussion of modern school politics; one room school in Deer Park; difference in lifestyles; feuding between neighbours in Deer Park; fruit farm goes down hill; local packing house; [steam?] boats taken off lake in 1954; employment lost with boats; CPR buying policy; gyppo logging on lake; log picking; Renata fruit box factory; local economy dries up; Procter maraschino cherry factory; changing fruit markets; good fruit refused; pig farming; anecdote about pig farming; BC Tree Fruits; anecdote about fruit from Australia; Grand Forks war time seed farms; fruit market during the war; forestry employed people to cut fire trails and to work as fire lookouts. [TRACK 2: blank.]

CALL NUMBER: T4135:0014 PERIOD COVERED: 1907-1924 RECORDED: Trail (B.C.), 1983-11-16 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Biographical information; February 1908, family moved to bench above Robson; 11 acres covered in jack pine; bought from Kootenay Fruit Lands (KFL); agents of KFL were McDermott and McHardy; Waldie partner; KFL to put in water; KFL tried twice, then declared bankruptcy; father carried water from bottom; anecdote about water; bench abandoned; father bought lot in Robson; 100 people in Robson; father's work; Robson Farmers' Institute; feed buying through the institute; Harvey's land; Truit family and house; Joe Burfield property; Quance property; syndicate lots; McCandrew property; anecdote about getting land from McAndrew; dentist named Maybe; Ralf Funnel's property; anecdote about 1929 motorcycle trip; Maybe property and Norcoff; orchards' inability to support people; Dr. Tellford ;J. Norman, Deputy Minister of Health in Alberta, retired to Nelson. TRACK 2: Anecdote about Dr. Norman's practice; Independent Doukhobors buy land; Calder in South Africa buys land; dynamiting to plant trees; trees from nurseries; packing trees; types of orchards; varieties of fruit; dynamiting anecdote; Hedley's orchard; anecdote about steep lots; buying land sight unseen; owners of Robson townsite; Vining from Brandon College; father looked after several orchards for absentee owners; father hired as packing house manager; early fruit shipped from farms; Dominion Express; make-up of trains; buyers of Robson Fruit; fruit brokers and Okanagan United Fruit Growers; father has name changed from Robson East to Robson West; Hartfords from England; anecdote about Grechouse; school and church property; Foster and Jordan property; anecdote about blasting stumps; Fowler place and family. CALL NUMBER: T4135:0015 PERIOD COVERED: 1910-1924 RECORDED: Trail (B.C.), 1983-11-16 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Fowler family from Pilot Mound; anecdote about Mr. Fowler; anecdote about playing ball; Clive place and family; Millers, Christophersons, Golders sold to Quance; three Miss Perrons farmed lot; sold to Bob Waldie; horns; anecdote about maple sugar brought to Robson; Wright and Evans from Brandon; Harold Golder and family; J.D. Fergesson; Dr. McDermott from Brandon College and the Squires of Brandon; Mrs. Squires grew and sold flowers; anecdote about printing co-op shares; anecdote about Mrs. Foxlee; Oburns; Johnsons ran store; previous store owners. TRACK 2: Berry's lot; McNaughton built first summer home in Robson; dairy by dam; anecdote about meeting Frank Bentley at smelter; East Indians at Westley; anecdote about East Indians; anecdote about burying Bentley's wife; anecdote about someone running off with the governess; anecdote about First World War enlistment; Yarrow estate subdivided by CMS; Irwin place; anecdote about a man getting shot; cattle near Syringa Creek; anecdote about heart attack on first ferry; Robson Farmers' institute; poultry association in Robson; anecdote about wagon; Humpty Dumpty egg crates; first carload of feed to Robson; anecdote about Robson Institute financing. CALL NUMBER: T4135:0016 PERIOD COVERED: 1910-1930 RECORDED: Trail (B.C.), 1983-11-16 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Robson Farming Institute history; Harms and Coleman's box factories; Okanagan United Fruit Growers; first packing house; fruit inspections; agricultural competitions; Robson fair; institute brought in horticulturalists; horticulturists Middleton and Hunt; anecdote about meeting Hunt on ferry; schools conducted on pruning; anecdote about 1920 spring school; disease inspection; spraying for disease; coddling moth brought to Kootenays; instructors to teach packing; standardized packing and shipping problems; grafting new fruit varieties; market for different varieties; Kootenays not ideal fruit country; Kaslo cherries; Baptists in Robson; Reverend Donaldson; church life in Robson; community church; anecdote about minister from South Slocan; S.S. "Rossland"; anecdote about river boats; "Rossland" uses swing bridge; operation of railroad bridge; anecdote about [tug] "Elco 1"; towing logs on lake. TRACK 2: Boat race in the U.S.; S.S. "Rossland"; first ferry operator; BC car licence; anecdote about ferry operator; packing house as community hall; Trail dramatic society show; anecdote about railroad section crews; Lobarth turntable; feed to Corkindale; Westley mills; East Indians; at Westley; Waldie dry kiln and mill; cutting planks for "Elco II"; Waldie Lumber; anecdote about hauling poles; anecdote about children; Corporal Johnson of the Provincial Police.

RECORDED: Oliver (B.C.), 1982-05-30 SUMMARY: Mrs. Beldam was born at Sumas in 1904, and was schooled in Vancouver and Seattle. Barbara's father had a large dairy farm in Sumas. Barbara was an ardent rider and hunter; and was largely responsible for the Oliver International Horse Show. After she married, she and her husband had a large fruit and hay ranch.

SUMMARY: "The Hornby Collection" is an anthology of plays, documentaries, interviews and selected fiction for radio -- all written, prepared and produced in British Columbia. A documentary by J.J. McColl set in the southern Okanagan.

RECORDED: Okanagan Falls (B.C.), 1982-06-17 SUMMARY: Isobel was born in New Zealand, and saw much of Australia, the British Isles and North America. She taught art, was a musician, and married a fruit farmer. She started a hairdressing business at Okanagan Falls, as well as a dressmaking shop. At the age of fifty, she bought an airplane and learned to fly.

CALL NUMBER: T3986:0082 RECORDED: Kimberley (B.C.), 1982-06-08 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Grace went to school in Cranbrook. She worked in a bakery and a grocery store, and then as a telephone operator. She worked for BC Tel from 1945 to 1975. Her husband died in 1955, but she eventually remarried. [TRACK 2: blank.]

CALL NUMBER: T3986:0083 RECORDED: Kimberley (B.C.), 1982-06-08 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Grace Leighton recalls her father, John Hunter McClure, one of the pioneers of the Kootenay area. They spent time in Ontario and Alberta, and in 1909 settled near Cranbrook, where the took u;p fruit farming. [TRACK 2: blank.];

The item is a microfiche copy of a thesis by David R.B. Dendy titled "A cent a pound or on the ground: Okanagan fruit growers and marketing, 1920-1935." v, 119 leaves. Thesis (M.A.), University of British Columbia, 1981. Vita. Bibliography: leaves 112-117. Canadian theses on microfiche, 56798.

RECORDED: Keremeos (B.C.), 1981-09 SUMMARY: Mr. Cawston's father came to Ontario from northern England in 1831, and came to Osoyoos in 1874. Alfred was born in 1892. After his father tried a few business ventures that did not pan out, Alfred was sent back to Ontario for schooling. Alfred married in 1919 and ran a small fruit farm; in later years, he became a ranger for the BC Forest Service.

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Robert Browne-Clayton's brief career in politics, 1948-49 PERIOD COVERED: 1917-1952 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1979-11-12 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Robert Browne-Clayton discusses his personal and family background. Life and upbringing in the Okanagan Valley during the 1930s. Military service overseas in World War II. Return from the war; and marriage to his wife, Pat. Response to reports that he was missing in action in a battle in Italy. Recollection of his father-in-law, Paddy Acland. Attempt to establish a fruit farm at Okanagan Mission after the war. Comments on floods and inclement weather in the Okanagan region, spring 1949. Background to his decision to run as the Conservative candidate in the 1948 by-election in the provincial riding of South Okanagan. Impressions of the Coalition government. Recollection of W.A.C. Bennett. Bennett did not assist in the by-election campaign. Recollections of the campaign. Reaction to the election victory. TRACK 2: No formal orientation procedures existed for new MLAs at the time. The Coalition caucus system. First impressions of legislative proceedings. Uneasiness in the ranks of the Coalition government. Discipline within the ranks of government members. Evaluation of the personalities of Premier Johnson, Herbert Anscomb and Gordon Wismer. Being an MLA was not a full-time job. Service in the constituency. Comments on the different factions within the Conservative Party in B.C. Conflict between party members from the interior regions of the province and the metropolitan centres of Vancouver and Victoria. The break-up of the Coalition. Reasons why Browne-Clayton decided not to run again in the 1949 general election. Reaction to his decision not to run. General comments on W.A.C. Bennett and his later political career. Summary of Browne-Clayton's service as an MLA.

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Jim MacNicol RECORDED: Johnsons Landing (B.C.), 1979-02-06 SUMMARY: Jim MacNicol was born in 1911 and discusses moving to Johnsons Landing from the prairies. Sternwheelers. Growing fruit. Working in the United States breaking horses. Attended school until grade six. Logging up the Duncan River Valley. Description of early landholders and settlers in Johnsons Landing. Story about two trappers and their encounter with a grizzly bear. Piano tuner who traveled up and down the lake in a canoe. Shipped cream to Nelson. Sold fruit, vegetables, and meat. Johnsons Landing shipped two box car loads of fancy MacIntosh apples all the way to New York City one year. An account of West Kootenay fruit and cattle ranching during the inter-war years. Includes anecdotal material on the inhabitants of the community of Johnsons Landing, logging, fruit growing, and dairying.

CALL NUMBER: T3643:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Ethel Lake RECORDED: Meadow Creek (B.C.), 1978-12 SUMMARY: Ethel Lake was born Ethel Rowe in 1906. She came to Johnsons Landing as a young girl visiting her sister. Describes early Johnsons Landing. Clearing land to plant fruit tress. Her sister's baby was born on the sternwheeler between Johnsons Landing and the hospital in Kaslo. Lists early residents of Johnsons Landing. Describes their homestead. After her sister died she looked after her brother-in-law and niece. Shipped fruit to Nelson. Married and took over Gardiner homestead with her husband. Raised family. Describes personal experiences and community history. Trapping. Indians camping along the lakeshore.; CALL NUMBER: T3643:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Ethel (Rowe) Lake and Gladys (Rowe) Jones : Lardeau Valley 1912-1950 PERIOD COVERED: 1912-1950 RECORDED: Meadow Creek (B.C.), 1978-12 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Ethel Lake and Gladys Jones came to Johnsons Landing from Alberta in 1912. Early inhabitants of Johnsons Landing. Traveling on the "Nasookin" and the "Kuskanook". Trapping up Fry Creek. Orchards developing slowly. School opening in Johnsons Landing. Visiting the wife of station agent in Lardeau by rowboat. Building log cabin. Sent food order to Kaslo and food was shipped by sternwheeler. Algot Johnson. Planting apple trees. Ethel married Stanley Lake in 1925. Description of homestead. TRACK 2: Bill Holmgren injured up Fry Creek. Walter Gardiner treed by a bear. Sawing firewood with a crosscut saw. Played piano and sang hymns on Sunday. Lindsay backs horse and cart off wharf. Shipping apples on the steamboat to Nelson. Varieties of apples. Walter Gardiner. Loading cattle on a barge for sale in Nelson.

SUMMARY: Stories from the early days of settlement in the Okanagan Valley: the missionary priest Father Pandosy; the cattle ranches; rancher and politician Price Ellison; the beginnings of Vernon, Kelowna, Penticton and Peachland; real estate promoter J.M. Robinson; and the fruit orchards. The voices heard are: Myra DeBeck; Primrose Upton; Charlie Shaw; Bob Gamman; Len Hayman; and H.V. "Paddy" Acland.

The item is an audio recording of an interview with Victor Nancollas. Nancollas was involved in local Salmon Arm politics for 27 years. He traces the history of incorporation from the separate city and municipality to the amalgamation of the present day district. The topics of public works, emphasizing water and treatment of sewage are discussed, as are the community services such as the library and old age and youth centres. Mill rate with relation to industry is discussed, as is the development of the industries themselves. The one time fruit industry and the present (1977), sawmill and machine shops are all mentioned. He also gives personal views on the value of Regional Districts with special relation to city planning and agricultural land use. The size of the school district, the number of schools and special education facilities (such as schools for the mentally handicapped) are mentioned. He describes the B.C. and Confederation Centennial celebrations that took place in his district.

The item is a copy of a graduating essay by David R.B. Dendy titled "One huge orchard: Okanagan land and development companies before the Great War." University of Victoria, Department of History.

CALL NUMBER: T0612:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Fruit farming in the Penticton area, 1906-1950 PERIOD COVERED: 1906-1950 RECORDED: Penticton (B.C.), 1976 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Harris describes his background: born Oak River, Manitoba, 1910; family to Penticton, BC, 1917. Mr. Harris discusses: the Ellis Ranch; Southern Okanagan Land Company; irrigation of the Penticton area. Details about the construction of early irrigation works, circa 1906 to 1910. Details about irrigation. Thomas Ellis and the Ellis Ranch. Orchard and irrigation work. Varieties of fruit. TRACK 2: More on varieties of fruit. Attitudes and ideas of early orchardists. Learning the fruit business. Insects and pest control. Spraying techniques. Poison problems with insecticides. Changes in the fruit industry. Harris' early memories of fruit farming. Sizes of orchards. Changes in fruit marketing. CALL NUMBER: T0612:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): The Okanagan fruit industry, 1920-1960 PERIOD COVERED: 1920-1960 RECORDED: Penticton (B.C.), 1976 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Harris discusses: the formation of fruit marketing co-operatives after 1920; problems of fruit marketing, 1930s; B.C. Fruit Growers Association; conflicts between growers and shippers; problems of the fruit economy; the seasonal round of work in the fruit industry in the 1920s. TRACK 2: The seasonal round of work (cont'd). Holidays and celebrations. August heat. Mosquitoes. Orchard workers. (End of interview)

The item consists of a reel of 16 mm film which includes the following:
Tomatoes, apples, peaches; growing tomatoes in a greenhouse at Summerland Hot House Tomatoes. Tree nursery: pruning, weed control, sprinklers, application of "centre leader trees"; adjusting the growing branches for easier fruit picking; the benefits of high density orchards; man and woman singing folk songs.

The item consists of a reel of 16 mm film which includes the following:

1. Cattle ranch; log cabin; snow-covered hilltop. A rancher tends a newly-born calf. Cattle. Two bulls ready for a fight. A dressed-up young cowboy. Cowboys round up and drive cattle.
2. Orchard. Cherry picking. Making preserves in a test kitchen. Drying apricots: sulphuring, preparation, drying box. Preserving pitted cherries with syrup, raspberries with sugar. Boiling berries for freezing.

The item consists of a reel of 16 mm film which includes the following: Apples, bin, forklift; one man fruit-picking crane. Pear orchard. Thinning fruit trees. Young pears. Drawing of an insect. Diseased pears. Fruit-laden trees in orchard, their branches supported and suspended. Picking pears from crane, ladder, and the ground. Forklift loading truck with bins of pears. Sign on truck: "Kelowna Growers, Rutland-Kelowna Exchange". Packing pears at plant. Views of area, home, orchard.

The item consists of a reel of 16 mm film which includes the following:
Test with fruit trees; orchard scenes; controlled tree growth simplifies fruit picking; ripe apples; clipping of branch tips; meadow, cattle and creek, cattle in corral; rounding up cattle in the corral and weighing them; workers' living quarters.

The item consists of a reel of 16 mm film which includes the following: Pruning fruit trees. Orchard views. Controlling branch growth of fruit trees.

The item consists of a reel of 16 mm film which includes the following: A man tells his retirement story and talks about his gardening and horticultural activities. Works on growing smaller fruit trees. No insecticides used. Grass growing in the orchard. His role in regaining U.S. market for B.C. apples; pollution control. Greenhouse. Flower garden. Sailing on Okanagan Lake. Dairy plant: milk being processed through various stages, and being packaged or bottled.

The item consists of a reel of 16 mm film which includes the following:
A. Peach trees. Small child eats a peach. An agriculturist discusses methods of growing peach trees. Earlier trees are too tall; the best height for pruning, thinning and picking is an arm's length. Root stock. The distance between trees and rows of trees. Shaping trees with trained growth. This is the economic way to grow peaches commercially. (00:14:31)
B. Log cabin; pasture; sheep. Ranch views. Cattle. House; garden. Family scenes. Flowers, corn, vegetables, fruit. Livestock auction firm. Adults and students from Soda Creek and Williams Lake 4-H Clubs. [Clubs are sponsored by the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture, Youth Development Branch.] A beef evaluation exercise. (00:12:58)

This series consists of records of the District Horticulturist, Penticton for the years 1952-1973. Records include correspondence, memoranda, reports, and data collected during 1964 orchard survey. Files for the years 1953, 1955 and 1971 are missing. The correspondence, reports and memoranda include correspondence with central office in Victoria, general correspondence filed alphabetically, and monthly reports. Box 4 contains data collected during a survey of orchards in 1964 in Penticton, Kaleden and Okanagan Falls.

The item consists of a reel of 16 mm film which includes the following:
Fruit processing section of the Summerland research station; "hydro freezing" process. Apple processing at plant in Summerland. Canning line. Tree surgery. Fairview Orchards, Cawston, B.C. Young trees and orchard views.

The item consists of a reel of 16 mm film which includes the following:
The federal Dept. of Agriculture research station at Summerland. Views of the site. Tree surgery. Immersing fruit bins. Peaches treated in laboratory. Cherry trees. Apple trees. Recording weather data. Tending trees. Laboratory, orchard, and greenhouse scenes.

The item consists of a reel of 16 mm film which includes the following:
Aerial views of forest from helicopter. Workers prepare bins of seeds [?]. Helicopter releases bin over clearing. Various shots of the process. Dispensing weed-killing herbicide [?] by various methods, including hand-pushed dispenser, sprayer, tractor or truck sprayer, etc. Fruit picking. Fruit being treated [?] and selected, placed in bins, stacked and weighed.

The item consists of a reel of 16 mm film which includes the following:
Device used for pruning in orchards. Checking bud formations. Tractor pulling sprayer for weed control. In Vernon, district horticulturalist examines the bud formation on a branch. Apple picking; loading filled bins onto a truck. Cider making. Beehives. Collecting pollen from beehives with a pollen trap; selecting, cleaning, measuring and bagging [pollen?] for human consumption. Adding frames to the hives. The brood frame. Feeder bees, drones, a queen bee. Beekeeper working with hives. Label: "Silver Star Apiaries, Vernon, B.C."