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RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-15 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Captain Weeks discusses commercial navigation on Okanagan Lake, 1893 to 1914. He describes how he came out from England with his family; his first impressions of the Okanagan; the wooden sidewalks in Vernon; Vernon as a meeting place; the stage from Vernon to Kelowna; Hudson's Bay stores; the character of Vernon; odd jobs; beginning work on CPR lake boats as a deckhand; first captains; t;he S.S. "Aberdeen"; boats on the lake before that time, such as the "Mary Victoria Greenhow", run by T.D. Shorts; other boats; more about the "Aberdeen" and later CPR boats; details of boat service on; the lake; visits of various Governors General; the "Sicamous"; and general comments on CPR boats. [TRACK 2: blank.]

The item consists of an audio interview with H.H. Stevens, recorded in 1966.
T0327:0001 summary
Track 1: Mr. Stevens, who came to Vernon in 1894, talks about his early experiences and memories of the Okanagan, including driving the stage from Penticton to Grand Forks in 1897; Camp McKinney; Fairview; Rossland; Phoenix; Greenwood; Grand Forks; Crows Nest Railway; Rock Creek; prospecting and mining and W.R. Meagaw. He describes Vernon; local residents; farms; ranches and the Aberdeen Ranch.
Track 2: Mr. Stevens continues with recollections about the Coldstream Ranch; Okanagan Lake; coming to Vancouver 1901; False Creek; CPR land holdings; real estate boom 1901 to 1912; sawmills and logging; Oppenheimer brothers; local personalities and wholesalers; Victoria wholesalers; North Vancouver ferry; Stewart; and the Dominion Trust Company.

T0327:0002 summary
Track 1: Mr. Stevens speaks about the Dominion Trust Company; the beginning of party politics in BC, 1903; and his election as a federal Conservative MP in 1911. He comments on federal political life; Vancouver in the boom period and depression, from 1911 to 1920; personalities; Alvo von Alvensleben; Hindus; Japanese; wholesalers and the Vancouver Hotel. [Track 2: blank.]

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-12-03 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. James Robertson remembers life as a rancher and as a freighter. Mr. Robertson describes how he came from Scotland to Banff in 1904; his work on the Canadian Pacific Railway; the Gang Ranch from 1905 to 1907; Vancouver in 1907; more on the Gang Ranch; the Dog Creek Ranch (the Joseph place); more about the Gang Ranch to 1910; other ranches; a strike at the Gang Ranch; J.D. Prentice, Managing Director, Western Canadian Ranching Co.; owners of the Gang Ranch; fishing; 100 Mile House, Benjamin "Benjy" McNeil of the 105 Mile Ranch; and the BX Stage. TRACK 2: Mr. Robertson continues about the BX Stage; "Drummers", traveling salesmen; his own freighting business; Ashcroft in 1910; Horsefly in 1915; Cataline, Miocene; and the Cariboo Road from 1911 to 1914.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-05-27 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Vera Bennett describes early days in Field, Cranbrook and Creston: Vera's father was from Sweden and worked for the CPR and eventually became road master at Field; her mother was English and was born in India; Vera was the first white baby born in Field, and was born in a box car; VIP's at Field; the family moved to Cranbrook in 1898; in 1899 nearly everything in Fort Steele went to; Cranbrook which was just a tent town during its construction; Vera married in 1913; the stage to Windermere was always uncomfortable; describes the route and stopping house; the smallpox epidemic in ;the spring of 1899; hundreds of workers died. TRACK 2: Bennett continues by describing a movie company and promotion of Invermere as a fruit growing area in 1909 and 1910; apples tied to poplars; reservists from England were totally unprepared for the actual conditions; she and her husband moved to Creston in 1914; there were reservists there also; Radium Hot Springs; ceremonies for the opening ;of the David Thompson memorial in 1922; she went to All Hallows School in Yale for two years; Indian and white girls were kept very separate.