CALL NUMBER: T1871:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Reginald V. Stuart : the B.C. Forest Branch, 1914-1927 (part 1) PERIOD COVERED: 1910-1927 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1960-01-08 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Arrived in Vancouver in 1910 from Golden. Worked for Robert Filberg at Golden, 1919. Description of Vancouver in 1910. Clearing land in Vancouver. Stuart's early work history. Went to work at Powell River in 1911. Stuart enumerates the major logging companies on the South Coast and on Vancouver Island. Logging methods and technology in 1911. Wages and working conditions. Woods jobs. Stuart's work as accountant and scaler. TRACK 2: Forestry officials prior to the formation of the B.C. Forest Branch. Logging methods. The establishment of the B.C. Forest Branch under H.R. MacMillan in 1912. Stuart joined Forest Branch in 1914. Attempted political interference with the operation of the Forest Branch. Resistance to the ideas of forest management. Stuart's territory as a ranger. CALL NUMBER: T1871:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Reginald V. Stuart : the B.C. Forest Branch, 1914-1927 (part 2) PERIOD COVERED: 1914-1940 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1960-01-08 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Anecdotes about Stuart's days as a ranger along the lower coast. Story of the resale of Hastings sawmill timber lease. Economic factors in the development of the forest industry. The low price of timber. Stuart worked for the Forest Branch, 1914-27. Reminiscences of the Chief Foresters: H.R. MacMillan, Martin Grainger, P.Z. Caverhill. TRACK 2: More on the career of M.A. Grainger. Comments on P.Z. Caverhill, Chief Forester in 1920s and 1930s. Stuart becomes manager of the Loggers Association, 1927. Public relations problems of the Forest Branch, 1920s. The first use of aircraft by the Forest Branch, 1917. Early air crashes near Vancouver. The first use of radios by the Forest Branch, 1920. Favourable comments on T.D. Pattullo. (End of interview)

CALL NUMBER: T1873:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Robert J. Filberg : Comox Logging and Railway Company (part 1) PERIOD COVERED: 1907-1950 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1960-06-15 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Pulp wood experiment conducted in mid-1940s for better understanding of waste wood. Ad hoc arrangements between Filberg, Harold Foley and the Coalition government on this experiment. Led to the building of Duncan Bay pulp mill. Role of John Hart. Working conditions in logging camps in about 1907-10. Wages. Railroad construction. The high calibre of labour in the logging industry prior to WW II. Changes in the kinds of timber logged, 1910-60. TRACK 2: Problems of forest fires and accidents. Poor economic conditions in the forest industry, 1907-40. Introduction of large-scale truck logging after 1937. Systems of cable logging. Filberg born in Sweden, 1892. Came to B.C. from the United States in 1909. Began work for Comox Logging and Railway Company, 1909. Laying out logging railways in the Comox Valley. Filberg worked briefly near Golden, B.C., laying out logging railway. Columbia River Lumber Company, Golden. CALL NUMBER: T1873:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Robert J. Filberg : Comox Logging and Railway Company (part 2) PERIOD COVERED: 1907-1940 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1960-06-15 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Logging railway near Golden, B.C. The connection between Comox Logging and Railway Company and Canadian Western Lumber Company (Fraser Mills). Filberg's early logging experiences in Washington State. Old logging methods: skid roads, fore and aft roads, ground yarding. The development of logging in the Comox Valley. Expansion into the Ladysmith area with logging trucks, 1937. (End of interview)

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Sam Hardy : woods work, 1940-1974 PERIOD COVERED: 1925-1974 RECORDED: Beaver Cove (B.C.), 1974-07-29 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Hardy describes: early life in logging camps, 1925-40; Malahat Logging Company; starting as a boom man, 1940; description of boom and raft operations; anecdote about a Davis raft that got away; moving from camp to camp and job to job; working sequence in boom work; accident rate frequency, 1940-1974. Discusses: sequence of jobs on rigging crew, 1940s; job descriptions of chokerman, rigging slinger, hook tender, steel spar engineer, and chaser. Arrival in Nimpkish Valley, 1945; duties of second loader; problems with "foot draggers"; competition between crews; getting a job on the railway; move to Nimpkish, 1948; description of Woss camp construction. Anecdotes about smuggling alcohol into camps; joining the IWA and union activity; early union activity and organizing; worker attitudes toward the union; negotiations and strikes. TRACK 2: Mr. Hardy discusses: mornings on the Nimpkish Railway, 1940s; functioning of the railway network at Nimpkish; railway safety; differences between steam and diesel railway engines; maintenance on steam locomotives; pride in work; Russell Mills; Canfor as an employer; labour relations at Nimpkish. (End of interview)

CALL NUMBER: T1879:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Sid Smith : Bloedel, Stewart and Welch, 1911-1951 PERIOD COVERED: 1905-1951 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1960-12-13 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Smith to B.C. to locate timber in 1905. Worked for Bloedel in Washington. Smith's work in logging camps starting in 1906. Began logging at Myrtle Point in 1911. Logging methods, ca. 1913. Changes in the importance of various woods jobs. Yarding and skidding equipment. Became a manager for Bloedel, Stewart and Welch, 1921. Managing logging camps at Myrtle Point, Union Bay, Menzies Bay and Great Central Lake. The economic conditions for logging companies. TRACK 2: The difference between logging cedar and fire. Problems of marketing lumber of various species. Campbell River Timber Company deliberately burning felled and bucked timber to avoid royalty payments. Opening up logging at Franklin River, 1930s. Strike in 1934. The role of George Pearson, Minister of Labour in Pattullo government. The merger of H.R. MacMillan Export Company and Bloedel Stewart and Welch, 1951. How Smith came to B.C. from the United States in 1905. Logging camp conditions at Myrtle Point, ca. 1913. CALL NUMBER: T1879:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Sid Smith : logging camps and forest management PERIOD COVERED: 1911-1960 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1960-12-13 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Smith describes a typical logging camp, ca. 1914. Working and living conditions. First meeting with H.R. MacMillan, ca. 1913. Smith's opinions on forest management by the B.C. Forest Branch. Comments on the granting of Forest Management Licenses especially FML 22 and the 'Sommers Case'. Criticizes the stance of Gordon Gibson on FMLs. (End of interview)

Television stock shots

CALL NUMBER: T0549:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Sounds of logging SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Dispatch Shack, Woss camp. Mill's boom reloader operation, Woss Lake. Falling and bucking operation, Vernon Lake area. TRACK 2: Falling operation (cont'd). Steel spar yarder, logging truck, front end loader, Vernon Lake. Shop noises. Cookhouse whistle. Car repair shop, Nimpkish. Diesel Railway Engine, Woss camp.

CALL NUMBER: T0549:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Sounds of logging SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Booming boats (dozer boats), Canfor booming grounds, Beaver Cove. Log dumping and railway engine shunter, Beaver Cove. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Documentary. "Until midway through the twentieth century, logging operations made use of the "spartree," a particularly tall and strong tree that could support the lead blocks for high-line logging. The branches and top were removed by the highrigger before guylines and cables were rigged. Specially designed camera equipment for high-altitude shooting, operated by a stunt man, produces some spectacular views of Hap Johnson, highrigger, on his way up a 76-metre Douglas fir tree." (NLC description) Filmed at Caycuse, B.C.

Documentary. "Until midway through the twentieth century, logging operations made use of the "spartree," a particularly tall and strong tree that could support the lead blocks for high-line logging. The branches and top were removed by the highrigger before guylines and cables were rigged. Specially designed camera equipment for high-altitude shooting, operated by a stunt man, produces some spectacular views of Hap Johnson, highrigger, on his way up a 76-metre Douglas fir tree." (NLC description) Filmed at Caycuse, B.C.

Documentary. "Until midway through the twentieth century, logging operations made use of the "spartree," a particularly tall and strong tree that could support the lead blocks for high-line logging. The branches and top were removed by the highrigger before guylines and cables were rigged. Specially designed camera equipment for high-altitude shooting, operated by a stunt man, produces some spectacular views of Hap Johnson, highrigger, on his way up a 76-metre Douglas fir tree." (NLC description) Filmed at Caycuse, B.C.

The item is a reel of documentary film. It depicts life in a logging camp in Central British Columbia, where men and machines are racing against time to bring out the mill's quota of lumber before the Peace River backs up and floods the valley. The film shows the valley as it was before it was flooded, and a type of logging operation which has given way to one which utilizes virtually every scrap of log.

Industrial film. The advance planning and site preparation that precedes actual logging in modern forest operations. Also includes scenes of cutting, spartree and booming operations, reforestation, maintenance, mill operations, etc.

The item is a reel of industrial film showing the advance planning and site preparation that precedes actual logging in modern forest operations. Also includes scenes of cutting, spartree and booming operations, reforestation, maintenance, mill operations, etc.

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Tibor Louie Jando discusses logging and the Queen Charlotte Islands PERIOD COVERED: 1958-1969 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1969 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Tibor Louie Jando speaks about the background to the MacMillan Bloedel operations at Juskatla, construction of logging roads, types of trees logged, tree growth and replanting. He discusses the Queen Charlotte Division, employees, recreation, facilities, town site and forest management. He compares the Canadian logging industry to other countries and discusses education in the industry. ;TRACK 2: Mr. Jando discusses various methods used for increasing the yield of the trees or "tree farming", new methods of logging and machinery including: grapple yarding, tree snippers, pulp machines; and balloon logging. This interview ends with logging sounds.

The item is a reel of promotional film showing the uses of caterpillar tractors in the logging industry. Includes scenes from Australia, the Pacific Northwest and Carolina.

Documentary. The importance of Canada's forests to the economy. Includes scenes of logging; log drives; huge trees felled by crosscut saw; sawmill and pulp mill operations and the various uses of forest products. Forest fire prevention and forest fire fighting techniques are shown, with shots of a huge forest fire in a mountainous area. No locales are specified, but the footage is clearly shot in BC. In the first sequence, dealing with a prosperous town which becomes a ghost town after a nearby forest fire, Barkerville is the ghost town location.

The item is a reel of promotional film about caterpillar tractors. "Showing the extensive use to which Caterpillar tractors and graders can be put in preparing an area for logging by putting in roads and fire traits. It also illustrates the wide variety of jobs performed by "cats" in actual logging work.' A Caterpillar Tractor advertising film. It includes scenes in Australia and Carolina, and may or may not contain sequences filmed in British Columbia." (Colin Browne)

Unedited footage. B&W. Vancouver area road construction, 1920s [252 feet]: "Consists of many scenes of bulldozers, graders, trucks, shovels and construction workers building a road from scratch, possibly near UBC, according to Mr. Mackenzie's cousin. Later in the film a group of men and equipment are paving a street in Vancouver, smoothing asphalt, steam rolling it, building sidewalks, etc. In this sequence a CN freight train grinds by as the men lay concrete forms along a short stretch of the tracks, a Dunbar streetcar comes up the hill barely missing a man sprinting across the road with two bottles of milk, and two other streetcars pass by while construction work is in progress. A man in a suit poses, takes off his hat, scratches his head, and puts his hat on again." (Colin Browne) COLOUR. Port Hardy, ca. 1940 [255 feet]: Cleared area with stumps and slash pile. Donkey engine and spartree; yarding logs. Topping a tree. Logging (or construction?) camp scenes. Wharf and sawmill. A seaplane lands. Aerial views of Port Hardy. COLOUR. Watson Lake (presumably in the Yukon), early 1940s [253 feet]: Views of settlement. Motor scow and barge on lake. Airstrip under construction; various aircraft. Townsite in winter with log buildings. Twin-prop seaplane. Motor barge with freight. Moored barges. Clearing small trees with a cat tractor. More aircraft.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1976-03 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Slide at Allison's Camp. Ellingsen's camp at Phillips Arm, 1941. Stuart Island. Rock Bay. Blind Channel. His father was an independent logger. Acquiring a hand-logging claim. Logging partnerships. Steam donkey. Comparison of sky-line logging and tight-line logging. Elmer Ellingsen. Travel and amenities on Union Steamships boats. The "Chelhosin". Thurlow Island. The Depression. Cannery, shingle mill and store at Blind Channel. Cannery used as a saltery. Entertainment. People recalled. TRACK 2: Story about community outhouse. Settlement at Roy. Loughborough Inlet. Logging camp characters. Moonshine still at Blind Channel. Old-timers. Suicides common. Anecdotes about machinery. Other camps and characters.

Documentary. "The scenes include a few brief views of Duncan on Vancouver Island in the early days, falling giant Douglas Fir with new chainsaws, bucking them into portable lengths, and the transportation of the logs by truck and railway. Good scenes at the base of the spar tree where the logs are being yarded out of the bush, tongs thrown about them with great skill, and the massive trunks lifted onto the rail cars by a steam donkey. Logs are loaded onto trucks by a gasoline donkey. There are scenes around the mill showing the arrival of the logs, the endless chain up onto the deck, the carriage which carries the logs through the circular saw, the edger, and all mill operations, including sorting in the lumber yard. A steam crane is shown working in the yard lifting and piling huge loads of lumber. A truck drives under the sawdust hopper and is loaded with sawdust which will be delivered to houses for stove fuel. And trucks leave the mill loaded with cut lumber. Also shown is an excellent tree-topping sequence with a high-rigger." (Colin Browne)

Documentary. "The scenes include a few brief views of Duncan on Vancouver Island in the early days, falling giant Douglas Fir with new chainsaws, bucking them into portable lengths, and the transportation of the logs by truck and railway. Good scenes at the base of the spar tree where the logs are being yarded out of the bush, tongs thrown about them with great skill, and the massive trunks lifted onto the rail cars by a steam donkey. Logs are loaded onto trucks by a gasoline donkey. There are scenes around the mill showing the arrival of the logs, the endless chain up onto the deck, the carriage which carries the logs through the circular saw, the edger, and all mill operations, including sorting in the lumber yard. A steam crane is shown working in the yard lifting and piling huge loads of lumber. A truck drives under the sawdust hopper and is loaded with sawdust which will be delivered to houses for stove fuel. And trucks leave the mill loaded with cut lumber. Also shown is an excellent tree-topping sequence with a high-rigger." (Colin Browne)

Amateur film. Baptism service inside home in Sarita River. Trucks and road building. Cable logging; steam donkey; loading a truck. Float plane takes off from bay at Sarita River.

Industrial film. The life and work of the modern logger is contrasted with the rough-and-tumble era of 40 years earlier. The latter is evoked through effective narration, archival photographs, and historical re-creations filmed at the Cowichan Forest Museum (including extensive footage of a steam locomotive on a logging railway, plus shots of a logging crummy and of a steam donkey yarding logs). In the modern sequences, loggers are shown falling a tree and setting chokers; faller Nick Semchuck [?] leaves his Port Alberni home and travels by crummy to the work site, where he falls, measures and bucks a tree; and logs are loaded onto a truck and followed along a logging road to Kelsey Bay to be dumped into the ocean. There is also excellent "mood" footage of derelict logging camps, bunkhouses, steam donkeys and equipment, and an abandoned village.

Industrial film. The life and work of the modern logger is contrasted with the rough-and-tumble era of 40 years earlier. The latter is evoked through effective narration, archival photographs, and historical re-creations filmed at the Cowichan Forest Museum (including extensive footage of a steam locomotive on a logging railway, plus shots of a logging crummy and of a steam donkey yarding logs). In the modern sequences, loggers are shown falling a tree and setting chokers; faller Nick Semchuck [?] leaves his Port Alberni home and travels by crummy to the work site, where he falls, measures and bucks a tree; and logs are loaded onto a truck and followed along a logging road to Kelsey Bay to be dumped into the ocean. There is also excellent "mood" footage of derelict logging camps, bunkhouses, steam donkeys and equipment, and an abandoned village.

CALL NUMBER: T3114:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Sawmilling and logging in Terrace, B.C., 1919-1964 PERIOD COVERED: 1919-1965 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977-08-09 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: William Christy (cat operator, truck driver, mechanic) was born in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1910. Came to Terrace in 1919. Worked during school holidays in sawmill. Drove horse in winter, skidding. Description of a "go-devil". Cutting hemlock ties. Making boom sticks, use of "big wheels" and horse team to log, shipping logs to the Great Lakes. Falling spruce. Sleigh roads, working a grease-monkey greasing the logs. Loading logs using horses. Corduroy roads and cottonwood plank roads for trucks. First cat, a 30 Holt. Servicing machine. Use of "jammers". Method of transporting poles, using two trucks. Working for Giggey. Hours and wages. TRACK 2: Various jobs. In 1941 employed in Pohles shop. Strike, "black-listed". 1950 Shop Foreman. Types of machinery. Army incidents. "Zombies" (French Canadian objectors). Blackouts. Meeting soldiers on the road. Rationing of liquor. Describing the Skeena River. The flood of 1936, attempts to move Loen's house. Supplies brought in by boat. In 1964 sale of property. Move to Thornhill. The growth of Thornhill and its desire to remain separated from Terrace. CALL NUMBER: T3114:0001 Track 2 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Sawmilling and logging in Terrace, B.C., 1919-1964 PERIOD COVERED: 1919-1965 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977-08-09 SUMMARY: Various jobs. In 1941 employed in Pohles shop. Strike, "black-listed". 1950 Shop Foreman. Types of machinery. Army incidents. "Zombies" (French Canadian objectors). Blackouts. Meeting soldiers on the road. Rationing of liquor. Describing the Skeena River. The flood of 1936, attempts to move Loen's house. Supplies brought in by boat. In 1964 sale of property. Move to Thornhill. The growth of Thornhill and its desire to remain separated from Terrace.

Footage. "This reel was photographed by a crewman of the "Columbia", the flagship of the Columbia Coast Mission boats. . . . The location is likely the Hastings Mill Logging Company's operation at Rock Bay, 50 miles north of Campbell River on Vancouver Island. The film opens with an aerial shot of an inlet. There is snow on the hills and the clouds hang low above the sea. Various panning shots (filmed from the water) of a small village or logging camp at the foot of a hill just above the beach. There are log booms in the water and a log-dumping wharf protrudes from the camp. A logging locomotive moves toward the camera. Snow between three sets of railway tracks. Steam locomotive is followed by several flatcars loaded with logs. Men pull off chains fastening logs to cars and the logs clatter into the sea. Water tank in [background]. Shot of Locomotive. Group shot of two women and a child and a man with a tripod. Two men outside door of infirmary, one on crutches. Sequence of two logs being yarded into landing by high-lead method, many other cut logs lying on the ground, snow all about. Two steam donkeys operating, one each side of the railroad tracks in the middle of the forest, one loading logs onto railway flatcars. Pan up spar tree and down again. [Long shot of] high rigger up spar tree working on rigging. Pan down tree to men working at the landing and the steam donkey puffing away. Good [medium shot] steam donkey, man sawing wood in [background] with Swedish fiddle. CU men chopping at a log with double-bladed axes. Turn of Logs coming in and being dumped on a pile. Chokerman walks down from setting choker around a pile of logs and waves to the donkey operator. Pan donkey operator, Chinese man sawing up log with Swedish fiddle, and loggers on their break. [Long shot] steam donkey at base of spar tree. Pan of logs on rail cars, steam donkey billowing in distance, logs being loaded onto cars. Two loggers outside shed pointing." (Colin Browne)

Out-takes. A young man who is skeptical about the future of the forest industry is taken to see various plants and operations. Illustrates the processes used and the diversity of wood products. Most of the film depicts MacMillan & Bloedel's Harmac plant and logging operations on Vancouver Island. There are also brief sequences aboard a ferry from Vancouver to the island.

The item is a reel of film footage. Shows activities at a summer camp for forest rangers, possibly in the Cowichan Valley. Scenes of logging trucks, steam donkeys, sign from "Mayo Lumber Co. Ltd."