Item AAAB5719 - Mathias Baher interview

RECORDED: Sparwood (B.C.), 1984-10 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Family arrived at Elk Valley in 1902. Worked in coal mines at Luscar, 1923. Two winters trapping in the NWT. Brother Martin, Joe Vlasak and Mathias started outfit, 1929. Early Elk Valley; outfitters/guides; Chancy Smith, Billy Boivin, Neil MacQuarrie, Charley Nordstrom. Hornaday/Phillips trip, 1905, one of the first sporting trips, employed Charlie Smith, Mac and John Narbou, Hugglestone; see "Campfires in the Canadian Rockies" (1906). Old Kootenay outfitters; Art Nichol, Peter Lum. Numerous outfits used the Bull River area. Mathias had 26 horses. Max Ebert. A local shooting incident. Harry Kylar cooked. TRACK 2: Description of guiding territory; Elk Valley, Fording River, Cadorna Creek. Handles two parties simultaneously. Start of Local Guiding Association, circa 1950. Accessing his territory. Trip Length. Cabins used for hunting and trapping. Alberta area: Buffalo Head Ranch. Alberta outfits using BC areas: Frank Philipps, Elk Lakes, Andy Russell, Flathead, Vensel Dvorak. Evolution of access, guiding and hunting pressures in the region. Record trophy heads obtained. Early motion pictures of hunting. His autobiography, "Life and Times of an Elk Valley Sourdough" discussed. Revised edition.