RECORDED: [location unknown], 1978-02-10 SUMMARY: Robert Hartt of Stories Beach (just south of Campbell River) recalls coming to Campbell River in 1927 and his experiences in the area, including logging, prospecting, cougar hunting, logging camp life, and the Depression. Locales discussed include Oyster Bay, Comox, and Rock Bay.

CALL NUMBER: T2341:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Towboating on the BC coast PERIOD COVERED: 1915-1960 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1976-07-14 SUMMARY: TRACKS 1 & 2: Captain Mickey Balatti's family was among Vancouver's early settlers. Born in Ladysmith, he worked in the coal mines there and later joined the crew of a tug boat. Describes early diesel; tug boats, working log booms, Hastings Mill, "Brunette", accidents on the coast, navigation techniques, towing on the west coast of Vancouver Island, attempts to blow up Ripple Rock, towing around the Queen Charlotte Islands, difference between American and Canadian wages for towboat men.;

CALL NUMBER: T2341:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Towboating on the BC coast PERIOD COVERED: 1915-1960 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1976-07-14 SUMMARY: TRACKS ! & 2: Mickey Balatti describes towing across Hecate Strait; the salvage of a grounded freighter on the Sand Heads; making up log booms at San Juan for Malahat Logging; Nitinat Lake; towing Davis rafts; tricks of towing through tidal currents; loading railcar barges; changes on the tugboats when diesel replaced steam; B.C. Pilotage.;

CALL NUMBER: T1928:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1976-02 SUMMARY: Ole and Marguerite Skogan were early settlers of the Sayward Valley. She was the daughter of pioneers; he logged there ca. 1908 and returned to pre-empt land in 1914. TRACK 1: Sayward -- Hastings logging camp, 1908. Glen Duncan. Camp at White River. Transportation. Otto Sacht's store. Supplies brought in by Union Steamships. No roads. Logging company moved away from Sayward, 1912; most families left. Land was opened for homesteading in 1914; 40-acre lots. Duncan family, farm. Sacht's store, 1923. Port Kusam had original post office, liquor store. [Port Kusam was renamed "Hkusam" in 1952.] Sayward School. Entertainment. Neighbours. Hunting and trapping, White River. Mr. Skogan returned to Sayward 1914; logged for gyppos and self. Logged with oxen, then horses. Worked on steam donkey in USA. Had worked in Yukon on sternwheeler and in mine, 1906-1908. Travel on Union Steamships. Logging camps at Rock Bay, Granite Bay, and Thurlow. TRACK 2: Also worked at Kingcome and Blind Channel. Cannery at Green Point Rapids. Conditions at logging camps named above. Medical care. Columbia Coast Mission. Story about dance at Rock Bay. Anecdotes about logging camp characters, shootings. Ed Stowe, his timber and cattle. Home remedies. District nurse. Hotel in Sayward. CALL NUMBER: T1928:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1976-02 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Son still living at Sayward. Difference in logging then and now. The Depression. Land at Sayward. Politics in Sayward very important in early days. Voting at Port Kusam. Politicians all promised a road to Sayward. Got road in 1946; 19 bridges between Sayward and Campbell River. Trip to Cumberland. First trip on new road. Trips on terrible roads. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Stock shots. Extensive footage of the Sayward Forest, primarily showing outdoor recreation activities -- boating (power, sail and canoe), camping, sport fishing, picnicking, swimming, sunbathing, water skiing, etc. -- on the lakes, streams and rivers of the area. Also includes sequences on the Elk Falls and Menzie lookout towers; forest inventory crews at work near Frog Lake and Elk Falls; Campbell River Forest Nursery; a tugboat pulling a log barge in Johnstone Strait; Campbell River Ranger Station; Elk Falls Park; neat and messy camp sites.

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.

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)