CALL NUMBER: T0451:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-02-21 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Bert Williams recounts his father's arrival in Ontario, and the family's later move to Langley to homestead in 1889. He relates early incidents; other families; the trip to Langley; early homesteaders; remittance men; building their first home; Bovel's Mill; cougar stories; life on the homestead; the family's garden; livestock; the Salmon River. TRACK 2: Bert Williams continues, discussing grouse hunting; clearing land; an anecdotes about life on the homestead; his mother's life on the farm; preachers; entertainment; boyhood antics; bear stories; a description of Fort Langley in 1895.

CALL NUMBER: T0451:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-02-21 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Williams talks about the Telegraph Trail and roads in the area; names of roads; the township system; the Salmon River Bridge; peddlers; entertainment; different types of transportation, carts and buggies; local incidents. TRACK 2: Mr. Williams continues with his discussion about farm incidents; horses and teams; the Langley Country Fair; summer picnics; Blackie's Spit; winters and changing weather conditions; effects of a 1911 or 1912 Alaskan volcanic eruption and earthquake; fencing; the New Westminster Market; ferry at Brownsville; the railroad bridge; work on the telephone line.

CALL NUMBER: T0451:0003 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-02 or 1963-03-20-21 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Williams continues with recollections about peddlers; Christmastime; social occasions; bear incidents. TRACK 2: Mr. Williams talks about farming and milk production; local feuds; anecdotes about pioneer life; Jim Melrose; hog killing; church; the Seeley brothers; prosperity in the 1910s; drilling for artesian wells.

The fonds consists of diaries, correspondence and letterbook of Ed. Conway (known variously as Edward, Edmund and Edmond Conway).

The series consists of oral history interviews recorded by Georgiana Ball dealing with the history, language and customs of the Tahltan People and the history of the Stikine Region. The series also includes recordings of fiddle tunes and country and western songs performed by local musicians.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-03-15 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Kate Mellard recalls coming to Chilliwack with her family in 1887; family members in the area; transportation; George Ashwell; the Old Yale Road; Centreville; her husband's work in the post office; hotels; the telegraph trail; anecdotes of life in Chilliwack. TRACK 2: She continues with her recollections about the community of Chilliwack; stores; childhood pranks; entertainment; interesting characters; her husband's work as justice of the peace; schooling; 24 May 1897; Five Corners; hotels; early residents.

The item is a report on the 1976 reconnaissance of Sir Alexander Mackenzie's route from the Tanya Lakes to the mouth of Burnt Bridge Creek and also the Burnt Bridge Grease Trail including a report on the condition of the Yukon Telegraph trail and line between the first cabin and the first half-way cabin.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1961-07-07 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Richard Carroll, known as Dick, describes arriving into the [Nechako?] area from Vancouver in 1908 on his way to Alaska; he stopped to work on the Grand Trunk Railway at the head of navigation on the Skeena River. He describes people he met at the time, such as prospector Eli Carpenter, who was on his way to a gold rush; his eventual arrival in Burns Lake via the Telegraph Trail in 1909 on his way to Fort George, which he describes as the most remote part of BC at the time. Mr. Carrol outlines the land he staked; working on the railroad; his work as a mail carrier from Telkwa to Williams Lake, including using pack horses for transportation in summer and sleighs in the winter; prices of various goods in Burns Lake at the time; various farmers and goods they sold in the area; the telegraph office in Burns Lake as means of communicating with the Yukon during the gold rush; Mrs. Bessie Wallace as the first white woman to come to Burns Lake in 1909; produce which came from Ashcroft through Quesnel; more on telegraph posts; a story about Barney Mulvaney's wedding and a description of his character; and a description of an Indian raid at Kispiox. TRACK 2: Mr. Carroll describes an encounter with Chinese people; more on George and Bessie Wallace; ranching; and a trip with an explorer to Fort McLeod.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1961-07-08 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. William Bickle describes homesteads near Francois Lake at Grassy Plains in 1906. Mr. Blaney (from Anahim Lake) and other settlers are described as the first settlers at Francois Lake in; 1904. The subsequent development of Burns Lake. He describes Burns Lake settlers, including Mike Touhy, a proficient man on trails; a description of the rum-drinking activities Touhy would indulge in; upon arriving in Hazelton, and a description of the man and his poetry. Cataline (Jean Caux) and a description of his pack trains for the Yukon Telegraph Line; George Biernes; Barney Mulvaney. Charli;e Barret, who was another very important packer for the telegraph line; and who was the first white settler in the Bulkley Valley. The Gun-an-noot story. John Dorsey, another Francois Lake settler. T;RACK 2: Mr. Bickle continues by describing his travels across frozen Francois Lake, and an account of what is involved in staking out a homestead.