This series consists of Department of Lands and Works correspondence and reports regarding roads, trails and other diverse topics. Includes correspondence regarding the resignation of Benjamin W. Pearse and the appointment of Edgar Dewdney as Surveyor General, the Omineca gold rush, and various Indian reserves.

This series consists of recreation site and trail management files created by the Prince George Forest District from 1940 onwards. These records relate to the routine maintenance, rehabilitation and development of Forest Service recreation sites and trails. Includes records relating to the planning, designation, assessment, design and construction of recreation sites and trails. Note that the dates in the file list are approximate, as most files only contain records from the year the file was opened. All files were closed in 2005, but may not include records created up to that date.

Records are covered by ORCS 16660-30 of the Forest ORCS (schedule 881261).

CALL NUMBER: T1238:0008 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Robert Tomlinson : tales of We-gyet, "big-man" of the Gitksan people RECORDED: Ketchikan (Alaska), 1950s SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Robert Tomlinson Jr. recounts tales of "We-gyet" the legendary "big man" of the Gitksan, who did good in the world, but did it all by cheating. We-gyet is also known as "Tremsim" among the Tsimshian tribes. Tales are told about We-gyet stealing light, We-gyet and the Bullhead, We-gyet and the Grizzly, We-gyet and the steelhead, We-gyet and his brother Loquabula and becoming lord of the Na;ss River. TRACK 2: Robert Tomlinson Jr. continues with the tales of We-gyet. We-gyet and a legend of how the eulachons arrived on the Nass River in March.

CALL NUMBER: T1238:0009 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Robert Tomlinson recalls slavery of native girls and trade between coast and Skeena River Indians RECORDED: Ketchikan (Alaska), [between 1955 and 1959] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Robert Tomlinson Jr. recounts an incident involving S. Marsden and a letter written in 1864. He speaks about the practice of taking canoes filled with young native girls to Victoria for "white slavery" and William Duncan's establishment of a refuge for women who wished to remain in the mission house, where they could be educated until of marriageable age. TRACK 2: Robert Tomlinson Jr. relates a story about an Indian couple on the Bulkley side of the mountains; the wife is captured, her husband follows and they are reunited. He speaks about locations of the grease trails in the area of the Skeena River, Kitwancool Lake, the Cranberry River, Kispiox and the Nass River. He provides information about trade between the coast and Skeena River Indians and methods and techniques used for; bridging the rivers along the trade routes. He ends this tape with recollections of events that occurred along the journey of the Tomlinson family from the headwaters of the Nass to the Skeena River.

CALL NUMBER: T1238:0010 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Robert Tomlinson : stories by his wife and himself RECORDED: Ketchikan (Alaska), [between 1955 and 1959] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Robert Tomlinson relates a story written by her husband about a canoe accident on the Skeena in 1887, when he and his brother travelled to collect drugs and supplies for the Tomlinson family at Minskinisht. A second story written by Mrs. Tomlinson as told by her husband is also mentioned. This recalls the Kitwancool Jim affair that began in 1888, during a measles outbreak near Kispio;x and ended at Kitwanga.

CALL NUMBER: T1244:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Kathleen Hughan remembers early Aiyansh on the Nass River PERIOD COVERED: 1880s-1917 RECORDED: [location unknown], [196-] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Kathleen "Kay" Hughan (nee Priestley) was born at Port Simpson around 1900. Her father, Arthur F. Priestley was a homesteader, teacher and storeowner at Aiyansh; her mother, Melita M. McCullagh, was born at Aiyansh in 1885. Kay Hughan speaks about homesteading, the promise of a boom (1900's), and river travel along the Nass. Her maternal grandmother, Mary Webster, and grandfather, Rev. James B. McCullagh, came out to Old Aiyansh (1880's). She recalls Rev. McCullagh, his garden, his interests, mission work, the flood of 1917 and the move of the village of Aiyansh to Gitlakdamiks, and t;he mission house fire of 1910. She recalls her paternal grandparents -- Joshua Priestley, the family pre-emption, the house fire and the Priestley family move to Victoria. She talks about freight for ;her father's store, travel on the Nass, Mill Bay, Kincolith, hospitals, Dr. MacDonald, the Collison family, childhood memories of old Aiyansh, mail and visitors.TRACK 2: Kay Hughan recalls details of her father's store: the postal service, the social centre of Aiyansh, supplies for the settlers, stock, outfitting survey parties, the "Grease Trail", trails, wholesalers, floods, Indian-white rela;tions and the store credit system. She speaks about the land boom of 1910-1912, homesteaders, the impact of World War I, bogus land promotions -- Rattenbury Land Company (1909-1910), settlers, the flo;od of 1917, Grease Harbour, settlement patterns, the first school, Tseax, more about settlement patterns, Al Ferris, employment, taxation and roads.

CALL NUMBER: T1244:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Kathleen and Peter Hughan remember the Nass Valley - Aiyansh and Tseax regions PERIOD COVERED: 1917-1958 RECORDED: [location unknown], [196-] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Kathleen Hughan remembers floods along the Nass River, the flood of 1917, moving the Old Aiyansh mission to Gitlakdamiks, mosquitoes, housing, settlement patterns and subsistence farming in the 1930's. Peter Hughan came from Scotland via England (1923) to the Prince George region. He discusses his reasons for emigration, experiences trapping, work at Prince Rupert (1924) and Terrace, his woodsman skills, locating land in the Nass Valley, his Tseax River property, the Vedder property, place names, settling and clearing land, purchasing the Charlie Gordon farm, river and trail travel and the telegraph trail to Stewart. TRACK 2: Peter Hughan speaks about pioneer life, his market garden, trapping, building a new house (1928), clearing, "wild rice" -- chocolate lily, changes in settle;ment, the Columbia Cellulose road opening up the area (1950's), development, logging, proposed hydro dams and the difficulty of land acquisition. He recalls pioneers including Al Ferris and the Joe Phillips family and soil and climate conditions.

CALL NUMBER: T1785:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], [196-] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Elmer Purdue tells a story about hunting near Soda Creek and eating a groundhog; when he first met the Bryant family; a story about a mean old timer named Lou who attacked Mr. Purdue; people in the area; Bull Canyon; his first impressions of Cyrus Bryant who was fixing an out-of-tune piano; Mr. Madden who lived near Soda Creek; working at Gang Ranch; the Bryant family as he remembers them; and what his life was like when he met them. TRACK 2: Mr. Purdue continues by describing when the Bryant family arrived at Tatla Lake on Christmas; the trail from Alexis Creek to Bella Coola; Benny Franklin; more stories about life with the Bryant family at Tatla Lake; differences in the personalities of the Bryant children; stories about the children; hunting in Tatla Lake; working odd jobs for food.

CALL NUMBER: T1785:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], [1970?] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Purdue discusses more homes in which the Bryant family lived (while looking at pictures); a Bryant family dog named Sandy; a teacher named Brown; more stories. [NOTE: Mrs. Phyllis Bryant Kellis is also present at this interview, and offers some comments to encourage Mr. Purdue's recollections.] [TRACK 2: blank.]

Documentary. Traces the pack-trail which once linked the Kootenay gold fields with the west coast, from Fort Hope to Fort Steele. Includes footage of the closing down of Camp McKinney gold mine; site of Fort Shepherd HBC post; Waneta Dam; St. Eugene Mission Church, and the cemetery at trail's end, Wild Horse Creek. One striking sequence shows the deserted streets and buildings of Fort Steele prior to its restoration.

CALL NUMBER: T0658:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-03-13 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Gus Milliken tells many stories from many different sources about the area around Yale. The first story takes place during the gold rush about a man who sells another man a claim to a mine which turned out to be a gravel mine, not a gold mine. Several other prospecting stories, some of which are fictitious. Early stories about the sternwheelers, including an argument between an engineer and the captain of a steamship; legends about the packer Cataline (Jean Caux); pack mules near Lytton; March 1858; a man named Hill, who discovered the first gold along the Fraser; the first hotels in the area; Joe MacKenzie, an original '58er; Ned Stout; Dewdney Landing; Bill MacKenzie, orchards, the building of the CPR station at Yale; some historical facts about the town of Yale; the first sawmill, first town council and first white male born in BC, Chinese miners and old timers. TRACK 2: Mr. Milliken describes how Yale got its name; its origins as a fort in 1846; the Hudson's Bay Company; the first buildings in Yale, L.T. Hill as the first person to discover gold in 1858; the relationship between the Hudson's Bay Company and San Francisco; the original Fort Hope, the people who worked in the first gold mines, activity in the area as it was being established, the first post office in 1916, Hope as a gold mining town; prospectors who had to move on to other places because all of the land had been staked; a dynamite plant; other early homes.

CALL NUMBER: T0658:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-03-13 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Milliken continues describing Andrew Onderdonk, who was "supposed to have built the railway but who was in fact the engineer". He describes the American company that paid for the building of the railway from Emory to beyond Yale. He discusses the construction of the railway; the first roads in the area; Indian trails in the area, including Douglas Portage and how Mr. Yale named it; he describes Mr. Yale; gold in Rock Creek; the Kettle Valley and the Canadian National Railroad [sic]; mills in the area; the Hope-Nicola trail and other trails.

CALL NUMBER: T0746:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-03-16 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. L.F. Pretty talks about the career of his father [Charles Pretty] from 1888 to 1925 in New Westminster; his father's cannery businesses along the Fraser; his retirement to Harrison Mills; his timber businesses; pulp and paper business; the Vancouver harbour scheme; the Pretty family; L.F. Pretty's dairy farm; a story about a Vancouver glue factory. TRACK 2: Mrs. Pretty talks about ;the reasons Charles Pretty came to Harrison Mills and a description of the family home. Mr. Pretty continues with a discussion of the Harrison/Lillooet trail to the Cariboo; anecdotes about hiking the trail; the Skookumchuck Reserve; methods of Indian fishing; Morris Valley settlement; old families; roads in the area and to Hope; other stories.

CALL NUMBER: T0746:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963-03-16 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Pretty continues with anecdotes about people in the Harrison area and the Morris Valley; Mr. Pennier and Mr. Weaver; stories of the Sasquatch; the Indian reserve; Big Joe, an Indian who took scalps; anecdotes about Moses Brown; comments on Indian/white relations. [TRACK 2: blank.]

CALL NUMBER: T0765:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], [1963-03?] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Johnson recalls arriving in New Westminster in 1879; living in Yale; an incident involving a steamboat trip on the Fraser; traveling to the family homestead in Halls Prairie in 1882; the; White Rock area circa 1882; picnics on the beach; the logging operations of Murran and Elwood; anecdote about beavers; roads in Surrey; the Semiahmoo Trail; customs at Elgin. TRACK 2: Mr. Johnson continues with discussion about the customs office at Elgin; his father's farm at Halls Prairie; life on the farm; early residents in the area; Hazelmere; the Thrift family; anecdotes about Judge Begbie; stage transportation; schooling; customs regulations; the murder of Murran; his work in the mills and later in the customs for the Great Northern Railroad; his customs work at the Cloverdale depot ;and later for government customs.;

CALL NUMBER: T0765:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], [1963-03?] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Johnson talks about his Canadian customs work; the Great Northern Railroad; living in White Rock in 1909; shopping in Blaine; the railway customs house at White Rock; the customs house at; the Pacific Highway; customs incidents; the White Rock Water Works Company; early White Rock; subdivision. [TRACK 2: blank.]

CALL NUMBER: T0314:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-23 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Alfred Joseph Drinkell tells some stories about the history of the Dog Creek area of the Cariboo, from 1860 to 1914. Drinkell discusses his arrival in BC in 1911. He describes the ranches he worked at around Ashcroft, Joseph Smith's place, and his financial problems and life before he came to BC. He tells anecdotes about Judge Begbie. He tells a story about Samsome, a local doctor, and the legendary packer Jean Caux ("Cataline").

TRACK 2: Drinkell relates the story of Cataline's last trip and describes many trails in the area. He speaks of Joy Sim, a Chinese doctor, and pioneer medicine. He discusses some of Cataline's packers: Robbins, Wiggins Dan Smith, and the first settlers in the area. He describes the Hudson's Bay Trail, freighting, roads in the area, stories about Phil Grinder of Jesmond, a local school teacher, and educated people.

CALL NUMBER: T0314:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-23 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Drinkell describes the early days of Ashcroft, the Chinese in the area, two anecdotes: the Wright of the Dog Creek Ferry and the Stobie of the Gang Ranch. He offers the background of the Gang Ranch and describes cattle drives, the Duke Of York, a Barkerville bartender, and local Indians.

TRACK 2: Drinkell discusses cowboys, social life and Christmas. Then he mentions Indian-White relationships and a story about Indians and the law. He discusses the Chilcotin and Shuswap Indians, problems with the reserve system, Chinese settlers in the Dog Creek area, and the importance of Chinese in the area. Finally, Drinkell tells the story of five Indian women who killed themselves over a white man, and how nails and gold dust were used as money.

CALL NUMBER: T0375:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-29 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Roderick "Roddy" Roy Moffat discusses how his father came out to the Chilcotin from Ontario and began ranching near Alexandria. Moffat offers several stories about his father when he drove a stagecoach. He discusses the tests necessary for a person to be a driver for the BC Line Company. He describes horses and drivers and the relationship between the two. There are many more stories about freighting days. Jerk-line teams had anywhere between four and twelve horses and three carriages. He describes how the horses were handled just outside of Ashcroft when the road became hilly and curved.

TRACK 2: Mr. Moffat discusses the competition between freighters to get the business of the Hudson's Bay Company out of Quesnel, alcohol consumption being a problem to achieving the contract, and then more on freighting. His father invented the snow roller for easier freighting in the winter. He describes the town of Barkerville. He discusses Chinese people as ranchers and as miners in the region. He discusses the Pinchbeck farm as the first farm in the area in Williams Lake and other early ranches: Levy Ranch in Soda Creek, McGuiness Ranch, 4 Mile Ranch, Sam Bohanon Ranch and that was all the farming until Quesnel. He describes many people in the area, old timers, and miners. Steve and Andrew Olsen are two characters he discusses, other Moffatts in the area, Alexander Flats, irrigation, the Hudson's Bay post at Alexandria, and the war between the Chilcotin Indians and the Alexander Indians.

CALL NUMBER: T0375:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-29 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Moffat describes the trail used by the Chilcotin Indians to invade the Alexander Indians, and how this route was used by Simon Fraser. He describes farmland and how technology has improved its uses. He discusses cattle farming near Quesnel. He describes his childhood and schooling. [TRACK 2: blank.]

CALL NUMBER: T1784:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-20 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Caroline Moffat recalls some of her experiences in the Tatla Lake area, 1921 to 1937, including: a winter journey to her homestead in Tatla Lake in 1923, school days at Tatla Lake, wild horses, growing up in the bush, encounters with wild animals, gatherings at Tatla Lake to distribute mail, details of a winter journey to Corkscrew Creek in the Anahim Lake area in 1931 to start a ranch there. TRACK 2: Mrs. Moffat continues discusses meeting Lord Tweedsmuir during his visit to the Bella Coola valley in 1937, incidents of a cattle drive at Anahim Lake, anecdotes about a pet moose, a story about an altercation with local Indians and the local deputy.

CALL NUMBER: T1784:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-20 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Moffat describes the landscape around Anahim, the story of a journey made to give birth to her first child in 1940, activity in the Anahim Lake area around the time she moved there in 1932, stores and settlements and roads in the area, the trail to Bella Coola, an anecdote about Ralph. TRACK 2: Moffat finishes her discussion of Indians, people in the Ulkatcho area, stories about encounters with wolves and cougars, Pan Phillips and her sister Jane Lehman, travels in the area, and a story about a load of hay.

CALL NUMBER: T1784:0003 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-20 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Moffat comments and tells stories about her brother and sisters, Alfred Bryant, Jane Lehman and Bunch Trudeau, her parents, Phyllis Bryant Kellis and Cyrus Bryant, her father's background, a winter journey with her sister Jane (who was a nurse) to take care of an Indian. TRACK 2: More stories and discussions of local Indians including Joe Kapoose and Thomas Squinas, the death of her father, stories about wild horses, her first trip to Anahim Lake to find land and comments about the area.

CALL NUMBER: T1784:0004 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-07-20 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Moffat tells a story about a neighbor, Indians and liquor, a description of the Bryant cabin at Tatla Lake: the stove and bath nights, a story about her mother digging a well, the garden, pastimes at a nearby lake, stories about Jane and her family, her father's pioneering spirit, travels, memories of the rail journey to Clinton and a wagon trip to Soda Creek in 1919. TRACK 2: A discussion of her personal philosophies such as reincarnation, arising from the discovery that she has cancer, her attitudes toward death, reflections on the quality of her life and winding up her affairs, a story about an altercation with Indians over a horse and a load of hay, and an encounter with a cougar.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-11-06 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. J.D. Whitham discusses some people of Kelowna, and the days of steamboats on Okanagan Lake, 1912 to 1937. He describes his family background; why they came to the Okanagan; memories of his uncle's farm in Manitoba; the family orchard in the Glenmore area; general recollections of the Kelowna area and people including several stories about Dr. Boyce; the Kelowna regatta; the fruit business, including details about the showdown over apple prices in the late 1920s; orchards; tobacco growing; and stories about Rembler Paul. TRACK 2: Mr. Whitham continues with more on Rembler Paul';s tomb; boats on Okanagan Lake, including Captain Shorts and the CPR sternwheelers; the SS "Sicamous" and Captain J.B. Weeks; more on Captain Shorts; the operation and construction of the lake boats; Indians of Westbank, and the Okanagan fur brigade trail.