Showing 163 results

Authority record
Pedersen, George
Person · 13 June 1931 -

George Pedersen is a Canadian academic administrator. He was the president of Simon Fraser University (1979 to 1983), University of British Columbia (1983 to 1985), University of Western Ontario (1985 to 1994), interim president of the University of Northern British Columbia (for three months between Geoffrey Weller and Charles Jago), and founding president of Royal Roads University (1995-). He served as chancellor of the University of Northern British Columbia from 1998 until 1999. As chancellor, he has given degrees to 3,100 UNBC graduates.

Born in Three Creeks, Alberta, Pedersen received his B.A. from the University of British Columbia, an M.A. from the University of Washington, and his Ph.D. in Education from the University of Chicago in 1968. In 1992, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for being "devoted to the cause of higher education." In 1994, he was awarded the Order of Ontario. In 2002, he was awarded the Order of British Columbia. In 2005, he was appointed Chair of the Board of Governors of Emily Carr Institute.

His career in education began as a school teacher in North Vancouver in 1952, and within a decade he was promoted to principal at both the elementary and secondary levels. The draw of further studies took him far from home, to the University of Chicago, where he completed his PhD and earned ten scholarships in the process. He laid the groundwork for Simon Fraser University’s downtown campus, engaged in bitter battles over adequate post-secondary funding, and passionately advocated for greater aboriginal access to university, for which he was honoured by the Nisga’a.

Parker, June Swanky
Person · [19-?]-

June Swanky Parker is a Prince George artist and member of the "Milltown Six"- a group of female artists from Prince George including: Doris Ditarro, Caroline Moorehouse, Ann Bogle, Vivian Antoniw, Ruth Hanse.

Oberle, Frank
Person · 24 March 1932-

Born in Forchheim near Karlsruhe, Germany, Oberle moved with his family to German-occupied Poland in 1941. There he was placed in a Hitler Youth indoctrination program. Later, he fled the Red Army advance, surviving on grass and stolen eggs while walking 800 kilometres to his home village in the Black Forest. Rejected by his relatives, he immigrated to Canada at the age of 19 and became a logger and then a gold miner.

Oberle entered municipal politics, becoming mayor of Chetwynd. He entered federal politics and was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1972 general election as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Prince George—Peace River, British Columbia. He subsequently won re-election five times.

In 1985, Oberle became the first German-born federal Canadian cabinet minister when he became Minister of State for Science and Technology in Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's government. He later became Minister of State for Forestry, and then Minister of Forestry in 1990. Oberle retired from Cabinet when Kim Campbell succeeded Mulroney as Prime Minister, and retired from politics with the dissolution of the 34th Canadian parliament for the 1993 election.

In 2004, Oberle published a memoir of his World War II experiences, Finding Home: A War Child’s Journey to Peace (2004). A second memoir, A Chosen Path: From Moccasin Flats to Parliament Hill, was published in the same year.

Murray, Margaret "Ma"
Person · 1908-1982

Margaret Lally "Ma" Murray, OC (1908-1982) was the wife of publisher and MLA George Murray, and an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Originally from Kansas, "Ma" Murray was co-founder and editor (with her husband George) of the Bridge River-Lillooet News, the Alaska Highway News and other publications.

Morrow, Trelle
Person · [19-]-

Trelle Morrow, B.A., B. Arch. is a Retired Member of the Architectural Institute of B.C. Mr. Morrow was a graduate of the UBC School of Architecture and established a practice in Prince George in 1956 and worked on many local and northern projects until he retired in 1997.

Moran, Bridget
2008.3 · Person · 1923 - 1999

Bridget Moran (née Drugan) (September 1, 1923-August 21, 1999) was a prominent social activist, social worker, writer and mentor who spent most of her adult life in British Columbia. She was born in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, and shortly after her birth the Drugan family emigrated to Success, Saskatchewan, where Bridget spent her formative years. She attended Normal School in Saskatchewan and taught school in rural Saskatchewan until 1944 when she enlisted in the Women's Royal Canadian Service. After her discharge from the Navy in 1946, Bridget entered academic studies at the University of Toronto, where she received an Honours B.A. in Philosophy and English and was the recipient of a gold medal upon graduation. She began work on a Master's Degree in History in 1950, however she soon realized it would be impossible to continue as the federal Department of Veterans' Affairs refused to provide her with financial support on the grounds that they found no women teaching in history departments in Canada.

In 1951 Moran decided to immigrate to British Columbia where she began a career as a social worker; first in welfare offices in Haney, Salmon Arm and Vernon, and then in 1954 in Prince George where she took a position as District Supervisor of Welfare Services for a large section of the Central Interior of BC. For the following ten years Moran worked as a social worker based out of Prince George attending to the welfare service needs of BC’s Central Interior population. However, Moran’s career with the public service came to a very public end when she was suspended from her position in 1964 after she wrote an open letter in a Vancouver newspaper criticizing Premier W.A.C. Bennett’s Social Credit government for what she saw as gross neglect in addressing the needs of child welfare in the province. Although Moran eventually won reinstatement after a two year battle, she was told there would be no work available for her in the BC Ministry of Social Services. She continued her career in social work; first, for the Prince George Regional Hospital, and later with the University of Victoria Social Work Department as a practicum instructor for social work students in Prince George. In 1977 she practiced social work with the Prince George School District, where she remained for twelve years before retiring in 1989.

After Moran’s retirement from the Prince George School District, she pursued her ‘second career’ as a writer. In 1988 she wrote Sai’k’uz Ts’eke: Stoney Creek Woman: The Story of Mary John (1988) based on extensive oral histories that Moran conducted with Mary John about life on the Stoney Creek reserve. Moran’s second book Judgment at Stoney Creek: Sai’k’uz Ne ba na huz’ya, (1990) is based on her account of the inquest into the death of Coreen Thomas and provides an in-depth analysis of tenuous white-native relations in rural BC in the 1970s. Moran’s next book, A Little Rebellion (1992) provides an auto-biographical account of her public dispute with the Bennett government. The book Justa: A First Nations Leader, Dakelhne Butsowhudilhzulh’un (1994) is based on extensive oral interviews Moran conducted with Tl’azt’en Nation member, Justa Monk, who transformed his life and was elected Tribal Chief of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council. Moran was commissioned by the Elizabeth Fry Society to write the case history of “Theresa” a battered woman, for the book Don’t Bring Me Flowers (1992). Her last book Prince George Remembered from Bridget Moran (1996) provides a series of excerpts of oral history interviews that Moran conducted in the late 1950s with white settlers providing memories of their arrival in Prince George c.1911-c.1920.

Monckton, Philip Marmaduke
Person · 1892 - October 4, 1965

Philip Monckton was born in South Africa and educated in England. At the age of 17, Monckton entered articles with a distinguished surveyor and engineer, the late E.A. Cleveland, B.C.L.S., P.Eng., as a pupil in surveying, and after writing his final examinations in 1913, he was awarded his commission as a British Columbia Land Surveyor. He then took a year's course in mining engineering at the University of Washington 1914-1915. War service followed with a commission in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 1915-1919; after he had attained the rank of Captain he returned to resume land surveying in British Columbia. He married Lavender (nee O'Hara) at St. Albans in January 1918.

Although not officially a civil servant until 1941, most of Mr. Monckton's professional career was devoted to Provincial Government assignments, mainly on exploratory triangulation surveys in northwestern British Columbia. Place names such as Terrace, Kitimat, Skeena, Nass, Iskut, Stikine, Finlay and Kechika Rivers, Meziadin and Bowser Lakes, and Telegraph Creek exist in his reports to the Surveyor General though the years 1921-1940.

In September 1942, after having a year's permanent appointment in the British Columbia Forest Service, Mr. Monckton was granted leave to accept a commission in the R.C.A.F. to perform engineering and surveying duties on the West Coast and later in Quebec. He returned to the Provincial Civil Service in November 1944, after which departmental surveys under the Land Act occupied most of his attention until his retirement in 1957. A special assignment in 1947 was a reconnaissance survey of possible routes for a highway from Hazelton northwest to the Yukon via the Kispiox, Nass, Bell Irving, Iskut, Stikine Rivers and Atlin. Segments of his proposed location are now followed by the Cassiar-Stewart road.

Philip Monckton died on October 4th, 1965 in the Vancouver General Hospital after a heart attack.

McMann, Dale
Person · 1953-

Born in 1953 in Alberta, Dale lived in Prince George from 1978 to 2006, serving in many high-profile positions. From 1983 to 2001, McMann was the CEO of the Prince George Region Development Corporation. Dale McMann was one of the founding members of the Interior University Society (IUS) and served on the first IUS Executive. The Prince George Regional Development Corporation was the group which gave the Interior University Society the seed money to get started.

Dale McMann is very involved in softball organizations. By 1986, Dale was serving as president of Softball B.C. and in 1990, he was elected president of Softball Canada, and kept that position for 11 years. Dale also served as the International Softball Federation vice-president/North America for 16 years (1993-2009). While handling those posts, Dale was integral in planning and decision-making for World Championship and Olympic competitions. Dale’s input was crucial as the ISF established its headquarters in Florida. Dale McMann was inducted into the Prince George Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.

Currently, McMann serves as the Executive Regional Director of BC Housing, and has since 2005. Previously, he was the Regional Director of the British Columbia Buildings Corporation (2001-2005).

McKinnon, Barry
Person · 1944-2023

Barry McKinnon was born in 1944 in Calgary, Alberta. He studied at Mount Royal College for two years and in 1965 he attended Sir George Williams University in Montreal. He studied poetry with Irving Layton and received a BA in English and Psychology in 1967. He graduated with an MA degree in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia in 1969, and in the same year became an English instructor at the College of New Caledonia in Prince George, BC until his retirement in 2005. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2006 from the University of Northern British Columbia, the highest award presented by the university in recognition of outstanding public service of national significance. Barry has been widely published and extensively involved in the Prince George and British Columbia literary community, both as a writer and as a publisher, editor, and designer, and has achieved national recognition. The Caledonia Writing Series and Gorse Press contain 125 titles. These include Victoria Walker’s Suitcase, winner of the BC Book Award, and George Bowering’s Quarters, winner of the bp Nichol Award. In 1981 Gorse Press won the Malahat Review Award for excellence in letterpress and broadside design. He has authored 15 books of poetry and numerous journal and anthology publications. In 1981, his work "The The" was short-listed for the Governor General’s Award for Poetry and "Pulplog" won the Dorothy Livesay Prize (BC Book Awards) for 1991. He won the bp Nichol Chapbook Award for "Arrythmia" in 1994, and for "Bolivia/Peru" in 2004. He has also organized more than 100 readings in Prince George, attracting the likes of Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, and former Prince George writer Brian Fawcett. Over the course of nearly four decades, Barry has inspired generations of northern writers and added his own poetic voice to the nation’s literary culture.

Person · [before 1905]-[after 1967]

B.W. "Bud" McKilvington was born in Vermont but moved to northern Alberta and eventually settled in the Chilcotin district of B.C., where he had a number of jobs over the years. He was an outdoorsman and hunter who appreciated the writings of Eric Collier and began a correspondence with him after the publication of Collier's book.

McGaughey, Charles
Person · 1917-1999

Charles E. McGaughey was born in North Bay, Ontario on November 26, 1917. He graduated from Queens University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1938 and a Master of Arts Degree in 1939. During the summer of 1939, he attended the Student International Union Conference in Switzerland. He obtained a diploma in International Relations at the University of Chicago in 1940-41, and worked as a political correspondent with Sudbury Star and North Bay Nugget. In October of 1941 he married Jessie Porter; that same year, he joined the Canadian Armed Forces as a Private. He attended the Canadian Army Japanese Language School in Vancouver, and served during WWII in the United Kingdom and South East Asia, receiving his Discharge as Captain from the Armed Forces in 1947.

His first diplomatic posting was as Vice Consul with the Canadian Department of External Affairs to Chicago 1948-49; he was then posted to Tokyo as Third Secretary at the Canadian Embassy until 1952 when he returned to Ottawa. From 1955-57 he was posted as the First Secretary to the Canadian High Commissioners Office in New Delhi, and was then posted as Acting High Commissioner for Canada to Wellington, New Zealand until 1958. Posted at home in Ottawa until 1962, he was then posted to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as Canadian High Commissioner, and at the same time, as the Canadian Ambassador to Burma and the first Canadian Ambassador to Thailand.

In 1965 he was appointed High Commissioner to Ghana in Accra; and concurrently as Ambassador to Guinea, Ivory Coast, Togo and Upper Volta.

In 1966, he was posted as Canadian High Commissioner to Pakistan in Aslamabad; and from 1966-68 also received the concurrent posting of first Canadian Ambassador to Afghanistan. A year later he was appointed Canadian Ambassador to Israel, and concurrently as High Commissioner to Cyprus until 1972.

In 1972 he returned to Canada and was appointed Deputy Commandant of the National Defence College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario. He held this position until 1974 when he chose to take early retirement and move to Cloyne, Ontario, a small community located midway between Kingston and Ottawa. He lived in Cloyne until the fall of 1991 when he moved with his wife to Prince George, British Columbia to join his two sons and their families. He died in Prince George on October 28, 1999.

McCusker, Knox
2008.27 · Person · 1890 - 1955

Knox Freeman McCusker ("Mac") the son of Rev. Samuel and Mary McCusker (nee Orr) was born on 6 April 1890, in Hawkesbury, Ontario. He received his education at the Gault Institute in Valleyfield, Quebec and at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.

In 1909 he joined the staff of the Topographical Surveys Branch in the Federal Department of the Interior; in 1914 he was granted the commission of Dominion Land Surveyor. His work with the Topographical Surveys Branch included initial meridian, baseline and subdivision surveys and exploratory mapping. In 1927, he guided Marland Oil Company officials in prospecting an area to the west and north of Fort St. John and from the information gathered, he drafted the original Hudson Hope eight mile to one inch map sheet. After being laid off in 1930 as a result of the Great Depression, Mac took up guiding in British Columbia’s Peace River region including the Liard and Dease River areas and up into the Yukon. One of his most famous guiding commissions was with the Henry Expeditions.

In 1931, Dr. J. Norman Henry (prominent physician) and Mrs. Mary Gibson Henry (pioneer amateur botanist), a wealthy and adventurous American couple from Philadelphia, commissioned McCusker to guide them and their four children to the elusive "tropical valley" located near the Yukon border – a geographical phenomena they had heard so much about on a previous trip to Jasper, AB. This 79-day expedition lead them to the Toad River Hot Springs, and while the exotic “tropical valley” of their imagination may not have been fully realized, Mrs. Henry did amass an extensive collection of plants en route – a collection which fuelled her passionate interest in botany and spurred her to revisit north eastern BC another three times: in 1932, 1933 and 1935.

On the Henry expeditions whenever the outfit stopped to rest, McCusker and Mary Henry would climb to the top of the nearest mountain. Mac would get his bearings and work on his maps, while Mary Henry would work on her plant collection. The information McCusker acquired on these trips contributed substantially to the geographical knowledge of the area, and his maps formed the basis of many of the subsequent topographical maps of the area. Many of the landmarks in the area were also named as a result of McCusker's efforts, as can be seen in names such as Mt. Mary Henry, Mt. St. Paul and Mt. St. George, Beckman Creek, and Falk Creek - all named after individuals involved in the initial 1931Henry Expedition. As well, the Alaska Highway (construction for which beginning in 1942) followed part of the Henry expedition route.

Due to his specialized topographical knowledge of the area, McCusker was involved with many aspects of the Alaska Highway Construction project: including the coordination of fuel and supply movement into Fort Nelson during the winter of 1941-42; advising on the layout of the highway route; organizing pack outfit support during construction, and supervising the building of construction camps. This knowledge ultimately contributed greatly towards the location and construction of the Northwest Staging air route and the Alaska Highway - both wartime projects of high international priority. In acknowledgement for his wartime efforts, "Mac" received the Certificate of Merit from the United States Public Roads Administration.

In 1944, Knox McCusker married Gwen Elliott in a ceremony in Edmonton and the newlyweds spent their honeymoon conducting a legal survey of the Alaska Highway in the Yukon that summer. From 1950 until his passing in 1955, McCusker was in the employ of the Department of Public Works, Edmonton, making subdivision and other surveys in the Peace River Country. Knox Freeman McCusker passed away in Fort St. John on 27 April 1955 at the age of 65.

Marchant, Leo
2009.5.2.1 · Person · [18-?]-[19-?]

E. N. Clark and Leo Marchant were two British newspapermen who travelled on foot from sea to sea across Canada. They left Montreal, Quebec on the 8th of August 1908 and arrived in Vancouver, British Columbia approximately 121days later. According to a travel journal written by Sinclair Thomson Duncan (1911), “the two men set out on the journey without money and food, so that highway- men would find nothing on them to rob, and they carried no firearms or any kind of dangerous weapons. With the exception of tramps, who gave them some trouble, they were allowed to pass along unmolested, and received enough to eat as they passed from stage to stage on the railway track.”

Manson, Alexander
Person · 1883-1964

Alexander Manson was the first lawyer to practice law in Prince Rupert, BC.

In 1916, he entered Provincial politics under the Liberal Party banner, and became the M.L.A representing the region in the 1920, 1924, and 1928 elections. He was appointed Speaker of the House (1921), and Attorney General and Minister of Labour (1922-28). Upon his defeat in 1933, Manson returned to Vancouver to practice law, and subsequently was appointed Supreme Court Justice - a position he held until his retirement in 1961.

He married Stella Beckwith on June 29, 1909 in Vancouver, BC. In 1916, he successfully entered the world of Provincial politics and became an M.L.A for the Liberal party, winning 473 (67.16%) of the votes for his riding. He continued to represent the Liberals - and winning- in the 1920, 1924, and 1928 elections.

During this time, he was Speaker of the House (1921) and appointed as both the Attorney General and Minister of Labour (1922-28).
It was also during this time (1925-26) that he was elected and served as the Grand Master of the Grand Masonic Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon.

Upon his defeat in Provincial politics in 1933, Mr Manson returned to Vancouver to practice law and was subsequently appointed Supreme Court Justice. He continued in this position until his retirement in 1961. Born in 1883, Mr. Manson passed away on September 25, 1964.

Mandur, Joe
Person · [19-?]-

Joe Mandur's Haida name is 7iidgyaa Kauyss, which means "Our Precious One". He was surrounded by fine native carving at an early age. Since that time he has continued to explore the carved form in traditional and non-traditional media, always showing a deep respect for the traditional elements of Haida design.

2004.1 · Person · 25 November 1905 - 22 March 1963

Jim Mackenzie was born in 1905 in Forres, Scotland and emigrated in 1929. He worked on Frank Swannell's survey crews during the 1930, 1931, 1935 and 1937 field seasons. He took photographs and produced a photo album from the first three seasons. When Mackenzie left Victoria to establish a surveying practice in Dawson Creek after World War II he probably left these albums with Al Phipps.

Mackenzie died in Dawson Creek on March 22, 1963.

L'Heureux, Audrey Smedley
Person · 10 August 1925 - 12 February 2013

Audrey Ruth Smedley L’Heureux (1925-2013) was a Northern BC author, journalist, and newspaper editor. She was born Audrey Ruth Spencer in Vanderhoof B.C. on August 10,1925 to parents Marion Lucy Auld Graham Spencer and Ernie (Bert) Spencer. Audrey had two siblings, Pat and Jim Spencer, and a pet moose named Pinto.

Audrey served during World War II as a commercial radio wireless operator. She married her first husband, Jack Smedley, and they had three children: Albert, Georgina, and Teddy. They lived on Smedley Farm, approximately two miles south of Vanderhoof, which later became the headquarters for Custom Products and Timber Limited. In 1957, the Smedley's sold the farm and divorced.

With more personal time, Audrey decided to pursue her love of research and decided to start the Nechako Chronicles newspaper in 1964. Although she sold the newspaper in 1971, Audrey had found her passion for journalism. Audrey later applied for the editor position at The Interior News and worked there from 1974 to 1975. Later, Audrey became the editor for the Ingot, the Alcan newsletter. During her time at the Ingot, Audrey met and married Edmond “Ed” Joseph L’Heureux (1917-2001) on August 12, 1976. Audrey left the Ingot in 1976 and pursued her passion for researching northern British Columbia history. Audrey published “Northern BC In Retrospect " in 1979, “From Trail to Rail: Surveys & Gold, 1862 to 1904” in 1987, and “Trail to Rail: Settlement Begins, 1905-1914” in 1989. Audrey also created another volume of “Trail to Rail”; however, it was never published.

L’Heureux became a pillar in her community, winning several awards such as the 125th Anniversary Commemorative Medal of Canadian Confederation in 1993, Community Booster of the Year from Vanderhoof Chamber of Commerce in 1998, appointment to the Senior’s Advisory Council of B.C. in 1997, and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002. Audrey was also a member of the Nechako Valley Historical Society, the Senior Citizen’s Counsel, and a member of the Elder Citizens Recreation Association (ECRA).

Audrey Ruth Smedley L’Heureux died on February 12, 2013.

Lefebvre, Alain
Person

J. Alain D. LeFebvre, B.A., C.A., M.B.A. was born and raised in Prince George. He received his university training at Simon Fraser University, graduating in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts (Commerce Major, Economics Minor). After graduation he returned to Prince George and completed his term of articles with a national firm, attaining membership in the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia in 1982. In 1991 Lefebvre obtained a Master of Business Administration from City University, and has lectured on accounting for the College of New Caledonia, and on accounting and finance at the Masters level for City University. Al has held positions outside of public practice including Deputy Treasurer for the City of Prince George (7 years) and thereafter the Director of Finance for the University of Northern British Columbia (5 years). He is currently a partner with Chan Foucher LeFebvre LLP in Prince George.

Lazier, Dr. David Brownlee
Person · 1870 - 1931

Dr. David Brownlee Lazier was a regional doctor in central BC. He was born in Ontario in 1870 and eventually moved to BC and built a small, three-bed hospital – known as Lazier’s Hospital – in South Fort George in the early 1910s and but later moved his practice to Burns Lake and then to Francois Lake ca. 1921. Dr. Lazier died in 1931.

Larkin, Peter
Person · 1924-1996

Born in New Zealand, Peter Larkin came to Canada as a child, and was educated at the University of Saskatchewan and at Oxford (where he was a Rhodes Scholar, earning his DPhil at the age of 24). He moved to B.C. as Chief Fisheries biologist for the B.C. Game Commission in 1948, and in 1955 he joined the faculty at UBC. He worked first in the Fisheries Institute, and then in the Department of Zoology; and subsequently he became head of department, then dean of Graduate Studies, and later still, vice-president in charge of research. Author of some 160 scientific papers, he also served over the course of his career on some 50 local, national, and international commissions, ranging from the Science Council of Canada and the National Research Council to TRIUMF and the Vancouver Hospital Board, and from federal studies of the impact of pesticides, and United Nations studies of marine mammals, to the Board of B.C. Packers Ltd., the B.C. Advisory Committee on Ecological Reserves, and the committee that worked on preserving and developing Strathcona Park. After his retirement from UBC, he became actively involved in the Northern River Basins Study, and he maintained his interest in marine research. From 1993 to 1994, he was appointed as a temporary head commissioner for the British Columbia Utilities Commission Review on the Kemano Completion Project.

Large, R.W., Rev.
Person

Reverend R.W. Large (M.D.) was a Methodist minister and doctor on the Northwest Coast of British Columbia from 1898 to 1920. He worked at the Methodist hospital and mission in Bella Bella until 1906. He then went on to work at Rivers Inlet Hospital in Ocean Falls until he moved to Port Simpson in 1910, where he worked until his death. Reverend Large was the only known observer to document the community of Bella Bella from 1898 to 1906. Reverend Large's son R.G. Large followed in his father's footsteps and was a doctor at Port Simpson, Port Essington and later Prince Rupert.

Lambert, Erika
Person

Erika Lambert was a grade one teacher at the Ron Brent School in Prince George

!Kwah
2000.29 · Person · 1755 - 1840

Kwah is the usual English form of the name of the famous Carrier leader Kw'eh. He was born around 1755 and died in 1840. Chief Kw'eh was the chief of what is now the Nak'azdli band in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In his time, few people lived at Nak'azdli (Fort Saint James), which attracted people due to the location of the North West Company (later Hudson's Bay Company) fort there, which was not established until 1806. The main village was located at Tsaooche "Sowchea".

Chief Kw'eh held the very important noble name Ts'oh Dai in the Lhts'umusyoo clan. It was Chief Kw'eh who received the explorer Simon Fraser in 1806 when Carrier people brought his floundering canoes in to Tsaooche village in Sowchea Bay. In gratitude, Simon Fraser presented Kw'eh with red cloth. The current Ts'oh Dai, Kw'eh's descendant Peter Erickson, returned red cloth to Canada in 1997.

Chief Kw'eh is also known for the incident in which, in 1828, he spared the life of his prisoner, the fur trader James Douglas, who later became the first governor of the united Colony of British Columbia. He was also known for his acquisition of an iron dagger prior to the arrival of the first Europeans in the area, presumably one traded in from the coast. He is the ancestor of a large percentage of the Carrier people in the Stuart Lake area.

Kitchen, Rip
Person · [19-?]-

During the 1980s, Rip Kitchen supplied the Bear Lake community newspaper with monthly accounts of the history and growth of the area. As one of the pioneer residents of the Crooked River community, Kitchen told stories about its early history in a column entitled "Crooked River Chronicles," detailing the construction of both the railroad and the Hart Highway. From his restoration of early farm equipment and other work around the popular heritage site to his service on its Board of Directors, Kitchen contributed in many ways to the work of the Huble Homestead/Giscome Portage Heritage Society. Kitchen was also active with the Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum. Kitchen received the Jeanne Clarke Memorial Local History Award 16 February 2003.

Junkins, Sydney E.
Person · 1867-1944

Sydney E. Junkins, born in Union, New Hampshire in 1867 and attended Dartmouth College where he received his AB degree in 1887, his AM in 1890, and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering in 1927. He taught school in Newport, NH and Quincy, MA for a few years after graduation, but was also active in engineering projects with J.F. Springfield, between 1884 and 1886. Between 1898 and 1914, he joined the firm of Westinghouse, Church, Kerr and Co. in New York where he eventually rose to the positions of Vice President and Director. In 1916 he married Mary Lyon and the following year he branched out on his own and established the firm of Sydney E. Junkins Co., Ltd., in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His subsequent large scale engineering projects and professional accomplishments included: lining the 5-mile Connaught Tunnel through Mt. MacDonald at Glacier, British Columbia, with concrete (1921); being appointed as one of five commissioners in charge of 12th Street Bridge in Kansas City, Kansas as well as the primary Engineer in its design and construction (1922); and he completed the Canadian Pacific Railway's 1100 foot deep- sea pier at Vancouver, BC (1926). Also in 1926 he started with Hanover Engineering and Development Co., New York. In 1927, the year of the Peace River Expedition, Junkins was in British Columbia compiling a number of reports for Canadian Pacific Railway on grade separation. In 1932, Sydney E. Junkins went into semi-retirement and moved to Hanover, New Hampshire. He passed away on October 3, 1944. (excerpt from Darmouth College at http://ead.dartmouth.edu/html/ms845.html)

This collection relates to an official excursion along the Parsnip and Peace Rivers by a party of 13 men, including the Hon. Dr. James Horace King, Minister of Soldiers’ Civil Re-establishment and Minister of Health (1926-28) and Harry George Perry, former mayor of Prince George and Provincial MLA. The excursion started at Vancouver, B.C., then proceeded by train to Ashcroft, and by motor car to Summit Lake (just north of Prince George). At Summit Lake, they loaded supplies and embarked on their boat trip on 21 August 1927. The party proceeded along the Parsnip River to Finlay Forks, and then down the Peace River to Hudson Hope and just past Fort St. John. The trip then continued by motor car to the Peace River, and then by train to Edmonton.

Jeffery, Fred
2009.10 · Person · 1870 - 1952

Fred Jeffery was born in Bruce Mines, in the Algoma District of Ontario in 1870 to Richard and Mary Ann Jeffery. When he finished school he worked as a stationary engineer mining for hard-rock copper for the Bruce Mines until 1891, when he moved out West to British Columbia. After his migration, Mr. Jeffery worked as a steam engineer during the winters at both the original Hotel Vancouver and occasionally at the Rogers building; while each summer he traveled north to the Nass Valley where he worked as a steam engineer at a Prince Rupert salmon cannery. Upon his retirement he built a boat named the Algoma, and sailed around the Gulf Islands looking for the perfect spot to build a home – a spot he eventually found in Maple Bay (Duncan). Mr. Jeffery died in Maple Bay, B.C on 19 April 1952.

Jago, Charles
Person · 1943-

Charles Jago (born 1943) is an academic and university administrator.

He was born and raised in St. Catharines, Ontario. He received his BA in Honors English and History from the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario in 1965 and his PhD in History from Cambridge University in 1969. His academic field is early-modern Spanish history.

He received his first academic position at Georgian College of Applied Arts and Technology in Barrie, Ontario in 1969.The next year he moved to the Department of History at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario as Assistant Professor where he remained until 1987. In 1989 he was appointed Principal of Huron University College where he served for eight years before moving to the University of Northern British Columbia to succeed Geoffrey Weller as President.

Jago retired as President of the University of Northern British Columbia at the end of academic year 2005-2006. On the resignation of his successor, Don Cozzetto, in June 2008 he was appointed Interim President of UNBC, serving in this position until a new President, George Iwama, took over in July 2009.

Humphreys, Noel
Person · 1883-1966

Gordon Noel Humphreys (1883–1966) was a British born surveyor, pilot, botanist, explorer and doctor. Originally trained as a surveyor, Humphreys worked in both Mexico and Uganda. During World War I he served as a pilot with the Royal Flying Corps, was shot down and spent his internment training himself in botany.

After the war it was his survey work and exploration of the Ruwenzori Range in Uganda that brought him to the attention of Edward Shackleton. Humphreys was chosen as the leader and head surveyor of the "Oxford University Ellesmere Land Expedition" (OUELE) by Shackleton, who was the organiser of the expedition. Consisting of Shackleton, photographer and biologist A. W. Moore (sometimes listed as Morris), H. W. Stallworthy of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, geologist R. Bentham and ornithologist David Haig-Thomas, along with their Greenland Inuit guides, Inutuk and Nukapinguaq, they set up camp at Etah, Greenland in 1934. The expedition was sponsored by the Oxford University Exploration Club, the Royal Geographical Society and the Government of Canada.

From the camp the camp Inutuk, Nukapinguaq, Stallworthy and Moore proceeded to Lake Hazen on Ellesmere Island, Canada where they set up camp. From there Moore and Nukapinguaq continued up the Gilman Glacier and then made the first known ascent of Mount Oxford. Naming the mountain after the University of Oxford, Moore estimated the height to be 9,000 ft (2,700 m), it rises to about 7,250 ft (2,210 m).

From the summit they could see a mountain range that the "great imperialist" (as Humphreys was called by Shackleton in 1937) named the British Empire Range. Again Moore was to overestimate the height of the range at 10,000 ft (3,000 m), in fact the highest point, Barbeau Peak, is 8,583 ft (2,616 m).

By the end of May 1935 the group had returned to Etah and to England in late September the same year.

Humphreys retired to Devon and died there in 1966.

Holland, Stuart S.
Person

Stuart S. Holland was Associate Engineer for the Department of Mines.

Holland, Arthur H.
Person · August 6, 1875 - September 21, 1954

Arthur Hagarty Holland was born in Coburg, Ontario, on August 6, 1875. His father was Henry F. Holland, a Solicitor, and his mother was Selvia E. Holland (nee Fraser) and he attended public school, collegiate, and Victoria College in Coburg. In 1892, he went to Bridgeport Connecticut, where he apprenticed in Electrical Engineering. He returned home in 1895 and the following year he moved west to work as rodman with the Canadian Pacific Railway survey in British Columbia. By 1900, he was in Vancouver working as a chainman and in 1904 he entered into articles with Noel Humphrys, BCLS, CE, and became British Columbia Land Surveyor #14 in 1907.

From 1909 to 1911 Holland mainly surveyed for a land company associated with the Grand Trunk Railway. In the fall of 1910 he surveyed in an area northeast of Prince George but the exact location and why he was there are unknown; but there are some interesting photographs from there. In 1911, he surveyed in and around Fort Fraser and in 1912 he was in the Cariboo. He took several photos this latter year but unfortunately they are small and many are unlabeled. In 1914 and 1915 Holland surveyed east of Prince George and there are some newspaper articles about his work there. Historian Jay Sherwood said: “The 1913 photos and survey are definitely the highlight of Holland's early career and would make a great re-photography project.”

In February 1916, Holland went overseas and served with the Royal Canadian Engineers and later with the Railway Troops, gaining a commission as Lieutenant. After returning from overseas in 1919, he resumed his survey work for the Provincial Government until 1922 in the Prince George area and later in the Similkameen area. In his 1919 report to the Surveyor General, he reported on the excellent forage crops on the Stuart River with one exception to one pre-emption wherein he said: “… whose only production came from an illicit still.”

He suffered from a stroke in 1947 and retired from private practice. He never did recover from the stroke and eventually died in his 80th year on September 21, 1954.

Hewlett, Joanne
Person · [19-?]-

Joanne Hewlett was involved with the Interior University Society.

Henderson-Roe, C.H.
Person · [before 1860]-[after 1915]

C.H Henderson-Roe married Elizabeth Brewster on September 23, 1879. His son was Jack B. Henderson-Roe.

Healy, Theresa
Person · [19-?]-

Dr. Theresa Healy, Northern Health’s Regional Manager for Healthy Community Development, Theresa has adjunct positions at UNBC in the School of Environmental Planning and in Gender Studies and is a frequent lecturer in History. In 1996, Dr. Healy taught History 407. As part of this local history course students collected oral histories on specific subjects, transcribed interviews, and wrote papers based on these interviews. Dr. Healy collected and edited these student projects and published them as "Work in Progress: A Collection of Local History Essays by Students of History 407" (Prince George: UNBC, 1996).

Hartman, Gordon Fredric
Person · 20 Sept. 1927 - 22 Apr. 2021

Dr. Gordon Hartman was a highly respected figure in fisheries and natural resource management for his skill as a researcher, his integrity and vision, and his lifelong commitment to the protection of the environment.

Born in Fraser Lake, BC, on September 20, 1927, he was the fifth in a large family growing up on a hardscrabble, depression-era farm. Despite its challenges, this childhood instilled a deep connection to nature that would ultimately form the foundation of his professional life and an abiding personal philosophy centered on environmental conservation. From his beginnings as a reluctant student in a one-room schoolhouse, he ultimately journeyed to the University of British Columbia to pursue a career in fisheries. He received his PhD in biology in 1964, and embarked on a rich and diverse career in research, university teaching and fish and wildlife management that took him, and his family, across Canada and throughout the world.

After publishing his seminal graduate dissertation on salmonid behaviour and ecology, he worked with the Fish and Wildlife Branch conducting research and assisting graduate students at UBC. He then accepted a position at the University of Guelph teaching fisheries biology from 1968-72, before returning to his native BC. From 1972-77 he served as Regional Supervisor of the Fish and Wildlife Branch in the West Kootenays. During this time he took a leave of absence to spend an incomparable year with his family living in Malawi, on what would prove to be the first of several trips to work on fisheries in Africa. From 1977-80 he served as Director of Wildlife for the Yukon Territorial Government, before returning to the rewards of research as Coordinator of the landmark Carnation Creek Fish-Forestry Study.

Although Gordon officially retired from his position as a government scientist in 1986, he continued to work on many projects, including teaching and supervising graduate students at the University of Addis Ababa in 1987-88, serving as a member of the Scientific Panel for Sustainable Forest Practices in Clayoquot Sound from 1993-1995, and returning to Malawi in 1997-98 for the Lake Malawi Biodiversity Conservation Project. In 2004 he contributed to and co-edited the book “Fishes and Forestry - Worldwide Watershed Interactions and Management,” that presented fish-forestry perspectives from scientists from the world over.

Perhaps most importantly, throughout his career and his retirement Gordon felt a strong responsibility to speak publicly about the threats to fish habitat, and natural ecosystems in general, posed by major resource extraction projects such as the Kemano Completion Project, Enbridge pipeline, Old Man River Dam and others. His expertise and principled approach, combined with the scope of his vision, produced scientific assessment and commentary that was an enormous contribution to society.

Harlow, Roland Alden
Person · 22 March 1889 - 4 July 1978

R.A. Harlow was born in Brewer, Maine on March 22, 1889 and died in Kelowna, BC on July 4, 1978 at 89 years of age. At the time of his death, Harlow was a retired roadmaster for CNR.

R.A. Harlow was a member of the surveying party for the Grand Trunk Pacific (GTP) Railway c.1911 and later worked on the Pacific Great Eastern (PGE) Railway as a Resident Engineer. While with the PGE, he was part of the engineering party which, on April 7, 1914, set the finish point stake and measured the required distance to the starting points for the two track-layer crews (East vs. West) who would race to the finish line. The West end crew cut and placed the last rail in place on the line after which PGE President E.J. Chamberlain drove in the last spike. After this historic driving in of the “last spike” on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway one mile east of Fort Fraser, R.A. Harlow was then commissioned to take a small can of white paint and a brush and inscribe the following notation onto the flange of the 11ft. last rail: “Point of Completion April 7th, 1914”. This marked piece of rail was later taken up, shipped to Winnipeg and sliced into quarter-inch-thick pieces which were polished, suitably engraved and distributed among railway officers as paper-weights. One of these commemorative pieces is at the Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum. Aside from his involvement with the driving in of the “last spike”, R. A. Harlow was also intrinsically involved with the arrival of the first PGE train into Prince George from Squamish in 1952.

Harkins, Bob
2005.19 · Person · 25 November 1931 - 28 November 2000

Bob Harkins was born on 25 November 1931 in New Westminster, BC. After he graduated from Victoria High School in 1949, Mr. Harkins apprenticed with his father as a sawfiler for Penny Sawmill, in Penny BC - a small community east of Prince George. He moved to Prince George 18 months later and enrolled in a first year university program at Prince George Senior High School. It was during this time that he first met Barbara McGillivray, whom he married on 18 August 1954. The Harkins were married for 46 years and together they had one son, Michael.

Bob Harkins began his broadcasting career as a Copy Writer at CKPG radio in 1954; three years later at the age of 26, he was appointed General Manager and President of the station. Mr. Harkins was one of the first local personalities, viewers saw when CKPG-TV went on the air in 1962. In 1969, Mr. Harkins transferred to CJCI radio station, where he worked until returning to CKPG in the early 1990s.

In 1986, Mr. Harkins was elected alderman on the council of Mayor John Backhouse. In his capacity of Alderman, Mr. Harkins made a significant contribution to the formation of the city's Special Needs Advisory Committee, in addition to being the Master of Ceremonies at a reception held for Rick Hanson in 1988. In 1990, Bob successfully ran in his second municipal election and served as Alderman until health concerns prompted him to step down from his aldermanic duties in 1993.

A founding member of the Prince George Public Library's Local History Committee, Mr. Harkins also served on the boards of both the Prince George Public Library and the Fraser-Fort George Regional Museum. He was a past President of the Rotary Club, a past member of the Jaycees, and received the Broadcaster of the Year Award from the BC Broadcasting Association. On November 2, 1986, Mr. Harkins was presented with the Jeanne Clarke Memorial Local History Award his exceptional dedication to local history and the community of Prince George and the surrounding region. And in 1997 he was nominated as the Prince George Citizen of the Year.

In addition to writing various newspaper articles, Bob Harkins wrote a book entitled "Prince George's Memorable Mayors" (CNC Press, 2000). He stayed active in broadcasting for over forty years and was seen regularly on PGTV on its community segment: "Community Close-up" and on its news segments "Harkins Comment" and "Harkins History". In 1996 PGTV produced a video featuring the life of Bob Harkins entitled "Portraits: Bob Harkins".

Bob Harkins passed away on 28 November 2000 at the age of 69.