Showing 999 results

Historically interesting letter from George Hills (1816-1895), the first Anglican bishop of British Columbia (in 1860-1892). The letter contains an extensive quote from the letter by Rev. James Reynard, who built the famous St. Saviour church in Barkerville. Written in the midst of the construction, the letter describes the process: "I have just had an interesting letter from Cariboo in which Mr. Reynard details his recent trials, his difficulty in getting his church built which some have opposed - he had however been at last rewarded by being able to make a start. He says "as a result of all these efforts we do start tomorrow. I am paying two clever builders ten dollars (2 £) a day each to superintend, make foundations & doors, windows, and on Tuesday next I call "a Bee". The freshet has put many men out of work & I have had many offers of free labour. I am under obligation to pay 500 dollars (100 £) as soon as possible for the lumber & the baland 1545 dollars (310 £) by installments. All the church proceeds will be devoted to reduce this and therefore I shall still be almost beggared for another year. I hope soon to send you a sketch of the Church among the Golden Hills." This letter is dated Oct. 10..." Hill also expresses his gratitude "for the kind mention of the Columbia Mission in your interesting work & for the response which you name. It will do if you send the amount you have received to us at the end of the year."

Letter is addressed 70 Upper Berkeley St., London, 23 November 1869.

Item is a photocopied report by T.C. Reid entitled "Liard River Hotsprings Park Natural History Observations". The report compiles natural history observations of Liard River Hotsprings, including a water chemistry report, weather observations, botanical report, ostrich fern growth, amphibian report, mammal report, bird report, and map and photograph orientation.

Item is an original Parks Branch report by A.T. Bergerud and H.E. Butler entitled "Life History Studies of Caribou in Spatsizi Wilderness Park 1977-78".

Document is a research installation layout map for the Holy Cross Creek site of the Sulphur stable isotope tracer study (E.P. 886.15).

Document is a research installation layout map for the Kenneth Creek site of the Sulphur stable isotope tracer study (E.P. 886.15).

This born-digital "Lucille Mountain soils" document provides a description and basic data for the Lucille Mt. pedon.

File contains various correspondence regarding 1964 annual cuts for sawmills in the area, memoranda consisting of various administrative issues such as the 1973 amalgamation of Purden Lake and Aleza Lake, and the sale of lumber previously infested by spruce beetles. File also contains 1972 applications to purchase Crown timber and road use, as well as 1966 logging permits.

The eastern flank of the Mackenzie Mountains has a complex history of multiple glaciations by both the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets, recorded in thick sequences of glacial sediments that were documented at 3 locations (Katherine Creek, Little Bear River, Inlin Brook) by:
Duk-Rodkin, A., R.W. Barendregt, C. Tarnocai, and F.M. Phillips. 1996. Late Tertiary to late Quaternary record in the Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories, Canada: stratigraphy, paleosols, paleomagnetism, and chlorine-36. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 33 (6): 875-895. https://doi.org/10.1139/e96-066

Of the 3 sites, the exposure on Inlin Brook, a tributary of the Keele River, was the least well-documented, so in summer 2004 Dr. Paul Sanborn joined a field party of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) based at Tulita, NWT, and was given helicopter support to visit Inlin Brook (August 5-8). A brief visit was also made to the Little Bear River site.

On August 9-10, Sanborn joined Alejandra Duk-Rodkin (GSC) and Rene Barendregt (U Lethbridge) in helicopter-assisted field work at sites in the Franklin Mountains and elsewhere east of the Mackenzie River.

This born-digital document consists of field observations for Mackenzie Valley sites N04-06 to -08, Aug. 9-10.

Item is an original BC Forest Service "Management Manual" that was published circa 1955 and amended many times up to 1973.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Managing Conservation Lands to keep Nature's Pulse Beating" for the BC Trust for Public Lands.

Commentary on this speech by Barry Smith of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands:
"GGR's was the opening address at the workshop. While this speech is focused on the issue of Best Management Practices (BMP), comments about the ALR are woven into the presentation. This copy of the speech appears to be a draft version and includes several hand-written amendments with some points crossed out.

In the opening, mention is made of the grounding that the 2008 document "Taking Nature's Pulse: the Status of Biodiversity in British Columbia" has provided the workshop.

This speech provides an historical overview of the broader provincial context of BMP's drawn from 40 years of GGR's experience. The following is a selection of his comments:

• BMP's are part of the "tool kit" of policy and management mechanisms that have been experimented with over the decades to try to rationalize human economic activities with the needs of other species and overall ecosystem well-being.
• Historically the 1960s and 70s Canada Land Inventory program that emerged from the Resources for Tomorrow conferences was a significant benchmark mapping land capability for agriculture, forestry, recreation, wildlife and waterfowl use (of which GGR was centrally involved).
• Within BC, using the CLI, the 1973 Land Commission Act authorized the establishment of a provincial zone to protect those sacred lands with the biophysical capability to grow food.

One point was not used in the speech (crossed out). The speaking notes, however, include a reference to the Land Commission legislation originally having a complimentary conservation objective that had since been removed. GGR makes the point that still having the conservation function may have contributed positively to current struggles to preserve natural habitat. Regardless, it is noted that the concept of the ALR has been a unique, effective and, most importantly a lasting management practices tool for conserving lands identified as biophysically significant.

A further selection of points made:

• We need to evolve BMP tools that are adaptable yet resilient in the face of changing knowledge, climate change and ever-evolving social priorities.
• Traditionally, planning has been most associated with local governments in the form of official community, regional and neighbourhood plans and as an outgrowth of the ALR - Agricultural Area Plans.
• Environment Farm Planning - by agreeing to engage in the conservation planning process, participating farmers and ranchers have qualified for funding to carry out farm improvements benefitting conservation and biodiversity.
• The work of the Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust is outlined (p. 8)
• "My final words of wisdom are - Be focused and be pragmatic"
• "Many of the best intentions to standardize land management practices for conservation lands have been great on paper - but never quite make it on the ground."
• And, if BMP are not implemented effectively on the ground, they cannot play the critical role they need to play in 'keeping nature's pulse beating'."

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka to the Agricultural Institute of Canada entitled "Managing Our Land Resources for Survival and Pleasure".

Commentary on this speech by Barry Smith of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands:
"This speech is aimed at land use planning and planners, and GGR provides his definition of "ecology" which includes:
"...the basic characteristics of the land - its geology, soils, climate, vegetation, and animal life, including the devil that does the most damage, man. It also includes the interrelationships within these basic characteristics and of course this is where the word "complexities" comes in. There are no two places where these components combine in exactly the same manner and each ecological unit, if you like, is unique."

GGR mentions the importance of considering options.

This package includes a copy of the speech as well as a second, 2 page document, with the same title in which GGR is noted as 'Manager of the BC Land Commission'. This second document is largely a summary of the more formal speech."

File consists of photocopied maps of Island Cache (Cottonwood Island) and Prince George.

Item is a marking manual compiled by D.R. Glew, Assistant Forester.

Item is an original issue of British Columbia Forest Service Research Notes on "Marking of Spruce in the Fort George Forest District" by L.A. deGrace, E.W. Robinson, and J.H.G. Smith.

Item is "Memorandum regarding Future Logging at Aleza Lake" by F.S. McKinnon.

File consists of a panel moderation talk given by Gary Runka entitled "Methods of Resolving Land Use Conflicts in BC".

"Mineralogy of clay and sand fractions of soils developed from till, glaciofluvial and glaciolacustrine deposits in central interior British Columbia" was a preliminary internal report that provides some background to Arocena and Sanborn's regional soil mineralogy study, as well as a compilation of the mineralogical data.

The key results from this work were later published as:
J.M. Arocena and P. Sanborn. 1999. Mineralogy and genesis of selected soils and their implications for forest management in central and northeastern British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Soil Science 79: 571-592. https://doi.org/10.4141/S98-07

This Ministry of Forests internal memorandum of 30 June 1997 from Paul Sanborn to Regional & Research Branch soil scientists provides comparison of Morgan's extractant and BaCl₂ for cations, using the 57 samples from the regional soil mineralogy study.

The key results from the study were later published as:
J.M. Arocena and P. Sanborn. 1999. Mineralogy and genesis of selected soils and their implications for forest management in central and northeastern British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Soil Science 79: 571-592. https://doi.org/10.4141/S98-07

File contains listing of items donated by Rose Margaret Davies to the Ridley Home Archives in 2008 that documented accomplishments of Margaret West; handwritten notes regarding place names along the North Pacific Coast and one page from an issue of the Monthly Reporter, No. 9, September 1873 published by the Church Missionary Society.

The Miscellaneous Forest History Material series consists of material created or used by various logging and pulp mill companies. Includes forms, union materials, maps, plans and other records related to the forestry sector in British Columbia. The series also comprises publications related to equipment and employee training, and correspondence and memorandum developed by B.C. Chemicals, a division of Canfor.

File consists of office files containing individual copies of General Orders # 311-317; records related to BC Police Training School 1937; Calvary Drill instruction; an additional copy of Index to General Orders Nos. 1 – 271; and short histories of the BC Provincial Police.

This series consists of material created by various societies, companies, railways, unions and government branches for the use and instruction of railway companies and employees. Includes publications, time tables, training materials, union materials, forms, maps and plans related to rail operations in North and South America, but predominately related to Canadian railway operations. Also comprises material created by several American and Canadian railways and transportation companies.

Document prepared by P. Grilz contains species lists and UTM coordinates for 10 sampling locations for the M-K-2001-2002-81 Seed Project.

Item is an original "Mount Edziza Park Wildlife Report: An Argument for Nature Conservancy Status" report by W.G. Hazelwood, Parks Biologist. Includes original photographic prints pasted into the report. Also includes an accompanying "Mt. Edziza Wildlife Survey" from October 13, 1979.

Item is a photocopied "Mountain Goat Surveys in the Tatlatui, Spatsizi and Mt. Edziza Provincial Park Areas, British Columbia" report by David F. Hatler (Wildeor) and W.G. Hazelwood (Alpenglow Resources).

Item is an original report by Grant Hazelwood entitled "Mt. Assiniboine Park Trip, August 19-22, 1974". Includes original print photographs pasted into the report. The objective was to sample the lakes fishery at the south and north ends of the park and to examine some grizzly bear habitat on the Simpson River and examine the condition of guiding cabins in the same area.

Item is a photocopied excerpt from an issue of "The Forestry Chronicle" entitled "Natural Reproduction Following Fires in Central British Columbia" by E.H. Garman.

This document is an unpublished draft manuscript of a Northern British Columbia history annotated bibliography. The document is based overwhelmingly on research into secondary sources published prior to 2016; more recent sources are not included. The annotated bibliography includes the following sections:

• Historiography
• Settlement Histories
• Alexander Begg's History of British Columbia
• R.E. Gosnell
• E.O.S. Scholefield
• Regional History
• New Histories
• Environment
• Northern History
• Ancient History
• Bibliography

Item is a poorly photocopied version of Percy Barr's "Northern Interior Forest Experiment Station Progress Report". Location of original is unknown.

Item is an original "Northern Interior Forest Experiment Station: Report of Preliminary Investigations" by Percy Barr. Includes original photographic prints.

Item consists of a summary document entitled "Notable Surveys" by Mrs. W.K. Rutherford, V.C. Brink, R.S. Silver, and M.Z. ("Smokey") Neighbour. The document summarizes Knox McCusker's notable surveys. This article may have been put together by the authors for, or in conjunction with, a submission to a historical serial publication.

File consists of notes written by Joan Sawicki for an untitled pending speech by Gary Runka.

Commentary on this speech by Barry Smith of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands:
"Despite this being only 4 pages of rough notes, its focus on the initial work of the Commission and challenges of designating the ALR make it an historically important document.

For example it was initially thought the ALR would be guided by class 1 - 4 CLI ratings but this proved impractical in the north and range areas. An additional challenge was that parts of the province only had the benefit of 1:50000 mapping. This presented a very real problem for establishing the ALR.

One concern with this document is that because it is written in point form and consists of rough notes, it could be open to a degree of misinterpretation if not considered by an individual with experience in the administration of the ALR. For a much more refined statement on the B.C. Agricultural Land Preservation program and the designation of the ALR see Items [2020.4.2.1.23, 2020.4.2.1.24, and 2020.4.2.1.25]."

Item is a photocopied report by Don Miller entitled "Observations of Caribou and Caribou Environment in Northern and Southern Tweedsmuir Park and Wells Gray Park in Summer of 1977 with Comments on Related Observations in Spatsizi Park during Spring".

File contains 1998 proposals and other correspondence between the Ministry of Forests and the Aleza Lake Steering Committee regarding the future management of the Aleza Lake Research Forest.

File consists of the following original items:

• Letter to G.G. Aitken from K.F. McCusker (Jan. 9, 1934)
• Letter to G.G. Aitken from K.F. McCusker (June 20, 1934)
• Letter to G.G. Aitken from K.F. McCusker (May. 9, 1938)
• Certificate no. 484 bestowed upon Knox Freeman McCusker enabling him to be admitted as an Articled Pupil with the Dominion Lands Surveyors. (Feb. 22, 1909)

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Overview: Planning for Rural Land" for the Canadian Institute of Planners Annual Conference in Kitchener, Waterloo. Includes newspaper clipping titled "A pathetic tale of two resources" from the Victoria Colonist, June 22,1980.

Commentary on this speech by Barry Smith of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands:
"This speech is aimed at the "urban" planner who is planning in rural areas. While 'rural land' can encompass many things and there are only passing references to agriculture, the planning approaches and principles - like the need for the urban planner to view the world from the rural side of the fence - is often going to involve agricultural land.

Mention is made of integrated natural resource management and an emphasis is made on the planner understanding the rural perspective.

The comment (warning) is made that "...the rural land use tug-of-war between lifestyle pursuits, population demands and natural resource production will continue" - the message being that planning practitioners will probably find themselves in the midst of these tug-of-wars.

This paper clearly recognizes the challenges of introducing urban planning techniques into rural landscapes and provides some very valuable insights. While farmland preservation isn't central to this speech the rural resource and planning theme is relevant."

Pacific Great Eastern Railway series consists of correspondence between departments, records pertaining to train movements, and ephemera. Series includes publications concerning the topics of unionized labour, railway operation, and public interest. Also consists of maps and technical drawings depicting Pacific Great Eastern Railway lines and structures.

File consists of maps of the Pacific Great Eastern (PGE) and BC Rail (BCR) trackage in British Columbia, which consist of photocopy reproductions and hand drawn works by Davies. Includes maps of PGE/BCR track in various B.C. cities (Fort St. John, Chetwynd, Dawson Creek, Squamish, 100 Mile House, Lillooet, Fort Nelson, Williams Lake, West Vancouver, Quesnel); maps of PGE/BCR track at various times (1973, 1986); and maps of the Dease Lake extension.

This born-digital document is an unpublished report to the Geological Survey of Canada on field work data and interpretations of Inlin Brook paleosols.

As part of a multidisciplinary team led by Grant Zazula (then a Ph.D. student at Simon Fraser University; later a palaeontologist with the Government of Yukon) and Duane Froese (Professor, University of Alberta), Dr. Paul Sanborn examined a set of buried paleosols (fossil soils) preserved in frozen sediments exposed by placer mining in the spring of 2004.

The findings were published in:
Zazula, G.D., D.G. Froese, S.A. Elias, S. Kuzmina, C. La Farge, A.V. Reyes, P.T. Sanborn, C.E. Schweger, C.A.S. Smith, and R.W. Mathewes. 2006. Vegetation buried under Dawson tephra (25,300 14C yr BP) and locally diverse late Pleistocene paleoenvironments of Goldbottom Creek, Yukon, Canada. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 242: 253–286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2006.06.005

The Lost Chicken Mine, a placer gold mine in eastern Alaska, approximately 120 km west of Dawson City, Yukon, is an important fossil locality for the late Pliocene (approximately 2.5 – 3.0 million years ago). A comprehensive account of the stratigraphy and paleontology of this site was given by:
Matthews, J.V., Jr., J.A. Westgate, L. Ovenden, L.D. Carter, and T. Fouch. 2003. Stratigraphy, fossils, and age of sediments at the upper pit of the Lost Chicken gold mine: new information on the late Pliocene environment of east central Alaska. Quaternary Research 60: 9-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0033-5894(03)00087-5

Dr. Paul Sanborn visited the site on July 20, 2004, as part of a group led by Duane Froese (Professor, University of Alberta). The group concentrated on a single exposure (~ 2 m thick) straddling the Lost Chicken tephra, a volcanic ash bed (2.9 ± 0.4 myr) which is a major stratigraphic marker at the site. Sanborn described, photographed, and sampled this exposure, and obtained a basic set of characterization data. Intact samples were collected but thin sections were never produced.

File consists of selected personal records from Dr. Joselito Arocena's digital media. Includes 3 floppies and migrated data from hard drives.

File consists of the written personal reflections of Gary Runka for the "'Ten Years of Agricultural Land Preservation", December 1983.

Commentary on this speech by Barry Smith of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands:
"These personal reflections were prepared by GGR for publication in the ALC's document commemorating its 10th anniversary entitled "Ten Years of Agricultural Land Preservation". These reflections form pages 33 - 35 of this 61 page document.

The reflections portray the hectic start of the Land Commission's work but also inform us of GGR's role prior to becoming the Commission's first General Manager. As noted, "I had been extensively involved in drawing up the "suggested ALR plans" for the various regional districts while working with the Soils Branch of the Ministry of Agriculture." He then accompanied the Commission on their initial meetings with regional districts and local governments around the province.

The fact that GGR played a key role in developing the CLI mapping (an important basis of the ALR), then was involved with drawing up the suggested ALR plans, followed by his efforts as ALC General Manager to implement the Reserve plans, and finally sign off on the completed ALR plan map sheets, arguably makes Gary Runka, like no other person, the "Father of the ALR"."

• Agreement of Sale of Prince George Citizen
• Correspondence regarding proposed Prince George Citizen sale – H.G.T. Perry & news clippings