Chilcotin

Who rode sidesaddle 300 miles a century ago to become Chilcotin's first housewife? What rancher carried a portable piano in his buckboard? Who started the Williams Lake and the Ahaheim Lake Stampede? A vivid text and over 200 photographs recall pioneer life in the ranching country that extends westward some 200 miles from the Fraser River to Anahim Lake.

"The Heart of the Cariboo-Chilcotin anthology celebrates the story of this harshly beautiful and remote region in B.C.'s north. From the days of the gold rush through to modern times, this collection captures the spirit of a place whose beauty and wildness have inspired its people throughout its history."--BOOK JACKET.

This is Irene Stangoe's third collection of historical stories and great yarns about the people and events that shaped the Cariboo-Chilcotin. Read about: Farwell Canyon's pioneer families and ranches; Chief Anahim, who left the misty Bella Coola Valley for the high Chilcotin country many moons ago; the Lord of 100 Mile House, who moved from a grand mansion in England to a bug-infested stopping house in the Cariboo; the Hub of the Cariboo, tracing 140 years of Williams Lake history, from tiny settlement to modern city; the Great Bank Robbery, and a bank manager's nightmare ride with a gunman wanted for murder; Homer, the basset hound who played the part of a French poodle in a 1920s musical; and other events that could happen only in the Cariboo.

"From historical files and the memories of those who were there, pioneer days in Williams Lake, Dog Creek, Likely, Soda Creek, Horsefly, Riske Creek, 150 Mile and other areas of Central Cariboo-Chilcotin."--Cover

As a complement to her popular book Cariboo-Chilcotin: Pioneer People and Places, Irene Stangoe has crafted a second collection of stories about the BC Interior's pioneers and the trails they blazed. In 26 separate tales she introduces a mosaic of personalities and events that spans 120 years. Stangoe fondly recalls the Indian Girls' Pipe Band, the world-famous MacKinnon sisters, the amazing ice-fishing secrets of Lac la Hache and more. Irene Stangoe has been "looking back" at the Cariboo-Chilcotin for almost half a century. Originally drawn to the region from her Burnaby-New Westminster roots in 1950, when she and her husband, Clive, bought the Williams Lake Tribune, Irene filled in as reporter, community editor, columnist, advertising salesperson and just about anywhere else she was needed until the newspaper was sold in 1973. In 1975, unable to fully retire, Irene established her "Looking Back" column at the Tribune and soon gained recognition as one of the most readable history writers in the weekly newspaper field. Between 1986 and 1991, she was awarded a first place and two seconds in the annual Best Historical Writing Competition.

The Archive of Place weaves together a series of narratives about environmental history in a particular location � British Columbia's Chilcotin Plateau. In the mid-1990s, the Chilcotin was at the centre of three territorial conflicts. Opposing groups, in their struggle to control the fate of the region and its resources, invoked different understandings of its past � and different types of evidence � to justify their actions. These controversies serve as case studies, as William Turkel examines how people interpret material traces to reconstruct past events, the conditions under which such interpretation takes place, and the role that this interpretation plays in historical consciousness and social memory. It is a wide-ranging and original study that extends the span of conventional historical research.

The true story of an adventurous young nurse who provided much-needed health care to the rural communities of the Cariboo-Chilcotin in the 1960s. In 1963, newly minted public health nurse Marion McKinnon arrived in the small community of Williams Lake in BC's Cariboo region. Armed with more confidence than experience, she got into her government-issued Chevy—packed with immunization supplies, baby scales, and emergency drugs—and headed out into her 9,300-square-kilometre territory, inhabited by ranchers; mill workers; and many vulnerable men, women, and children who were at risk of falling through the cracks of Canada's social welfare system. At twenty-two, a naïve yet enthusiastic Marion relied entirely on her academic knowledge and her common sense. She doled out birth control and parenting advice to women who had far more life experience than she. She routinely dealt with condescending doctors and dismissive or openly belligerent patients. She immunized school children en masse and made home visits to impoverished communities. She drove out into the vast countryside in freezing temperatures, with only a candle, antifreeze, chains, and chocolate bars as emergency equipment. In one year, Marion received a rigorous education in the field. She helped countless people, made many mistakes, learned to recognize systemic injustice, and even managed to get into a couple of romantic entanglements. Always Pack a Candle is an unforgettable and eye-opening memoir of one frontline worker's courage, humility, and compassion.

Another installment in the story of British Columbia's Cariboo-Chilcotin region, this book is a delightful collection of spirited tales by the area's most talented authors, plus a couple of 'outsiders.' Joining well-known Cariboo favorites Rich Hobson, Paul St. Pierre and Eric Collier are Barry Broadfoot and his touching tribute to Cariboo legend Fred Lindsay, historian/journalist Bruce Ramsey and his description of Barkerville's Chinatown, and pioneer Bill Hong and his account of what was done with Barkerville's deceased Chinese residents.From Edith Beeson's Dunlevey comes a gripping eyewitness play-by-play of a near-fatal Aboriginal wrestling match in 1859. Other stories include pioneer and wilderness lover Lutie Ulrich Cochran's perky tale of her mischievous temporary pet Flash the Weasel, and a tender vignette about a loon family by Will D. Jenkins Sr., a Chilcotin pioneer who penned his memoir, Chilcotin Diary, at the age of 98. New stories by old favourites Irene Stangoe, Hilary Place and Eldon Lee mingle with gems of wry Cariboo humor by Doc Holley, Chilco Choate and Fred Lindsay.