Table of Contents
- Part 1: First Nations of the Peace River Region
- Part 2: The Fur Trade Era
- Part 3: Transportation and Communication
- Part 4: Old Timers and the Price of Land
- Part 5: Dawson Creek: The Story of the Community
- Part 6: Mysteries, Adventures and Indian Legends
- Part 7: Arts, Crafts and Recreation
- Part 8: Agriculture
- Part 9: Church Histories
- Part 10: Schools
- Part 11: Health Care
- Part 12: Industries and Enterprises
- Part 13: Policing the Peace
- Part 14: Pouce Coupe, Rolla, and Other South Peace Communities
- Part 15: Chetwynd and the Fort St. John Area
- Part 16: The Alberta Peace
- Part 17: Natural History of the Peace River Region
- Part 18: Interviews with Old Timers
- Part 19: Remembering Our Veterans
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03-021: The Peace River Trail
By Dorthea Horton Calverley When the Athabasca Trail was completed to Athabasca Landing the first objective was to connect with a steamboat route which could run as far as the Grande Rapids. From the Grande Rapids another steamer could reach Lake Athabasca and proceed several hundred miles on the Peace as far as Vermilion Chutes. Water… Read More
03-022: Twelve Foot Davis’ Transportation Empire
By Dorthea Calverley The Peace country’s famous free-trader, Henry Fuller Davis, better known as Twelve Foot Davis, created his own transportation empire. His Headquarters was Quesnel, then over Summit Lake, down the Parsnip River to a packhorse depot at the head of the Peace River Canyon. The late headman of the few remaining Beavers has related… Read More
03-023: Twelve Foot Davis – in the Tradition of Enterprise
By Dorthea Calverley Sometime after 1869 a short, powerful figure of a Yankee trader and miner, with a high squeaky voice, came down the Parsnip River from Quesnel to become one of the few free-traders ever to beat the mighty Bay at its own game. In the process he made himself the tycoon of all northern… Read More
03-024: The Mounted Police Road, the First Alaska Highway
By Dorthea CalverleyDuring the gold rush to the Klondike there was agitation for a railway to the Yukon. After the rush began to dwindle the idea was vetoed. Considering how great a problem the laying of a pipeline is thought to be today, somebody made a wise decision and the unspoiled ecology endured for at… Read More
03-025: Stopping Places
By Dorthea CalverleyNo discussion of old trails should omit the all-important “stopping places” strung along like beads, a day’s journey apart. They were of all kinds. Most important was a barn or corral and lots of hay and oats, the “filling stations” of the horse and wagon era. It wasn’t enough just to “fill ‘er… Read More
03-026: Reminiscences of Mr. Hubert Manning Concerning the Edson Trail
“La Grande Prairie” was given its name by a Frenchman who was very much taken with the country in general. The north of the Peace, the Spirit River district and the Peace River block all helped to make up this little Empire. The majority of this area is rolling parkland. Located about three to four… Read More
03-027: Cattle Drives Over the Spirit River Trail
By Ray Newby [Interviewed by Dorthea Calverley] DHC Mr. Newby — I’ve heard you speak of your experiences driving cattle to Spirit River. I understand that one of the hazards of these trips were the trestles across the valleys. I think you had an adventure on those, didn’t you? R.N. There were two trestles on the… Read More
03-028: Modern Transport Contrast to Edson Trail
By Dorthea Calverley “A new chapter in the story of northern transportation will be written in the next few days when speedy, 40-passenger Convairs replace the venerable DC-3s on the airways between Grande Prairie and Edmonton. Flying time between here and the capital will be chopped to an hour and a quarter”, readers of the Herald-Tribune… Read More
03-029: E.J. Spinney – Pioneer Trucker to Fort Nelson
By Dorthea CalverleyA forerunner to the building of the Alaska Highway was the freighting of 1500 tons of materials for the construction of the Fort Nelson Airport. History was made with the arrival of the first wheeled vehicle at Fort Nelson, B.C. on Thursday, January 22, 1942. The truck was driven by E. J. Spinney… Read More
03-030: The Fort Nelson Trial & “E.J.” Spinney
By Dorthea H. Calverley There used to be a little marker that read “Spinney’s Lookout” on the East Pine hill. Nearly every tourist stops to take a picture of the magnificent view across the meeting of the Murray and the Pine Rivers over to Table (or Wartenbe) Mountain. The name still lingers but few can remember… Read More