A History of the British Columbia Provincial Forest Inventory Program*
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A HISTORY OF THE BRITISH COLUMBIA PROVINCIAL FOREST INVENTORY PROGRAM* PART ONE, 1912-1940 Written by RALPH L. SCHMIDT OCTOBER 2016 (THE ORIGINAL WORK WAS COMPLETED IN 1995) © Forest History Association of British Columbia, Victoria, BC *This version contains some preliminary changes for the final edit by Jacy Eberlein, who digitized and created this file in July 2014 using a printed copy lent by Bob Breadon. Formatting, design and additional editing were carried out by John Parminter in 2015. A revised version, with updates to the appendix, was issued in 2016. ii AUTHOR’S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My thanks to Dave Gilbert and Raoul Wiart of the Resources Inventory Branch for their help in getting this history project off the ground. I am also indebted to Bob Breadon, my writing partner, for his positive attitude and encouragement towards completing this report. Most of the information and photographs in this report were provided by the pioneers who worked in forest surveys before 1940. I hope that I have adequately expressed my gratitude to them by writing their stories in the chapter on biographical sketches. Ralph L. Schmidt Victoria, B.C. 1995 Ian McRae and Ron Webber fording the Blaeberry River. EDITOR’S NOTES Photographs are from the collections of Alf Bamford, Braham Griffith, Larry McMullan, Ian McRae, John Parminter, Mickey Pogue, Ronald Stromberg, Cedric Walker and unknown others. Line drawings of plants were done by A.K. Hellum. Special thanks to Lesley McKnight, retired from the Research Branch of the B.C. Forest Service, for her excellent proofreading skills and suggestions for improvement. As many people featured in the biographies have passed on since the time of first writing in 1995, there are some mixed present and past tenses in those items. Hopefully this will not distract the reader. The intent was to remain as loyal as possible to the original text and therefore new material is enclosed by parentheses. John Parminter Victoria, B.C. 2015 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Title Page Introduction ………………………………… 1 1 The pioneers ……………………………….. 2 2 Tough times .……………………………….. 6 3 Transportation ……………………………… 9 4 Wildlife stories ……………………………… 19 5 Booze ……………………………………….. 23 6 Twisted tales ……………………………….. 26 7 Extraordinary cooks ……………………….. 33 8 Biographical sketches …………………….. 37 A. Brookman (Andy) Anderson …………... 37 Gerry S. Andrews ………………………….. 39 Alf H. Bamford ……………………………… 41 Percy M. Barr ………………………………. 43 C. Eric Bennett …………………………….. 44 Harold N. Cliff ……………………………… 47 George L. Cornwall ………………………... 49 James D. Curtis ……………………………. 50 Allen H. Dixon ……………………………… 53 Ross R. Douglas …………………………... 55 J.G. Falconer ………………………………. 56 Eric H. Garman …………………………….. 58 Wally Hughes ………………………………. 59 Chess P. Lyons ……………………………. 61 Don MacLaurin …………………………….. 63 D.L. (Larry) McMullan ……………………... 64 Ian Mahood ………………………………… 66 George Minns ……………………………… 68 Frederick D. Mulholland …………………... 70 G.W. (Dick) Nixon …………………………. 73 W. Cyril Phillips ……………………………. 75 John W. Pickford …………………………... 76 H.M. (Mickey) Pogue ……………………… 78 Cecil John (Jack) Rhodes ………………... 81 R.C.L. (Bob) Shaw ………………………… 83 Bill Sloan ……………………………………. 84 R.H. (Dick) Spilsbury ……………………… 86 John S. Stokes …………………………….. 87 Lorne F. Swannell …………………………. 89 R. Cedric Telford …………………………... 92 D. Michael (Micky) Trew ………………….. 93 Cedric Walker ……………………………… 94 APPENDIX: survey locations, reports …… 9 7 and maps INTRODUCTION In 1991, while gathering material for articles on the early history of the Research Branch of the B.C. Forest Service, I began to realize that many old-timers of the 1920s and 1930s were still active and alert. I also discovered that several had worked in both the Research and Forest Surveys divisions. A little more digging indicated that there were still around 30 survivors who had worked in Forest Surveys during the pre-war period. I felt that it would be worthwhile for someone to interview these old-timers, and preserve a record of their experiences in the B.C. Forest Service while the opportunity still existed. I discussed the matter with Dave Gilbert, Director of the current Resources Inventory Branch, and he concurred. He also felt that any history project of this nature should cover events right up to the present time. The next step was to find someone who was interested in tackling the project. I contacted several retired members of the inventory program but could not find a willing candidate for the job. As a last resort I decided to tackle the project, although my only forest surveys experience was two summers (1947 & 1948) when I worked under George Silburn on the west coast of Vancouver Island. I decided to confine my efforts to the early days (1912-1940) as I was already involved in researching the forest history of that period. I then commenced to seek a volunteer to write the next section of the project. Fortunately I obtained a favourable response when I contacted Bob Breadon. Bob and I had worked together on the Kyuquot Forest survey in 1947. At that time he was the Timber Cruiser and I was his Compassman. After graduation Bob worked in Forest Surveys during the 1950s and he was willing to write the history of the Forest Surveys and Inventory Division for the period 1940-1960. Each section displays its own individuality in terms of content, organization and style. For this reason we decided to produce them as distinct parts of the publication. My section is broken down into three parts. The first is a brief account of early developmental stages of the Forest Surveys Division. It identifies some of the pioneers and their impacts on the way that work was conducted. The second part contains six chapters, which contain vignettes – brief glimpses of yesteryear – and the people who took part. Some are humorous, others unpleasant, but all are human interest tales which reflect past times. The final chapter contains biographical sketches of old staffers who were interviewed, plus a few exceptional individuals who are no longer with us. 2 CHAPTER 1: THE PIONEERS H.R. MacMillan was the first Chief Forester in the B.C. Forest Branch, serving in that capacity from 1912 to 1915. Prior to his term as Chief Forester he had worked as a Timber Cruiser in many B.C. coastal forests during the summer of 1907, under Party Chief Roland Craig, an Ottawa forester. This work was Timber Licence staking, ventured for private interests. Upon taking on the Chief Forester's job, MacMillan was already very much aware of the need for reliable forest inventory information. This is reflected in the high priority immediately given to forest surveys in 1912. In the B.C. Forest Branch annual report for that year, MacMillan made the following statement: In every country in which the practice of forestry by the Government has been established successfully, it has been found that a comprehensive knowledge of the quality, condition, and extent of the forest resources in the country concerned is the prime requisite of their efficient administration. The Forest Branch has already made a good beginning upon the forest surveys needed as a basis for its work. During the past season forest surveys were inaugurated on the Okanagan Lake Watershed, the Nicola Plateau, the North Thompson Watershed, the Salmon River Valley, and the Upper Columbia. The purpose of these surveys is twofold. The most urgent need for them is to supply information needed as a basis for efficient work in the creation of forest reserves, the construction of permanent improvements, and the distribution of the field force. While satisfying these needs, these forest surveys will yield at the same time detailed information regarding the stand of commercial timber in the different regions, its size and quality, and its availability for successful lumbering operations, which will be of great practical value to lumbermen and other forest-users, as well as in the development of a progressive public timber-sale policy. Naturally the completion of these forest surveys will take several years. As rapidly as they are completed the results will appear in the published reports of the Forest Branch, illustrated with the necessary maps of the regions. In the case of the more remote forest regions, it will be some time before the necessary work is done as a basis for its publication. But it is hoped well within a year to issue one or more of the forest survey reports of the Forest Branch. 3 H.K. Robinson, formerly a State Conservator of Forests in India, was hired as Chief of Forest Surveys. Early in 1912 he and R.E. Benedict, Chief of Operations, travelled through much of B.C., looking for experienced Timber Cruisers. They were successful in locating sufficient personnel to launch reconnaissance surveys covering 5.6 million acres in nine areas, mostly in remote localities. In 1913 fieldwork covered a total of 12.3 million acres. One Timber Cruiser reporting to E.G. McDougall completed a reconnaissance of 3.0 million acres. The following year he covered 5.0 million acres in the Lillooet and Cariboo regions. The value of this early inventory work was soon recognized as evidenced from the following statement in the 1913 annual report: The importance of the forest as the chief resource and source of support for the population in British Columbia has been borne out by these examinations. In every district it has been found that the greater portion of the acreage covered is most suitable for the production of timber, and that the most available and most important source of wealth was timber. The exploitation of the timber will in most instances hasten the settlement of the agricultural valleys. A most important result of the survey has been to show that in British Columbia we have measured and valued our timber by an altogether different standard from that current elsewhere in Canada. Close acquaintance with the big timber has caused us to place no value on many millions of acres of timber in the interior of the Province.