Riske Creek, British Columbia

[Randy N]

Hi Mike
I use to hunt in the Riske Creek area. My father in law has been in the Williams Lake area since the mid 1950s and knew a number of the early ranchers and pioneers, including Eric Collier. It is a beautiful part of the country. If you are referring to the same Three Against the Wilderness, the one I have was written by Eric Collier. Colliers Meadows is just north of Riske Creek and the Cdn Military has a training area close by. A cold place for winter exercises!! The amount of beaver and the number of beaver dams is incredible. If you enjoyed the book, look for ones written by Rich Hobson. He ranched further west and north in the 1930-1960s and wrote 3 great books. Grass Beyond the Mountains, Nothing too Good for a Cowboy, and Rancher Takes a Wife.
I even found a few CMP bits and pieces over the years up there.
Cheers

[Mike K]

Sorry to you both , I got the name wrong . It is Collier of course . My edition of his book is an old 1962 Herald-Sun book club publication, printed for a members only group here in Australia. It cost 27 shillings and sixpence .

The pics of the wooden shack he built and the old horse drawn wagon he used to haul supplies are a reminder of how tough life must have been back then. There is a map in the book which shows Meldrum creek , his shack is marked on its banks.

His son was called Veasy , odd name .

Amazed that your father in law knew him . I think he was well educated in the U.K. because he writes with a highly descriptive style that almost takes you there . I've read it over many times . Would love to see it all one day. I'll try to look up those other books too.

Found this web site :

http://www.heritagehouse.ca/press_re...wilderness.htm




Mike

[Bruce MacMillan]

Back in the early 1970s I was stationed in Williams Lake with the telephone company and occasionally made trips out to and past Riske Creek. The telephone line was what is called "open wire" and everyone was on a party line. One of the morning rituals at the test desk was to phone the last person and if they answered, everything was working fine.

It's not well known but Riske Creek was also the home to #4 Special Wireless Station, opened in 1944. It's job was to eavesdrop on Japanese radio communications. Some of the personnel from here went on to #1 Canadian Special Wireless Group in Darwin, Australia.

Bruce

[Mike K]

Hi Bruce

You've probably seen this web page on No.1 Special wireless group.

http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/sigint/1swg.htm

Re: party telephone lines , we had them here too . Each house on the line would have its own ring code ... three short , or two long etc. The problem was the neighbours could listen in on your conversations . No secrets in those days !

Mike