Coast Mountain News Thursday, January 19, 2012
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$1.00 + HST Vol. 28 | No. 02 Thursday, January 19, 2012
Serving the Bella Coola Valley ey and the Chilcotin
Dr. Paul Martiquet health column
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Wayne Padgett displays the Wilderness Calls promotional poster
Atnarko Valley Historical Society releases audio recording “Wilderness Calls” CHRISTINA BOUCHER A piece of local history is now available for purchase at Kopas Store: the Atnarko Valley Historical Society’s “Wilderness Calls,” an audio tape featuring an interview with Anahim Lake legend Mac Squinas. The Atnarko Valley Historical Society (AVHS) was founded and continues to be organized by Wayne Padgett. Wayne lived in
the Atnarko Valley for 15 years when he first came to the region in the 1970s. “I’m a historian by education and by birth, so I’ve been interested in history my whole life. I set up the AVHS when living in the Atnarko Valley. There were only a few people ever living there. The Atnarko Valley was a very historic place - it was the main connection to the Interior before the highway was built up
the Hill.” Through the AVHS, Padgett received a grant from the Heritage Trust to obtain audio recordings of interviews with local residents. The result was “Histories West,” a series of five interviews that were recorded between the years of 1980 and 1985. Padgett explains, “We incorporated the AVHS with the government to establish it as an offi-
cial historical society. Therefore, the audio recordings are copyright protected. Future plans for the audio collection is to deliver a set to the national archives when the project is completed.” “Wilderness Calls” is the first tape in the collection to be released for purchase. Padgett explains a bit about the content: “The particular tape were talking about right now is “Wilderness Calls,” and the
person I’m interviewing was a man named Mac Squinas. He was an old timer at the time I interviewed him. He had lived in Anahim Lake all his life, and he was a trapper, a rancher, and a game guide in that area for years. “I got to know him because I was buying horses up there in the Chilcotin from Pam Phillip SEE CHILCOTIN ON PAGE 3