[Photo Album of Mining and Hunting Expeditions in Canada] Canada,Hunting,Mining,Women

9¾" x 12½". Black thin card boards. Pp. [44] with 131 sepia photographs adhesive mounted + 6 photos and 1 clipping laid in. Photos range from 2¼" x 2" to 6¾" x 4¾" and nearly all are captioned. Album very good minus: spine seemingly perished, reinforced with paper tape; front board loose but holding. Photographs generally very good plus or better. This is a lively photograph album showing a group of five women and six men hunting, fishing and enjoying the scenery surrounding mining properties in British Columbia, Canada. The photos emphasize the extreme kills made by some of the women, and several depict Indigenous peoples of the area. The heavily captioned album introduces Mr. and Mrs. A.F. Noel, as well as "Mrs. Perry and Copp," and gives the initials of the photographers responsible for each shot. Per a 1934 newspaper article we found online, Arthur F. Noel was "a pioneer miner of the Bridge River district and of the Lillooet section of British Columbia's famous gold belt." He "acquired and developed the Coronation mine," along with several others that became known as "Canada's leading gold producers" in the 1900s and '10s, and was still active two decades later, "reopening the old Bonanza and Golden Cache mines" to much success. C.L. Copp served as superintendent of the Coronation mine and was often reported to have led his wife, along with Mrs. Noel and friends such as Mrs. B.J. Perry, on expeditions to the mine and hunting trips in the surrounding region. The album has stunning shots of natural beauty, including mountains, dams, a "Game reserve" and the "Big Slide, 17 miles from Lillooet, 1911." One image, captioned "Seton Lake, Mrs. Perry and Copp" pictures the two women riding horses across a bridge, and 21 photos show women hunting or posed proudly with their shot. Telling descriptions include "Killed First Bird, Mrs. Noel, 1900," "Grizzely Killed by Mrs. Noel, 1906" and "Guide Mrs. Noel, Huntress Mrs. Perry and Copp, 1911." We see "Indians meeting Bishop Dontenville" in 1905 and a few Native children, including a small "Indian Girl" leading a horse. One series from 1912 depicts what appears to be a carnival, as "Indian women race" on horses, along with a "Bycycle race," "Bucking horse," a game of "Greasy pig" and groups of men "Getting ready for tug of war" we're then shown the "Indians winning." Other photos reveal the "First Wagon on Bridge River, 1911," deer at Watson Bar, "Hunters calling at Coronation Mines" and "Prospectors on Cadwallader Creek."We see the proud, esteemed "Bird dog" and "Bear dog," as well as men and women "Picking cherries," "Cutting oats" and "Stacking hay" at Fountain Ranch. A 1961 clipping laid in announced the death (at age 102) of Jane Anne MacDonald, "buried today at the family plot on her homestead at Watson Bar Creek, a few miles south of her daughter's ranch 40 miles north of Lilloet." A daughter would likely have been around the age of the women seen in this album; we suspect she may have been one of them, and could have compiled it as well. A spirited, well-captioned portrayal of women hunting and Native peoples around successful mines in early 20th century British Columbia.