ca. 1914
Hudson’s Hope Museum
This circa 1914 phonograph belonged to the Freer family. George and Edith Freer arrived in the Peace Country of BC in 1914 from Dakota. They settled at Taylor Flats initially, before moving more permanently to Bear Flats. There they lived in a log shanty until 1923 when a larger home was built. The couple brought four children with them: Willard, Meryl, Ella and Harold. They had three more children after settling. Willard was an infamous cowboy in the Hudson’s Hope area, and was part of the Bedeaux Expedition in the 1930s. He kept journals of his adventures, some of which are held by the Hudson’s Hope Historical Society Archives. Bear Flats is part of the countryside expected to be flooded by the development of the Site C Dam. This phonograph still works; it plays wax cylinders – the precursor of vinyl records.