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British Columbia Historical Books Collection
Cleasby, Henry Standley
"Cover title. On cover: Volume one. A history of the area between the Fraser Canyon and Forksdale (now Merritt) ."-- Lowther, B. J., & Laing, M. (1968). A bibliography of British Columbia: Laying the foundations, 1849-1899. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria, p. 215. Cover title. On cover: Volume one. A history of the area between the Fraser Canyon and Forksdale (now Merritt)."-- Edwards, M. H., Lort, J. C. R., & Carmichael, W. J. (1975). A bibliography of British Columbia: Years of growth, 1900-1950. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria, p. 75.
52 pages : illustrations, portrait, photograph ; 19 cm
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THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW Henry Stand ley C leas by THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW IJnHoducUon A great deal of thanks go to Mr. H. S. Cleasby, who, by his vivid memory and keeping of the records of the past, made this booklet possible. The free and easy style of the writer will be greatly appreciated by the readers, and the booklet will be a memento to those who have a stake in the past of the Nicola Valley. The history begins in the Fraser Canyon and is brought along up the Nicola Valley to Forksdale, now Merritt, this is the first part of the story of the Nicola, and it is hoped to have the remainder of the history in the succeeding booklet to this one. It had been hoped to have the story in one booklet, but with the enormous amount of material and the work of editing it, the delay in time of issue would be longer than was hoped for. The booklet to follow this one will start from Merritt and complete the Nicola story. Also it is hoped to publish Mr. Cleasby's autobiography in the near future as well. Mr. Cleasby has long been looked upon as the historian and authority on Valley affairs. It is with sincere appreciation of his talent that we present this account. —The Merritt Herald Ltd. This is the third edition of "Part One" of the "Nicola Valley in Review". A "Part Two" was never published as the writer "H. S. Cleasby" died on September 27, 1959. The booklet was first published in 1958. —3— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW Sick atarfflim, f tower SLoaib Muilbtt The story of ''Dick" Trodden, pioneer bridge builder, as told by himself to H. S. Cleasby. "I was born on the 17th day of February, 1885, in the country of Drummond, Athabaska, province of Quebec and was christened Michael Thomas Trodden. "I well remember the early '70's in the east, times were really* hard, flour was $10 a barrel, if you could get enough money together to buy it. Things certainly changed for the better when Sir John A. MacDonald came into power. "I left home for Winnipeg in 1877 and worked on the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway and it was while working on this contract that I lost the first finger of my right hand at St. Boniface in 1878. "I stayed with construction work on the prairies until 1883, when I was car-reporter at Moosejaw. "In 1884, I worked for Don Mann on the 'Big Hill' contract, and then went to Laggan, later I retraced my steps to Winnipeg and thence through the States to British Columbia. I arrived in Yale, then construction headquarters for 'Onderdonk', on October 18, 1884 and went to work the next morning under 'Big Bill' Armstrong as car repairer. "In the fall of 1887, I was sitting in the Dominion Hotel at Kamloops talking to Alex Mathieson, when Don Adams came in asking for a man to help him out. Adams was building the first bridge across the South Thompson River at Kamloops, and Alex said, pointing to me, 'here is your man', I went to work for him and stayed until the job was finished. "From Kamloops, I went to Lillooet, where the San Francisco Bridge Co. had a contract for a bridge across —4— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW the Fraser River and the same year I went to Montana and put a bridge across the Bitter Boot River and was then moved to Snohomish where the same company built a bridge. "From Snohomish, I was moved back to Lillooet to camp at the bridge site about two months waiting for the crew to come from San Francisco. The work was finished that winter. I was sent to the coast by the contractors to get men to work on the job and was given an order for $100 on Caspar Phair, then Government Agent at Lillooet, to pay the fares of the men to Lillooet. "In the spring of 1891 Arthur Stevenson - then road superintendent for Yale Riding - drove me from Lytton to Kamloops and back through the Nicola Valley to Lytton, this was my first trip through the Nicola. I worked for Stevenson on government roads and bridges until 'Joe' Martin got into power. "Then I went up on the Yukon Telegraph Line and was at Fraser Lake when the elections took place. Fraser Lake was in New Westminster Riding then. "Most of the time since I have worked for the government on the roads and bridges of Yale Riding in which I hope to be buried with many another pioneer. It is a source of unending regret and disappointment to me and many other 'old-timers,' that Yale Riding was divided by putting Lytton, Spences Bridge and Ashcroft in the Lillooet Riding; it is enough to bring those buried there from their graves." "Sis • I —5- THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW Alpena* Haulier; IGuttmi paneer Alphonse was one of the real "Old Timers," being born in Victoria in 1859, he was a born British Columbian. He was brought to Lytton - then known as "The Forks" - when his father moved up in 1863. The Cariboo Wagon Road was not then built and Alphonse came on the back of Lick, an Indian woman. He would probably have been bound to the infant pack boards, which some of the Indians still use for their progeny. Louis Hautier, the father of Alphonse - probably came to Lytton seeking gold but soon built the Globe Hotel which after the building of the Cariboo Road became a well known and well patronized stopping place for teamsters on the Cariboo Road. Many placer gold miners also made it their winter quarters. Alphonse was generous to a fault and many of those miners who wintered with him never paid for their accommodation. Probably agreed to and would have when they struck it rich. Which few did. Alphonse was very easy going in many ways. It has been said that he fed 18 miners one winter, as "star boarders" while paying wages to a staff of 12 persons. He was well known as a "fiddler," and there were few dances along the Cariboo Road at which he did not officiate as such. While he lived he always attended the annual dance put on by Alexander Coutlee at the hotel which bore his name about two miles west of Merritt. These dances were dropped after Alexander Coutlee's death. Probably the last visit of Alphonse to Merritt was in 1934 when he attended the "Pioneer's Dinner" in the I.O.O.F. Hall. At this time he obliged by playing on his "fiddle" several old time tunes. Alphonse died in a nursing home in Vancouver and was buried at Lytton on December 19, 1939. He had reached the age of 80 years. —6— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW His wife at Lytton, survived him, also a sister, Mrs. W. V. B. Bailey of Vernon; two brothers survived him, one Lulu was a well known stage driver on the Cariboo Road went to live in the United States. Another brother, Willie, was a freight teamster on the Cariboo, and resided in Fairbanks, Alaska afterwards. His funeral was attended by most of the "Old Timers" who thus bade him a last farewell. It is well to record as much as possible of those who had the wholehearted interest of their fellow pioneers and their province at heart. May their memories be forever green. THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW Stola Mmxtif Sand; This was taken up in the early days by Richard Curnow, a Cornishman, who evidently came to B.C. in the gold rush of the ijSSO's. The first that seems to be known of him was when he was picked as constable by those in authority at Hope. It is related that during his tenure of office, he brought a man for trial before Sir Matthew Baillie, then Chief Justice of B.C., "Big Dick" as he was usually called had no knowledge of Court Procedure and this angered the Chief Justice who enquired who appointed this man, the reply was "he was the biggest man we knew of." From Hope "Big Dick" apparently drifted up to what is now Spences Bridge, at that time it was known as "Cook's Ferry," in fact sixty-five years ago, many people spoke of it as "Cook's Ferry," Cook being the name of the man who operated the ferry across the Thompson River at that point. Spence was the name of the builder of the first bridge. The present bridge is the third to span the Thompson at that point. After the opening of the Cariboo Road, "Big Dick" seems to have driven a freight truck hauled by mules. These mules he turned out on the luxuriant Bunch Grass at the mouth of the Nicola River, and then took up land' there. The year 1876 saw a wagon road built from Cook's Ferry to Nicola and it was about this time that "Big Dick" erected his stopping house by the road which passed through his land. "Big Dick's" nephew Thomas Curnow, with his bride, Miss Agnes Oates, came out to him in October, 1887. The Thomas Curnows had seven children, three sons, Richard John, who died in Merritt in December, 1951, Thomas, living on the Le Marr place at Spences Bridge, and Leslie, who lives in Merritt; four daughters, Bertha, Mrs. Paterson, West Vancouver; Violet, Mrs. R. Callender, Agassiz; Agnes, Mrs. H. THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW Poncellet, Ashcroft; and Irene, Mrs. P. Stacey, North Vancouver. There were in 1935, twenty grandchildren and one great grandchild. The Curnow orchard was one of the oldest on the Thompson River and until late years produced lots of fruit for which there was a ready sale. But orchards, like people - do not go on forever but are subject to disease and pests. The property is now owned by Mrs. Paterson, the eldest daughter, who has spent a lot of money putting water on the higher lands, which now produce bountiful crops of potatoes and tomatoes. The old stopping house can be seen below the highway just before crossing the bridge across the Nicola River going to Spences Bridge. Dick's other nephew and namesake also came out to him in 1895, and lived in Merritt a great many years. He died in Vancouver (from the effects of a broken hip) in 1954. Dick was probably more like his uncle than his brother Tom, being broad and thick set. ♦ THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW %tfua and ^tms^mt llallep On Spius or Petit Creek, the only ranch on the creek bottom is A. T. Cleasby's. Tom Cleasby must have had this place nearly forty years for he pre-empted it as soon as he was old enough to do so. He purchased the "Swanson" place which adjoined his on the bench and is now putting up enough hay for sixty head of cattle and can do better still. Adjacent to Tom Cleasby, to the north-west is the ranch of Mr. and Mrs. R. S. Marston, which they purchased from A. M. Fraser. Mr. Fraser acquired the property from the late Ed Richardson and after making a lot of improvements, sold to the Marstons soon after the death of his son Jack Fraser. Mr. Marston sold to Charles Claman of Vancouver in 1957. Next to this is what is usually known as the Kitchen place. This place was first taken up by Mr. Walden who sold to Tom Kitchen about 1920. Tom Kitchen did a lot of work on the place and made it a paying proposition. Upon his retirement, the property was acquired by his step-son, Jack Sparkes, who, with his wife, the former Gloria Hanna, ran it for some time. Mrs. Sparkes is now running it. They also purchased the McArthur Ranch adjoining to the south and also the Spence place about three miles south. This property was bought from Mr. Eckersley who is living a semi-retired life at the old Fraser Store. The Sunshine Valley drains into Spius Creek opposite Tom Cleasby's place and at one time was taken up by a number of settlers, all of whom have either sold out or given up the struggle and decamped. S. G. Kirby now owns the north westerly end of the valley and then comes what is known as the Pony Reserve. Pony, a rather grotesque figure in his later days, was said to have assisted the government surveyors when they laid out the various Indian Reserves in the Nicola district. When this work was finished, Pony selected 320 acres in the bottom —10- THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW of the valley as part of his pay. Pony has been known to tell of the last Indian fight in this valley between the Nicolas and Similkameens which, he said, took place by the bluff across the road from the former Willie Dodding place. According to Pony, the Similkameens were totally routed and never again raided this valley. Mrs. Brenton's place occupies the easterly end of the valley. Mrs. Brenton lived there alone for a number of years and apparently made a living from her poultry. The place is now owned by the Larson-Cripps family and has been much improved so that it carries about forty head of stock. S. G. Kirby is operating the ranch at the angle formed by the confluence of Spius Creek and the Nicola River. Chub, as he is usually called, is gradually getting a nice bunch of cattle around him, his specialty is shorthorn cattle, while his wife Janet, occupies her time by poultry raising. The land which Kirby now owns was first pre-empted by William Murray, who sold to the Charles family. The land is divided by the road to Sunshine Valley. Kirby got the westerly part and Bert Ware the easterly. The advent of the sawmill at Canford station put a lot of life into that end of the Valley. It is regretted to see it close down. -11 — THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW 12 Mite Momt This ranch and stopping house was first located by James Phair probably about 1875, when the road was built to Nicola Lake from Cook's Ferry, now Spences Bridge. Until the building of the railway, this was a well known stopping house. It boasted a liquor licence and being about half way to Nicola was well patronized. James Phair sold his property to a Mr. Gilmore - who conducted a tailoring business in Victoria. Gilmore does not seem to have lived at the 12 Mile House and the ranch and house were managed by so far as is known the following: Ed (Red) McGraw and McArthur, who afterwards located on Quilchena Creek, moving from there to Aspen Grove. His holding there is still known as the McArthur place; Duncan Munro, who quarrelled with his wife one morning, picked up his rifle and strode out of the house and up the mountainside. A thorough search was made but he was never seen or heard of again. H. E. (Bert) Parsons succeeded him in 1887. He was succeeded by Johnny Wilson who carried on until Gilmore sold the place to A. J. Gordon in 1892. Gordon and his very efficient sister, Mrs. Philips ran the ranch for the next 15 years when they sold out to D. P. Marpole in 1909, son of R. Marpole, who was then General Superintendent of the Canadian Pacific Railway in B.C., he was later executive assistant. D. P. Marpole, was commonly known as "Dot" and when the railway road came through, the station was named Dot after him. A few years later, after "Dot's" untimely death when the house burned to the ground one night, the holding was sold to Harry Abbott, then General Superintendent of the C.P.R. for B.C. Under the able management of Mr. Aynsley, father of John Aynsley, well known resident of Merritt - the place became very productive and were stocked fully with cattle and horses. The latter particularly were notable for their breeding. In 1916 there were about 60 head of these well bred horses and 175 head of cattle. At that time there —12- THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW was in stock over 300 tons of hay, which has never been put up since. This second crop was from the Dot and 21 Ranch, the 21 Ranch having been bought from the Farr brothers by Mr. Abbott. The Abbott estate sold the 22 and 21 Mile Ranches to James Wardell. Mr. Wardell, an Australian born, had been a tenant on a ranch between Hat Creek and Ashcroft for some years, while there he married a daughter of Joseph Burr of Ashcroft. Wardell sold the benchland on the 21 Ranch to his brother-in-law, Mr. Oram through the Soldiers' Settlement Board together with some stock and implements. Apparently unable to make it pay, Oram turned it back to the Settlement Board in 1925. Mr. Grenier acquired the place later from the Board. James Wardell died in 1925 and his widow and daughter carried on the place for some time, then rented it, first to Chinese to grow potatoes for three years and were succeeded by Clarence W. Woodward in 1929 for seven years when Mr. Woodward moved to Minto in the Bridge River area. After Mr. Woodward's departure Robert Turnbull, who married Rose Wardell, ran the ranch until it was sold to Richard Hazelhurst, at that time in the sheep business at Mamette Lake. Mr. Hazelhurst and his son-in-law ran the two places until 1945, when Mr. Hazelhurst turned the 21 Mile Ranch over to his son-in- law, A. B. Ransom, who had previously bought the bench land belonging to the ranch from Grenier. Ransom sold the whole of the 21 Mile Ranch to George S. Graham, who operated it and the Richardson place across the Nicola River, also a Ransom purchase. He later sold to Gilroy and Stephens. The 22 Mile Ranch was sold by Hazelhurst to George Graham who later sold to J. D. Christie, who later sold to V. R. Nesbit in 1951. -13- THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW fettt Creek Standi From the Lot No. 138, this ranch must have been surveyed about 1876, which places its location as the early 1870's. The first owner was a Frenchman, Vincent Petit, and the stream which here enters the Nicola from the west and commonly known as Petit Creek was probably named after him. The Indian name for this stream is Spius Creek and is known by that name on the official maps. Vincent Petit died about 1887 or 1888, Alexander Coutlee sold the ranch first to H. E. Parsons, who was first mentioned as manager of 22 Mile House Ranch. Parsons built the house, which is still in use on the ranch in 1888. Parsons at that time was engaged in the freighting business. He made at least one trip up the Cariboo Road from Ashcroft. He abandoned his purchase about 1892 and Alexander Coutlee - who apparently was Petit's executor, sold the ranch to his son-in-law Joseph Cleasby. Joe Cleasby made many improvements on the place until he gave it up in 1937 and J. T. Willgoose took over. He in turn sold it to Wilfred L. Blundell in 1947, who is still operating the property, and apparently successfully. A —14- THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW 21 Mite Hand? Story of a Pioneer's Struggles and Final Victory as Told to H. S. Cleasby In June, 1897, the writer was approached at Spences Bridge by a man who wished to have himself and box transported to the 21 Mile Ranch. This man was later known by most of the inhabitants of the lower end of the Nicola Valley as John Manning. The story of his life as a pioneer is as nearly as possible set forth here as told to the writer: At that time, Chris Maul - a native of Schleswig Holstein - owned the 21 Mile Ranch, which I understood he had got from a man named Paillard, a Frenchman, who was then living at Spences Bridge with Archie Clemes. Paillard died at Spences Bridge about 1892, and is buried across the Thompson River on land owned by Clemes. At this time Maul was about seventy years of age. It was a matter of general knowledge that Maul turned the place over to the Farr's a year or so later, on condition that Farr would care for him so long as he lived. This, we all know is, that when Farr sold the 21 Mile Ranch to the late Harry Abbott, Farr, moved to Alberta and died there some years later at the age of eighty-four. When I was left by the road on the 21 bench and from there walked down to the low ground, I found Chris living in a stable, his cabin had burned down about two years previously, some of the neighbours had taken up a collection for him and had cut logs for a new cabin and dumped them over the bank on to the flat. They had also purchased three sashes for him and the money was all gone. Chris was too old and feeble to build a new cabin himself, and did not have any money, so just stayed on and lived in the stable. I offered to rent the place from him at a rental of seventy-five dollars a year, provided he would give an option to buy the place at any time within ten years, this he agreed to. I drew up the —15- THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW papers about the deal and sent them to Ashcroft to a man who was better able than I was to put them in legal language. These papers were not returned to me for weeks, possibly months. In the interval, I had bought up my wife and two babies, Lilly and Rose, had hired Indians to build the cabin, harvested a few tons of hay, plowed about twenty acres and seeded part of it to fall wheat. In the meantime the folks at the 22 Mile Ranch had got him to go and help them. On his return, Maul showed me an agreement they fixed up with him. Well I saw that I was in a trap as I couldn't farm the place under those conditions. I went to Ashcroft and saw a lawyer who told me, "you can't sue him and he can't sue you, so the best thing for you to do is to get what you can and leave." I stayed there all that winter and fed my horses on the hay I had cut, but didn't make many more improvements. The following spring, some men were sent down from the 22 Mile House with implements and seed and they seeded the land I had plowed the year before. In a few weeks, it was nice and green and believe you me that man who did me out of my hard work is about the only man in my life that I felt like kicking. The next thing I heard was that old Chris Maul had made an arrangement with Farr to look after him as long as he lived in payment for the 21 Ranch, and so far as I know they kept their agreement. As stated above, H. Farr acquired the 21 Mile Ranch from Chris Maul, he later sold it to the late Harry Abbott who had purchased the 22 Mile Ranch - now Dot - from the estate of the late D. P. (Dot) Marpole. Some years later the heirs of the late Harry Abbott sold the two ranches to James Wardell, who had been on a ranch on the Bonaparte River north of Ashcroft. Wardell was an Australian who had married a Miss Burr of Ashcroft. Through the Soldier Settlement Board, Wardell sold the part of the 21 Ranch which lay on the bench to his brother-in-law Oram together with some stock and machinery. Oram could not make a living, turned —16- THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW everything back to the Soldier Settlement Board. The Board moved the stock and implements to Merritt and sold them by Public Auction. PARTS SECTIONS 9, 16, 17, TOWNSHIP 15, RANGE 23 The ranch which is formed by these fractions was first taken up by T. K. Thacker in 1905, when he was working on a survey party on the location of the railroad from Spences Bridge to Merritt and later Nicola. The charter under which this railroad was built was held by "The Nicola, Kamloops and Similkameen Coal and Railway Company". This Charter was acquired by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company who built and are at the present time operating the line. After building a house and a road connecting it with Agate he turned it over to his brother John, who did a lot more improvements and built the second best house. He bought a team of horses and a cow, also planted out a lot of berry bushes. About 1914, John Thacker went to England and got himself a wife who returned with him. His elder sister stopped off to visit him on her return to England after being in China as a Medical Missionary for seven years. This was the luckiest thing she ever did as by doing so she managed to miss the S.S. Empress of Ireland which was sunk in the St. Lawrence River. Her baggage went on ahead and was lost when the boat sank. In late May, 1914, after Mr. and Mrs. John Thacker returned from England, they lived on the ranch and made many more improvements, later he sold the property lock, stock and barrel to the Soldier Settlement Board for a returned man named Torrence reportedly for four thousand dollars. In 1924, Torrence, Ora and myself were all working on the section. The Thackers were an unusual family, they had a good education but preferred living and working on the land to living in a city. John Thacker and his wife on —17- THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW their return to England took up farming there. T. L. Thacker was a Chartered Accountant, but took up a place at "Little Mountain" near Hope. As stated above, Miss Thacker was a Medical Missionary, John Thacker was a sailor and had his Mate's papers. A younger brother Norman had charge of a mine sweeper in the First World War, he took ill and died. Torrence gave the place up and Ed Richardson acquired it and died there. A. E. Reid bought it later and was owned by George S. Graham as part of the 21 Mile Ranch. tin* —18- THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW Agate Part Two of The Story of a Pioneer's Struggle and Final Victory as Told by John Manning to H. S. Cleasby Agate, a flag stop on the railway between Spences Bridge and Merritt, was so named from the fact that agates are found in the Creek which flows from the west into the Nicola River at that point. This ranch was first located by "Old Corporal" in the early days. The locater seems to have sold the place to James Phair, who then owned the 22 Mile Ranch at Dot. James Phair sold the Agate place to John Dundas - who then and for many years afterwards was employed on the public roads. When I was in the trap over the 21 Ranch, John Dundas came to me and offered to rent me the Agate place; he could do nothing with the place himself as his wife would not stay on that side of the river alone and Dundas had to be away a lot on his road work. He offered me the place at the rental of $15 a year with an option to purchase at any time within 10 years for $400 for the land and some tools and implements, including a big wagon which I traded to an Indian for oats. I thought a long time before accepting this offer of Dundas, for one thing, owing to the high water for three months in the river a person could not get out to work; and also it was an awful risk taking my wife and babies across. However at last, I made up my mind to take the chance. I had a few sacks of peas which I had got to sow on the 21 place, so I sowed them on that sandy soil at Agate and they sure gave me a wonderful yield. The first year I cut some hay with a scythe but it was too expensive. Then I sowed a few acres with red clover, say it was an immense crop, I had to throw it away from the mower. The next thing I tried was about 30 pounds of Turkestan Alfalfa, most of it did not amount to anything. The few plants that came through did sO well that I tried it again and soon had it all over the place. —19- THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW From what I learned from the Indians, they had tried to farm all those places that were later taken up by white settlers, who in most cases married Indian girls. Henry Lindley, who later pre-empted Lot 130 did, at one time he lived at Potatoes Illahie, which was so named because it was thought that potatoes would not grow successfully further up the Valley. This must have been before the Indian Reserves were surveyed. When I came up from Nanaimo in 1862 with J. A. Teit and Jim Williamson we went up to the Nechaco Valley, the Indians were aroused because a man from the coast had been up and had staked about twenty-five thousand acres for people at the coast and was charging $25 for each pre-emption of 320 acres which he staked. I rode through that country again in 1896 and there was not a single settler there, only one cabin and a small patch of land fenced by a man whom the Hudson's Bay Co. had run out of the country for stealing from them. We went as far as Hazelton on that trip and there was then and still is lots of vacant land. The soil at Agate is sandy on a gravel subsoil and needs to be watered often as it soon seeps away. But if it is looked after properly will grow good crops. Of course the land which was washed away in the high water of 1894 being low by the river would be moist and not require irrigation. I must have forded that river hundreds of times, sometimes when the water was pretty high. We were very fortunate in not having any serious sickness, once there was a still-born baby and I had to get Mrs. Farr in a hurry. When we first went there it was hard to grow anything on that sandy soil except peas and potatoes. There were some fruit bushes and the Smiths at Spences Bridge were very good in giving more bushes and young fruit trees; also information on how to propagate and care for them. Times were hard all over just then and our food was not very varied but thank goodness we always had enough to eat, so we had much to be thankful for. —20- THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW My brother William, who looked after the pumping engine at Cherry Creek, bought three heifers and calves and let me have them on shares. The girls used to ride those calves and yearlings around the corral. One night Phoebe tried to break in a fresh one and young George ran up behind with a stick and hit the animal so that it bucked and threw Phoebe; the fall broke her arm at the elbow. The next day I had to take her up to Dr. Tutill at Merritt. The Doctor showed me how to handle the anaesthetic while he set the bone, when the setting was completed I asked the Doctor "how much do I owe you?" Oh, he said, "just bring me up some mutton some time." I should have said that this happened after the railway was finished. The coming of the railway made a wonderful difference to us. We were able to sell all the potatoes and vegetables that we did not need and get the money for them; we were able also to get in and out and ship our butter and eggs. In a few years, my family became restless so I turned the place over to them. They managed to get a bridge built across the Nicola River onto the 21 Ranch which gave us access to the main road. Soon they sold the place to Spencers of Vancouver and moved away to the big outside world and scattered. The place was rented by Spencers to Mr. Lynes of Kamloops with an agreement to purchase, which was later exercised. Lynes sold to Jack Shaw through the Dominion Veteran's Act. Jack Shaw still resides on the ranch. John Manning told the writer of how when he settled up with John Dundas for the Agate place that he, Dundas, told him that he was sure there wasn't another man within 50 or even 150 miles who would have taken hold and done what he, Manning, had done. This was quite a compliment coming from Dundas, who was a man of few words. -21- THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW Agate mb After Part Three of The Story of a Pioneer's Struggle and Final Victory as Told by John Manning to H. S. Cleasby When I turned the ranch at Agate over to my family in the fall of 1918, I went back to Saskatchewan with Joe Gray - who had three-quarters of a section of land near Avonhurst in that province. I stayed and helped through harvesting and threshing. Most of the time until near Christmas, I spent working for his neighbours, they needed help as the Flu had hit some of them very hard. Then Joe and family decided to try and make Lower Nicola for Christmas, so I decided to go with them taking the Crowsnest Pass route thinking the trains would not be so crowded. On arrival at Lower Nicola, we were met at the station by James Smith with his team and sleigh, who took us to his house for dinner which was very kind of them. The Grey girls had hardly finished dinner when they went down with the Flu. Joe Grey got a fire going in his house and left me to look after them while he rustled some bedding, his brother Bill was a great help as Mrs. Grey was soon down with the Flu. As everybody who was here at that time knows, practically all the people caught the Flu, and I am very sorry indeed to say that poor Mrs. James Smith died among others. After recovering from the Flu, I went down to the ranch at Agate for a few months with my family. The next fall I took a ticket to Dorion, Ont., about 65 miles east of Port Arthur. Left train there about midnight, asked a mailman who met the train where the hotel was, he asked where I came from, I said B.C., he said "why didn't you get your head examined before coming here." Then he said, "there is no hotel here, but in a clearing about half a mile away there lives an old German who often takes in people." I took my grip and got the old man out of bed, he was very kind to me and gave me lots of information about the country and people of Dorion —22— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW District, which had been settled about thirty years then, so that all the good land near the railroad had been taken. Therefore I went back about six miles and helped a man harvest his potatoes; then he helped me run a line about a mile to a piece of good vacant land. This land was in a small valley about one half mile wide. There are no mountains in this part of Ontario, only low hills which show signs of erosion either by the ice age or by water. This little valley had been the centre of one of those little hills and apparently had been carved out by volcanic action. The strata which showed at the edges of the valley was vari-coloured, and showed a certain amount of lead and zinc and some prospect holes had been sunk in the valley. My friend wrote me eight or ten years ago that about thirty mineral claims had been staked around there. The report, (some years back) is that an American company thinks that there is enough lead in there to pay for mining it. After we had run the line and found out about what good land there was available, I pre-empted a quarter of a section and bought eighty acres alongside which took in most of the good land in the little valley. The next thing was to build a road and a cabin, the four under logs of which were cedar and the rest what could be got easiest. Borrowed my neighbour's horse to haul in the logs and the help of himself to put up the top and roof logs. Made a ladder and carried sand from the basement to cover the roof of the house. Then it began to rain and about four inches fell, made my cabin just a mess though, the rain came through the sand I'd put on the roof and brought most of it inside. Finally I fixed up my tent in the house and got my things inside the tent. There was a good grove of birch on the slope near the cabin, and used to go and cut a pole, put the small end on my shoulder and drag it down to the cabin, then make firewood out of it and stack it in the cabin. The floor was mostly dirt but with a Quebec heater and the birch wood inside it was comfortable. —23- THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW Many a day during that first winter I looked out of the window on to the snow drifting across the clearing I had made of about two and one-half acres, it was more than a bit lonesome there that winter, so now and again I would climb up to the top of the rock wall of the valley and look over that desolate snow waste, with only those rock pinnacles to remind me of British Columbia. Every few days if the weather was favourable, I would walk to Dorion for mail, etc. The following spring I got a job with a CNR section gang, it was good pay with some overtime, so by fall had my few tools and eighty acres paid for and about four hundred dollars in the bank, which seemed to me to be a fair good start. But one day I saw three new yellow cabooses pass on their way to B.C., the sight of them gave me a fit of homesickness which I didn't recover from, and I lost all interest in my cabin and farm. That winter I worked around from one place to another wherever I could get work. The people were very good to me and offered to help me build a house near town. It was no good, I had to come back to B.C. and the mountains. The last thing I did before I left was to take a trip with my friend Billy Harris through the bush country, we took my pup tent and rifle. The last night of our trip we camped in an old sandstone quarry near the Woolf, there was an old stove and in the camp and it was dry, so we stayed and talked most of the night and listened to the rain and the falls in the river, we both enjoyed the trip immensely. Billy was twenty years younger than me but our birthday was the same; before we parted, we agreed to write each other every Christmas or New Year. Since he died, his daughter writes occasionally. The people around Dorion in the days of 1920 were sure a hospitable lot of people, there wasn't a road to Port Arthur those days and only two or three cars in the township. Now there are good roads everywhere and electricity and every modern convenience. It is an interesting country to have seen in its wilder days, a friend of mine got some strawberry plants, he didn't get enough to plant the land —24- THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW he had laid out so he went into the woods and came back with some wild ones. Those berries were about the size of the end of your finger and they were most delicious to eat. I also heard of a farmer who went back in the bush and brought out a number of wild currant bushes, which thrived well. These must be different to the wild black currants in B.C. of which one berry is enough. I also heard of wild plums at Kalkabecka Falls near Port Arthur. The country when I was there was a sportsman's paradise with deer and moose and wildfowl; it is just a network of streams and lakes which then were teeming with fish. In almost every outcrop of rock you could find traces at least of mineral, have seen it like raisins in a pudding. As for black flies, mosquitoes, etc., they didn't wait to be found, they were real aggressive. This at one time must have been a great timber country, judging from some of the stumps which still stood among the bush. It is hard to beat those old pioneers, I helped one of them sort over his vegetables for market, while doing that caught a bad cold, he had a large family and a small house; however, they fixed a bed for me in a corner of the kitchen, hung some sheets around it and nursed me until I was all right again. Left Dorion in the spring of 1920 for Bagot about twenty miles east of Portage La Prairie where a niece of mine and her husband had a farm, helped them for about a month. Then worked for an American, he was a big man about six-foot-four, well educated, had travelled a lot and could tell a good story. One of these stories was about landing from a boat at Victoria, when the tide wasn't quite right and the passengers had to duck their heads, when stepping off the boat. An Englishman was stationed there to tell the passengers to duck their heads, this he did in an Oxford "brogue" the American did not understand this, the result was that he hit his head and was nearly knocked to the gang plank, this left him speechless, when he recovered he said, "this wouldn't —25— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW have happened if your mouth hadn't been full plums," at which the spectators roared with laughter. of -26— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW ^Roberts' (Ereek IRandjea L. M. Roberts, who first came to the Nicola Valley in 1889 was a good singer and in great demand at concerts and parties. In 1890 he went into partnership with the Richardson brothers on what has always been known as Willow Grange; as always the case with this ranch, they were short of irrigating water and the partnership was dissolved. Roberts taking up what had probably at one time been a lake. This land was very rich and carried a heavy growth of willows. Roberts must have had a fair amount of capital for he built a large house of hewn logs and cleared quite an area of the willow growth. This land when cleared and seeded with Timothy has proved to be very productive, the hay sometimes reaching the height of six feet. However, by some mishap or other, L. M. Roberts' house caught fire and was completely destroyed. This calamity made L. M. Roberts a very nervous man, and despondent. He sold his holdings to the late Thomas Curnow of Spences Bridge; this place now owned by John Curnow of Merritt. There is a beautiful creek meandering through the Roberts' place which is named after him. Further up the Valley and adjoining the north end of the Roberts' place is another ranch formerly owned and worked by James "Jim" Tomkinson, a retired CPR section foreman, is also owned by John Curnow. This place was first taken up by a Mr. Green. The next owners were the Suderfine Bros., who resided there for several years and did considerable clearing and fencing. It is really a beautiful secluded little valley; its greatest drawback is its loneliness and very heavy winter snowfall. These last few years there has been considerable logging going on and its fine stand of timber is now getting pretty thin. —27— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW Htlloui (Sratige This ranch has had more individual owners than any place in this district. The first locators in the early 1870's were Thomas Woodward and his sons Harvey and Marcus, who came from Ontario. Whether they found that in taking up the whole valley bottom from Ten Mile Creek to Canford they had bitten off too much or whether the government thought they had; memories do not say. At any rate we find that a little later, Byron Earnshaw - a Yorkshire sailor - was settled on Willow Ranch. This he appears to have sold to P. M. McKitrick, who also acquired the present Ellison Ranch from Richard Turner. McKitrick sold the Willow Ranch to Sam Sturch and Geo. Forsyth about 1888. They raised a crop in 1889, when George Forsyth went back to Ontario and brought out a wife. The partnership between Sturch and Forsyth seems to have terminated soon after Forsyth's return. Forsyth carried on the ranch until 1891 or 1892 when he sold to Richardson Bros., with whom L. M. Roberts was associated for a time. The Richardsons did not make much of a go of things and disposed of the place to Archie Clemes the well-known hotel-keeper at Spences Bridge. Archie of course, could not live on the place and after trying for a few years to run it with hired help, he sold it to a man by the name of Gibson. Gibson's stay was fleeting and in 1911 or 1912 he sold to John Wise Langley, a former Irish landlord who was tired of being shot at from ambush. John Langley was a gentleman farmer, who made a lot of improvements to the place but did not make any money on it. About 1922, he sold to a Scotsman by the name of Gray. Mr. Gray was found dead in his auto between the ranch and Canford in comparatively short time; his foreman Barry, carried on the ranch for a year, when all personal property and effects were sold by auction in order to wind up Gray's estate. As Gray had —28— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW only bought an agreement of sale the land reverted to John Langley, who after running it for a few years, exchanged it with J. T. Willgoose for a house and land in Merritt, his widow, Mrs. Langley occupies the house to this day, their family of four daughters are scattered to other parts of B.C. J. T. Willgoose farmed the land until 1936, through the hard times of the dirty thirties, when he sold to R. T. Kinvig, a Manxman, two of whose sons occupy the place to this day. The Kinvigs' saw that the great drawback to the place was lack of good irrigating water. They devoted a lot of time and labour to their main irrigation ditch, but met with misfortunes in the "big flood" of 1948. They lost their ditch head and were forced to pump all their irrigation water. This proved to be too expensive, in 1949 and 1950 reconstructed the ditch. The slide of 1951 completely obliterated the upper portion of the ditch. This has since been reconstructed and reports are that more water is being had than before. The Kinvig brothers surely deserve better luck and their many friends all hope that they have at last conquered the enemy - lack of water - which has dogged the progress of this ranch for about sixty years. -29- THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW Hooburarhfi When the writer first came to the Nicola Valley, Lower Nicola was usually referred to as Woodwards. There were good grounds for the name too, for when the late Thomas Woodward and his two sons, Harvey and Marcus, came in 1871, they attempted to secure control of all the good land from Ten Mile or Guichon Creek to Canford. Most of this land they later had to relinquish to other settlers, retaining for themselves the three best locations. In 1872, Thomas Carrington preempted Lot 133, now owned by Bartle Dodding, Richard Turner settled on what is now known as the Ellison place and Willow Grange, later selling Willow Grange to Byron Earnshaw. Patrick McKitrick acquired the Ellison place, Lot 136 and lived there for many years. Lot 133 was purchased about 1874 by Henry Woodward, a brother of Thomas Woodward. Henry made a success of his venture, his specialty was pigs, which after construction of the C.P.R. he drove to Spences Bridge and shipped to the coast by the carload. Henry Woodward was a good financier and always had money to complete a good buy or make a safe loan. Caleb Woodward, no relation to the others, and his son Hiram came in 1883 and made a home for themselves on about an acre of land on which G. B. Armstrong later built his store. Mrs. Caleb Woodward and daughters Rose and Martha, later Mrs. Kenny, whose pen name was "Beth Greenwood" followed in 1884. Archie Irwin took up Lot 160 and married one of Henry Woodward's daughters. This Lot has been subdivided, Bevan's Store, Tyner or Schindler property and two or three parcels have been carved out of it. From the foregoing, you can easily see why it got the name of Woodward. —30— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW ttUfe SHjmnaa Unafctuarfc Jfamtlg This family was very closely tied in with all Lower Nicola activities until a few years ago. Thomas Woodward was buried March 7, 1903. Henry Woodward, his brother, was buried September 6, 1908. Henry Woodward had ten children, Mrs. George Clapperton, Mrs. Archie Irwin, Mrs. J. Irwin, Mrs. E. Carswell, Mrs. F. P. Cook and Mrs. Thos. Matthews, Frank, Joseph, Jim and Emerson Woodward. The family with the exception of Mrs. Cook and Emerson are all dead; Emerson Woodward lives in Alberta. Archie Irwin was the first school teacher, who taught one week at Lower Nicola and the next at the "Forks" school, now Merritt, which was situated in what was the garden of the old Barwick house at Merritt. It was finally pulled down after Merritt began to build up. Archie Irwin pre-empted Lot 160, which has since been subdivided. The Lower Nicola School was first located on the pre-emption of Marcus Woodward which was later purchased by David Dodding and after his death, divided between his sons. It is related that Schulyer, who taught the Lower Nicola School at one time noticed that the number of children on the school register was not enough to keep the school open, so he extended the list by adding "Queenie Woodward." The Inspector asked about her and Schulyer said, "Oh she is absent today," "Queenie" as a matter of fact was a dog who always followed the Harvey Woodward family to school. Schulyer said she was such a regular attendant that she should be on the roll. At one time two cousins taught school at Lower Nicola and at Nicola. These young ladies were in the habit of visiting each other at weekends; and returning to their boarding house with the Methodist minister who —31— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW drove to Lower Nicola each Sunday to hold service. This worked fine until the minister married, soon afterward the Rev. gentleman preached a sermon based on the Biblical parable of the man who put his ox in a pit on Saturday so that he had to get it out on Sunday. This was taken as a broad hint by the teachers that their Sunday drives with the minister were definitely out, one wondered who inspired the sermon. Another rather amusing incident of the days when single girls were much to be desired was a teacher at Lower Nicola whom a young rancher from the Okanagan came frequently to visit. He drove over in a single buggy and had to come in from the Kamloops end of the Valley, hence he passed through the village of Nicola first to reach his hearts desire at Lower Nicola. The boys at Nicola seemed to think that he was trespassing on their territory, so one night after he had passed Nicola, they got horses and rode to Lower Nicola and took the nuts from the axles, taking them with them. To make certain that the loss would not be overlooked, the wheels were removed also and hidden nearby. The language used by the lovelorn swain can be better imagined than described. Henry Woodward who came in 1875, was a brother of Thomas Woodward. He was quite a character, hard working and shrewd, a product of pioneer life in Ontario. He was a good progressive farmer, who made it pay. Henry was the first man to go extensively into the breeding and feeding of pigs. As soon as the C.P.R. trains were running to the coast, Henry shipped a carload of pea fed hogs every year. Walking them to Spences Bridge, he loaded them on a car there for the coast. He brought the first grain drill into the Nicola and later became quite an implement salesman. His downfall came when he went into the flour and sawmill business at Nicola. At one time he did a comparatively large loan business in small amounts. There wasn't a bank here then. —32— Harvey Woodward, son of Thomas Woodward took up Lot 134 which adjoined his father's pre-emption, Lot 135 to the east. He was a farmer all his life and sold out to J. B. Greaves in 1901. Greaves gave the property to his daughter Mary, Mrs. Louis Austin. Afterwards George Welch rented the property for a number of years, when it was sold to Robert Whitaker; whose wife and sons are still successfully operating the farm. Harvey Woodward raised a family of Ernest, Norman, Clarence, Fred, Marcus, Margaret, Ethel, Eva, Jennie, Chrissie and Myrtle, eleven in all. Of these, Norman, Fred and Margaret have passed on; the rest have married and moved away from Lower Nicola. The Henry Woodward Lot 132 was sold to Barclay Bonthrone of Vancouver and later purchased by the Doddings. Bartle Dodding is still farming it. At the time of writing there are not any of the Woodwards living at Lower Nicola. This is a letter written by H. S. Irwin in appreciation of Mr. Cleasby's articles at the time they were originally published in the Merritt Herald in the year of 1952: The articles you published recently by Mr. Cleasby on the early history of the Lower Nicola were part and parcel of many stories told over the years by my mother (the Eleanor Woodward of Mr. Cleasby's articles). I was one of Schoolmaster Schuyler's pupils, being registered at the age of four, for attendance purposes only, in the original one room log school house. Mr. Schuyler, a bachelor, had a great local reputation as a trencherman, and as a boarder at the home of "Cousin" Marcus Woodward, he was located in a place noted for wonderful cookery. Mr. Schuyler had, to our youthful eyes, a wonderful expanse of stomach, of which he seemed quite proud. He also chewed tobacco steadily and every few minutes in the winter walked over to the stove or in other seasons to the only doorway and aimed at the nearest grasshopper. We used to figure that up to ten feet he was a dead shot. —33— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW It was a most interesting school, but I had the benefit of his "laming" only until age eight. It seems unfortunate that we can no longer get the wonderful apples that grew in the tiny orchard around Grandfather's home, or the gooseberries that were as large as bantam eggs, nor the home made bread, from wheat ground in the combination saw and grist mill on Great Uncle Thomas Woodward's farm. The mill pond was just across the road from Jimmie Smith's Blacksmith shop on the corner of our Lot 160. My first visit to Merritt was about 1906, as a member of the Kamloops hockey team. As I recall the affair we were soundly licked, in a game played early in the morning to take advantage of an ice surface that would have melted before the end of the day. —34- THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW Lower Nicola School, a picture taken in August, 1884. Teacher was D. J. MacDonald, B.A., from Sydney, Cape Breton. Pupils were: Maggie Woodward, Tom Lindley, Ernest Woodward, Bert Irwin, Clarence Woodward, Herb Matthew, John Lindley, Jim Woodward, Martha Woodward, Emma Woodward and Norman Woodward. It was in this school that Mr. Shuyler held forth. The Nicola Valley (Lower Nicola) school was a log building 18' x 20', in fair condition, built in 1875, situated on an acre of land, valued at $500.00 and the building was used for Divine Workshop as well as a school. Trustees were: A. Irwin, P. McKitrick and H. Lindley. Joseph Irwin taught until June 30, 1893 and was succeeded by Hiram A. Shuyler, B.A. Salary $60.00 per month. The school was inspected August 31, 1892, when there was four boys and seven girls present. During the year there were enrolled 16 boys and 12 girls. The average monthly attendance was 14, and actual average daily attendance 10.41. Expenditure for the year amounted to $760.00 - actual cost per pupil was $73.00. Rolls of Honour were presented to the following Nicola Valley pupils for the school year 1892-93 - Deportment: Eva Henshaw Woodward; Regularity and Punctuality: Beatrice E. Irwin; and Proficiency: Albert E. Irwin. —35— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW Benrg labaon (Sreett-Armgtage Henry Dobson Green-Armytage was an Englishman who came into this Valley in 1878 in search of land. He purchased Lot 121 from Paddy Ryan and settled down to make his fortune by stock raising. This Lot 121, as originally surveyed, included a chunk of good land on the south side of the Nicola River. This piece was surrounded on three sides by land owned by Jesus Garcia, the Nicola being the fourth boundary. This piece of land Armytage exchanged with Garcia for cattle in 1879. Armytage was then apparently off to a good start in the cattle business. Unfortunately for him the winter was the worst then experienced here. In the spring, to use Armytage's own words, "the cattle were all dead and Casus has got the land." In the early 1880's, Armytage joined forces with Gilbert Blair and purchased from Alexander Coutlee the store which Blair had been running for him at Coutlee. This partnership continued until the advent of the railway, when the store was sold to the Diamond Vale Supply Co. who after awhile moved the stock to a building in Merritt and Armytage moved to Vancouver to join his partner in the wholesale drygoods business of Mackay, Smith, Blair & Co. which is still doing business. Maurice Armytage and Alex (Sandy) Blair continue to represent their family's interest in the firm. Green-Armytage married Rosa Boyce, one of the teachers sent out to run a Church of England School at Nicola. Two more were sent out but in each case married within a year. The school was then given up, the expense of providing replacements to the teaching staff yearly was too great a drain on the finances. Before his marriage, Armytage built a house now owned by G. Howes just across the bridge leading west from Merritt. This house was named "Willowdale" or "Hurrydale." —36— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW The Armytages had two children, Geoffery and Maurice, Geoffrey is living in Vancouver and Maurice in North Vancouver. A daughter died soon after birth. Armytage was always complaining of his health but lived to about 93 years of age. Mrs. Armytage who rarely complained, predeceased her husband by several years, much to the surprise of those who knew them. The Armytages were good neighbours and their departure from the Valley was regretted by all their friends. Following is Mr. Armytage's account of his trip into the Nicola Valley. "Like R. M. Woodward, I also came into the famed Nicola Valley on the hurricane deck of a cayuse. But my coming was seven years later, 1878, and it was from another untravelled valley, (Otter Valley), that I came." "My journey began with a trip over the Union Pacific Railway to Sacremento and by boat to San Francisco, thence to Esquimalt and then to Hope when the aforesaid hurricane deck came into use. Not being used to riding the trip over the mountains and down the red hot Similkameen Valley was very trying since the pace was regulated by that of a slow pack train. This pack train was owned by Eli Leguime who with his daughter on her holidays from school at San Francisco together with Father Richards, T. Lambley and myself made the interesting but tedious trip to what is now Kelowna, but was in those days known as Okanagan Mission. The next three months or so I spent working on the ranch of Mrs. Postill, who had a family of one daughter and three sons, but all now dead I think. It was - so far as I remember - a beautiful ranch set in beautiful surroundings." "Some time in October I continued my ride by Grand Prairie to the ranch of the late Lawrence Guichon at Chaperon Lake where I remained overnight. I was much enlightened as to the climatic conditions of the place when he took me to see his garden, which consisted —37— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW of a large wooden frame containing vegetables and carefully covered every night with a blanket. On continuing my journey, I next visited Joseph Lauder and his family and lodged that night and many following days with the widely known and much esteemed Bob Hamilton. Under the kind guidance of Mr. Hamilton, I was driven down the Valley - a wonderful drive to me - and introduced to all the old timers we happened to meet. These included James Chapman, Jesus Garcia, Robert Charters, Alex Coutlee, and I think it must have been that I met R. M. Woodward and his father and mother. At that time there were not more than seven or nine white women living between the head of Nicola Lake and Lower Nicola and in the Okanagan which I had just left there were not that many in the space of 50 miles. One thing that impressed my mind at this time was the wonderfully clean fields of wheat and other grain, i.e. they were all free of weeds or growth of any kind. This happy state of culture did not last long as unclean seed came in from the outside. What great changes have come and I suppose it is best so, but I often think those times were happier than these." "With the railway came the disillusion of many fairy dreams as to wealth and added comfort which many of us anticipated." —38— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW Snuironfi of Cower &itola Lot 131 on which Coyle station of the Kettle Valley Railway is now located, in 1874 was located by Edward Suchell, some of whose descendents still survive. He sold his pre-emption rights to Patrick (Paddy) Ryan about 1879. Ryan sold a half interest to William Smith - who worked as store clerk in Blair and Co.'s store at Coutlee. Smith later acquired the rest of Ryan's interest and rented the property to various tenants until his death in the 1930's. After Smith's death from pneumonia in Vancouver, his sister, Mrs. Gilbert Blair was named executive. Mrs. Blair sold the land to Thomas Bevan of Lower Nicola, who still owns the property which he and his son Ronald have greatly improved. Lot 131 adjoins Lot 130 to the south; the dividing line being the Nicola River, this lot was taken up by Henry Lindley in 1874. Lindley first farmed at "Potatoes Illahie" or gardens, about fifteen miles from Spences Bridge. He probably moved up when the road from Spences Bridge to Nicola was started. The writer heard him say that he gave a cow in payment for clearing his first acre of land. He had several sons whose descendants are still around, principally at Douglas Lake. This Lot when first located was covered with a very heavy growth of willows and poplar. Lindley died from the effects of an attack of gangrene in one of his legs, which he said started from cutting his toenails too short when getting ready to go to a dance. He sold out to Charles Collett, who after farming it for a few years, resold and went to the coast. The next occupant was Thomas Lillico, who rented from a Mr. Gibson. Mr. Gibson later left for Australia with the intention of growing grapefruit. —39— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW Howard Stewart and his mother were the next occupants. They started the first milk delivery in Merritt in the bottled form. The ranch was later acquired by John Neale, who with his sons is still there. Although in very poor health, Neale has made many improvements on the place, making it - for its size - one of the best ranches in the district. Downstream from Coyle station is the former Ellison property. The original home place was at first located by Emerson Woodward, son of Henry Woodward. H. E. Forsyth at one time owned part of it. Next owners were Eric Gavelin and his brother-in-law John Beckman. Axel Ellison married Eric Gavelin's widow and that place and the Pat McKitrick place for many years were known as the Ellison Ranch, and prospered exceedingly under Axel Ellison's good management. Upon Mrs. Ellison's death, the property reverted to her husband and children. Sett Gavelin acquired the Beckman and his father's home ranch from the estate and is still living there and apparently doing very well. Northerly from Lower Nicola lie several ranches. First you come to the James Smith place, now operated by Tnos. Hanna's family. They also have the Hiram Woodward place which is situated between Smith's and Frank Nelson's property. Frank Nelson bought out Robert Whitaker's place when the Whitakers moved to Lots 134 and 135. Frank, as he is known to all, has made the most of his ranch and it is now in prosperous circumstances. Adjoining the Nelson place is one formerly owned by H. S. Stumbles, a place which is very sandy and dry. W. B. Jackson took up land to the north of the Nelson property, and did very well in a small way, mostly chickens) and small fruits. Unfortunately his wife died and Birkett seemed to lose heart. Finally after his death, the place was sold to Alex Marshall, formerly of Douglas Lake, who lived on it for a short time. The present owners are Craigmont Mines. —40— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW On the road from Lower Nicola to the Aberdeen Mine is Maurice Mingay and family. This place was first located by Jack Wilson, who spent many years keeping the Nicola-Hope Trail open. On his death he left the place to R. W. Woodward who sold to Johnny Smith of Spences Bridge, Johnny sold to Isaac Miller who operated a successful fox ranch there until the fashions in furs changed and he went out of business. The fox business was profitable for many years, but evidently not stable. M. R. Mingay, the present owner, operated a piggery on a pretty large scale for many years, but the high price of feed and low price of pork had practically forced him and others out of the pig business. —41- THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW iKatntt Cake This is the name given to that sheet of water on the maps. It has various local spellings, such as Mameet, Mamette, etc. Mamit Lake District was Nicola's French settlement. The Guichon's and Reys being "Old Country French", the rest French Canadians. The first locations reported were on August 16 and July 19, 1873 by Joseph and Pierre Guichon. The Joseph Guichon given as locator in August, 1873, is the same, Joseph Guichon who later founded the enterprise which was known as the Guichon Cattle Co. Ltd. at Quilchena, who took up this land at Mamit Lake. Pierre Guichon died soon after and is buried at New Westminster. The Lots taken up by the Guichons in 1873 now are part of the Rey Ranch at the south end of Mamit Lake. One Patrick Duffy also located in July, 1873 and 1885 we find that Rey and Quenville appear as locators which was when they probably bought out Lawrence Guichon who moved down to Port Guichon, now Ladner. Rey and Quenville continued as partners until 1888 when they parted. Louis Quenville had been back to Quebec and brought out a wife. He moved to the north end of the lake and took up Lots 380 and 749, leaving Jean Rey at the lower end. On the death of Jean Rey, his brother Francois succeeded him and carried on until his untimely death. Gus Vetlesen purchased the property for the executor after Francois Rey's death and was succeeded in turn by Steffens Bros, and Lewis Graham. In 1950 the property was sold to Graham Steele who came from Bogeman, Montana. The Steele's later sold the ranch to the George Garthwaite's, who have also bought the Joe McDougall property. The Louis Quenville place was turned over to his son William on his father's retirement. Louis Quenville died —42— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW June 19, 1932. His son William sold the ranch to John Matheson of Heffley Creek and retired to Merritt where he died suddenly on January 1, 1948. His widow is now living in Vancouver; his family consisted of two daughters, Geraldine and Elaine and one son Noel. Louis Quenville's eldest son Albert is a carpenter and builder and lives at Abbotsford, B.C. Another son Maurice lives on the west side of Mamit Lake on his homestead and that of J. Dupuis. A third son Wilfred is on the Pooley Ranch. The oldest surviving daughter is Mrs. H. R. Plummer, wife of H. R. Plummer; who was formerly manager for the Canadian Collieries on Vancouver Island. Miss Lillian Quenville, another daughter lives in Seattle; the youngest daughter is Sister Dominica. Others who took up land in the Mamit Lake District were Hector Tremblais, John Chartrian, who was murdered, Dave Cousineam who sold to Jim Wright. Joe Proteau and Francis Allen, both of whom took up land in the valley leading to Savona. Joe Quenville enlisted in the First Great War and on his return ranched for sometime on Meadow Creek. His untimely death from cancer of the throat left his widow, who taught school a few terms for Mamit Lake, with one daughter. The original Quenville homestead is now owned by Wilbur and Henry Davis, who inherited it from their father Archie Davis, well-known stockman. £fe -43- THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW (Sufchoo Creek ano (Mmtarieo Leaving Mamit Lake and following the Valley of Guichon or Ten Mile Creek, you reach the ranch known as Mike's, Mr. and Mrs. Mike are Ukranians and are both very hard workers and have made a nice place under difficult circumstances sometimes. Ernie Gavelin now owns the ranch. In the Valley below Mike's place is a small place now owned by E. W. Crab tree. This place was taken up in the early part of the century by Wm. McEvoy, who did a lot of improvements on it and then went north to the Bulkley Valley, in search of fresh fields and pastures new. He died through an accident a few years later. He was succeeded by Mr. Orme, whose place of birth was Toronto. Orme left in 1916 or '17. Another man who lived on the place was a Russian with his wife and stepdaughter. Joe Danish also ran the ranch for some years. He and his wife died in a snowslide on Granite Creek. Following him came G. Vettlesen and then Eddie Klaiber, who bought out the previous occupent, Wm. Quenville. Klaiber sold to E. W. Crabtree who is now living there at present. Following the Valley down we come to Gus Vettlesen on a place which was first taken up by Joe Danish. This Place is now owned by Fred Petrie. Next to the Vettlesen place is Fred Petrie, who bought this piece of property from the Hoggan estate. This ranch was originally located by a man named Brown. Across the road is a place originally taken up by a man named Tohman. It is now owned by Mrs. W. W. Watson, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. J. Loewen, who at one time owned the Lazy "L" Ranch just over the hill to the east and which more will be said later. About a mile south is the home ranch of Steffens Bros. This ranch and the Lazy L property a mile or so to the east is operated by Rupert and James Steffens, two —44— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW brothers, their sister Miss Sophia keeps house. James (now deceased) has a family of two boys and two girls and the ones at home are still living at the Lazy L. The Lazy L Ranch was taken up first by John Mar quart prior to 1885 and was sold to Loewen and Harvey, realtors of Vancouver about 1910. At first Major Eric Conant managed the property, built a house on the highest point of land, which has a splendid view. In practice however, it was found to be wasteful of time to travel up hill so many times a day, so James Steffens moved the house down to the lowest part of the ranch where the barn had always been situated. These brothers have made a success of their business since they bought the Lazy L and are now carrying all the cattle that their summer range will graze. The creek which runs down the Valley is now known as Steffens Creek; its former name was Eight Mile Creek. During the First Great War business became very slack in the realtor line and C. J. Loewen moved his wife and family up to the Lazy L Ranch. The L oe wen * s had two of a family, the boy went to Kingston Military College and is now Sir Charles F. Loewen. He received the K.B.E. in the King's birthday list, June, 1951 and is Commander-in-chief, anti aircraft command at Bushby Heath, just outside London. Their daughter first married a Mr. Turkington, who died: her second husband being W. W. Watson, who for several years was Commissioner for the City of Merritt. They usually spent a portion of each summer at Mrs. Watson's place between the Steffens home ranch and the Lazy L Ranch. In the next valley, that of Hector Creek, is situated the Pooley Ranch, owned by Miss Gladys, Harold and Wilfred Pooley. This location was first made by James Pooley, a cousin of the present owners, which he left to their father. This place has been wonderfully improved since this younger branch of the Pooley family took over. An excellent house has been built and land cleared which is irrigated by a good water system. They run some eight —45— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW hundred head of sheep besides a number of beef cattle. This is one of the most compact ranches in the district. It was first located in 1908 or 1909. Hector Creek joins Steffens Creek shortly after leaving the Pooley property and loses its identity. Steffens Creek empties into Guichon Creek about eight miles from the latter's confluence with the Nicola River. At the Junction of Steffen's and Guichon Creeks is the ranch of Jerry Mellin, a Belgian by birth, who is now dead. Jerry first located at Aspen Grove on the northern end of the McArthur place; from there he went to Mellin Lake, evidently named after him, and stayed there until the early 1940's when he purchased his present home from A. B. Ransom. The Naik Indian Reserve adjoins the Mellin place and continues south about eight miles to the Nicola River. The ranch is now owned by his son Dennis Sam. The story of Mamette Lake would not be complete without mention of Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Lafek of Rey Lake Ranch. About 1915, James Lafek took up Crown Land at Rey Lake. Although their home is in an out of the way place and at times almost inaccessible, they have taken an active part in activities at Mamette Lake, especially the Red Crols. Mrs. Lafek being famous for her knitted goods, produced almost directly from the sheep. -46— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW &0t 120 This lot adjoins on the southwest the old Coutlee Lot 127 and was pre-empted by James Chapman in June, 1871. Mr. Chapman married a Miss Fyal, a native of South Shields, England and had a family of two, Euphemia and John, who together with their parents are deceased. The late Mr. Chapman was a baker by trade and was said by those who knew him to be the best man to cock hay in the district. In 1904 he sold out to John H. Collett, who died in 1945. Mr. Collett constructed an irrigation ditch from the Coldwater River and put a much larger acreage under crop. He later built an up-to-date dwelling and increased the stock cattle until he had as many as the place would carry. In 1945 he divided his property between his two sons, Henry Edward and John Allan and retired from active ranching. He continued to live with his eldest son Harry on the ranch until his death in 1945. His sons have continued in the ranching business and now run as many cattle each as their father did himself. His only daughter 'Tolly" died in 1909 and his wife predeceased him in 1932. John Collett sub-divided a portion of Lot 126 along a portion of the eastern boundary and sold it off in lots. The sub-division being given the name of "Collettville." Collettville is separated from the City of Merritt by the Coldwater River and is fast being built up as a residential area. H. E. (Harry) Collett, who retained the homestead in the division of the property, has by purchase acquired more land principally pasture, on Lindley Creek, the Dan Mclnnes place in Midday Valley and the George McLean holding. Adjoining Lot 128 to the west is Lot 534, which was pre-empted by A. J. Coutlee, the eldest son of the founder of Coutlee, viz Alexander Coutlee, Young Alec, as he was always called, built a house on the Lot and —47— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW lived there until after the end of the First Great War when he sold to Leslie Bond through the Soldier Settlement Board. Bond operated a dairy on the property and supplied milk to the householders in Merritt and Middlesboro. He finally sold out to Walter Dallas, who kept on the milk business until his untimely death. The land was purchased by Duncan C. Wallace who operated it as a cattle ranch in conjunction with his preemption and other property in Midday Valley, some eight miles to the southwest. Wallace died in September, 1953 and his ranch was broken up and sold to T. Bevens and J. Neale. —48- THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW (HavAltt This place was named after its first settler, Alexander Coutlee and for many years was known as Coutlee's. This land was first staked by Thomas Carrington for Noah Shakespeare, who at that time was Postmaster at Victoria. In 1872, Alexander Coutlee had settled on Lot 30 at Boston Bar and on September 29, 1873 Coutlee preempted Lot 127, which was laterf-^nown as Coutlee's. Thomas Carrington described it as being an expanse of willows and cottonwoods (Aspens), with not a clearing to be seen. At that time the only means of access to their upper portion of the Valley was by a trail which wound around the hillside and hence afforded a birds-eye view of the land below. When the wagon road was constructed about 1875 - the road was brought down to the Valley level at the point where the private ranch road leaves the main road. The present road is the fourth which has been constructed at this point. The presence of a spring creek, which was very boggy giving road builders a lot of trouble. Coutlee built a house in 1873 and obtained a licence to sell liquor. In order probably to increase his callers and customers, a road was built from his house to a point on the government road some 300 yards from the present junction, coming out at what is known as the gravel pit. This road was later extended westerly across the Spring Creek to the main road. Later a shorter road was built easterly across the Spring Creek to the main road, being the present means of access to the ranch. In 1926, the present short cut on the main road was built and thus two level crossings on the railway were avoided. In the early 1880's, a sawmill was located on Gody Creek, east of Merritt and together with many other ranchers, Coutlee began building with lumber instead of logs. He built a hotel, store and warehouse. —49— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW The store disposed of to Blair & Co. about 1883. The partners in the company were Gilbert Blair and H. D. Green-Armytage, who had both tried ranching but found trading more to their liking. Alexander Coutlee had one daughter, Mrs. Joseph Cleasby, her husband is dead, two sons Joseph and Jesse, both of whom are dead. Joseph Coutlee was for about fifty years head cowman for the Douglas Lake Cattle Co. Ltd. Coutlee had most of the ranch cleared by 1880 and following his death in January, 1901, the property was sold to H. S. Cleasby, who remained there until 1945. The hotel was run by J. R. A. Richards from 1902 to 1908, he being succeeded by S. J. Solomon who had also acquired the store operated by Blair & Co. During his tenure H. S. Cleasby made a number of improvements, brought irrigating water on to the ranch and built a new house to replace the old log house which was built in 1873 by Alexander Coutlee. In 1945, J. A. Billwiller, a returned man, acquired the property through the Veterans Act. Billwiller sold his holdings to Gordon Munroe and Tom Hanna in 1955. Munro got the property with buildings on and Hanna the hay fields. Mrs. Marion Tessier obtained a few lots from Billwiller also. ^ —50— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW JfarksMe How many people recognize this name or know or remember where it is or was? It undoubtedly came from the old appelation of "The Forks" by which Lytton was once known. Quesnel, not many years ago was usually called "Quesnel Forks" now the Forks has been deleted. There is still in use the term "Finlay Forks" in northern B.C., doubtless it will also drop the word Forks in due course. In 1892, Dr. P. Lefevre and Whetham of Vancouver, took an option to purchase the underlying coal from the landowners in the Forks of the Nicola and Coldwater Rivers. In consideration of these options, they were given the right to put down diamond drill bores and prove the coal measures. The first hole put down was on the east side of the Coldwater River opposite the No. 2 Tipple of the Middlesboro Collieries workings. This bore hole cut the No. 2 seam besides others. The next hole was on the Nicola River, just opposite to the Diamond Vale workings, there they also found coal. These operations gave rise to considerable excitement and a townsite was surveyed and the lots put on the market. This townsite is now Map 1 of Merritt. The coal made Merritt go until after the start of the Second World War. Now lumber is King here and coal has had to take a second - nay a bad third - place. The Forestry people say that the timber in this district is sufficient to keep our sawmills busy for at least fifty years. One doubts this seeing the amount of timber cut the last number of years, and the slow growth replacement. It is costing a large sum of money each year to keep fires from devastating the stands of merchantable timber but a lot of credit is coming to the B.C. Forest Service for their efforts - and successful efforts they are - to curb the fire menace. —51— THE NICOLA VALLEY IN REVIEW Now the motive power, which required coal as fuel up to the last twenty years, is using oil as fuel, which has relegated coal to almost oblivion. The diesel engine is soon going to retire the steam engine, and the building of pipelines from Alberta should make it cheaper and therefore more used. Gas, which is also piped from Alberta to the coast, will be the household fuel of the future and dealt coal another body blow. Will the atomic age follow that of gas and oil? That is the 64 dollar question of the future. 4* —52-
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Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Merritt : The Merritt Herald Ltd.
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Original Format: University of British Columbia. Library. Rare Books and Special Collections. FC3845.N52 C44 1958a
Nicola River Valley (B.C.)--History
The Nicola Valley in review
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