The Tegart name is one of the
oldest and best known in the Windermere Valley of British Columbia.
For generations the family has been involved with the economic
and social development of the valley, mostly through their devotion
to ranching. Denis Tegart, grandson of one of the original valley
settlers, carries on the family business at the Tegart Hereford
Ranch, six kilometers north-west of Radium Hot Springs. The 640-acre
ranch, with 9000 acres of crown grazing land and 110 acres in
hay, supports 180 cows. It is one of the largest and last family
owned and operated in the valley. It has been in the family for
fifty-five years and will be passed on to the next generation
when the time comes.
The history of white settlement
in the valley where the ranch is located is not old. The communities
of the East Kootenay, in the southeast corner of BC, were all
settled around the same time and share many similarities, but
each developed a unique character depending upon its geographical
peculiarities and the type of people who chose to live there.
The Windermere Valley, the area from Canal Flats to Radium Hot
Springs, has had two major influences. The majestic Rocky Mountains
that fringe the east side of the valley drew a tough breed of
men and women who were at home with a simple backcountry lifestyle
that included hunting, fishing, horseback riding, and ranching.
The picturesque lakes in the area and the open scenic landscape
drew another type, referred to with polite contempt as "gentleman
farmers", from the British middle and upper class, and tourists
from all over the world. Both left their imprint and both types
still live in the valley.
This part of the province was
one of the last to be settled in British Columbia and is still
relatively underdeveloped compared to its potential. The valley,
part of the Rocky Mountain Trench, or East Kootenay, had sparse
settlement until the early 1900s. Ktuanaxa and later, the Shuswap,
natives lived there undisturbed until the first white prospectors,
preceded in the early 1800s by fur trader,David Thompson, began
to trickle in. The Wildhorse gold strike near Fort Steele (one
hundred kilometres south) brought in a rush of prospectors in
the 1860s, but they only stayed as long as the gold. By the late
1880s, prospectors had discovered the Giant Mascot, Mineral King,
and Paradise mines in the Windermere Valley and by 1902 the valley
experienced a mining boom.
Ranchers followed the miners,
knowing that they were a good market for beef and other agricultural
produce. Even at the turn of the century, tourism was part of
the valley economy because of its proximity to Banff and the Rockies
and the draw of the hot springs at Fairmont and Radium. Rich people
came from all over the world to climb mountains, hike and hunt
the wild animals and they required local guides who knew the country.
