Living Landscapes

From Broad Axe to Clay Chinking
Red Rock
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The Holzworths, Peter and his wife, Wilhemina, came to North America with three children, Theodore, Elizabeth and Jack, all who were born in Besarabia, a place now under Rumanian rule. They went to North Dakota where they had two more children, Arthur born in 1909, and then Emil. Two girls, Emma and Edith, were born in Saskatchewan. In 1918, the Holzworth family came to B.C. and homesteaded at a place near Red Rock, just above the Fort George Canyon. Fred was born here in 1919.

The house was built of logs, very neatly squared off, and into a bank so that both the door of the bottom part and the door to the second floor opened at ground level. They only had one cow to begin with and this was kept in the bottom part of the house which was the old European style of keeping your animals in part of the house. When they got more animals they built a barn. The bottom of the house was then used for a root cellar. They grew a massive garden and all around the edge of it were flowers of different kinds. Caragana bushes grew by the house. They made sauerkraut in big stoneware crocks and also put up pickles in crocks with salt brine.

The family was very musical and gifted with the art of woodworking. The boys all made violins and guitars and they all played them except Theodore. They used to play at the dances at Hixon and Woodpecker and such places. They also made their own skis and snowshoes. One year, Art and his son made a riverboat. They would go down the river a lot. They had mining rights and during the depression, they panned for gold, using a sluice box. This is what kept them going at that time. They hunted, fished, and guided.

When Elizabeth was about fourteen she cooked for a road crew that were building a road on the east side of the Fraser River. The only road to Prince George was down the Blackwater and they had to cross the river to get to it. She went to Prince George and boarded out to go to school and brought all her books home so the children were all self-taught at home. Elizabeth also worked in the hospital. She would sew all the dresses for her sisters. Every Sunday, the family would all dress up in their best. It was a day of rest.

Jack had an old truck and for 25 cents each, he would pick people up, drive them to Quesnel to shop, then bring them and their groceries home. The gravel roads had no ditches -- they were flat.

Mrs Holzworth died in 1926. When Theodore was thirty-six in 1934, he had a very bad cold and was sick so he went to the doctor, snowshoeing to get there. He died in the hospital from pneumonia. Edith was diagnosed with TB in 1934, and spent some years at Tranquille in Kamloops. She recovered and worked at the hospital in Kamloops.

Emil, Art, and Fred all worked on the highways. They had threshing machines and would go to Mud River and to Chief Lake and thresh grain for other farmers. When they all left the place, it gradually fell to pieces.

In 1994, a group of reps from B.C. Lands, Ministry of Forests, Regional District, Heritage Advisory Committee, and B.C. Parks went down to assess the condition of the Holzworth house and barn. It was suggested they take good black and white photos of the buildings, mark the location, and get the history, should it be decided that, at some time, anything be reconstructed for use in this Government Park land.

These are the remains from 1994.

Living Landscapes


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The Holzworths, Peter and his wife, Wilhemina, came to North America with three children, Theodore, Elizabeth and Jack, all who were born in Besarabia, a place now under Rumanian rule. They went to North Dakota where they had two more children, Arthur born in 1909, and then Emil. Two girls, Emma and Edith, were born in Saskatchewan. In 1918, the Holzworth family came to B.C. and homesteaded at a place near Red Rock, just above the Fort George Canyon. Fred was born here in 1919. The house was built of logs, very neatly squared off, and into a bank so that both the door of the bottom part and the door to the second floor opened at ground level. They only had one cow to begin with and this was kept in the bottom part of the house which was the old European style of keeping your animals in part of the house. When they got more animals they built a barn. The bottom of the house was then used for a root cellar. They grew a massive garden and all around the edge of it were flowers of different kinds. Caragana bushes grew by the house. They made sauerkraut in big stoneware crocks and also put up pickles in crocks with salt brine. The family was very musical and gifted with the art of woodworking. The boys all made violins and guitars and they all played them except Theodore. They used to play at the dances at Hixon and Woodpecker and such places. They also made their own skis and snowshoes. One year, Art and his son made a riverboat. They would go down the river a lot. They had mining rights and during the depression, they panned for gold, using a sluice box. This is what kept them going at that time. They hunted, fished, and guided. When Elizabeth was about fourteen she cooked for a road crew that were building a road on the east side of the Fraser River. The only road to Prince George was down the Blackwater and they had to cross the river to get to it. She went to Prince George and boarded out to go to school and brought all her books home so the children were all self-taught at home. Elizabeth also worked in the hospital. She would sew all the dresses for her sisters. Every Sunday, the family would all dress up in their best. It was a day of rest. Jack had an old truck and for 25 cents each, he would pick people up, drive them to Quesnel to shop, then bring them and their groceries home. The gravel roads had no ditches -- they were flat. Mrs Holzworth died in 1926. When Theodore was thirty-six in 1934, he had a very bad cold and was sick so he went to the doctor, snowshoeing to get there. He died in the hospital from pneumonia. Edith was diagnosed with TB in 1934, and spent some years at Tranquille in Kamloops. She recovered and worked at the hospital in Kamloops. Emil, Art, and Fred all worked on the highways. They had threshing machines and would go to Mud River and to Chief Lake and thresh grain for other farmers. When they all left the place, it gradually fell to pieces. In 1994, a group of reps from B.C. Lands, Ministry of Forests, Regional District, Heritage Advisory Committee, and B.C. Parks went down to assess the condition of the Holzworth house and barn. It was suggested they take good black and white photos of the buildings, mark the location, and get the history, should it be decided that, at some time, anything be reconstructed for use in this Government Park land. These are the remains from 1994.