|
| |||||
|
|
From Broad Axe to Clay Chinking
Willow River
[Prev | Home | Next]
Edwin and Francis Perry and their daughter, Lila, came to Prince George in 1912 from the state of Illinois. Edwin was a concrete engineer, working on railroad tunnels and things of that nature, but he grew tired of railroading in the Deep South, so he bought a shoe store in Spokane, Washington. When he heard about the railroad in Canada being built from Edmonton, Alberta, to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, he just had to try that one out. When he did get to Canada, the railroad was almost completed and the next contract was in China. He did not want to go to China and because he liked the wildlife, fish and B.C. country, he decided to get a homestead. In 1914, there was no road out to where he homesteaded in the Willow River area, only a trail used by natives. Another son, John, was born that year.
It was pretty rough going in those days with little cleared land, and no cattle or horses in the country to be bought. If there was a horse for sale, it was on its last legs. For this reason it made it very hard fro Edwin Perry to get horses to clear land with or do any work with. He finally got a chance to buy a nice team, a matched pair of blacks, for five hundred dollars, which was quite a price to pay in those days. He left the house in town, where Francis and the children were and went out to the homestead. While he was making supper, he let the horses graze around the tent but never tethered them and much to his dismay, they took off on him. He packed up some food and his .22 rifle and took off after them, in the night. It was May the 14th.
He followed those horses for days and days and finally ended up at Barkerville only to find that someone had found them and took off with them. It was very disheartening but all he could do was go to Quesnel and catch the BX boat back to Prince George. He came into the house and his wife thought he was some kind of wild man, with his beard and long hair. When he spoke to her, she recognized him. It was November the 27th. He had been gone all that time.
Perry was not a log builder but managed to get some boards from old buildings that were torn down at Tete Jeune Cache and some new sawn lumber. This was brought down the river. By 1917 he had the house built, which is still in use today. That was the year the family moved out to the farm. They had a couple of cows and planted potatoes and a garden, so they made a meager living. Another son, Myles, was born.
The river was their means of transportation. In the winter, it was covered over with ice and they used to go across it with the team of horses and a sleigh. When the children went to school, they had to be boarded out in town. One spring, the river was ready to break up so the Perrys got word to the two boys to come home by train to Willow River and the father would meet them at the station. Their father put them on the sleigh and they were told to “hang on.” As they crossed the ice with the horses going at a full gallop, the boys watched as the ice broke up behind them, leaving a trail of open water. The chances they had to take in the old days were sometimes very scary.
In 1927, sometime after Lila was married, Edwin Perry passed away, leaving his wife and two boys to manage the farm. It was tough as it was hard to get a hired man at that time. In 1930 the depression came and it was almost impossible to sell any hay or meat or anything, and if you did manage to sell something, it was even harder to collect the money for it. They survived the depression by trapping a bit and doing some mining. Sometimes they worked on the road.
In 1939, there was a market for lumber so the Perrys bought a little mill and began sawing lumber, becoming prosperous. By the 40's the Perrys had nine packhorses and would get called out by the Forest Service to look for and fight fires. Although they are both retired, the Perry brothers, along with Myles daughter, still live out at the old homestead.
 |
||
 |
Copyright © Royal
BC Museum |
|
