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AWAITING THE RAILWAY With the slowing of activity in the Cariboo gold fields, only the well-established ranches located at strategic places along the main roads and trails survived. Many pre-emptors, unable to make a living because of poor location or lack of markets for their products, abandoned their holdings. In many cases, this left good land available and those ranchers who appreciated the natural advantages of the country for cattle raising and saw the potential for the future were able to add to their land base. They were also able to take advantage of the extremely liberal land legislation that was in effect when British Columbia was united with Canada. When British Columbia joined Confederation in 1871, the Land Ordinance of 1870 remained in effect. This Ordinance had doubled the amount of land that could be pre-empted at one time in the area east of the Cascades to 320 acres. The Ordinance also allowed for the purchase of an unlimited amount of additional lands at the cost of one dollar an acre, payable in four equal instalments, provided that the land had been surveyed. As the survey of lands suitable for settlement in the colony was progressing rapidly, this provision was significant in that it allowed successful farmers and ranchers to expand their land base extensively as long as they were able to meet the costs involved. Also of significance to the rancher, Section 26 permitted the leasing by genuine pre-emptors of any amount of Crown land that was not pre-empted or surveyed, for the purpose of pasturing cattle or horses. This section specified that the pre-emptor had to stock the land within six months with the number of animals per 100 acres that was determined appropriate by the Land Commissioner. A maximum of 500 acres could also be leased for cutting of hay and this only for a period of five years. The provisions of this Ordinance were extremely beneficial to those who had arrived during the 1860s and established themselves in cattle ranching, especially the section allowing for the unrestricted purchase of additional surveyed lands after an initial pre-emption. Everyone in the Cariboo watched with interest the arrival of survey crews for the promised Canadian Pacific Railway arrive in British Columbia in the early 1870s. The location of the railway would spell prosperity for those who were located along the line and, for a time, the Cariboo/Chilcotin looked appeared to be a likely candidate for the route. The survey crews were designated by the letters of the alphabet. Among the various crews in British Columbia were Q and R parties that were exploring the country between the Yellowhead Pass and the Quesnel and Clearwater Lakes. This route, if it was followed, would bring the new railway through the heart of the Cariboo and, as Bute Inlet on the Pacific coast was being considered as a possible terminus, through the Chilcotin. In the summer of 1872, Marcus Smith, who was the engineer in charge of the Pacific Coast Division of the Canadian Pacific Railway, set out from Alexandria to map a route for the rail line through the Chilcotin. Smith explored as far as Tatla Lake, then backtracked along the Chilanko River and along the Chilcotin River to its mouth. Survey camps were set up along the way and, for a time, it looked like the railway would pass through the Cariboo/Chilcotin. Over the next few years, the surveys continued and supplies of beef and provisions helped the struggling Cariboo/Chilcotin economy. By the end of 1876, the survey was completed along with a similar one along the Fraser River. The final report included the discouraging news that a railway terminus at Bute Inlet would necessitate eight miles of rock tunnelling. It was not entirely surprising in December of 1877 that Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie announced that the railway would follow the Fraser River/Burrard Inlet route. In the meantime, one of the areas that saw a tremendous influx of settlers was the Chilcotin. In 1873, a section of land running from the junction of the Chilcotin and Fraser Rivers to a point five miles below the junction of Alexis Creek and the Chilcotin River was declared open for pre-emption under the provisions of the Land Ordinance of 1870. Access to the Chilcotin in the early days was by ferry at Alexandria and later from Soda Creek, which was the main supply centre for the area west of the Fraser. Settlement followed the accessible parts of the lower Chilcotin River and the Chilcotin road. As the Riske Creek area had extensive bunch grass ranges, land was first taken up there. Land was also pre-empted further up the Chilcotin River, with Tomas Orlando "Tom" Hance and Benjamin Franklin "Doc" English settling at present-day Hanceville.
The 1870s were a time of struggle and despair for the fledgling British Columbia ranching industry. After the exciting years of the Cariboo gold rush and promise of growth that came with joining the new Confederation of Canada, the economy slowed to a stop. Population growth was stagnant and markets for interior beef were few. The ranchers, who had begun the 1870s in a spirit of optimism, saw their herds grow and their markets shrink. While many had been able to establish themselves during the gold rush and were content to let their herds increase as they awaited the hoped-for railway, there were others who could not hold on.
What was perhaps more discouraging was the effect that the over-stocked ranges were having on the bunch grass resource. In particular, those areas along the Cariboo Road and the trails into the Cariboo were seeing a significant depletion of the once-thick grasses. The constant grazing and trampling down of the grasses by passing herds of cattle and horses was beginning to take its toll on the sensitive bunch grass. The abundance of grass on the other ranges meant that cattle could be moved around to give the grasslands a chance to rejuvenate but, along the roads, more sagebrush and less bunch grass became the norm.
The ranchers were not oblivious to this. They saw the effect of constant grazing on the grass and were determined not to let it happen on their ranges. It was obvious that the numbers of cattle needed to be reduced. The only solution was to drive cattle to more distant markets and to search out buyers for their beef. As the Cariboo market dwindled, they turned their attention to the coastal cities of New Westminster and Victoria. But, while these markets supplied some outlets for some of the beef, the trails were long and, in most cases, rough. The Victoria Colonist saw the difficulties that the inland ranchers faced. It was a sad fact it said that the cost of transporting cattle from the interior made the cost of beef uncompetitive. "The citizens of Victoria and New Westminster and the people of Burrard Inlet pay $100,000 a year for beef. Every dollar of this goes to our friends in America." Among other things, the Colonist saw the answer in the construction of a sleigh road from Lillooet via Pemberton Meadows to Burrard Inlet to relieve those ranchers north of Lillooet. The surplus of beef cattle in the Cariboo was hardest felt in the areas more removed from the Cariboo Road. The ranches along the former River Trail were located in an abundance of lush bunch grass country that was showing less ill effects from overgrazing. Herds were growing at a significant pace and something needed to be done to relieve the pressure on the ranges and provide some much-needed income to the ranchers. The situation was alleviated to some extent by Thaddeus Harper in the spring of 1876 in what was the most well known drive out of the province and, without a doubt, the longest drive. The British Colonist newspaper in Victoria reported the venture: Beef Exportation: - Mr. T. Harper proposes to take some 800 head of beef cattle from British Columbia to Chicago. He intends to drive via Salt Lake and then take the railroad. At present there are large numbers of cattle in the interior; the market is limited and a band of beef cattle would hardly realize $15 per head. At present, at Chicago, cattle will net over the cost of driving and railroad expense about $40 a head. A few shipments to that point would tend to relieve the market in the interior and consequently give stockowners a better opportunity of disposing of their cattle.
Harper purchased about 800 head of cattle, from three to eight years old, in the Dog Creek and Alkali Lake areas and, by May 16, they were reported to have reached a point "a little above Clinton, bound for Salt Lake City." The report went on to mention that, although a few of the animals looked poor, the majority were good beeves. The cattle were moved slowly, averaging about 12 miles a day and grazing on the spring grass along the route which ran along the old drover trail of the 1860s, across the Thompson River at Savona's ferry, along the south side of Kamloops Lake and over the height of land from Monte Creek to the North Okanagan. At the O'Keefe Ranch the cattle were given a few day's rest and an additional 428 head purchased from the ranchers in the area. The drive continued through the Okanagan Valley and crossed the border into Washington State at Osoyoos. From there it followed the Okanagan River and crossed the Columbia, travelling along the trail through the Grand Coulee to eventually cross the Snake River near Walla Walla. By then winter was approaching and Harper decided to winter his cattle and wait to see market conditions in the spring.
When spring broke and the drive was set to continue, Thaddeus Harper assessed the situation. From the Columbia River to the nearest rail transportation at Kelton, Utah, north of Salt Lake, was a drive of about 600 miles. Shipping from there to Chicago would have cost about $250 for a car of twenty head and prices in Chicago had plummeted to $16 to $17 for three year old steers, about what the stock had cost in British Columbia. None-the-less Harper and his cowboys pushed on, spending the summer of 1877 in Idaho. Here the cattle were held and fattened up until Harper could decide on what to do with them. And sure enough, typical of the Harpers' combination of business acumen and sheer luck, the story took on a happy ending. The British Colonist was to report the next February: British Columbia Feeding California with Cattle. - Some eighteen months ago Mr. Thaddeus Harper drove from British Columbia into Northern Idaho 1200 head of beef cattle. These cattle were summered during 1877 in Idaho, where there was scarcity of neither water nor feed. The drought in California during the same year caused the death of many thousand head of stock, and now Mr. Harper's band is coming into market at San Francisco. The cattle are large and well-grown beeves, rolling in fat, and have been sold at $70 per head. Harper's profits on this venture turned out to be enormous and, inspired by this success, he made arrangements for shipping additional cattle to San Francisco. The Colonist was to report in April: British Columbia Oxen. - An advertisement in the S[an] F[rancisco] Bulletin offers a lot of extra large tame oxen from British Columbia for sale in quantities to suit. 'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?' 'Mr. Thaddeus Harper of British Columbia has imported into San Francisco some extra large steers, selected expressly, and intended for heavy work, etc. They are larger and finer than anything usually found in California, and Mr. Harper believes they will supply a want which has heretofore been difficult to fill.' Thaddeus Harper is frequently judged to be less of a businessman than his brother Jerome had been, but this venture and its subsequent follow-up indicate that he was an entrepreneur of the very best.
Harper was impressed with the natural advantages for raising cattle in the Cariboo. He had since the earliest years of the gold rush pastured his cattle in various locations through the Cariboo country. It is almost impossible to keep track of the various land transactions that the Harpers entered into during the 1860s and 1870s but at one time or another they owned land at Quesnelle Mouth and Hat Creek House as well as having entered into agreements with various ranches along the Cariboo Road to hold cattle before driving them to the Cariboo market. To add to the large holdings he and his brother Jerome had previously acquired in the Kamloops and Cache Creek areas, Thaddeus purchased the Kelly Ranch in the Cut-Off Valley near Clinton in the early 1870s. To the original acreage pre-empted by Edward and George Kelly in 1866, he added by purchase in 1884 additional lands making a total of 14,797 acres. The Kelly Ranch became a key holding in the vast network of lands that Thaddeus Harper controlled by the early 1880s.
Although there is no record of the Harpers owning land there, they were very familiar with the Dog Creek area. They appeared to have pastured cattle in the area since the early days of the gold rush. From the high plateau above the Dog Creek valley, the Harpers could see the vast stretches of bunch grass on the west side of the Fraser and may have held cattle there as early as 1865. Finally, over a period of time from 1883 until 1885, Thaddeus Harper purchased 18,912 acres from the government at one dollar an acre. Such a large purchase of land from the government was unprecedented in British Columbia history. Lot 44 alone, which was purchased in 1883, comprised 8900 acres. This huge acquisition of land became the famous Gang Ranch that was to be second only to the Douglas Lake Cattle Ranch in size. This rivalry between the two largest ranches in the province, the Gang Ranch owned by Thaddeus Harper and the Douglas Lake Ranch owned by J.B. Greaves and C.M. Beak was to immediately come to a boil. During the time that Thaddeus Harper was acquiring the land for the Gang Ranch, he was able to secure the contract to supply beef to the Canadian Pacific Railway construction crews under the control of Andrew Onderdonk. The demand for beef for the five thousand men working on the Yale to Kamloops section of the railway was huge. Harper supplied the beef during the year 1882 and won the contract to supply it again the following year. As he scoured the interior of British Columbia from the Cariboo to the Similkameen for cattle, he began to notice that he had competition. J.B. Greaves and Benjamin Van Volkenburg, who had for years purchased cattle from Harper for his butcher shops throughout British Columbia, went into partnership to form a syndicate that attracted major capital to corner the market on British Columbia beef and supply the lucrative C.P.R. contract. Backed by the wealth of Joseph Pemberton, William Ward, Charles Thompson and Judge Peter O'Reilly, Greaves began to quietly buy up all the cattle he could. Greaves, in partnership with C.M. Beak, acquired huge amount of land in the Douglas Lake area to hold his cattle and the Douglas Lake Ranch was born. Mid-way through By the 1883 construction season, Harper was running out of cattle to supply to the C.P.R. and defaulted on his contract. The syndicate was quick to fill the void and obtained the contract for the next two year's of railway construction. By March 1889 Harper's financial situation had deteriorated to the point that his land holding in the Chilcotin had been put up for auction by order of the Supreme Court of Brtish Columbia. Image from 1889 Auction Catalogue [Royal BC Museum, History Collection, Number: 983.53.18]
All of the competition between the syndicate and Thaddeus Harper had the effect of driving the price of beef cattle up and benefiting the ranchers of the Cariboo, who for years had struggled with small markets and large herds. All of the available cattle in the Cariboo and Chilcotin were bought up and the ranchers began to enjoy a prosperity that had only been dreamed of in the 1870s. The new-found wealth and the promise of better access to markets once the railway was completed changed the situation significantly. The rough and ready days of the gold rush and frontier were beginning to give away to the more civilized touches that the railway promised to bring. One of the results of the prosperity was the opportunity it gave to many of the early settlers to return to their homes in eastern Canada or Britain. The prospect of a well-to-do rancher from "the colonies" was not entirely unpleasant to the women of the more civilized areas and many of the ranchers returned with new wives. The problem was that for most of these white male ranchers, they already had a "wife" in the "manner of the country". Considering the distinct lack of white women and the long lonely days for the early ranchers and ranch hands in the Cariboo, it is not surprising that many of them had taken Indian women to live with them. Far from home and the racial attitudes that prevailed in Victorian times, it was only normal for these men to seek permanent companionship among the native people that they worked along side of. These women were devoted helpmates and quick to learn the running of a household. Many a roadhouse along the way saw the combined industriousness and economy of a European man and native Indian woman resulting in a prosperous ranch. Cariboo ranchers William Pinchbeck, Amadee Isnardy, Augustine Boitanio, and James Bohanon all had native wives. Among the first settlers in the Chilcotin, Thomas Meldrum and Thomas Hance had native wives. Further south on the Cariboo Road, two of the earliest ranchers in the interior, Herman Otto Bowe, founder of the Alkali Lake ranch and Louis Antoine Minnaberriet, founder of the Basque Ranch, both had Indian wives. While most of these men chose to live in a common-law relationship with their Indian partners, there were a significant number who made their liaison official with a marriage.
Not only were the native women quick to adapt to the ways of their husbands but also they were able to maintain close contacts with their own people and culture. They brought with them an extended family that was available to assist in the ranch activities. But the new prosperity and the influx of white women into the interior, brought about a change. Many of the ranchers visited their homes in the east or in Great Britain and returned with wives. This usually resulted in the native wife, and most often the mixed blood children of the relationship, being relegated to a small home of her own or back to her people on the reserve. This was the case with William Pinchbeck, who continued to ranch at Williams Lake. In 1884, at the rather late age of fifty-four, he returned to his native England and married. Upon his return, he built two houses, a beautiful two story house, "the finest in the Upper Country", for his white wife and a smaller home, removed some distance down the lake, for his Indian "common law" wife and family.
The same was the case with Tom Hance. He had lived common-law since the early 1870s with Annie Tlilkwa, a Chilcotin woman, with whom he had four children. In 1887 when he was 43, he married Mary Ellen Verdier and brought her back to the Chilcotin. As was the case with many of the native wives, Annie Tlilkwa was not even listed in the 1881 census and later histories of the area have left her entirely out of the story of Tom Hance.
For most of the day-to-day ranching activities, the ranchers themselves and their families were the workers. They looked after the feeding, seasonal moving of herds and the doctoring of sick cattle. But for the longer trail drives and the spring and fall round-ups, it was necessary to hire additional men to assist. In most cases, the readily available labour market consisted of their wives relatives from local native bands. The Indian people were close at hand and available at short notice and also were excellent horsemen who could withstand the harsh conditions of the British Columbia interior. Soon the native people were being recognized for the contribution that they could make to the ranching economy. In return, the Indians could obtain much-needed financial assistance and engage in an activity that was a natural extension of their traditional lifestyle, living close to the land and working as a team to achieve an anticipated result.
To the native Indian labour class was added another type of worker, Europeans, Americans, Mexicans and sometimes Chinese who were newly arrived in the province. Many of these had initially been attracted to the area by the lure of gold but had seen the difficulties and futility of making a living through mining. These would-be miners, to whom could be added those younger sons and adventurers of British origin who were in British Columbia in hopes of making their fortune in "the colonies". Most of the British-born immigrants who worked on the ranches of others in the 1870s did so in order to learn the basics of ranching in the interior and to make enough money to get them established on their own land. For this reason they were not a long-term source of labour but could offer their services for a short time.
By the time the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed in the fall of 1885, there were a series of isolated ranches located throughout the Cariboo and Chilcotin regions wherever there was an expanse of grazing land suitable for stock raising. Except along the Cariboo Road where settlement was more or less continuous, settlement was widely separated and confined to the individual pre-emptor's holdings. The coming of the railway was to have a profound effect on British Columbia and to encourage an influx of settlers into the ranching areas around Williams Lake. History of Cariboo Ranching |
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