CENTENNIAL EDITION

THE WILLIAMS LAKE TRIBUNE

Harper brothers

Cariboo life

: Of the early pioneer.
in the Cariboo, none ex

their enter.

mining ventures there.
Birthplace of the Harpers
was Harper’s Ferry, Virginia,

des-
cendants of the Harper

who
founded the community. Jer-
ome was born in 1826 and

Thaddeus in 1829.
TENDER REJECTED

Exact date of their arrival
in British Columbia is not
known, but in October, 1859,
Jerome Harper was operating
@ sawmill on London Flats, at
Yale. The following year Thad
deus submitted a tender for
construction of a four-mile
stretch of the Cariboo Toad
which was rejected as exhor-
Ditant.

In 1861 the Harpers first
appear in early records'as land
Owners. Thaddeus was granted
erty described as “a pit of
land on the south side of the
Fraser River near Pikes
riffle.” Title for the land was
never completed.

HOLDINGS GREW

But from this uncertain be-
sinning large holdings grew.
In 1888 at the time of the sale
of the Harper lands to the
Western Canada Ranching
Company, they aggregated no
les§ than 38,572 acres.

Jerome Harper was occupy-
ing land east of Kamloops as
early as the fall of.1862. Rec-
ords show other parcels of
land in this general area were
later transferred to Thaddeus:
Hight years later ‘their hold-
ings east of Kamloops totalled
3,957 acres.

Then the brothers started
adding land to their holdings
in other districts. They secured
the land at Cache Creek later

prising ana daring adventures.

Known as the Perry Ranch,
and at Clinton or Cut-off Val-
ley, purchased

In 1863 Jerome Harper be-
gan to secure control of the
cattle importing business. He
would buy cattle in Washing-
ton and Oregon during the
winter months and hold them
until spring. Some time in May
he would start a drive that
usually consisted of 400 head
of steers, 50 head of milk
cows and 50 head of horses.

FAMOUS DRIVE

Upon arrival at Barkerville,
Harper had the stock herded
on Bald Mountain, about two
miles from Richfield. From
here they were driven to the
slaughter house as required.
Generally about 1400 head
would be used in a season.

It was in 1870 that Jerome
was stricken with a serious ill-
mess and had to be taken to
California, where he died four

_ Years later.

His interests in British Col-
umbia were committed to his
brother, but now there was a
change in the cattle industry.
With the wane of the gold
rush, the number of cattle in
the country increased rapidly,
So much so that in 1876 Thad-
deus started his famed drive
to Chicago.

800 HEAD

The intention was to drive
some 800 head of cattle to
Salt Lake City and there put
them on railroad cars.

The drive started in May and
and Thaddeus picked up an-
other 400 head before crossing
the border. He wintered the
entire herd in Washington that
year.

Faced with a further drive

Page 5

of 600 miles to Salt Lake City,
Harper decided to head for
Idaho, and there the cattle
summered. The move was a
sound one, because that season
there was a drought in Cali-
fornia and stock died by the
thousands. Well fed on the
grass lands of Idaho, Harper's
cattle when they arriyed on
the San Francisco market were
sold at $70 a head. A year be-
fore cattle prices at the bor-
der’ were §17 for three-year-
old steers and $13 for two-
year-olds.

MINING INTERESTS

The cattle business was by
no means the only commercial
enterprise in which the Har-
pers engaged. In November of_
1863 Jerome was operating a
sawmill at the mouth of the
Quesnel River. In partnership
with a man named Scott, Jer-
ome then built a flour mill
north of Clinton. Scott left the
partnership and following the
death ‘of Jerome, Thaddeus
moved the mill to the mouth
of the Bonaparte.

In the late seventies the
cattle industry was in a de-
pressed state and Thaddeus
engaged in mining activities
on Lowhee Creek. The annual
report of the minister of mines
in 1885 relates that the

ground all round the China
Company's claim at Horsefly
was held under lease by T.
Harper. It also points out that
there had not been any work
done on the ground since the
lease was +obtained. In 1891
the Harper interests there
were bought by R. T. Ward,
formerly a storekeeper at 150
Mile House.

The last ten years of the life

cut wide swath in early

of Thaddeus Harper were
tinged with tragedy, following
an'incident. There are two ac-
counts of this, one was that he
was kicked in the face by a
horse on his Chileotin Ranch,
the other was that he was
thrown from a horse at Lac
La Hache and sustained a
brain fracture from which he
never recovered. He. died in
Victoria on December 9, 1898.

Keithley Creek was

It was here on Keithley Flat,
the delta between the upper
and lower Cariboo lakes, that
the partnership of Veith and
Borland was formed, a fir
that was to eventually operate
trading posts, hotels, freight ”
outfits and mule trains all
through the Cariboo. Nearly
all consigned goods at that
time carried the marking:
“VB. KC. B.C”, which
meant Veith and Borland,
Keithley Creek, British Colum-
bia.

Bob Borland and George
Veith were two gold-hungty

Top picture shows.the first bridge over the Horsefly
This bridge was constructed by
Alex Meiss, and a toll was collected from travellers
We were unable to find out
just when the bridge was built or when the tolls were
One of two hotels at Horsefly was the

River at Horsefly.
for a number of years.

removed.

Horsefly Hotel. Structure at the left was the first

home of the Walters family. From left to right are

Harry Walters, Hazel Walters and Pat Sharkey: This
picture was taken in 1916.

Cariboo’s fabulous
firm just disappeared

discovered in 1860 by

“Doc” Keithley, George Weaver and tneir com-
panions, and although it never became famous for
the production of gold, it did gain prominence as the
headquarters of one of the most fabulous business
ventures in the early history of the country.

but disappointed young miners
When they first met in the
small store right in the middle
of Keithley Flat. Both had
come to buy meagre supplies,
each was only panning an
ounce of gold a day.

Sitting around the warm
stove in the store, they de-
cided to form a partnership
and buy the store as soon as
they had the money. They did
buy the business, and right
from the start they were suc-
cessful. They seemed to have
the Midas Touch as far as
business was concerned.

OPERATED HOTEL

‘Miners kept swarming in and
there was need for more ac-
commodation. More rooms
were added to the store and
soon a hotel was in operation.
It wasn't long before the part-
ners owner two stores, a stop-
uing house, operated the mail
service to Barkerville and
owned a sawmill. Then they
got the franchise from the
Hudson’s Bay Company to
pack all the company’s supplies
to their central posts. They
$laughterhouse

lef bought the
popular 150 Mile House prop-
erty. Between 1886 and 1890
the firm reached its peak. The
operations then reached over
thousands of acres of the Cari-
boo. In the 80’s the firm
owned two working mines, four
general stores, three hotels,
several cattle ranches, a pack-
ing house and a freighting ser-

vice.

Then the company started to
fade from the scene. First the
pack train was sold and then
the 150 Mile House.

It seems hard to believe that
in little more than 60- years
this firm that played such an
outstanding role in the devel-
opment of the country should
have disappeared so com-
pletely.

i its i ion i British Co-
S its inception in 1945, the

lumbia Power Commission has had but one
objective —to help British Columbians live

better electrically!

To reach this goal, the Commission was met
with the challenge of keeping pace with the
phenomenal growth and develo>ment in a
booming British Columbia‘ :

Generating facilities were developed—and ex-

pai

exten

nded . . . transmission lines were built—and
ded, so that the new and existing industry

and homes in the area served could have elec-

trical service second-to-none .

possible cost.

at the lowest

It has been a successful task! Today, serving
75,000 families in more than 200 communities,
the Power Commission undoubtedly stands
as a young giant in Canada’s Pacific Coast
Province—with 12 vigorous years of electrical
progress under its belt, and a keen eye towards

expansion in the future!

POWER MEANS

PROGRESS!

Cariboo.

~ Jim Carson

Service and hospitality were the hallmarks of travel on the
Cariboo Road of the ‘60s—and they still are. We are proud
of our part in maintaining this tradition of service to trav-
ellers to the most scenic part of the province—The Historic

CARSON'S |
CHEVRON
SERVICE