Page 4

THE WILIIAMS LAKE TRIBUD

~

CENTENNIAL EDITION

These two pictures are of the
same person—taken quite a
few years apart. Hazel Wal-
ters was the first white child
born in Horsefly, and the top
picture was taken when she
was a baby. Below, Hazel,
now Hazel Gibbons, is shown
today. Mrs. Gibbons is a
trustee on District 27 School
Board.

Horsefly was busy mining
spot in days of first. gold rush

CELEBRATED
FIRST WHITE
CHILD'S BIRT

The first white child born at
Horsefly still lives near the
banks of the busy river, and, to
use her own words, stays on
“because I love the country.”

Minnie Hazel Walters, now
Mrs. M. L. Gibbons, was born
July 19, 1896, the daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Harry Walters.

When the miners employed
by the Horsefly Hydraulic Min-
ing Company heard of the news
of her birth, they took up a
collection and bought her a
handsome gold locket and
chain in the shape of a heart
with the initial “W” studdea
with five rubies, five diamonds
and four sapphires. The other
side was engraved with “ Pre-
sented to Minnie Hazel Wal-
ters,’ ’and inside was engraved
“The first white child born in
Horsefly, July 19, 1896.”

TIN FILLED WITH GOLD

Because of her deep love for
the district, Mrs. Gibbons has
made a careful study of its bis-
tory and its early settlers. As
a child she remembers the busy
Horsefly of the mining days,
when she says it was not un-
usual to see a biscuit tin filled
with pure gold.

She is also interested in edu-
cation and has served for a
number of years as area rep-
‘resentative and trustee for
School District 27: She is a
member of the present board.

There seems to be some disagreement over
pinpointing just where gold was first discovereq in

quantity

Mining records show that
H. O. Bowe came up the Horse-
fly River from Quesnel Lake
in 1859 to work the golden
bars, although local historians
put the year at 1858. Then
there is the romantic story of
Peter Dunlevy’s trip.

But Horsefly continued to be
a busy gold-producing spot
jong after many of the other
rich strikes had become his-
tory.

ORIGINAL FIND

The original discoverers left
in 1863 for the rich finds
north of Keithley Creek, and
this ground was taken over by
the Chinese firm of Tong Kee.
It is estimated this firm took
out over half a million dollars
worth of gold before selling to
Harper. He in turn sold to
Ward, who formed a company
to operate the property. During
1891, J. H. Hobson, a practical
engineer of great experience,
organized a company that
took over 11 leases covering
1475 acres of land at the
mouth of the Horsefly. A com-
Plete hydraulic. system was
constructed and it is recorded
that in 1894-95, water was
used only 104 days and in that
time gold to the value of
$59,640 was recovered. This
was the Horsefly Mine.
BUSTLING TOWN

The village itself reached its
heyday around 1900, when
some 200 miners lived there.
The town boasted two hotels,
street lights and a toll bridge.

The bridge was built by Alex
Meiss, who took out the first
pre-emption in 1894 and

in this district, but the little town of
Horsefly appears to have a good claim.

opened the first stopping place
and saloon in 1896. The toll
amounted to 25¢ per person
per trip. but when the river
was low, residents ignored the
wooden structure and forded
the shallow waters.

Another early resident was
M. L. (Harry) Walters, who
was born at the 83 Mile House
and came to Horsefly in 1892.
He operated the second hotel
in Horsefly, and was also post-
master, justice of the peace,
telegraph operator and rancher.
FIRST POST OFFICE

The first post office serving
thearea was called Horsefly
Post Office, and was located
five miles from the present
village centre. A second post
office called Harper’s Camp
was opened in 1897, on the site
of the present village. By
community ballot. this name
was changed to Horsefly in
1920. The original “ Horsefly
Post Office’ at the site of the
Horsefly Mining Company had
been closed in 1908.

Horsefly experienced two
other mining ventures that
never amounted to anything.
Right in the heart of the
present village, across the road
from the present Variety Store,
an American company set up
an impressive operation in
1900. Thousands of dollars
worth of equipment was
brought in, and _ buildings
erected, and for/six years holes
were mehthodically dug. The
company sank a shaft down
600 feet and drifted out from
this central hole.
is known, not five cents worth

As far as §

of gold was removed—at least
from the ground—and the
company folded in 1906.

Then there was the Eureka
rush in 1902. In August ot
that year, the | provincial
mineralologist, Philip Fraser,
H. N. Campbell and others, left
Harper's Camp for the Upper
Horsefly. © They travelled up
Horsefly Lake in a boat, stop-
ping overnight 10 miles up the 7
lake at Hansen’s Island. Next!”
day they reached Knight's
Hotel, a largé log house built
by Archie Knight on a smali
bay on the south shore of the
lake. From Knight's Landing
the trail to the Upper Horse-
fly starts. Claims were estab-
lished on Eureka Creek, which
flows into the south fork of
the Upper Horsefly, but they
proved almost worthless.
RANCHING, TRAPPING

With the decline of mining,
many of the men who had been
drawn to Horsefly to work for
the companies remained to
take up trapping and ranching.
In later ‘years, big game guid-
ing became a profitable side-
line and Horsefly boasts more
registered big game guides per
capita than any other com-
munity in the Central Cariboo.

Here is one of Horsefly’s two hotels
around the turn of the century. It
was the City Hotel, and the sign reads
“Harper’s Camp,” name of the centre
in the early days, and on the other

First teacher is still active

Road, a prophetic note was
sounded by Mrs. Johnny
Murphy when the stage pulled
in at the Murphy stopping
place. On hearing where the
young woman was going, Mrs.
Murphy assured her she would
like the country, and might
find her future husband among
the eligible bachelors. In fact,
Mrs. Murphy could think of one
young man in particular who

This hotel was operated by Alex Meiss.
Woman in the foreground is feeding
scraps to a bear cub. =

Almost 50 years ago, a
young woman left the bright
lights of Vancouver to start a
school at Horsefly, and al-
though her move prefaced tho
end of her teaching career,
she is still very much part of
the Horsefly scene.

Up the beautiful Black Creek
Valley, Mrs. Albert Patenaude
can be found any day, busy
with the hundreds of jobs to : ;
be done around a ranch kit- Would qualify. His name was
chen, although now she has Albert Patenaude. 7

teacher at Horsefly

ill lives near that bustling com-

the help of her.two daughters-
in-law.

Annie Moore was born ino
Minnesota,, of Irish descent,
and was educated in Winnipeg
before coming to the coast.
She taught school at Vancouver
for six years and then decided
to accept an appointment to
open a school at Horsefly at a
salary of $75 a month. The

FRIENDLY ATTITUDE

But if the school facilities
weren't up to much, the
friendly attitude of ,the resi-
dents more than compensated,
and the school teacher recalls
with a twinkle the gay times
the early settlers had.

A year later, Albert Pateny
aude claimed the teacher fo
his bride. Their family ee

munity. Mrs. A. Patenaude points to the spot on the map
she came back to in 1910, and which was to become her
future home.

year was 1910. is still on the same site that
On her trip up the Cariboo ® Albert pre-empted in 1892. \

‘ 1858-1958 B.C. CENTENNIAL YEAR

TWENTIETH
CENTURY :
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SYMBOLS OF

BRITISH COLUMBIA’S

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FIRST FPERMANENT BANK

1887

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Cauadas First Bash
FOUNDED. AN 4817

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