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CENTENNIAL EDITION

THE WILLIAM

LAKE TRIBUNE

Williams Lake

And then

the Cariboo

road went wrong way

Unlike the mushrooming, it was obvious that to become a permanent town with a stable

served, destined economy,

It was an agricultural centre, a court house had been built and a jail constructed. It was the postal centre of the Cariboo and a natural stopping Place for travellers on the old brigade trails and up ihe Fraser.

Here developed a distillery, curing house, flour mill and sawmill,

It would be a city if the new Cariboo road came through.

But it didn’t. The fall of Williams Lake was drastic and sudden, and the valley was to slumber for another 50 years before a different Troad—one of iron rails—was to bring ful- fillment to those early dreams.

MISSION RANCH

A farm was operating here \in 1859, known as the Mission Ranch. Davidson was the owner and he sold out in 1861 to Tom Menefee and Dudley Moreland. Menefee was one of a party of five Americans under Peter Dunlevey who first discovered gold in the Cariboo, and,it was he who was to figure prominently in the economic disaster of the road location. Moreland faded out of the iocal historical picture but not pro- vincially. He located at Cot- tonwood and it was a question of an alleged gift of land he made to Judge Begbie, that touched off a famous cont2mpt of court incident at the coast involving John Robson, Editar of the British Columbian, and later a Premier of the province.

PINCHBECK HERE

Already on the scene at Wil- liams Lake was the man who was to eventually hold the en- tire valley under his owner-

came this way by chance.

One day in San Francisco, the three Pinchbeck brothers tossed a coin to decide their

House erty. This was

And the story goes that he |

“ Upper i lose-up of the ae on the Pinchbeck-Lynes prop- a noted stopping place

booming camps it Williams Lake was

Separate destinations. One brother subsequently headed for Australia, one to Padegonia and the third, William, directed his steps north.

He came into the Cariboo with Andrew Olson and Charles Eagle. Eagle Jater took up what is now the Onward Ranch.

Miners were pouring into the country, and Governor Doug- las authorized the appoint- ment of more stipendiary magistrates. One of these was Philip Hendy Nind, who took over his duties on July 17. 1860, for the district of Alex- andria in the Province of British Columbia,

Nind chose Williams Lake as his headquarters and ap- pointed William Pinchbeck as Chief Constable.

But Pinchbeck’s first and en- during love was the land. He took up a small parcel of ground on his own at first and then expanded in partnership with Billie Lynes, who had worked in partnership with Pinchbeck before in California.

There were two main estah- lishments in this partnership, the “ Upper Place,” on what is still known as the Comer, and the “ Lower Place,” or the olé Borland House by the lake.

FIELDS OF GRAIN

The entire township was covered with fields of grain, including “ Rawhide Flats,” in the general area of the stock- yards today, so named because Pinchbeck gave squatting privileges to an old man near there, who used rawhide for clothing, harness and even making repairs to his fences.

Activities of the partners eventually saw a sawmill in Operation on the creek, bottom below the Comer, a brewery at the “ Upper place,’ or what is a distillery, and about 1884 a flour mill went into operation

Pees

in the early history of the Cariboo. large bar-room was in later years used as a grocery store.

on the creek below where the Present power house stands.

From these operations went products to the mines. A pig- gery supplied pork for the ham and bacon that was cured and sent to the same market. ‘The partners kept from 15 to 20 men working steadily and two Chinese cooks were on the per- manent staff.

MENEFEE'’S HOTEL

Menefee operated a hotel on the Upper Place and it is ob- vious why the change of the road route lead to his financial downfall.

The road was supposed to come through Williams Lake.

Lieutenant H. Spencer Palmer, of the Royal Engineers charged with finding the best Toutes to the mines, recom- mended the road follow the San Jose to Williams Lake and along the Fraser River to Alexandria. But the contrac- tor, Gustavus Blin Wright, swung it over the mountain.

When Wright reached 140 Mile during construction, he applied for a loan from Mene- fee. The loan was refused and the men quarreled. By their contracts, road builders could deviate when they con- sidered it practical and Wright built the road past the 150 Mile and up over Carpenter Mountain.

By the time the road was being constructed, Wright had an interest in the Deep Creek stopping house run by Frank Way, and a road through Wil- liams Lake would have by- passed this lucrative business. It was rumored at the time that Way had given Wright a half interest in the farm so long as Wright could turn the road in that direction. It ap- Pears then that the quarrel with Menefee was nothing more than a ‘red herring.”

STOPPING PLACE CLOSED

Later attempts to re-route the road were opposed by teamsters, who said no feed existed. along. the river route. This opposition, coupled with the expense of construction; prevented the road being built until 1932.

When the road opened over Carpenter Mountain, Williams

Its

Lake was closed as a stopping place.

Tom Menefee, the man who suffered most by the change. later moved to Soda Creek, and is buried there beside the road that ruined him.

The postal centre at Wil- liams Lake was removed to Barkerville in 1864.

The magnificent farm of Pinchbeck and Lynes was still here though and continued to operate for some years. What killed the enterprise eventually was the heavy indebtedness in-

curred by Pinchbeck after he bought out Lynes. \When he died the farm was heavily

mortgaged to the Gang Ranch.

RACE TRACK

Among the attractions at the "Lake in those early days was the large race track that was located ‘where the present air- port is today. It way said to be so large that there were 76 acres of grain planted in the centre of it. A smaller race track was kept up near the Upper Place.

During the first years of operation of the farm, the part- ners lived in the Upper Place. Lynes was married and event- ually Pinchbeck decided to ac- quire a wife. Consequently he mortgaged his share of the Place and went off to England In 1884 he returned with bis bride and established the lower house.

Probably aided oy the de- pressed economic situation in the Cariboo following the de- cline of mining, more mort- gages followed and the finan- cial end was likely in sight at the time of Pinchbeck's Ceath

He survived a serious opera- tion in 1892 but was in failing health.

The night before he died, he walked around his farm as much as he was able, speaking to all of ‘his employees.

He passed on at midnight on July 31, 1893, ond it is re- lated that thunder and light- ning occurred ut the time of -his death, marking the end_of @ golden era in t

rim overlooking the Stampede Grounds and the valley he con- trolled for so many years.

The Borland House was

still standing after the

modern town of Wil-

liams Lake started. Pic-

ture of the Stampede in

1936 shows the house at the right.

4 > valley?s his=

? gas or sR buried @h the -

Shown here are Mr. and Mrs. William Pinchbeck. At the time of his death in 1893, Mr. pinchbeck owned the entire valley where the town of Williams

had glowing

Pa

When William Pinchbeck married, he moved from where he had stayed with his partner Lynes, to the “ Lower House,”

the “‘ Upper House,”

Here is shown the flour mill at Williams Lake. Bags of “Pinchbeck Flour” were sold throughout the

in 1860

Picture at the base of the Stampede ground hill. was later to be known as the “ Borland House.” seen in this

mining communities.

Lake named for Chief William

There is little doubt that

Williams Lake was named for the famed Chief Willyam (Wil-

liam) of the Will Lak Shuswaps.

In his “Chronicles of the

Alex P. McInnes

describes Chief Willyam in

as a man of middle age

short, broad figure. It was Chief Willyam whose wise and eloquent councils

during succeeding years helped so much: to prevent the execu- tion of the Chilcotin Indians’ plan of joining forces with <ke

Shuswaps and Denes in wiping out the whites then in the Cariboo.

Mr. McInnes states that it

was in recognition of this sig- nal service to the country that the early whites named Wil-

liam’s Lake after him. Com- mon useage has seen the apostrophe deleted from the name.

Lake now stands,

GUNS GALORE...

is the sight you will see in our “ sports corner.” Guns have always been to the fore in the Cariboo since the earliest days when men depended on their trusty weapons to provide themselves with food. Today, situated as we are at the hub of one of the finest hunting areas in Canada, men still demand fine guns to pursue their chosen sport. We take pride at Lake Hardware in not only supplying the finest guns made but also in furnishing our customers with sound advice on their care, maintenance and use.

Lake Hardware Ltd.

It was built in 1884, and was located on the creek below the present power house.

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