Ranch Tales

Ranch Tales PDF Author: Ken Mather
Publisher: Heritage House Publishing Co
ISBN: 1772031895
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
An entertaining, fast-paced look at early ranching in British Columbia. Frontier historian Ken Mather is known for his fascinating, in-depth profiles of the men and women who established a distinctive ranching culture in Western Canada over a hundred years ago. Now, in this concise collection of stories—based on Mather’s column in the Vernon Morning Star—readers will meet even more colourful characters, gain insightful tidbits on cowboy culture, and read about little-known cattle drives that stagger the imagination. Ranch Tales highlights the achievements, hardships, and exploits of Newman “King of the Range” Squires, “lady rancher” Elizabeth Greenbow, cow boss Joe Coutlee, the gold-seeking Jeffries brothers who came all the way from Alabama, and many more. This delightful book is a perfect companion to Mather’s other ranching histories and will appeal to anyone interested in the early days of the western frontier.

Gang Ranch

Gang Ranch PDF Author: Judy Alsager
Publisher: Williams Lake, B.C. : Bluedoor Pub.
ISBN: 9780968288306
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
The Gang Ranch—British Columbia's sprawling and legendary million-acre cattle empire—at long last came under Canadian ownership in 1978. Judy Alsager, one of the owners, takes us on a sincere and moving journey of breathtaking scenic images through the tumultuous times that see the Ranch rise proudly from its previous comatose state to become a thriving, exciting operation once again. She shares with us the heartache and desperation of the Alsager family as a bizarre series of events brings the Gang Ranch toppling down without warning, thrusting the family into an alien labyrinth of legal and banking malfunctions. This is an honest account of what actually transpired to tear the Alsager family apart and how the Gang Ranch was wrested away from the family's grasp, resulting in the tragic loss of one of Canada's grandest and most historic assets.

Chilcotin

Chilcotin PDF Author: Veera Bonner
Publisher: Heritage House Publishing Co
ISBN: 9781895811346
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
Who rode sidesaddle 300 miles a century ago to become Chilcotin's first housewife? What rancher carried a portable piano in his buckboard? Who started the Williams Lake and the Ahaheim Lake Stampede? A vivid text and over 200 photographs recall pioneer life in the ranching country that extends westward some 200 miles from the Fraser River to Anahim Lake.

Canadian Summers

Canadian Summers PDF Author: Elaine Seavey
Publisher: Infinity Publishing
ISBN: 0741432978
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
Living fulltime in an Airstream trailer towed by a pickup truck, boat mounted atop, the author shares the adventures of several summers spent exploring Canada from coast to coast.

Heart of the Cariboo-Chilcotin

Heart of the Cariboo-Chilcotin PDF Author: Diana Wilson
Publisher: Heritage House Publishing Co
ISBN: 9781894974288
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
"The Heart of the Cariboo-Chilcotin anthology celebrates the story of this harshly beautiful and remote region in B.C.'s north. From the days of the gold rush through to modern times, this collection captures the spirit of a place whose beauty and wildness have inspired its people throughout its history."--BOOK JACKET.

The Fire Still Burns

The Fire Still Burns PDF Author: Chilco Choate
Publisher: Heritage House Publishing Co
ISBN: 9781894384070
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
Old Nero, the biggest grizzly of the Chilcotin; Siberia, the too-friendly black wolf; and Lucky, the not-so-lucky guide are some of the characters in Chilco Choate's latest collection of yarns and pithy observations from BC's backcountry. Changing some names to protect the guilty, he skewers the once-a-year hunters who, stricken by "buck fever," blast away like they're at a target range then wonder why their guide won't take them out after big game. This long-time hunter also reveals how he's maybe softening with age, enjoying time in the bush as much with a camera as with a gun and sometimes cheering on the prey instead of the predator. There are tried-and-true packing tips for readers planning their own expedition to the backcountry, a discussion of fire power, and culinary ideas sure to whet the appetite of a trail-weary traveller, as well as a few yarns about memorable bush-camp meals that maybe weren't quite so tasty. There are also close encounters with wolves and cougars, and fascinating details on the lives and behaviour of some of BC's most revered critters. For a change of pace, Chilco describes a winter he spent away from his beloved Chilcotin, feeding herds of elk in the East Kootenay. This gives him a chance to examine the resource-use plans too often dictated by ranchers and foresters who turn a blind eye to conservation and the rights of the wildlife that was on the range first. Chilco Choate first came to the Chilcotin in 1952 to try cowboying. Enticed by the lure of the great plateau, he was soon leading both seasoned hunters and hesitant dudes through the back country by day and spinning campfire stories by night. Chilco's previous book for Heritage House, Born for the Wild Country, tells of his early years, hunting and playing hooky along the Nicomekl River near White Rock, BC. In Unfriendly Neighbours, his first book, he describes his volatile relationship with the Gang Ranch.

Cariboo Cowboy

Cariboo Cowboy PDF Author: Harry Marriott
Publisher: Heritage House Publishing Co
ISBN: 9781895811087
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
Annotation Harry started the OK ranch in 1912 and led his last roundup when he was 70. This reprint features a Peter Ewart painting on the cover and celebrates a book first published 40 years ago.

Resettling the Range

Resettling the Range PDF Author: John Thistle
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774828404
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
The ranchers who resettled BC’s interior in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries depended on grassland for their cattle, but in this they faced some unlikely competition from grasshoppers and wild horses. With the help of the government, settlers resolved to rid the range of both. Resettling the Range explores the ecology and history of the grassland and the people who lived there by looking closely at these eradication efforts. In the claims of “range improvement” and “rational land use,” author John Thistle uncovers more complicated stories of marginalization: the destruction of wild horses worked to dispossess aboriginal people, while the campaign to exterminate grasshoppers exposed class conflicts and competing versions of resettlement among immigrant ranchers. This unconventional history examines the lasting effects of range improvement, revealing a fascinating – and troubling – chapter of BC history.

Bronc Busters and Hay Sloops

Bronc Busters and Hay Sloops PDF Author: Ken Mather
Publisher: Heritage House Publishing Co
ISBN: 192693668X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Bronc Busters and Hay Sloops tells the story of ranching in the West from the beginning of the Great War until 1960. Cowboy soldiers, bronc busters, First Nations, upper-crust Englishmen and the strong, capable women of ranching country . . . theirs are the stories told in this book. Some of these characters are larger than life, such as: Joe Coutlee, cow boss of the Douglas Lake Ranch, whose booming voice gave him the nickname “Roaring Bill” Grover Hance, who roped one of his men and tied him to a tree until he sobered up Florence “Bunch” Trudeau, whose pet moose got a little too big for comfort Ollie Matheson, one of the only women to ride in the Williams Lake Stampede’s death-defying Mountain Race Anne Paxton, who tended cattle, guided big-game hunters, ran pack horses and a ranch; Bill Arnold, who could ride “anything that wore hide.” Ken takes readers inside sprawling ranches, which were self-contained communities in themselves, and small family-run homesteads scratched out of the wilderness. Like his first book on ranching history, Buckaroos and Mudpups, this is an engaging look at fascinating times and the people who made them so.

Crossing Home Ground

Crossing Home Ground PDF Author: David Pitt-Brooke
Publisher: Harbour Publishing
ISBN: 1550177753
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Like John Muir, David Pitt-Brooke stepped out for a walk one morning—a long walk of a thousand kilometres or more through the arid valleys of southern interior British Columbia. He went in search of beauty and lost grace in a landscape that has seen decades of development and upheaval. In Crossing Home Ground he reports back, providing a day-by-day account of his journey’s experiences, from the practical challenges—dealing with blisters, rain and dehydration—to sublime moments of discovery and reconnection with the natural world. Through the course of this journey, Pitt-Brooke’s encounters with the natural world generate starting points for reflections on larger issues: the delicate interconnections of a healthy landscape and, most especially, the increasingly fragile bond between human beings and their home-places. There is no escaping the impact of human beings on the natural world, not even in the most remote countryside, but he finds hope and consolation in surviving pockets of loveliness, the kindness of strangers and the transformative process of the walking itself, a personal pilgrimage across home ground. Crossing Home Ground is a book that, though rooted in one specific place and time, will evoke a universal sense of recognition in a wide variety of readers. It will appeal to hikers, natural-history enthusiasts and anyone who loves the wild countryside and is concerned about the disappearance of Canada’s natural spaces. Pitt-Brooke’s grassland odyssey is sure to become a classic of British Columbia nature writing.

Buckaroos and Mud Pups

Buckaroos and Mud Pups PDF Author: Ken Mather
Publisher: Heritage House Publishing Co
ISBN: 1926936698
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Remarkable cattle drives, famous ranches and legendary characters are at the heart of Ken Mather's account of the early days of ranching in British Columbia. These are stories about drovers, ranchers, cowboys and "mud pups" (the remittance men of the ranching industry). You'll meet such people as: the flamboyant Harper brothers, drovers who went on to become the biggest landowners in BC, with interests in the Harper, Perry, Hat Creek and famous Gang ranches Johnny Wilson, one of the most successful ranchers in the industry, who became known as the "BC Cattle King" Jim Madden, nicknamed "Big Kid" for his exuberant personality and childish innocence and whose simple lifestyle and colourful adventures made him famous in the Nicola and surrounding valleys Coutts Marjoribanks, a mud pup whose skills as a cowboy—and his exploits, such as riding his horse up the steep steps and into the Kalamalka Hotel bar—far outshone his talents as the ranch manager his rich family forced him to be. The story begins at the time of BC's first gold rush, and the start of a decade that would see more than 22,000 head of cattle brought into the colony. The author takes readers through to 1914, by which time ranching in the BC Interior had become big business. Complete with informative tidbits about the cowboy's tools of the trade, Buckaroos and Mud Pups is an entertaining look at fascinating times and the men who made them so.