108 Mile Road House
(District Lot 76)
The original timeline was prepared by the 100 Mile House and District Historical Society, additions have been made by Wanda Story.
-James was educated at Sherbourne College.
1862 - James Roper arrived in Victoria in 1862 via Panama and San Francisco. He was drawn to the Interior by gold and spent time mining and working as a freighter. On his first trip north, he was reminded of the rolling hills of his home county. He pre-empted land at that site thinking that he might settle there, and built a roadhouse to cater to the travelers.
1863 - William J. Roper pre-empted District Lot 76, 320 acres.
1867 - The 108 Hotel or Roadhouse was built on the north side of the Cariboo Wagon Trail. A log stable and log shed were also built.
1868 - William Roper was not particularly successful at running the roadhouse and sold it to Charles Beak so that he could return to freighting.
1871 - He left the 108 and went to Cherry Creek near Kamloops.
1875 - Agnus MacVee, Jim MacVee and Al Riley ran the 108 Hotel.
- William Walker purchased the 108 Roadhouse from the Beak family.
1880 - William Walker pre-empts District Lot 76. He was a telegraph operator, stock raiser, dairy farmer, trader and BX Agent. He built a log dairy or "ice house" and a black smith shop on the site. He also tore down the 1867 Roper log shed on the north side of the road and reassembled it on the south side as a store and telegraph office. There were rumours at the time that he was looking for gold that was said to have been buried by Agnus MacVee.
1887 - William Walker is listed in the Lac La Hache Directory as a trader, telegraph operator and agent for the B.C.X. and living at 108-Mile House.
1891 - William Walker sold the property to Stephen Tingley on December 30 for $320.00. Stephen was a famed BX Coach driver and Stephen's son Clarence would run the roadhouse. Clarence was a telegraph operator, BX Agent, dairy farmer, stock raiser, storekeeper and hotel keeper. His brother Fred would also help run the operation.
1892 - The 1867 Roper built hotel was torn down on the north side of the road and re-assembled on the south side as the 108 Post House with a kitchen and eating area. A small log barn was built and a large log BX stable was built for the Clydesdales. The Clydesdales barn was rumored to be one of the largest barns in Canada at the time.
-A framed Blacksmith shop was built.
-A log bunkhouse was built.
1899 - Hon. Maurice Egerton of Tatton, made his first trip to BC visiting Kamloops and Big Bar (he would later buy the 108 Ranch in 1917)
1903 - Clarence Tingley sold the 108 property plus 13 other lots on September 23rd to Captain Geoffrey Launcelot Watson originally from Scotland, a former British Army Officer with the York and Lancashire Regiment. Captain Watson acquired some 50,000 acres for $11,000. It is said that he was 6 foot 6 inches tall, a superb horseman and a crack shot, and that he gained his wealth through his family connection to Watson's Scotch Whiskey.
1904 - Captain Watson began construction on a gracious home 4 miles away at Watson Lake for his English bride to be, but she would never come to the Cariboo. The home would be three stories high, and beautifully appointed with ivory artifacts and other imported luxury items collected from his world travels. Captain Watson engaged in ranching and the roadhouse was closed and used for the ranch. Captain Watson bred purebred Clydesdale horses and Highland cattle. He would have up to 100 Clydesdales and a cattle heard up to 10,000 head. Captain Watson also had a heard of reindeer.
1905 - The 1867 stable built by Roper was torn down.
1906 - Around this time the large BX stable built in 1892 burned down.
1908 - A large log Clydesdale barn was built by Gilbert Monroe of Ashcroft for Captain Watson.
1915 - Captain Watson went back into service in England for WW1. Captain Watson was killed in action in France . Captain Watson is remembered as an extremely generous man and idolized by the natives. He would frequently help out if they were in need, giving them a horse, feeding an entire family and hiring them for ranch work.
1917 -Captain Watson's Cariboo property was sold to Hon. Maurice Egerton, of Tatton, England. Egerton would appoint Charles G. Cowan from the Onward Ranch, as agent for the ranch. Cowan also had a business in big game hunting, guiding and trapping. Cowan advertised in London newspapers as "Dead-Eye Dick" and had a steady stream of British aristocracy booking for trips to Alaska and the Yukon. It is believed that Egerton and his friend the Marquees of Exeter, were two of those clients that Cowan convinced to invest in Canada and specifically the Cariboo. Egerton (who in 1920, at the death of his father, became Lord Egerton of Tatton) would buy land at 105, 108, 111 Mile Ranches while the Marquees would buy land surrounding 100 Mile House towards Bridge Creek. Cowan has world record trophies some of which are in New York's Rothschild Museum and the Kensington Museum in London. Cowan would sometimes go hunting in the Cariboo and stay for a month at the 105 Ranch mansion but most of the time the mansion was empty.
1919 - The Highland Ranch was listed in the 105 Mile House Directory. P. Newman was listed as the ranch manager.
- Lord Edgerton would sell the 108 ranch to Fred Davis.
1976 - The 105 Ranch House was donated to the 100 Mile & District Historical Society by Block Brothers and it was moved to the 108 Heritage Site to be restored and opened for display. The ranch house was built in 1907 by Benjamin Howard McNeil and houses many McNeil family artifacts.
1980 - The original mansion built by Captain Watson was re-stored and served as headquarters for the Circle Square Youth Camp Ranch, a ranch where youngsters could learn to ride and enjoy a western atmosphere.
1983 - A chimney fire started a fire that burned down Captain Watson's mansion home.
1999 - The 108 site is now a heritage site and displays restored buildings and is open as a museum and historical site.
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Last updated 22 September, 2004