Douglas Lake Cattle Company facts for kids

The main buildings of the ranch, with Douglas Lake in the background.

The Douglas Lake Cattle Company is Canada's biggest working cattle ranch. It's usually called the Douglas Lake Ranch. It started way back on June 30, 1886, and has been running ever since! This was also when the first big train line across Canada, the Canadian Pacific Railway, was finished.

Welcome to Douglas Lake Ranch!

A Giant Ranch in Canada

The Douglas Lake Ranch is a huge place! It's the largest working cattle ranch in all of Canada. It's located in the beautiful province of British Columbia. The ranch is so big it stretches from near the city of Kamloops all the way towards Shuswap Lake. It covers a large part of the high lands in the northeastern Thompson Plateau.

How It All Started

The story of Douglas Lake Ranch goes back more than 130 years! It began in the mid-1880s. The ranch actually gets its name from John Douglas Sr., who first settled on land by Douglas Lake in 1872.

In 1884, John Douglas Sr. sold his land to Charles Beak. Charles Beak, along with Joseph Greaves, Charles Thomson, and William Ward, officially started the Douglas Lake Cattle Company. Charles Beak was already a big cattle rancher. The others were part of a group that invested in cattle.

Growing Bigger and Bigger

When the railway opened, there was a huge demand for beef in the fast-growing city of Vancouver. This made ranching in the Interior of BC very popular. In 1892, Charles Beak sold his share to the other owners. By 1910, William Ward bought out the remaining partners. At this time, the ranch had grown to over 110,000 acres! This made it the most important ranch in Canada.

In 1907, a special train line was built into the Nicola Valley just to help the busy cattle operations at Douglas Lake. For many years, it was the second largest ranch in Canada, only smaller than the huge Gang Ranch. But the Gang Ranch later became smaller, making Douglas Lake the biggest.

New Owners Over the Years

The Ward family owned and managed the ranch until 1940. Later, in 1950, the Ward family sold the ranch to Colonel Victor Spencer and William Studdert. The ranch continued to grow, reaching over 145,000 acres (about 58,000 hectares).

In 1959, Charles (Chunky) Woodward and John West bought the ranch. When John West passed away in 1968, Woodward became the only owner. The Woodward family then sold the ranch in 1998 to Bernard J. Ebbers. He later sold it to another American owner in 2003.

The Ranch Today

The Douglas Lake Cattle Company has continued to grow even more! Since 2008, it has bought several other large ranches. These include Alkali Lake Ranch, James Cattle Company, Quilchena Cattle Company, and Riske Creek Ranching. They even acquired the historic Gang Ranch, which started in 1863! Other ranches they own are Quilchena Ranch, Alkali Ranch, Riske Creek Ranch, Deer Park Ranch, and Cotton Ranch.

Amazing Quarter Horses

A very special part of the Douglas Lake Cattle Company is its amazing Quarter Horses. In the 1960s, Mr. CN Woodward became very interested in these horses. The ranch started breeding, raising, and training its own Quarter Horses. They even had horses like Stardust Desire and Peppy San, who became world champions!

Today, the ranch raises horses mainly for its own cowboys to use. They keep the special horse families that the ranch worked hard to develop in the 1970s and 1980s. The American Quarter Horse Association has given Douglas Lake Ranch special awards, like the "Best Remuda" award in 2004 and the "Legacy Award" in 2013. A "remuda" is a group of horses used by cowboys.

Life on the Ranch

The Douglas Lake Ranch has many cowboys who take care of up to 20,000 cattle! They make sure the cattle are healthy and move them around the vast lands.

The ranch also grows a lot of food for its animals. They grow crops like grass, alfalfa, barley, oats, and corn. Each year, they produce over 45,000 metric tonnes of feed! This food is mostly silage, but also includes large hay bales and other types of feed. The ranches farm on over 7,000 acres of land that is watered by irrigation. All the food grown in the summer is eaten by the cattle in the winter.

Fun for Visitors

Douglas Lake Cattle Company also offers fun activities for people who love to fish. You can go fishing at special spots like Pike's Lake and Harry's Dam. They also have different places to stay, like a hotel, a resort, yurts (round tents), rental homes, and camping spots.

Land Access Discussions

The Douglas Lake Cattle Company has been part of some discussions about land access. Sometimes, there have been disagreements about whether certain roads or areas are private or public.

For example, a group of outdoor enthusiasts and a local club felt that some roads leading to lakes should be open to the public. They believed it was important for future generations to be able to reach these areas. However, ranch officials said that the land, including roads to popular fishing and hunting spots like Stoney and Minnie lakes, was private.

This discussion went to court. In 2018, a judge decided that the lakes and the fish in them belong to the public, even if they are surrounded by private land. The judge also said that just because a road was changed, it doesn't mean the public loses its right to access.

However, in 2020, a higher court made a different decision. This court said that because there isn't a specific law about public access in the province, the ranch could block access to Stoney and Minnie lakes. Even though public fishing is still allowed on the lakes, the ranch can control who uses the roads to get there.

See also

• List of historic ranches in British Columbia
• Merritt, British Columbia
• Quilchena, British Columbia