Douglas Lake Cattle Company facts for kids

Ranch headquarters, with Douglas Lake beyond

The Douglas Lake Cattle Company is the biggest working cattle ranch in Canada. Most people call it the Douglas Lake Ranch. It started on June 30, 1886, and has been running ever since. This date is also when the first big train line across Canada, the Canadian Pacific Railway, was finished. This train line helped the ranch grow.

The Ranch's Early Days

The Douglas Lake Ranch has a history of about 130 years. It began in the mid-1880s. The ranch's name comes from John Douglas Sr. In 1872, he settled on 320 acres of land by Douglas Lake.

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

Growing with the Railway

When the railway opened, there was a huge demand for beef in Vancouver. This made ranching in the Interior very busy. It was a great time for ranches in British Columbia.

In 1892, Charles Beak sold his share of the ranch. Greaves and Thomson stayed until 1910. Then, William Ward bought their shares. By 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. This line helped the Douglas Lake Ranch move its cattle. For many years, it was the second largest ranch, after the Gang Ranch. But the Gang Ranch later became smaller. This made Douglas Lake the biggest ranch in Canada.

New Owners Over Time

The Ward family owned and managed the ranch until 1940. During the Great Depression, ranching costs went up. Also, ranching started using engines instead of horses.

In 1950, the Ward family sold the ranch to Colonel Victor Spencer and William Studdert. Frank Ross joined them as a third owner in 1951. Later, Studdert sold his part to Spencer and Ross. By then, the ranch had grown to over 145,000 acres (58,000 hectares).

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

Douglas Lake Ranch Today

Today, the Douglas Lake Ranch includes land that is owned and land that is leased. It stretches from near Kamloops towards Shuswap Lake. It covers most of the high country in the northeastern Thompson Plateau.

The ranch has grown even more by buying other ranches:

• In 2008, they bought Alkali Lake Ranch (37,000 acres).
• In 2012, they bought James Cattle Company (22,000 acres).
• In 2013, they bought Quilchena Cattle Company (28,000 acres).
• In 2015, they bought Riske Creek Ranching (22,000 owned acres and 9,500 leased acres).
• Recently, they also bought the historic Gang Ranch.

Other ranches owned by the company include:

• Historic Quilchena Ranch (started in 1882)
• Historic Alkali Ranch (started in 1862)
• Riske Creek Ranch (started in 1868)
• Deer Park Ranch (started in 1873)
• Cotton Ranch (started in 1907)

Amazing Quarter Horses

Quarter horses are a very important part of the Douglas Lake Cattle Company. In the 1960s, Mr. CN Woodward became very interested in the American Quarter Horse breed. He bought two famous horses, Stardust Desire and Peppy San. Both became world champions in cutting horse competitions.

The ranch started breeding, raising, and training these horses. Now, the ranch raises horses mostly for its own cowboys to use. But they still keep the special horse bloodlines they developed in the 1970s and 1980s.

In 2004, the Douglas Lake Ranch won the "Best Remuda" award from the American Quarter Horse Association. In 2013, they won the "Legacy Award." A "remuda" is a group of horses used by cowboys.

Cattle and Crops

The Douglas Lake Ranch has many cowboys who look after up to 20,000 cattle. The ranch also grows different crops like grass, alfalfa, barley, oats, and corn. They produce over 45,000 metric tons of feed each year. This feed is mostly silage, but also includes hay bales and wrapped haylage.

The ranches farm on over 7,000 acres of irrigated land. All the feed grown in the summer is used to feed the cattle in the winter.

Fun Activities at the Ranch

The Douglas Lake Cattle Company offers fishing at special spots like Pike's Lake and Harry's Dam. You can get to these spots through Chapperon Lake. The ranch also has different places to stay, like a hotel, a resort, yurts, rental homes, and camping spots.

Access Disputes

The Douglas Lake Cattle Company has had some disagreements over public access. Some people claimed that in the past, the ranch expanded its land by letting its cattle eat the grass of smaller neighbors. This would force the smaller landowners to sell their property.

The ranch has also limited access to both private and public lands. They bought small strips of land along main roads. This allowed them to control large areas of public land. In many cases, locked gates were put up.

A group of outdoor enthusiasts had a disagreement with the ranch about getting to lakes on the property. The Nicola Valley Fish and Game Club cut locks on gates across roads that they believed were public. The club felt it was important for future generations to be able to access these areas.

However, ranch officials said that the land on their huge property was private. This included the roads to popular fishing and hunting spots near Stoney and Minnie lakes. This disagreement went to court and had been going on since the 1990s.

In 2018, a judge in the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that the outdoor enthusiasts could access the backcountry. The judge said that lakes and the fish in them belong to the government, even if they are surrounded by private land. He also said that removing a road does not take away the public's right to access. The judge also criticized the government for not doing enough to protect public access.

However, in 2020, the B.C. Supreme Court changed its decision. A panel of judges from the B.C. Court of Appeal said that the Douglas Lake Cattle Company could block access to Stoney and Minnie lakes. These lakes are owned by the government but are inside the ranch. The court said that because British Columbia does not have clear laws about public access, the ranch could limit it. Even though public fishing is still allowed on the lakes, and a part of a road near one lake remains public, the ranch can control access.

See also

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