- Gang Ranch
The Gang Ranch is a famous and historic Canadian ranch in the
Chilcotin region. It sits about 28 miles north of Clinton on the Westbank of the Fraser River.It is the largest
ranch in North America. The Gang Ranch, near Alkali Lake, is also very old starting in 1863. TheChurn Creek Protected Area is also nearby.Two American brothers Thaddeus and Jerome Harper came from Harpers Ferry
Virginia , via California, to the BCCariboo Gold Rush . They mined in Yale, and lived in Victoria for a bit. At one point they were accused of supporting the rebel Confederacy andplotting against the nearby North. (One account suggests that they were asked to leave the border area of BC.) Not finding the metal,they settled down in 1863 on the west bank of theFraser River --some miners worked their way up the Fraser River seeking gold and thus found the remote area--and the Harpers installed a gang plow. From this the Gang Ranch began its long operation and name. The Harpers made an agreement with the Chilcotin Indian Kalalest whereby the land the confluence of the Chilcotin and Fraser Rivers was divided between theNative and Harpers. The Harpers would drive cattle from Washington or Oregon, hundreds of miles on the hoof, northwardsto feed the hungry gold miners. One drive was made from Utah. The brothers bought and sold stock, and land. In this they moved around at first. The town ofHorsefly was first called Harper's Camp where a steam sawmill was set up. With this cattle enterprise, the brothers took their fortune and expanded the Gang Ranch.The Harpers had misfortune including being kicked by a horse, and a severe winter in 1878 which killed thousands of head. Despite this the brothers persevered.In 1883 they bought 8900 acres of Chilcotin land from the Government. The brothers also had rangeland at
Hat Creek ,Cache Creek and Kamloops it is saidto the tune of 38000 acres.At first operating under the Canadian Ranching Company name. The brothers ran into financial trouble and the Western Canadian Ranching Company was sold to an English partner, Galpin, of theCassell publishing house in 1891.see
w3.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bccaribo/gang.html
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