Douglas Lake Ranch, east of Nicola Lake
Canada’s largest cattle empire, the Douglas Lake Cattle Co., uses this simple 'Three Bar' brand. Homesteaded by John Douglas in 1872, the 'spread' grew while supplying meat in the 1880s to CPR construction crews. Since then, hundreds of train loads of 'beef' and thousands of head of horses, all bearing this noted brand have been shipped from the famous ranch's half-million acres.
John Douglas, who started the Douglas Lake Cattle Co ranch in 1872, settled in the Nicola Valley in hopes that the climate would cure a lung condition. His original property was 320 acres. He later received a further 1,300 acres in crown grants. Today, the ranch contains 167,000 acres of deeded land and over 350,00 acres of grazing allotments. Douglas returned to California in 1888 and died the following year.
The man responsible for the formation of the Douglas Lake Cattle Co., Joseph B. Greaves, got his start in the cattle business in 1880 by driving 4,000 head from Kamloops to Cheyenne in Wyoming and from there shipped them by rail to Chicago. In 1886, the Douglas Lake Cattle Co. was incorporated. Greaves was a millionaire by the time he sold his share to partner William C. Ward in 1910. Ward converted the ranch into a family corporation and under the management of his son it prospered.
The Spaxomin First Nation's reserve is at the west end of Douglas Lake. They continue to fish in the lakes that are within the Douglas Lake Ranch and many Spaxomin have worked as employees on the ranch.
Resources:
Douglas Lake Ranch website:
www.douglaslake.com/RanchPages/History.html
Nina Wooliams, Cattle Ranch: the Story of the Douglas Lake Cattle Company, Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver, 1982.
