The original building on the site was the
Post House, built on the north side of the highway in 1867 and moved to its present site in 1892. From 1875 until June of 1885 the building was operated as the "108 Hotel" by Agnus MacVee, Jim MacVee, and her brother-in-law Al Riley. Also in 1867 a log shed was built on the north side of the highway and moved to the present site in 1880, becoming the
Store & Telegraph office. Further additions in 1880 were the
Ice House and a Blacksmith Shop. The
Small Log Barn was added in 1892, as was the wood framed
Blacksmith Shop and the
Bunkhouse. In 1903 the site was bought by Captain Geoffrey Lancelot Watson and in 1904 this ceased to be a Roadhouse and stopping place when Captain Watson turned it into a ranch, raising purebred Clydesdale horses and Highland Cattle. In 1908 the large
Clydesdale Barn was erected. This log barn is valued as the largest log barn left in Canada.
At the southeast corner of a gaggle of farm implements is this Cockshutt side delivery hay rake. The word
COCKSHUTT, in yellow paint, is still reasonably legible on the front frame. In comparison to the rest of the collection, this rake is slightly more recent in vintage. For example, behind this rake is an older style dump rake, easily 100 years old. Ground (or more recently, PTO) driven hay rakes of this style and general design are still produced today, though this particular model is likely from the early to mid 20th century. The design was a good one, with a counter rotating circle of horizontal bars on which rake tines are mounted. The bars are at an angle to the direction of travel, forcing the hay picked up by the tines toward the rearward end of the bars, the result being windrows of hay ready to be picked up by whatever method the farmer happens to be employing at the moment. These rakes were also very handy for turning already windrowed hay to hasten drying.
Other implements among the collection of old implements gathered from surrounding farms are three horse drawn sickle mowers, a fresno, a small walk behind corn/bean seeder, several wagon axles, a small walk behind, horse drawn cultivator and miscellaneous parts and pieces. While a couple of the mowers could be identified as being by McCormick Deering (International Harvester), none of the rest, save for this rake, had any identifiable markings.
Here's how the 108 Mile House Heritage Site came to be.
The beginning was 1969 and we were called the 108 Mile ‘Recreational’ Ranch. The developer, Block Brothers Realty, had a vision to create an ‘outdoor playground’, a five stage 26,800 acre seasonal recreational resort. The Agricultural Land Reserve prevented the last four stages from proceeding, but luckily much of the recreational infrastructure had been put in place first. We are now 1,140 permanent homes at the 108, with a population of approx 2,900. The treasure of it is that we have recreational facilities for a development of about 7,000 homes. The developers are gone and we now control our own destiny through our 108 Mile Ranch Community Association.
[In 1979 the Block Brothers sold the seven acre site to the 100 Mile House Historical Society for $1, it took over the 108 Mile House Heritage Site and continues to operate it today.]
From 108 Ranch