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.
Three miles to the south was the 105 Mile Ranch, a 30,000 acre ranch begun at the turn of the 20th century. This house was built on the ranch in 1905, standing on the west side of Highway 97, directly across the highway from a large log which still stands on the site. After the 108 Ranch development project (see below) was halted in 1979 the ranch house was moved to the 108 Mile House Heritage Site and became the museum, housing local artefacts dating back to the early 1800s. The house is one of several buildings moved onto the site from various locations, all in the Cariboo Country.
Further below is the beginning of a news article which centered on the 105 Mile Ranch House.
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 approximately 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. The Society took over the 108 Mile House Heritage Site and continues to operate it today.]
From 108 Ranch
Heritage site student staffers mix
history with work
Travellers along Highway 97 like to stop at the 108 Heritage Site to step back in time
ARLENE JONGBLOETS | June 6, 2012
When Benjamin Howard McNeil built his rambling roadhouse at 105 Mile in 1905, little did he know that in the future it would become the focal point of the 108 Heritage Site.
After 1912, the roadhouse ceased to serve travelers on the Cariboo Wagon Road and became the family home. Today, the old house operates as the 105 Mile Ranch Museum, serving travellers as a porthole to the past.
This summer, Michal Albrecht, a student at Thompson Rivers University who grew up in the South Cariboo and graduated from Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School (PSO) in 2010, greets visitors to the museum. She is pursuing a degree in psychology, but doesn’t mind mixing in a little history.
Dressed in period clothing, she guides visitors through the museum house and explains the story of the building and the many artifacts that fill it.
“Tourists are interested in everything about the site and local people seem to come here to revisit their childhood,” she says.
One of her favorite items is a men’s swimming outfit, with a shirt and shorts, made of pure wool.
From the 100 Mile Free Press