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.
Among a small collection of other log buildings, the one time Game Warden's Cabin stands to the southeast of the 105 Mile Ranch House, which serves as the main museum building. Built at Stobie Lake, BC on September 25, 1941 by game wardens Jack Stewart and Walter Gill, it was used by the Wardens as an on site home when they were in the wilderness plying their trade of watching over the local game and the local hunters. Long out of use, the cabin was rescued by the 100 Mile House Heritage Society, which operates the 108 Mile House Heritage Site. The cabin was moved, restored and placed on its present site on July 18, 2016 by
Pioneer Log Homes of Williams Lake, BC, a local log home builder. The move and restoration were filmed, the resulting production aired on HGTV in early 2017. The cabin now stands 94.47 km (58.70 mi) from its original location on Stobie Lake, to the West Southwest.
An official opening for the Game Warden Cabin was held at 11 a.m. on BC Day, August 1st, 2016 at the 108 Mile House Heritage Site. A newspaper article published a couple of days prior to the opening is further below.
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. The Society took over the 108 Mile House Heritage Site and continues to operate it today.]
From 108 Ranch
Historical Society has a lot to celebrate
BC Day (Aug. 1) opens tours, warden's cabin at 108 Heritage Site
KEN ALEXANDER | July 28, 2016
Builder Joel Roorda
BC Day (Aug. 1) is going to be an exciting day for 100 Mile & District Historical Society members who will be celebrating a couple of events at the 108 Heritage Site.
At 11 a.m., there will be an official opening for the Game Warden Cabin that was recently moved from Stobie Lake near Gang Ranch, restored at Pioneer Log Homes in Williams Lake by the Timber Kings stars (HGTV), and resurrected on its final resting place at the 108 Heritage Site.
The log cabin was built on Sept. 25, 1941 by game wardens Jack Stewart and Walter Gill. They completed it in five days, and it was built with hand tools.
Pioneer Log Homes, which donated everything to make the move, restoration and set the cabin up at the 108 Heritage Site, placed the cabin on its platform on July 18 and shingled the roof and installed some siding in the following days.
The Timber Kings film crew caught all of the action and it will be shown on HGTV early in the new year.
Historical Society chair Ulli Vogler says society members then decorated the cabin, so folks can see what it would look like in 1941.
(Read the details of the move, restoration and placement at the 108 Heritage Site on page A4 of the July 21 edition of the 100 Mile House Free Press.)
Vogler says there will be a number of dignitaries at the official opening, tours of the cabin and refreshments...
From the 100 Mile Free Press