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
The oldest building on the site is what is known today as the
Post House, built on the north side of the highway in 1867 and moved to its present site in 1892.
-
1891 STEPHEN TINGLEY bought D.L. 76 (108) and his son Clarence ran it. CLARENCE was a telegraph operator, 'BX Agent', dairy farmer, stockraiser, storekeeper and hotel keeper.
- 1892 Tore down "Roper" '1867' Hotel" north of road, & re-assembled on this site for **108 POSTHOUSE** with a single story extension that contained the kitchen and eating area. This extension has not (as yet) been replaced by the Society.
- 1892 Built **SMALL LOG BARN** on this site.
- 1892 Built large log BX Stable south of road. This log structure burned down 1904-1908 and was situated in the exact spot the **105 HERITAGE HOUSE** is located. - Built frame blacksmith shop - Built log "BUNKHOUSE"
- 1903 Clarence Tingley sold D.L. 76 (108) September 23 to Captain Watson (including 13 other lots) for $11,000.
According to local legend, from 1875 until June of 1885 the building was operated as the "108 Hotel" by Agnus MacVee, Jim MacVee, and her brother-in-law (or son-in-law, depending on who is telling the story) Al Riley. The roadhouse they were operating was the perfect place in which to rob and kill unsuspecting miners returning from the rich diggings around Barkerville and Horsefly, their pokes loaded with gold. Another lucrative scheme of Agnus' was to kidnap young women passing through looking for a rich miner to marry, then sell them to the miners, either for overnight companionship or longer term as "wives" and camp cooks.
It is said that the MacVees killed more than 50 miners while relieving them of their gold and even killed some of the less cooperative young women. I won't go into further detail here but will instead refer you to
108 Mile House or the
Williams Lake Tribune for the grisly details.
While the story is written as a true story in local versions, it turns out that there is essentially zero documentary evidence to corroborate the story. According to a
Wiki article, the story may have come from a single source.
According to Maryanne Rutledge, president of the 100 Mile and District Historical Society, the story comes from an out-of-publication booklet titled "Lost Treasure in BC #3" by Larry Lazeo of Fort Langley. The author received the details from an old-timer...
...However, documentary evidence for the story is absent. An article by Greg Joyce in the Prince George Citizen newspaper discusses the story of the McVee murders. He states that there are no documents of ownership of the 108 Mile Hotel during the decade that McVee is supposed to have run it. Missing persons records do not list anyone who lodged at the hotel between 1875 and 1885 as reported missing. No police records of the arrest or trial have been found "despite Rutledge's extensive searches in Kamloops, New Westminster, and in the provincial archives in Victoria." Furthermore, there are no death certificates for either McVee or Riley.
From Wiki
After reading the aforementioned articles we decided to investigate ourselves. The UBC has a large collection of no less than 167 old newspapers online which one may search simultaneously. We searched and searched through 1885 and later editions to no avail. We managed to find zero references to murders at 108 Mile, or to Agnus MacVee, Jim MacVee or Al Riley. The obvious conclusion to be made is that what we have here is a classic example of an "Urban Myth", and one that continues to circulate to this day.