At the entrance to the heritage site is a typically rustic gateway with equally typical pole fences running away each side of it. Made of peeled logs, the simple archway has a single pole across the archway with a flattened section in the centre bearing the words
108 ROAD HOUSE, which is what this site originally was. It was just one of many
roadhouses which were strung along the
Cariboo Wagon Road as stopping places, primarily for the thousands of miners, and prospective miners, who travelled the road during the
Cariboo Gold Rush, beginning in about 1860, hoping to find their pot of gold at the end of the Cariboo Wagon Road.
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 & District Historical Society for $1, it took over the 108 Mile House Heritage Site and continues to operate it today.]
From 108 Ranch
The oldest buildings on the site are the 1867
Post House and the 1867 log shed, both built on the north side of the highway in 1867 and moved to their present sites in 1892 and 1880, respectively, the log shed becoming the
Store & Telegraph office. From 1875 until June of 1885 the
Post House was operated as the "108 Hotel" by Agnus MacVee, Jim MacVee, and her brother-in-law Al Riley. 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.
Since becoming a Heritage Site in 1979 more heritage buildings have been added to the site including:
The
105 Mile McNeil Roadhouse, built in 1905, moved to the site in 1979, once another roadhouse, now the 105 Mile Ranch Museum, filled with artefacts, photos and documents from the mid 1800s to the early 1900s
The
133 Mile Schoolhouse, built in 1938 and donated to the site about 2003.
The
Game Warden's Cabin, built Sept. 25, 1941, officially opened on site August 1, 1916.
The
Trapper's Cabin, built in the 1930s and moved onto the heritage site.
In 2012 the 100 Mile and District Historical Society began construction of the Historical Society Heritage Church, a log-home style chapel built to complement the existing heritage buildings and now used primarily as a wedding venue. Inside are the 1904 altar, lectern, pews and font relocated to the 108 Mile site from a defunct Anglican church in the Nicola Valley.
Another recent addition is a wire fence enclosed pavilion housing a portable sawmill, a B-61 Mack Truck and a McCormick Deering WD 9 tractor. As well, the museum has a good sized collection of old farm equipment donated from various farms and ranches of the area.
Spread over an area of 8 acres or so, the 108 Mile House Heritage Site and Museum has probably the largest collection of pre 20th century buildings in the Cariboo outside of
Barkerville.
And now for the hidden story of
108 Hotel, the building known today as the
Post House. In 1875 it was taken over by Agnus MacVee, Jim MacVee, and her brother-in-law (or son-in-law, depending on who is telling the story) Al Riley. It seems that all three were unscrupulous beyond comparison. 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.