The rock cairn.
it has been many years since anyone has lived in these run- down structures. T e larger-than-life ranch house is still standing, even though the weather has taken its toll on the place. T e window glass is mostly all gone now and the birds have moved in, as have the packrats who always seem to fi nd a home in abandoned buildings. T e ranch buildings are set in a great setting along Shag Creek, with several out-lying structures, some in better shape than others. Again it was picture time; we ventured into the old ranch house to try and visualize what kind of life Betty and Pan Phillips had had when they lived here. We spent several hours in the ranch yard taking pictures
and looking in several of the buildings that were still standing. T e old ranch house had a beautiful constructed rock fi replace in the centre room; there must have been some great stories told around the table with the fi re roaring beside those that told the tales and kept warm during those long cold winters they endured. Out in the over-grown pasture were rusting remnants of horse-drawn farming equipment that the family must have used to plow the fi elds, cut the grass, and then haul in the hay to the stack yards for the winter feeding of the cattle and horses. In later years of the ranch life, likely for additional income, many people came to the ranch to fi sh and hunt and the family had built cabins for overnight guests. One of the buildings still has a large sign attached to it telling all about the adventures that were off ered when one came to visit. Later in the day we checked our map-books and discovered
a diff erent way to return to our RV’s, so we headed east on the well-worn trail past the rock cairn towards Tsezti Lake, where the Phillips family had built and still operated a fi shing camp. On the trail we met Pan Phillip’s son Rob, who has continued to operate the fi sh camp for many years and still maintains the aircraſt runway for those that fl y into his camp. We traveled to their fi sh camp and had a good visit asking about things we had seen at the old home ranch. He told us plans were underway by the new owner of the ranch to put the huge meadow back into hay production. We were given directions by Rob as to the quickest route back to our camp, perhaps there would be less rocks on the trail. We ended up at our RV’s later than usual that day, but the
extra time we had taken was well worthwhile as we had seen a part of history from the early days in this province. It makes us want to read those famous books all over again. c
RVT 142 • JULY/AUGUST 2011 25
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