The Originals: Gary Gauthier

Gary Gauthier knew the allure of the Kootenays long before most people had even heard of the region.

His 77 years of living in the bush has left his face weathered, his smile genuine.

Seventy-three percent of people in the East Kootenay, 46,920 of the 64,425 polled in the latest census, are third-generation Canadians or more. And like Gary, they are keepers of local history.

Gauthier tells of a time when wild horses would run from Skookumchuck down through Cranbrook and out towards Meadowbrook.

As a young man he learned to snare the wild equines — they made ideal pack horses because the land made them strong and reliable.

He’ll talk about how homesteading was his family’s way of life and how the food they ate was either grown, caught, or hunted.

Gary’s story in the Kootenays is however, extra fascinating.

He comes from a deep Canadian lineage with English and Métis ancestry, linked to Canadian hero Louis Riel.

“My grandmother was First Nations and Louie Riel was her cousin,” said Gauthier.

“He told her to get the kids out of the Saint Boniface and Red River Valley area of Manitoba or they’d end up in the Catholic school system,” he said, “That’s why we moved here when I was two.” for extended periods of time, but he never understood leaving when people spent thousands of dollars just to experience the life he was living.

He often helped out at his grandfather’s ready-mix business, and after school he would deliver and shovel coal for ten dollars a truck load.

In the summertime, he, like many young boys at the time, would get a part-time job working for Cominco, and a little later on became a very knowledgeable hunting and fishing guide.

Gary eventually opted for the logging industry — he didn’t like the idea of the chemicals and pollution of the mine or the fertilizer plant.

He, like the other 71 percent of people (55,095 of 63,960 people) in the East Kootenay who are classified as “non-movers,” found something he liked and stuck with it.

Much has changed since he grew up in that board-structured homestead with tar-paper siding, but his love for his

Gauthier tells of a time when wild horses would run from Skookumchuck down through Cranbrook and out towards Meadowbrook.

The family homesteaded a large chunk of land around Meadowbrook, near Cherry Creek. Gauthier’s grandfather started a ready-mix concrete business with the first readymix trucks in western Canada.

The surrounding landscape offered a lot of opportunity for a young man growing up, and Gauthier got his hands dirty with a little bit of everything.

“It was the best job because it was out in the healthy area, out in the clean air, and it was good, tough work,” said Gauthier.

Gauthier eventually bought his own logging company in 2005, which he later sold in 2019.

He’s had plenty of chances to move to a new area or travel home is one thing that never wavered.

“I ended up in the bush because I like the bush,” said Gauthier, “My whole love has been in the mountains.”

–JH

Cities (and Towns) in Colour

Factor by which foreign immigration to the East Kootenay has increased in the past decade, compared to the decade before: 2