RANCHING IN THE WEST The Kingcome river near the logging camp; about a mile from the Halliday farmhouse
Tidewater
Ranchers
How far west can you ranch in Canada? ... all the way to the tidewater’s edge! Part 1 of 2 By DARYL DREW, PHD | HISTORIC PHOTOS COURTESY DARYL DREW
B.C.’s west coast is an unlikely place to build a cattle ranch. The beautiful green and greytoned pristine scenery belies that it is home to intense storms, very heavy rainfall and rip tide overflows. The mercurial weather creating dense fog banks that roll in from the Pacific Ocean has resulted in nearly 500 shipwrecks along its craggy rock-strewn shoreline over the years. Mariners call this coast the Graveyard of the Pacific, and the West Coast Trail, now a favourite of hikers, was built for shipwrecked survivors to find safety by escaping the ocean waters. The unique climate produced the storms that also produced the massive first growth trees, and beginning in the mid-1800s, loggers dreamed about turning them into lumber. That dream helped foster the era of the tidewater ranchers. 32
PHOTO: VICKI SWANSON
Part 1: Inner Passage Islands
