127 Mile House

Henry Felker
Felker left Hanover, Germany, in 1848 with his wife Antonette, his mother Mary, and two brothers. They arrived in New York and were drawn to California by reports of the fortunes to be made in the goldfields. When Henry decided to travel north to the Fraser River gold rush in 1858 he left his wife and young family with his brothers who had settled permanently in California. He returned a year later and moved his family to Yale, where he had pre-empted a 160-acre parcel of land. His wife and his mother operated a store while he mined. The reports of gold in the Cariboo drew the Felkers even further north; they settled just north of Lac la Hache, where they erected a large blue-and-white-striped army tent to serve as their home and a saloon until a permanent house could be built. For many years afterwards, their property was known as the Blue Tent Ranch. The Felkers lost the ranch to foreclosure in the late 1860s, and they moved to Montana after hearing reports that there was a rich gold strike there.

William Wright
In 1867, Wright, a widower from Hamilton, Ont., purchased the 127 Mile House from the mortgage holders, E.T. Dodge & Company, and moved there with his young son John, his new wife Catherine, and her grown son David Pratt. When Wright died in 1870, the ranch was bought by his son John and his stepson David, though their partnership, Wright & Pratt lasted only a year before it was dissolved after a quarrel. John Wright sold his share in the ranch to David Pratt and bought land at 137 Mile. Meanwhile, David Pratt went back east where he was married in 1873. Moving back to the ranch with his wife, he soon bought the 100 Mile Ranch from Charles Beak using the 127 Mile Ranch as part of the payment.