COLVILLE LOOKS BACK ON A LIFE ON THE LAND
Charles (Charlie) Colville, one of four children, was born in 1929 and raised on a homestead settlement about 25 miles out of Biggar, Sask.
When I asked him where he was born Charlie explained, “Back in 1929, as a homesteader and if you were born on a quarter section of land your birth certificate was very different from the normal birth certificates of today. When asked where I was born my answer is that I was born on a quarter section, range 21, township 33, section 16 and west of the third meridian. The few times during my life that I needed to present my birth certificate I had nothing but problems because of this unusual place of birth identification. I am not sure when the government eventually changed that system.”
Prior to 1929, the Dominion Lands Act allowed more than 1.25 million homesteads to be created from 200 million acres of Crown land in western Canada. Federal surveyors created a checkerboard grid system comprised of seven major meridians (the meridian identified the province) and 36-squaremile townships. Each homestead location consisted of five coordinates as follows: part of a section (quarter), section, township, range and meridian. These coordinates not only determined where the homestead was located, they were used on birth certificates to show the place of birth, instead of the name of a town and province.
Charlie said, “I graduated from Grade 8 and since there was no money to further my education, I went to work on a neighbors farm. All the farmers were poor so I worked for my board and I was given the opportunity to raise a steer in lieu of wages. I raised that steer and I got $115 when I sold it.
“My friend Dick Barber had been in Prince George in 1947 and he said that there was plenty of work there. I was determined to go to Prince George and get a job that paid a decent wage. I was 19 and I had $115 in my pocket so I invested $20 in a train ticket and we both headed west.
“It was 3 a.m. when the train pulled into Prince George. The train conductor let us sleep on the train because we were at the end of the line. The next day my partner and I found work falling trees for the Belschan and Knute Logging company. We fell trees using a crosscut saw – a saw that I did not know how to use. I learned to use it in a hurry and once I knew how to use it the job wasn’t all that bad - and besides that, the grub was good.
“I worked in the bush from 1948 to 1960. I saved my money and in 1960 I bought a small farm on the Nechako River at the ferry landing at Isle Pierre.
“I had a lucky break when I bought that farm off of Hans Anderson. He carried the note and I paid him $500 a year for four years and then the land was mine. I had 160 acres of river front land and I was content.
“I ran the Isle Pierre reaction ferry part time for four years and then full time for five years from 1975 to 1980. Together the federal and the provincial governments agreed and made the decision to take out the Isle Pierre ferry in 1981 and allow Alcan to take water from the river. This cut the flow of the water that was needed to float the ferry so they removed it.
“Reaction ferries are large barges mounted on pontoons and connected to overhead cables. Reaction ferries do not need a motor because their wheelhouse reacts to the force of the river’s current which pulled the barge cables back and forth across the river.
“The Isle Pierre reaction ferry was, at one time, a very important form of transportation into Prince George for the people in the Vanderhoof area and for those living on the north side of the Nechako River.
“Lloyd Bros. Logging had a mill out there and they kept me really busy with all their loads. Our usual number of crossings were between 15 and 20 crossings per day.
“Once they took the ferry out people continued to use the aerial tram. I still had a job for many years checking the Nechako River water levels for the government Water Resources Department. Eventually they started checking the water levels through automation and I lost my job.”
Charlie married Janet Ware. Janet, one of six children, was born and raised in Fort Ware and attended school in the Summit Lake area.
She looked after the farm and the children when Charlie was out working his trap line which is located on the Reid Lake side of the Nechako River.
Charlie and Janet have four children, who in turn gave them seven grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.
They ran nearly 100 head of cattle and trapped for a living until they sold the now 300 deeded acres of land in 1990. Charlie kept the trap line (Charlie has been a member of the B.C. Trappers Association since 1970) and the family moved into Prince George.
They have lived in the same house ever since.