ONWARD History
“This Ranch Will Always Go ONWARD”!
These were the words of Charles Eagle (Pensalvania origin) when he named Onward Ranch in 1867 together with wife Anna Tatkwa, of Bonaparte heritage or the Stuctwesemc “People of the Valley”. They had 10 children on the ranch, and spent their life creating an oasis. They first lived in a log house ( peeking out from behind the main house in this photo). Sometime in the 1880’s they built a general store which is considered the first none log structure in the Cariboo. They milled the wood themselves with a steam engine sawmill and used square nails. Later, in 1886, they built Onward House. For its day, it was a considered a fine house, welcoming visitors far and wide, with freight wagons and mule trains regularly coming through. Back during these times, every ranch was considered a stopping house, where guests could spend the night.
Eagle and Paxton Store
Eagle & Paxton Store Merchants—Gateway to the Chilcotin
From the early 1880’s well into the next decade, Eagle & Paxton was a vibrant, busy, general store offering everything that a local might need that they couldn’t grow themselves or get from the land. Listed in their account books are such varied things as: steel spectacles, perfume, gunpowder, ladies blouses, mustard plasters, harmonicas, pain killers, carriage bolts, castor oil, moccasins, 24 pounds of jelly beans and black smith bellows. The store was eventually named Eagle & Paxton after the two children of Anna Tatqua. Her first child was from a different relationship and was named Tommy Paxton. He went in business with his half brother Johnny Eagle, to form a partnership. They were on the gateway to the Chilcotin, the route that led to Chimney Lake and Felker Lake, and next, out to the ferry that crossed the Fraser river into a vast wilderness. You have to remember that there was no town of Williams Lake at this time, and no bridge across the mighty Fraser. This store was well used and crucial for the people in the area.
Onward home site pre barn. Photo sometime between 1886 and 1911
It was tough living and a hardworking lifestyle. Charlie, Rose, Christine, John, Julianne, Louise, Ida, Lilia were the Eagle Children that Anna had plus Thomas Paxton. Sadly some of the little children died as babies and are in the little mission graveyard.
Men up in the top opening in the barn! This is where all of the loose hay was lifted into the loft. Notice the hooks and pulleys (and probably a hay fork) that would have lifted the hay out of the back of a horse drawn wagon. The log structure was the original house on the ranch. Here it is now being used as a chicken coop.
Building of the Magnificent Onward Barn
After the 1890’s when the Eagle children had inherited the ranch , they had a hard time holding it together, and were in debt to Harvey Bailey Company of Ashcroft. They sold to John Moore. He had previously owned Alkali lake ranch (known as paradise valley). John Moore and wife Annie Chiaro, threw their energies into revitalizing the Onward Ranch, fixing up the store and restocking the shelves for all of the wagons and mule trains still going past. They were the ones that built the magnificent Onward barn in 1911 that hs become a BC landmark. Artists and Photographers have felt its magnetism ever since. There aren’t many of its design left in North America.
Somewhere between 1911 and 1919. Moore family doing laundry out behind Onward House. The lady to the right has a handle attached to the wringer washer and is running it by hand. The onward barn looms in the background and helps date the photo. The Moores would have owned the ranch at this time.
Onward Ranch almost became Williams Lake
Eventually the Moore’s wanted to retire and put the ranch up for sale. At the same time, the government was looking for land to build a new townsite called Williams Lake. Charles Cowan was tasked with helping the Cariboo trading company to find a townsite location. He recommended the Onward ranch saying “if you don’t grab it, I will”. Well they didn’t, so he and his wife Vivian, moved up to the Cariboo and purchased the Ranch.
Charles Cowan—- “A Wild Irish Type” came over to North America at age 15 (against his families wishes) to farm with his brother. He spent 1889-1895 with the North west Mounted Police (tricked into joining) , then as an explorer, going into places only known by First Nations people. He said about the lakes, rivers, mountains and blazing sun, “Nature drew me to her”.
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Onward House after its major renovation in 1920
Ranching in the Roaring 20’s
Cowans began a golden era for the ranch—the roaring 20’s, a time ofchange, of automobiles and jazz, radios and telephones. They started out with an update and renovation to the old house. By this time, there were many layers of peeling wallpaper, and only a wood sink on the back porch. Adding a sunporch and bay windows brought in more light. Adding a porte cochere (a covered entrance to drive a wagon or automobile under) added more style. They added an icehouse, a meat room and many gardens with water features. They even added a tennis court. They were part of society down in Kamloops and Victoria, with ties to English gentry. They even arrived with a chauffeur that would live on the ranch!
Cowan Baby in an old sugar box while the chickens scratch for grain
The Cowans raised two little girls, Sonia & Dru. Sonia was only 6 months old the first time she journeyed up to the cariboo in 1919 just before the Onward Ranch was purchased. It was a long several day journey in an open air Cadillac, staying at stopping houses along the way. It was a windy, narrow, twisting road and Vivien described it as “A strange wild country in a strange wild life”. Sonia would then spend a winter in Victoria before the family moved up to the ranch. In Victoria, baby Sonia’s parents had tea at the Empress Hotel, and danced in its ballroom (Vivien with a white fox fur slung nonchalantly over her shoulder). What a rigged life for her once they moved up to the Cariboo!
Working the Land
Charles Cowan, worked on improving the land by planting legumes and plowing them under. The hard work and effort that went into making enough hay for winter to feed 1000 cows was a colossal effort. The 60 horses were an important part of farm work, and the barn to this day, still has stall numbers for draft horses painted on each post. Hay first had to be cut and dried, then forked into piles. These piles then had to be lifted into wagons. The wagons were then pulled to the barn where a trolley system with a hay fork would pull the hay up several stories into the loft opening, and then slide and position exactly in the barn where the load should land. Other times they would make giant haystacks that stayed out in the field all winter, supported by logs, waiting to be fed to the cattle.
Sonia and baby Dru in the hay piles
Delivering lunch to the haying crew
Gardening Cowan Family
Out of the Land
When the Eagles were still at Onward, they produced 225,000 pounds of vegetables on the ranch, along with plenty of hay. They were known for their peas and potatoes and entered exhibitions with their produce, and winning medals. The Cowans also focused on gardening, casually recording that a tonne of beets were down in the cellar, with a couple tonnes of cabbages. More yet of potatoes, turnips and tomatoes, (hung by the roots and ripening on the vine). Measuring Vegetables by the tonne (2000 pounds) seems amazing. but there were a lot of mouths to feed on the ranch and no supermarket to go to. They were the store!
Another ranch—the 150 Mile
The Lands that the Cowans ranched, soon included the 150 Mile House ranch. Here are two cowboys in a photo taken by a famous Canadian photographer. The Cariboo has a vibrant cowboy heritage and it was these hardworking individuals, coming from local First Nations villages, and other young men ready for adventure, that gave Williams Lake its reputation as a cow town.
Parked under the Port Cochere
Young Sonia standing in the middle of the Lasso for a rope trick!
Hard Times
However, in 1939, Charles Cowan became ill, and after some time down in Victoria, he passed away leaving the ranch to Vivian with Sonia and Dru to help. They were surprised to discover, that the ranch was in major dept, after all, the great depression was in full swing. But instead of giving into the banks and the mounting pressure, (genteel women of that era did not run ranches), they flourished through hard times, working through the depression, cleverly maneuvering economics with the help of a loyal ranch manager. There were no more luxuries however. No more imported clothes from England, private schools and painting lessons. At 41 Vivian had her two children and her mother in her care, and immense responsibilities. She had never taken part in business before, (and certainly never got into the mucky corrals with the cattle), but with gumption & grit, intelligence & brains—-combined with grace & elegance, and manners & charm—-she managed no small feat! With the banks nipping at her heels, and low cattle prices, she managed to turn a sinking ship around!
Onward Cattle—notice the overlapping 00 brand
150 Mile House Ranch
Backyard chickens
Hand-written caption on this photo is “Sonia proud of her new shirt that she just bought”—-Standing in front of the 150 store
Art in the Cariboo
As things settled down on the ranch, Vivian took up her artistic pursuits again. It was at Onward House, in 1945, that the Cariboo Arts Society was born. Vivian Cowan and A.Y. Jackson were the first members to what would become one of the longest running art societies in Western Canada. Vivian was once more focussed on her art and met A.Y. Jackson and many other artists such as; Lilias Torrence Newton, Joseph Plaskett, Russian Michael Werboff, Lauren Harris and Marmie Hess. She offered an open invitation to Onward Ranch. Several took her up on that offer. A.Y. Jackson developed a lifelong friendship with the family, coming to paint for as much as 6 weeks at a time. They ate good farm cooking, were treated with intriguing conversation, and enjoyed painting the Cariboo landscape. “Vivien, would go paint snd sketch with Jasckon but Sonia would continue with the ranch work. As the years went, Sonia started mailing her paintings to Jackson for critique. He would send notes back.
Sonia
Sonia ws deeply involved with every aspect of ranch life and eventually married Hugh Cornwall, A cattleman from Ashcroft. Everyone liked Hughs personality. He was kind and considerate and a true rancher. Together they ran the Onward Ranch, eventually selling the 150 Mile Ranch. Sonia wouldn’t have as munch time to paint, the rigours of farm life, raising her own two girls, cooking for hired hands and cowboys filled the days. Sonia could handle horses ranch work, tractors, guns——Oh, but boy oh boy—-could she ever handle a paintbrush. As the years passed and she had more time, her painting just flowed out of her. She is considered one of B.C’s most important artists and and “her paintings embrace more than just the lands’s natural beauty and serve as a valuable record and document of the Cariboo and cattle ranching way of life.”—Paul Crawford. There is too much to write here about Sonia’s colourful life here, but please see the books below for further reading. Excellent research and interviews have turned up beauitiful warm stories and interesting details.
People have described her painting;
“Sonia’s work has a strange indefinable something”
—A.Y.Jackson
She goes beyond the landscape and draws inspiration from human activity on the land…Sonia, by strength of her feelings, has created a powerful art”.
—Joseph Plasket
“Beneath the earthy palette, strong brushwork, and bold lines lies an intimate knowledge of ranching life, and a keen sense of form and colour. Whatever her subject—copse of poplars on a hill, cattle clustered around a hay manger, wooded hills and scudding clouds, or First Nations women walking to a village church—the artist’s work radiates affection dn respect for the land and those who live on it”
—Elizabeth Godley
“To know her work is to know the region.”
—Sheryl Saloum
“Sonia left the province and country a rich reflection of what she saw in the land and the people. She painted like she spoke—simply and beautifully—about the subject she knew so intamitely.
—David Zirnhelt
Onward 1965-2012
Several wonderful Cariboo families have ranched the lands since 1965. They’ve all added their own stamp, and contribution to this wonderful historic land. Irrigation systems, fences, fields, hydro. The ranch seemed to change hands every 10 years or so. When Ty was talking to some old timers that have ranches that have been around the Cariboo for a long time, Ty shared that he was worried about a project so ambitious, and such a leap of faith to buy. They had good advice for him— “That even if you are just a blip in Onward’s History that’s still an honour—and thats something to be proud of!
Onward Today
So now you know why Ingrid and Ty get the shivers sometimes as they walk the lands of this ranch, unearthing little hints. Whether it be the 100’s of initials carved in the old barn, or old buried treasure such as draft horse shoes and mule shoes eroding up from the earth—Horse shoe nails holding in shingles—hidden root cellars—old cheques in the walls from the 1800’s, written in eloquent handwriting—shards of pottery from the Potters guild down the banks or pioneer dumps with old bottles and shovels and shoes……its all part of history!
So now the top of the barn doesn’t hold hay—it just hosts dances and concerts. And although the old house still has sawdust insulation and single pain wavy glass original windows—there is at least indoor plumbing and electricity. The old general store ”Eagle & Paxton” is a store once again, but will be will be offering delicious local food to all of B.C. in the form of grass-fed beef—-no more gunpowder, jelly beans and spectacles!
These notes are just the tip of the iceberg, offering insight into a fascinating history. For further reading please look up these Books.
Onward Ranch highly recommends these books:
Sonia
The Life of a Bohemian, Rancher and Artist Sonia Cornwall 1919-2006
Sheryl Salloum
Grand Dames of the Cariboo
Julie Fowler
Women of Brave Mettle
More Stories from the Cariboo Chilcotin
—Diana French
Looking Back at the Cariboo Chilcotin
—Irene Stangoe