History:
Willow
Creek Ranger Station:
The lands now lying within
the Forestry Reserve boundaries were preserved by the Dominion Government in
1887 for forest purposes. There was no supervision for dues paid by stockmen who
were grazed these lands which were classified as free grazing. During the period
1910-12 the Dominion Government began to set up Forest Services. The 1916
records show some grazing dues having been collected, probably no earlier than
1914. After the 1920 May snowstorm had greatly reduced many of the larger herds
the Forestry Branch, which operated under the Department of the Interior,
encouraged small cattle operators to stay in business by forming Stock
Associations to summer graze on the Forest Reserves. Pete Leman was the first
ranger on the Highwood and Jack Macleod, who came up from the East Porcupines,
was the first Willow Creek ranger in 1916. He remained at this station until
WWII when his assistant Fred Monk took over (1940-42) followed by Jack Macleod,
who came out of retirement and was in Willow Creek until 1945, Jules Verkman,
Hyru:n Baker (1947-50), Murray Meister, Doug Allan, Fred Schoeder and Charlie
Clark.
DuROCHERVILLE(1903):
Frank DuRocher, a prospector
heard of the Lost Lemon Mine from locals in Nanton and headed west to find the
fortune in gold. Having no luck finding the gold he made his way back down the
old Indian trail back to Nanton. On his way he found five outcrops of coal.
Alter getting a lease, he tunneled in and started up a coal mining business.
After some extensive road work he opened a saw mill located where the recreation
area is now. He then built a large eight-roomed log house and a barn in the
meadow north of the lower loop campsite, which he called DuRocherville. Frank
planned to have a railroad built from Okotoks to his mine. He had a Dominion
Government Official Engineer convinced of its feasibility and sold shares in the
deal. However, the deal fell through when word got out that he also planned to
route a railway to his other mine in the Upper Highwood. Over the years in
operation the mine near the recreation area produced more than 127,000 tons of
coal which was transported by four-horse teams over the Muirhead Trail to Nanton.
Some coal was sold to Imperial Oil near Chain Lakes to be used in their
exploration for oil at Rice Creek. The sawmill was later bought out by Ed Mason
and Thomas Fetherstone in 1909. In 1911, Fetherstone sold his half share to
Mason for $1,800. Now there was a blacksmith shop, steam engines for cutting the
logs and the hotel with several cabins and shacks. A few years later the mill
was moved up the creek three miles and burned down in 1923. Much of the timber
the mill was going to use was burned up in the 1910 fire. However, while
supplies lasted the mill never had any difficulty in marketing the timber. It
was sold before it even hit the ground. Wages were good for the millworkers. The
men got $2.25 a day and $5.00 was deducted from their wages for room and board
each week. Another mine was started up at the “switchback” near the
base of Plateau Mountain on #532. This was started by the Skeen family and it
produced a large quantity of coal. There were no animals used in the mine. They
tunneled into the rock face north of the creek on the right hand side of #532
just west of Bear Pond. The weight of the cart coming down the hill would pull
up the empty car. Once the coal was ready to go to town wagon trains and
four-horse teams would pull the load down the rocky and bumpy trail to Nanton.
THE INDIAN GRAVES:
First, the meadow alongside the highway was an ancient burial ground where many were buried. This is sacred ground. Before the road existed and settlers came to the area, the site was a meeting place for many to come from miles around to camp. Here two creeks came together offering good fishing, hunting and trapping . This is where all trails met offering an abundance of food and water.
The marked burial site past the entrance to the former ranger station on highway #532 tells quite a story. In the late 1920’s, a flu epidemic spread through the foothills; many lives were lost. The burial site marks the resting place of a man and wife who died during the epidemic. On Plateau Mountain, located west of Indian Graves, sixteen men, women and children were buried after the flu hit their camp. Throughout the area there are many unmarked grave sites, as well as some marked sites, PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB THESE GRAVES.
THE
1910 FOREST FIRE:
Only a quarter of an inch of
rain fell in the foothills from April 1st to September 1st in 1910. Crops in the
flatland were withered to nothing; some never even sprouted. Hundreds of fires
were reported. One rancher said when he asked his neighbors for help with a fire
they could not leave the fire they were already fighting. During the summer near
the Pickle Jar Lakes a government survey party was doing a timber cruise when a
sudden gust of wind took sparks from their campfire away and that started a fire
that the foothills have yet to recover from. The fire spread from the
Highwood south along the Livingston range to the Oldman river. Firefighters were
hired by the ranchers to save their buildings along highway #22 (The Happy
Valley Road). The Gardners hired over 50 Stony Indians to fight it back. They
worked at night because the heat was too much during the day. Eventually in
August it rained enough to slow the fire down. The snow in December finally put
the last flames out. The scars still remain. The Plateau Mountain area west of
Indian Graves, which can be seen from the “hump” has yet to grow trees to
replace the ones lost in the fire.
THE GOLDRUSH OF
1931:
In February, 1931 news spread fast of a possible gold find in the
Livingston range and the Plateau Mountain range. A prospector named Billy
Windiate had found a very promising quartz gold deposit near the headwaters of
the Livingstone river. The Stampede was on? People came from all directions to
pan and dig for gold. Many prospectors drove as far as the Willow Creek Ranger
Station and then hiked over the pass. Some made the journey in light clothing
with little or no food to make their claim. R.C.M.P. blocked the road near
Indian Graves to send people who were ill-prepared in case of a storm.
Fortunately, the storm never came or many City-Folk would have died on their
escapade since despite the police effort many hid in the trees or hiked around
the police blockade. Three to four hundred men covered the area from Dry Creek
north to Plateau Mountain, up across the top, down the west side and along the
Livingston River. Some women even thought they would make their fortune without
a pan or claim. They set up a cook camp and stopping house at the base of Iron
Creek, just north of the Johnson Creek crossing on #532. The
activity lasted about ten days. the
gold field never developed and many
gave up with much dismay. All the Legends of the Lost Lemon Mine had inspired
the prospectors but no one found their pot of gold.
Willow
Creek Stock Association
The Willow Creek Stock Association
was organized between 1923-24. The Associations first annual meeting was held in
February 1925. The corrals have been moved up and down Willow Creek over the
years to where it now exists at the Indian Graves Recreation Area. Over the
years since its inception the membership has fluctuated and changed. In the
1920’s regulations stated that the grazing period extended from June 1st to
October 15th, rates were 40 cents per head for the season and a rider was to
oversee the 1300 head of stock, the quota allotted the Association within this
Forest Area. Varying with range conditions the numbers vary from 1000 to 650
head.