I'm going to change just a few names, here. The other people, in this tale are still in Lone Butte, for the most part, and I keep in touch with some of those who have moved away. ________________________________________________________
Early in 1979 my wife, Francine and, having come into a little money, decided to look at property in the B.C. Interior. We wanted a place far from town, and the crime associated with denser populations, to raise our boys, Danny and Jimmy. A place where the boys could be a little closer to nature. _____________________________________________________________
We found our place, Lone Butte. It was ideal, population: 273, twelve miles from 100 Mile House, the nearest place inhabited by more than five hundred people, 100 Mile House is a small town on the Caribou Trail, between Kamloops and Williams Lake. The town had one hotel the Exeter Hotel, five restaurants, one pub, The Exeter Pub, a post office, two banks, one major food retailer and a few motels along the highway. It also had a hardware store, which sold everything from firearms to motorcycles and parts. 100 Mile House boasted a brand new ‘mini’ shopping mall, housing the Bank of Montreal, and the 100 Mile Hardware Store. Danny’s school was in 100 Mile House, as well
The house we found was older, but very well constructed, and sat well back from the main road that passed through the village proper. You needed to cross a “cattle guard” to get to our place, something I hadn’t seen since I was a boy. It boasted huge evergreen trees on the property, and a well, two hundred feet deep that produced the coldest, purest water you could ever imagine.
And so, when all the papers were signed, in 1980, and the money had changed hands, we moved in to our little Eden.
It was Eden to us. The dogs and cats loved their newfound freedom, and the boys’ eyes sparkled when they got up in the morning. My beautiful wife was even more radiant, as she started planning flower and vegetable gardens, in the front and back of the property. Some of our new neighbours stopped in to welcome us, and brought all manner of inviting homemade foodstuffs, as part of their greetings.
One of the first things I did, after I had placed the furniture in the final, of many, spots that Francine wanted them put, was to construct a small log cabin, for the boys, at the back of the property. It had running water, and electricity, I, then, constructed a frame, where their hockey rink would be in the coming winter. I met some of my new neighbours, who showed up to help me fall and peel the logs. Barrett Irwin donated a ready-made roof for the project.
To my delight, I found that the garage was full of seasoned wood, almost enough to last us through the winter.
I started to cut and stack more wood for the winter, which was said to be quite long and bitterly cold. We were mistaken, though, although the mercury said -25 or -30 degrees, it never seemed as cold as the +20’s and +30’s we were accustomed to on the coast. It lacked the dampness that permeated the winters in the southern coastal region of B.C.
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