Panned from the Past — Horsefly Historical Society

Each month, Panned from the Past draws on the oral histories, documents, and photographs held at the Jack-Lynn Memorial Museum to tell a story from the Horsefly region’s past. The column first appeared in the Horsefly Buzz in October 2025 and is adapted and written by Erich Zirnhelt.

Dots, Dashes, and Dark Fibre
Horsefly has been solving its connectivity problem for well over a century.
From the May 2026 issue of the Horsefly Buzz
The House That Horsefly Built
One log cabin built in 1910 that slowly became the centre of everything.
From the April 2026 issue of the Horsefly Buzz
Parasols, Poultry, and Polar Polo
A tiny schoolteacher, a repurposed chicken coop, and British men playing polo in waist-deep snow.
From the March 2026 issue of the Horsefly Buzz
The Winter Harvest: Trapping the High Country
When the creeks froze, Horsefly's real cash crop was just beginning.
From the January 2026 issue of the Horsefly Buzz
A Horsefly Christmas Diorama: Mail Sleigh and School Stage
Two scenes from a Horsefly Christmas in the early 1900s: a frozen mail run and a packed schoolhouse stage.
From the December 2025 issue of the Horsefly Buzz
More Than Miners: The First Families of Horsefly
How Horsefly's first families turned a gold rush camp into a permanent home.
From the November 2025 issue of the Horsefly Buzz
The Woodjam Ranch Tragedy: Isolation and Insanity in 1960
A 1960 murder at a remote Cariboo ranch, and the troubling verdict that followed.
Not published in the Horsefly Buzz
Dunlevy at the Horsefly
How Peter Dunlevy, guided by Indigenous knowledge, helped place the Horsefly River at the beginning of BC's gold story.
From the October 2025 issue of the Horsefly Buzz