While the summer sun brought gold seekers to the creeks, the winter frost brought a different kind of industry to the Horsefly area. For early residents, winter was the most productive season for the “cash crops” of the woods: fur and timber.
The Secwépemc Foundation
Early European trappers like the Walters and Patenaudes did not arrive with the skills necessary to survive a Cariboo winter. They adapted by learning directly from their Secwépemc (Shuswap) neighbours.
In his 1977 Aural History Project interview, Billy Reid Jr. explicitly detailed this knowledge transfer. He recalled how early settlers learned the construction and placement of deadfalls (heavy logs rigged with a trigger to drop on prey) directly from Indigenous trappers. This technique was the primary method of harvest long before steel traps became common.
1926: The End of the Free-for-All
For decades, trapping in the Cariboo was an unregulated system. This led to territorial disputes and over-harvesting. In 1926, the British Columbia government introduced the Registered Trapline System. This change turned the woods into a managed map of family businesses. If you wanted to trap a specific valley, you had to register it and pay a fee. This provided families like the Patenaudes with legal ownership of their winter work, ensuring their “sets” remained undisturbed by newcomers.
Billy Reid Sr. and the Grizzly
The most legendary story in the Horsefly trapping archives belongs to Billy Reid Sr. One winter afternoon, Billy was checking his line when he surprised a grizzly. In the deep cold, with no climbable trees nearby, Billy faced the animal alone.
The bear attacked, scalping him and raking his body. Billy survived by playing dead until the bear retreated. The freezing temperatures slowed his blood loss, allowing him to crawl toward help. He eventually recovered and became a successful sheep rancher, but he carried the scars of that encounter for the rest of his life.
Sources
- Horsefly Historical Society Archives: 1977 Aural History Project (Interviews with Billy Reid Jr. and Agnes Williams)
- Horsefly Historical Society Archives: Local Family Documents and Correspondence (Patenaude Family)
- BC Ministry of Environment: Historical Records of the 1926 Game Act Amendments