South Peace Historical Society

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  • Table of Contents

    • Part 1: First Nations of the Peace River Region
    • Part 2: The Fur Trade Era
    • Part 3: Transportation and Communication
    • Part 4: Old Timers and the Price of Land
    • Part 5: Dawson Creek: The Story of the Community
    • Part 6: Mysteries, Adventures and Indian Legends
    • Part 7: Arts, Crafts and Recreation
    • Part 8: Agriculture
    • Part 9: Church Histories
    • Part 10: Schools
    • Part 11: Health Care
    • Part 12: Industries and Enterprises
    • Part 13: Policing the Peace
    • Part 14: Pouce Coupe, Rolla, and Other South Peace Communities
    • Part 15: Chetwynd and the Fort St. John Area
    • Part 16: The Alberta Peace
    • Part 17: Natural History of the Peace River Region
    • Part 18: Interviews with Old Timers
    • Part 19: Remembering Our Veterans

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01-140: Notes on Kelly Lake

 By Dorthea H. Calverley
 [This item is an edited transcription of rough notes apparently intended to lead to an article — the article was not completed]
 
Kelly Lake was not in the Peace River Block. The southern boundary of the Peace River Block is about 5 miles South of Pouce Coupe.

– 1883: B.C. agreed to cede to Dominion of Canada some 3 1/2 million arable and non-alienated acres in Peace River district.

-1905: J. A Macdonnell, [a Dominion Land Surveyor] arrived May 1905 at Ft. St. John with a large, well equipped party, to select a piece in “one rectangular block.” (Peace River Chronicles, p. 221)

-1907: Dominion Government took possession of land. A line was surveyed around it. It carried out the stipulation regarding the shape, which did not take into consideration the shape of the earth. The southern boundary was approximately five miles south of Pouce Coupe. This boundary is a road, marked by Highways Department as “Block Line Road”. [Kelly Lake lies approx. 30 miles south of the Block Line].

-1911: Dominion Government surveyed S E corner of Block [under Federal Survey plan of Townships, Ranges and Sections] in 1912. Threw land open for homesteaders around Pouce Coupe, Dawson Creek and Rolla, but not at Kelly Lake. Outside of the Peace River Block, land could be staked and delineated by “Metes and bounds” This would allow ‘squatting’, and, hopefully, ownership when properly surveyed. Such pieces were designated as “District lots” and could be any shape. Lots #308, 311 and others around Kelly Lake suggest a very early settlement. The 1911 Federal Government survey had established a “Base Line”, starting at the S E corner of the Block. But it took no notice of the old “Block Line”, and because it took into account the curvature of the earth and convergence of longitude lines, the base line fell a little north of the “Block line.” (see Map, page 240, Peace River Chronicles). The resulting discrepancy produced a pie-shaped piece of land extending west and widening, to the longitude of Hudson’s Hope and the West end of Moberly Lake.

-1922: Mr. R. Lester Harper of Pouce Coupe, ex-Provincial Assessor was out with the B.C. Land Surveyor, Mr. A. R. Barrow, but not right at Kelly Lake. This surveyor must have changed the name from Fritton Lake to Kelly Lake. The B.C. survey extended the Dominion Government style of townships and sections. The Pre-emptor’s Map of the Peace River Block [B.C. Department of Lands, 1931] shows the District Lots around Fritton (Kelly) Lake. The term ‘Pre-emption’ in B.C. is synonymous with “homestead” on the remainder of the prairies.

« 01-139: Sid Gladu Reminisces About Early Days at Kelly Lake

01-141: A Good Yarn – A First Hand Account of Peace River Indians in 1928 »

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