Kelly Carnochan's love for history is what fuels her work at the 108 Heritage Site.
As the president of the 100 Mile and District Historical Society, which manages the site, Carnochan is responsible for maintaining and promoting the history and heritage of the South Cariboo. The society's mission is to "establish and maintain a historical site and museum to promote education, enjoyment and preservation of local history and cultural artifacts."
"I love the history, and I appreciate the fact there's a lot to be done here - and to be able to be a part of it - and I've got time because I'm retired," said Carnochan as to why she took on the role.
Carnochan was born in Bralorne, BC, a small village around 130km west of Lillooet. In the past, Bralorne used to be a mining town where gold prospectors had come to try and strike it rich in Cadwallader Creek, which had some of the richest hard-rock veins in the region.
"It was a huge mining town - right up until 1974, when they shut the mine down, and a lot of the miners went to Houston, BC from Bralorne," stated Carnochan about the town she grew up in.
Growing up Carnochan wore several hats over the course of her professional career including working as a real estate agent, working with people with disabilities at the Vernon and District Association for Community Living and even operating her own placer gold mine in Haylemore with her ex-husband in 1981.
"Gold has always been in my blood, so I love the rich history of the Cariboo Trail," states Carnochan.
After retiring Carnochan moved to 100 Mile House to be closer to her children and soon became involved with the historical society, whom she has been elected the president of twice in a row. The role of the president is a busy one, she said.
"You have to run it like a business. It's a huge asset, right? We have between 10,000 to 15,000 tourists come through between May long weekend and the end of September. So it's not just a spot - I look at it like it's a business and it needs to be run like a business," Carnochan explained. "I do everything from washing floors, cleaning out barns, doing payroll, bank deposits, scheduling the work, organizing events, pretty much a little bit of everything."
Carnochan's favourite parts about her work include learning about the history of the area and coming up with ways to make the 108 Heritage Site better each year. Under her watch, several projects have been undertaken by the society. Most notable is the planned relocation of the 153 Mile Store, which contains over 3,800 artifacts from the end of the Cariboo Gold Rush to the mid-1960s, to the 108 Heritage Site. So far, the society has raised just over $200,000 of the $2-million needed to move the store since announcing the move last fall.
Other projects include a feasibility study on the big Watson Barn - also known as the Clydesdale Barn, which is described by Carnochan as "the largest log barn in all of Canada." The barn was built to accommodate more than 100 Clydesdale horses - which the 108 Heritage Site says were "some of the most impressive horses in the area" and named after Captain Geoffrey Lancelot Watson, who tragically died in World War I near Ypres, Belgium.
Carnochan says that the study is needed to replace some of the older logs and they need to fundraise and apply for grants.
"I believe it was the 1980s - the Block Brothers allowed the snowmobile club to store snowmobiles up on the top, and they cut through a main beam, and the barn fell down - and they had it rebuilt using a lot of the old logs and some new logs." Carnochan explained, stating that the Watson Barn is a "very important piece of history."
In addition, this year, Carnochan and other members of the society have undertaken maintenance including cleaning out the Watson Barn and repainting the exterior of the museum.
"We cleaned out the blacksmith shop, and had all the tools and everything put back in nice and clean, put in a garden. We've done new fencing - just tons and tons of projects - and there's always another project around the corner - like our next project is we're building shelves in the Watson barn to display all the old tools that nobody can visually see," added Carnochan.
Carnochan said part of the reason she does what she does is to preserve the memory of those who owned the buildings and 108 Heritage Site before the society. She remarked she remains fascinated by the stories of figures like Captain Watson, the McNeil family and Stephen Tingley, who had owned the property at the turn of the century.
"He was part of the BX Express, and we're all a part of that history when it comes right down to it," Carnochan remarked. "But it fascinates me about how hard they had it - how hard they worked for what they got, and for us to have a piece of that and to be able to maintain it for future generations, to me is just amazing."
