By K.A.Pendergast
After doing a little bit of research from the park book written by Roland Neave on the amazing Wells Gray Park right in our backyard, my husband and I set out for a pleasant afternoon hike to the Bee Farm.
The Bee Farm, for those of you who have no idea, is a homestead up in Wells Gray Park that was started by the Emery sisters, residents of Blackpool.
In 1930 Jessie filed for a homestead in Upper Clearwater where she had found there to be prime bee hive environment. With all the fireweed in the area from a huge fire in 1926, Frances and Jessie decided to move their hives in Blackpool up to the park and begin their adult lives up there.
Jessie was 20 at the time while Frances was 17.
Jessie had learned all about keeping bees from her father, who had passed away, and knew that it was just what they needed to prosper with their bees. The girls and two of their brothers relocated and built their bee operation in the Upper Clearwater valley.
The road at that time only went to Trout Creek, which was four miles from their homestead, and so they had to pack in any supplies other than what they had available on the property.
All that hard work paid off for them and the business flourished quickly. A few years later the girls met and married the Shook brothers – Roy with Jessie and Floyd with Frances. Soon Freda Shook married Jessie and Frances’s brother Ralph as well. So, there were three solid family connections for the group.
The Bee Girls, as they were known, were said to have made more income with their honey than most homesteaders did in the area. That was quite a feat during the years around the Depression.
The farm continued its honey operations right up until around 1940 when the girls got just too busy with their own homesteads and families in the lower valley. Jessie transferred some of the hives to keep with her in her garden until into her 60s. The families had all by then moved down into the valley and lived out their natural lives in the general North Thompson area.
The Bee Farm today
My husband Don and I drove up to Stillwater Road to start our five kilometer one-way hike after we had left our truck behind at a spot just off the park road.
We had decided to leave it behind as the road was super mucky and we did not wish to have to dig or push it out.
We do have four-wheel-drive but even that might not have done it! We figured a few more kilometers either way would be okay.
Whew, I have to say that I was not sure I agreed with this decision a couple of hours later lol (laugh out loud). The hike was supposed to take one hour each way and it may have if we hadn’t added those extra few kilometers.
I did find the trail to be fairly simple, although it was very grown in and hard to see in some spots. I suppose part of that is from lack of use, which is a great pity.
We passed a gorgeous view at Smith Lake and then another at Hemp Creek on our journey.
Eventually arriving at the Bee Farm, we found a wonderful cabin, a bee shed and root cellar.
I noticed on the plaque at the farm that there was an effort to give it some love and upkeep which was awesome!
B.C Parks and the Friends of the Wells Gray had combined to restore some of it in 2001. There is always a fine line between restoration and keeping things natural, I think they did some great work.
The two of us had a spectacular day learning just a little bit about the trials that the Bee Girls had to endure each and every day of their lives up there in what is now beautiful Wells Gray Park.
I recommend the trip to everyone! I hope you all have learned a tiny bit more about some of the amazing people who started this great area in which we are so lucky to live!
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