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In Time - A Ranch

by E.M. Fletcher

85 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-1295; ISBN 1-4120-0926-X; US$15.00, C$17.95, EUR11.70, £8.50

Set in British Columbia's beautiful interior, this memoir tells of ranch life between 1930 and 1950 when the words washboards, out-houses and Bennet Buggies were still understood.

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about the book      about the author      excerpts      catalogue info

About the Book E. M. Fletcher engraves the building of a ranch onto a larger more vivid canvas. It is a heart-touching tale of love while schooling children at home, dealing with catastrophes, terrain and varmits. In a story of social and personal history at its best, Marie tell all. As she faces these tough economic times, and shares her triumphs and reminiscenses with her readers, she recounts the beginnings that In Time - became - A Ranch.

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About the Author When asked why she writes, Marie answers, "I write to get acquainted with myself." So, now take a moment to get acquinted with Marie. Marie began life in 1921 in Medford, Oregon, but she spent most of her formative years in the Cariboo Country. Orville Fletcher and Marie were married there in 1936. Fourteen years later they were able to buy the historical 4000-acre-144 Mile Ranch in the San Jose River Valley. In between time - spare-time - sometime - a family of eight children, 15 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren were born. Orville passed away some years ago, and Marie knowing that he wished the ranch to stay in the family divided and sold it to various family members. Marie still lives there where she continues to be very much the heart of this ranching family. From her beautiful log home at the center of the ranch, Marie provides never-ending support, encouragement, wise old remedies and stories - cinnamon buns and love.

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Excerpts

Excerpt No. 1.

Then came The Day. The car had been reassembled; a trailer heavily loaded was hitched to it. The last of the household goods were packed into the car. Thus, bright and early on a February morning, we headed for Canada.

Excerpt No. 2.
Upon being told we intended to stay in the country she remonstrated, "Why in hell would you come to this God-forsaken country? In the winter you will freeze up and bust. In summer you'll dry up and blow away!"

Excerpt No. 3.
In the parlour of the manse the minister performed the ceremony, reminding Orville that it was customary to pay the pastor. We still had enough money to manage a week's honeymoon‹and pay a neighbour to stay with Mother. Fortunately the old coupe was still chugging along, and gave us no extra costs or we would have had to hitchhike home.
No matter - we were together and together we could conquer the world.

Excerpt No. 4.
The trip through the incomparable Rocky Mountains and across the vast prairies, the one day stop over in Niagara Falls and on to Grand Central Station, New York - should have been an exciting adventure for a 13 year old girl, but my heart and mind were elsewhere.
Orville, the love of my life and the only dependable adult I knew - was gone. At least that's the way I felt about it.

Excerpt No. 5.
When my Girl Scout Leader and the Church Deaconess and a few others heard we were planning on returning to the unsettled far distant northwestern corner of Canada which most didn't even know existed - they tried to dissuade us. They sounded as if they thought the natives were still prowling about in loincloths with bows and arrows.

Excerpt No. 6.
When the 144 Mile Ranch in the San Jose River Valley went up for sale, he saw it as an opportunity to get out of the high country, and build a ranch in the valley - never mind if it was a pile of rocks. There were sunny dry bunch grass hillsides, a boon to calving cows, where in the higher country - mud, slush, and snow still prevailed. There the first green grass sprouted and the deer gathered for the early spring feast. There, the cows fed on the sparse but nutritious bunch grass later into the winter than they did anywhere else. There was a place to view the valley spread out below you - to watch the glorious sunsets fade and the sunrise touch the tree tops with gold. These low-lying hills were called The Spring Fields.

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Catalogue Information

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