This website centers on Val Morton, an erstwhile rancher along the Columbia river in British Columbia, Canada. It chronicles the transformation of the Morton ranch over Val's lifetime, utilizing his hand-drawn map as the guiding layout. Beginning from events in the 1920's, through to his expropriation in 1970 and beyond, the site shows how Val Morton characterizes his own life on the ranch at a later time when, living in a camper, surrounded by photographs, newspaper clippings, and legal documents concerning the expropriations, he mourned its absence.

Scroll or click below to be guided through the seven epochs on the Morton ranch.

In many ways, the history of the Morton family follows a pattern similar to many Canadians at the turn of the 20th century. Frank L. Morton emigrated from England to Canada in 1902 and went to serve for the allied forces during the First World War. Suffering from the adverse health effects of a poison gas attack, Frank returned home to his wife, Lottie, and son Llyewellyn was born in 1916. In 1920, the Morton family purchased 4.5 acres of land along the Columbia River in East Demars, which included a home, a small orchard, and a chicken house. In the years leading up to 1939, the Morton’s focused on settling their land and family, with sons George, Val, Tom, and Curry being born in 1921, 1924, 1930 and 1932 respectively. Because of his wartime injuries, Frank Morton’s sons, Val in particular, played an increasingly valuable role in the running and diversification of the ranch economy.

Once the Morton’s had settled their family and their sense of place on their land, they turned their focus to the raising of livestock. Beginning in 1939 with one horse, two milk cows, three beef animals, fifty laying hens and fifty pullets (young hens), the Morton’s ranch economy grew rapidly during these years. This required an intimate relationship with both the animals and the land itself, and Val, never one for school or other pursuits, quickly took a leading role in this endeavour. In 1939, the Morton’s erected 500 feet of hog fencing, pastured their cattle on a neighbouring farm, and dug a stock well for a water trough. With a blacksmith shop on their property, the Morton’s were able to construct much of their own farm equipment according to their specific needs, including a wagon, stump-puller, double mouldboard plough, and a drag saw for cutting firewood. With the growth of the Morton’s ranch economy through the raising of livestock came the immediate need for additional land, which was purchased in 1941. While the Morton’s continued to raise animals in the following decades, their focus shifted slightly to the clearing of their newly acquired land, and a profitable timber business to add to their ranch economy.

The Morton’s purchase of new land in 1941 was followed by an additional land purchase in 1942 for the purpose of developing the foundations of a timber economy. While the Morton’s initial focus on animals was for raising livestock, they soon began purchasing “heavy” horses and purebred Holstein cattle selected to skid timber. This new property and industry led to Val Morton acquiring an even deeper understanding of the land and his family’s place on it, through the surveying and clearing of land and the construction of new access roads throughout the property. Each year, the Morton’s selectively logged, stumped, slashed, and burned portions of their land for cottonwood, hemlock, cedar, pine, and birch, which led to their construction of an A-frame stacker for stump piling. The Morton’s timber economy was established. By 1944, the Morton’s only kept dairy cattle for their own personal use, but the rapid clearing of land that took place between 1942 and 1944 led the family to shift the main focus of their ranch economy yet again, this time to cultivation.

The periods of Land Clearing and Cultivation were closely connected on the Morton Ranch. Additional land was purchased in 1945 in order to expand the ranch economy and timber extraction continued on this new land. The land that was cleared in the previous period, however, was cultivated between 1945 and 1952. This process included physically changing the boundaries of the Morton property by dismantling the old fences and redefining portions of the land to suit new purposes. By this time, the majority of the Morton sons had left home to pursue lives and families of their own. However, Tom and Curry Morton returned each summer to help with the cultivation process and Val remained on the Morton land, taking control of the ranch economy. The cleared land also allowed the Morton’s to bring new sources of power, water, and access to the ranch through a series of pipes, ditches, and roads. These new additions were constructed with Val’s self-taught understanding of the land and what he needed to work with it, not against it. This understanding was further developed as Val turned the focus of the ranch economy from cultivation to timber.

The period between 1953 and 1959 included the continuation of a cultivating economy, with the Morton’s selling their hay to the local community, and Val building a granary while helping neighbouring rancher harvest their crops. Furthermore, this period marks a major shift in the Morton’s use of animals, with the last milk cow and pigs being slaughtered in 1956. From that point on, the ranch only had a small herd of beef cattle as the family looked to other areas of focus, which, for this period, was timber. The Morton’s logged almost $6000 in timber in 1953, which grew to over $9000 in 1957, mostly in cedar and fir poles, which they transported and sold to a logging company in Nakusp, which marks the point in which the Morton’s began to focus their ranch economy outside the confines of their property. Tom and Curry continued to work on the ranch during the winter months, and Val extended his logging knowledge and projects by helping neighbouring rancher develop their timber economies. However, this major development of a timber economy led to an abundance of cleared land on the ranch, which Val quickly developed during the Morton’s final decade on their property.

The land that was cleared due to the Morton’s timber economy was not cultivated in the traditional way during the period between 1960 and 1968. Instead, Val Morton established an airstrip on the ranch in 1960 and it grew at a rapid pace throughout the decade. In 1960, the runway was a 1500 foot long strip of cleared land and by 1967, approximately 79 airplanes were landing at the Morton ranch daily and Val had constructed three hangers. During this era, Val devoted each year to improving the runway while continuing to extract timber and build roads and ditches throughout the property. Through airplanes, the world came to the ranch and the Morton’s ability to adapt to new technology while remaining firmly ensconced in their land testifies to the strength of their sense of place. However, this period also marks the end of the Morton’s relationship with their land. In 1969, the Morton ranch was expropriated by BC Hydro, and Val and Curry burned the buildings and killed the remaining animals before their land, sense of place, and sense of self, was flooded by the Keenleyside dam.

Following the expropriation of the Morton Ranch, Val Morton began a campaign to get his family fair compensation for their lost land, as well as to reclaim the portions of the ranch that were not destroyed when the dam water flooded the Columbia River Valley. While he has since given up this fight, Val remains steadfast in documenting how both his land and family were treated by BC Hydro.

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