Ranch History
Abram’s at Big Flat and Buell’s at Big Bend
Creek were the 1st trading posts on the upper South Fork of theSalmon River
in 1851 when the Klamath County was formed. William M. Buell lived at a
ranch home on what is now Glacier View Ranch property. The Abram’s
ranch called Lakeview and Buell’s property were the 1st cultivated
acres on the upper South Fork of the Salmon. In 1861, Buell sold the ranch
property and dismantled the trading post on the river that was located
on what we call “The Flats”. He bought property at Summerville
which today is only a site today and lies N.W. of Horse Shoe Bend near
the Lor-O Ranch.
Buell became Justice of the Peace in 1866 and died in 1870. Albert Peluca,
a Swiss Italian immigrant patented the 30 acres of land which is known
as the Glacier View Ranch in 1912. The original house on the property burned
down and was rebuilt by Mr. Peluca and his neighbors.
William S. Johnson Sr. and his brother,
Harry D. Johnson began coming to the region in the late 1920’s
for camping, hunting and fishing trips into the glacier lakes of the
locality. To carry all of the camping equipment, food and beverage
for their trips they would hire William Tickner or John McBroom who
were local packers.
The story goes that on one such trip in 1932, a great storm drove the
campers from the high country. They took refuge on Mr. Peluca’s
ranch. The elderly rancher allowed the party to spend the night in
the barn on the property (The barn site is now what we call “The
Memorial” today. It is where William S. Johnson rests. Some of
the original rockwork of the barn still exists.) Bill Johnson was very
impressed with Peluca’s property that looked out on “Thompson’s
Peak” (some maps show it as such and others as “Wedding
Cake” with Thompson’s Peak directly behind it). The peak
is a perpetual glacier, never losing its mantle of snow. In the morning
after a night in the barn, Bill on a whim, with no real hope that Peluca
would sell, asked the old man how much he wanted for the place. Peluca
was old and tired and to Bill’s delighted surprise, he said, “Fifteen
hundred dollars.” Bill took out his checkbook and wrote Peluca
a check on the spot. He changed the name to “Glacier View Ranch”.
The property consists of 30 acres, 12 cleared around the main house
and 18 in the woods.
Aside from the main house which consisted of a small kitchen, two bedrooms, living room and an attic area above all but the kitchen, there were outbuildings, a large and small barn, a chicken coop and a shed. The small shed that the large blackberry bush partially covers is all that remains of the original outbuildings. The one-room sleeping cabin that Bill built burned down in 1976. Four original, elderly apple trees remain from Peluca’s time here as well as a pear tree and old Concord grape vines.
Bill frequented the property several times a year until the 1940’s when he and Harry retained the Brubakers as caretakers. John and his wife Bobbie, a registered nurse, and John’s brother lived on the Glacier View. John Brubaker is responsible for making the trail into the ranch from and keeping the fields irrigated by way of terraced water ditches that can still be seem in the grassland surrounding the main house. The husband and wife died and the brother Brubaker shot himself in despair and loneliness in the one room-sleeping cabin Bill had built. C.C. Barry, a retired railroad employee and part-time miner who had a mining claim cabin near by, informed Bill of Brubaker’s death. At this time, 1956, Bill returned to check on the place with his son William Jr. who was 16 years old. From this time on, Barry checked on the place and stayed during the summer months.
Caretakers of the GVR from about 1936 to Present Time
After Bill purchased the property
from Albert Peluca in 1932, John McBroom lived on the place or watched
over it.From 1936 to approximately 1947, the ranch was lived on and
worked by Ivan and Bobbette Ernst who according to Uncle Harry wanted
to live up in a remote area to “dry
out” and stay on the wagon. They had cattle and horses grazing
and Ivan worked several mines. His “title” was manager
while Bill and Harry were owners (Harry being on the deed as a Joint
Tenant from January 10, 1942). Ted Greenfield, Atty at law, had written
up a formal agreement dated January of 1942 stating that the Ernsts
had lived upon the land for 6 years (from 1936) and would be applying
for a grant to graze cattle on U.S. government land surrounding the
30 acres of the property. Evidently, this legal document was necessary
for the application.
Ivan Ernst died 7-31-1946 of heart
failure on the ranch. (Ivan Ray Ernst born 12-31-1893 North Dakota,
d. 7/31/1946 in Siskiyou County). “Bobby” Ernst
expressed a desire to continue to live upon the land. A miner and roustabout
on the Salmon River, Herman Johnson, lived there with her after Ivan’s
death and did all the hard manual labor, building the woodshed and
re-shingling portions of the roof and building, he built a new chicken
house and some fencing. Herman also mined and packed. Herman and Bobby
did not get along well at all. He accused her of whipping his dog etc.
and taking his mail. This arrangement deteriorated by the fall of 1947.
Bobbett left for OR where she lived her friend, “Jack”.
She left her horses and some personal items at the ranch that the next
caretakers had to dispose of.
In November 1947, Percy, Louise
and Keats (Percy’s brother)
Brubaker moved in. Percy and Lou worked some summers at the Lokoya
Lodge in Napa to earn extra cash while Keats stayed on the Glacier
View. Percy rebuilt the flume, put new braces under the house, and
greatly improved the trail into the ranch from the end of the road.
He purchased a small tractor and had a cart to pull behind it. They
continued to raise chickens and a few milk cows and grazed some horses.
Lou churned her own butter, put up pears and made apple jelly, made
juice and jelly from the concord grapes originally planted by Albert
Peluca, etc. In 1956, Percy had been in bad health with several painful
hernias and was living back in the Bay Area with Lou in El Cerrito
in a trailer park. Feeling slightly better he ventured back up to the
ranch alone to be with his brother, Keats who was staying at the ranch.
He died in the cellar of a heart attack 5/30/1956 (Percy Vere Brubaker
b. 5/05/1881 in Iowa, d. 5/30/1956 in Siskiyou County). His brother
Keats was so despondent that he committed suicide in the sleeping cabin
at the ranch, shooting himself with a .22 rifle (Keats Brubaker b.
1/1/1883 in Iowa, d. 7/03/1956 Siskiyou County). C.C. Barry wrote Bill
what had happened and Bill and Will set out for the Glacier View to
lock up. A couple, the Marinos, from the Forks of the Salmon were considered
but declined to take over caretaker responsibilities. For years after
this, C.C. Barry kept an eye on the property but he was not interested
in living there. Bill kept the small tractor and cart at Ed Lynch’s
cabin on the flats below the parking lot at the end of the road. (Edwin
W. Lynch b. 2/22/1884 CA, d. 10/10/1964 Siskiyou Co.). After this,
the tractor was kept at George Rose’s (property now owned by
the lawyer, Barney). Before 1986, Rudy Johnson lived at the ranch on
and off. Since 1986, we have been very fortunate to have Kent Stewart
live at the GVR as caretaker. The arrangement has been good for him
and very good for all of us.
More information below :
History
Photos of the Glacier View click here Smugmug.
Old time Photos of the
ranch slide show.
History photos part 2 on site of the GVR
For
printing and ease reading down load this page here PDF (160k)
Albert Peluca b. 5/14/1850 Foreign country,
d. 12/7/1940 Siskiyou County
Charles C. Barry ( listed as Berry) b. 07/22/1893 Nevada, d. 2/23/1976
Shasta County
Herman Johnson b. 12/25/1908 Oklahoma, d. 2/2/1996 Siskiyou County
Louise A. Brubaker b. 2/16/1909 Kentucky, d. 8/27/1995 Alameda
George T. Rose b. 1/11/1908 CA, d. 8/6/1973 in Siskiyou Co.
Copyright© Sharon C Johnson
