HISTORY: Properties and Buildings | LEE BROWN'S PRE-EMPTION

Lee Brown was the foreman for the construction of the Belgo-Canadian Land Company ditch built about 1910 from the upper part of what is now Philpott valley to Black Mountain. On May 9, 1913, he pre-empted 156 acres designated Lot No. 1306. Both Darley Creek and the Ditch passed through his pre-emption. He and his wife settled there and irrigated the land from Darley and Silver Creeks. He raised cattle and excellent hay and his wife sold eggs, milk and butter to the construction workers on the dam and ditch. His barn was apparently situated on the east side of Philpott Road close to the brown house which Inez Philpott owned.

Stuart, Mary, Cyril and Jim Weddell with Jim Calder and wife on Brown property in 1933

The minutes of the Black Mountain Irrigation District in February of 1921 mention $33.20 and $34.60 paid to Mrs. Lee Brown for butter and milk, $156.50 paid to Tom Smith for hay and $693 paid to Mr. Weddell and Mr. Stewart. $2000 was needed to repair the flume at North Fork and the payment of $727.90 was made to Mr. L. Brown and $672.45 to Mr. Mugford. In March of 1921, Mr. Brown is reported to have bought a Dodge car and offered to use it instead of the company Chev. As long as he was given free gas, oil and repairs. In June, 1922, Mr. Brown was recorded as getting men and material to repair a break and later the directors expressed surprise and disappointment at the condition of the ditch while thanking Mr. Brown and Mr. Mugford for the way in which they have handled the washout. A Chev. Truck cost $1320 with two extra rims. Mr. Brown was paid $100 per month for the use of his car and $200 quarterly for tires. Sometime in the later 1920s when his job as foreman on the ditch had ended, he apparently left his property. He is reported to have left suddenly leaving hay in the barn and the cattle in the fields.

Cyril Weddell then bought the property. He took down the Brown’s house and used the lumber to build an addition on to his home in 1928 and to build some outbuildings on his farm. He sold the property to Jim Calder, his closest friend, who ran a soft drinks business in Kelowna. Calder may have let the property go by not paying taxes. Cecil Philpott paid up owing back taxes and obtained the property for $160.

The property is now divided between the Axelsons who are on the site of Cecil Philpott’s old house, Monti Philpott, Cecil and Inez’s son and his wife Gloria and Del and Helen Radomske. Monti has built a small replica of a wild-western style village in the Darley Creek valley on his property and lives with his wife up the hill above the creek. Del Radomske has built his construction yard and shop for his log home building business and its associated school farther to the north of Darley Creek. The Radomskes and Mr. Dyson, Helen’s father live with their family on the east side of Philpott Road in the newer home Cecil Philpott built and some of their own log buildings on the north side of Darley Creek.