Hillcrest Farm photo courtesy Campbell River Museum
As you can see we named "the farm". After throwing out all my suggestions including , Penny Apple Farm. Etienne suggested the historical name Hillcrest Farms and we all agreed. Hillcrest Farm is the orginal name of the farm land that we lease. I feel the name is a great fit for us as we are all young farmers with pioneer farming values. Both Noah and Etienne ancestor's have been in Canada for eight generations or more, maybe this is what gives them their hard work ethic. All I can claim is that I have cleaned up more manture and groomed more horses than then both of them combined ever will in their lifetimes! The Hillcrest farm was started in 1888 and was later known as Noble Farm. Thanks to Jeanette Taylor for compiling this rich history and because of her I have some to share with you.
An Englishman named Robert (Bob) Hall
pre-empted the property on June 28, 1888 and it’s likely he built the house
that same year.
When Bob Hall arrived on Quadra Island
(then called Valdez Island) there
were only about 10 non-Native settlers. Hall was 54 years old the year he
arrived, but he was full of youthful vigor. His accomplishments were impressive. By 1890 he had built a squared
log house measuring 22 x 17 feet, cleared and seeded one and a half acres of a
large swamp, had a further four and a half acres roughly cleared, ditches dug
and timber cut down near the house.2
Part
of what attracted Hall and others to the island was the government’s generous
“pre-emption” offer, available throughout the province. Intending settlers (who
had to be male and British subjects) could claim 160 acre blocks of land for
$1.00 per acre and then make $2.50 per acre in improvements. They were required to have their chosen
piece surveyed and live on the property full time while they cleared it for
ranching and farming. Once they
met these stipulations an assessor appraised their work. In about 1890 Hall’s improvements were
valued as follows:
1
½ acres cleared and seeded $120
House
22 X 17 hewed logs 150
Cut
down timber near house 50
Settlers from miles around, including
those who lived at what is now Campbell River, made their way to Hall’s store
to pick up mail and get basic supplies.
One such settler, Fred Nunns, kept a diary. He frequently mentioned
paddling across the Passage in his dug out canoe, on the chance of finding mail
that had been picked up in Comox or dropped off by a passing steamship. He also brought produce to sell, as on
January 5, 1892, when he brought Bob Hall eight bags of turnips. Hall would, in turn, sell this produce
to logging camps. Nunns and
others, according to his diary, occasionally worked for Hall, perhaps in lieu of cash. November 9, 1892: Stayed night at
Bob Hall’s and did some work for him.
April 12, 1892: The man Hill has looking after his place has gone to
work for Hall. On one occasion
Nunns mentioned a mishap with Hall’s oxen, heavy cattle used for clearing
land. February 8, 1892: Bob
Hall lost one of his oxen. His leg
got broken by catching in a root.10
Bob
Hall’s prospects seemed good when his nephew R.H. (Dick) Hall joined him in 1892. The 18-year-old Welshman was probably a
lively companion for the aging bachelor.
Judging by the fact that Dick was later made a Justice of the Peace for
the district, he must have had a good education.
The Halls and other settlers on the
island regularly paddled in large canoes or rowboats to Comox to stock up on their bulk supplies. On
one such trip in 1896 Robert Hall and two other men were caught in a storm off
Shelter Point. The Colonist
newspaper of October 11, 1896 reported the tragedy. Mr. John Wilson, of the steamer ‘City of Nanaimo’
received a telegram last evening from Nanaimo announcing the death by drowning
of a trapper named George Warren and Robert Hall, an old time store keeper at
Quathiaski.
In about 1910 or 1911 Dick Hall sold
his property. One of his
contemporaries recalled that he returned to Britain to join the war effort
after selling his property to the Nobles,15 who were just passing
through Vancouver when they met Dick Hall. According to a daughter-in-law, Vivien and Thomas Noble were
headed for Australia when they met Dick Hall. His extensive property and its wealth of timber, offered at
a “good price,” proved tempting.16
The
Nobles were newly married when they bought the property, having met while
crossing the Atlantic from England to Canada. Thomas Noble had spent some time
in Canada before they met, paddling the lake systems in Ontario, where he took
an interest in mines. He retained
both these interests while on Quadra Island, where he kept a sail boat and
invested in the Lucky Jim Mine near Granite Bay.
Thomas
and Vivien had some family money from Thomas’ father’s railway interests to
invest in their farm. Their descendants recall that it was Vivien who was the
serious farmer, applying new ideas and methods. As early as 191817
she had a self-filling water system installed in the barn. When cows pushed
down on the center of the big iron bowls they filled with water. She also had
built a fully heated, sunken, greenhouse, the foundations of which still stand.
Viven Noble photo courtesy Campbell River Museum
A
grandson, Bruce Noble, recalls that the kitchen was on the northwest side (now
the front of the house) and to the east, along a short passage, was the pantry.
The south side of the house used to be
the main entrance, looking out at a pear tree and a tennis court. To the rear, the north side, was a wood shed and a pump house with a
generator that ran the milk separator.
To the west was an orchard (which Noble added greatly to) and two
wells. To the east, in a line
straggling out towards the big farm field, was the greenhouse and behind it a
root house, the carriage house, more orchard, the horse barn, the main barn and
yet another barn.
There
was no electricity on the island until the 1950s so batteries
and
generators were used for most
purposes. There was a cooler
beside the back door, for the milk and butter, with the latter being kept down
the well during summer.
The Nobles’ contemporaries say their
farm was the most successful on the island. A Province newspaper reporter,
writing about life on the Discovery Islands in 1925 was also impressed: Another fine farm, which must not be
omitted, this time on Quadra Island, is that of Thomas Noble. Here is, perhaps, the best equipped and
most up-to-date farm in all the island group. There is a large area of cleared land and among the
livestock are pigs, cows and poultry.21 A neighbour recalled that they also
kept goats for milk for the twins, who both had ponies to ride ; they also
raised turkeys and had impressive fruit trees, especially the delicious pear
that stood in front of the house.
This same neighbour, Grace (Willson)
McPherson, recalled how hard Mr. Noble worked on the farm, tending the animals
and a huge field of tomatoes. From
his earliest years on the island Thomas Noble served as the local
representative for the Farmer’s Institute and as a school trustee. For many years the Nobles provided room
and board for teachers who came from off-island to teach at the little school
house near what is now the Department of Highways yard.
Thomas
and Vivien had three children, the twins – Harold and Bruce – and Jack. The
boys were still quite young when Vivien died as the result of surgery in 1921,
at the age of 36. Vivien’s premature death, which he attributed to faulty
medical procedures, was a severe blow to Thomas Noble. He packed up her
personal belongings – her huge collection of papers, letters, diaries and
books, clothing, hair nets, glasses and fine linens – leaving them just as they
were when she died. A daughter-in-law, Kay Noble, inherited the boxes and they
remained untouched until about 70 years after Vivien’s death, when family
members opened them to find a treasury of personal effects.
By Jeanette Taylor
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