Page 8 March 1986 Cassiar Courier

VISA accepted

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Pleasant background music will be supplied by local pianists from time to time

SAUMON DU B.C. FUME

-'PFHE COOKERY

Open Saturday and Sunday only

Saturday Lunch ~ 11:30a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Dinner ~ 8p.m. to Midnight

Sunday Lunch-~ 11:30a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Dinner - 8p.m. to 11 p.m.

LES HORS D‘OEUVRE

smoke salmon served on lettuce with cream
cheese and horseradish

COCKTAIL DE CRABES DUNGENESS
Crab with a tangy cocktail sauce

HUITES DE ROCKEFELLER _ |
Poached oysters on a bed of spinach,
chopped shallots with a touch of Pernod

LES POTAGES

TORTUE XERES
Turtle soup with sherry and cheese straws

BISQUE D‘HOMARD
lobster bisque with brandy

SOUPE A L‘OIGNON AU GRATIN

A LA FRANCAISE
french onion soup with a flaky, mozzarella
cheese topping, baked

ITALIAN PASTA

LINGUINI ITALIENNE ty
Linguine with cream cheese sauce gratine

FETTUCINI VERT A LA BOLONAISE
Green fettucini in a meat sauce

SCAMPI PROVENCALE

Reservations for Dinner are requested.

LES POISSONS

Scampi sauted with white wine, tomatoes,
garlic and shallots, served on a bed of rice

COQUILLES ST. JACQUES MORNAY
scallops poached in white wine, laced with
creamed cheese sauce, served on the scallop shell

HOMARD THERMIDOR
lobster in a cream sauce with cheese and

mustard and brandy, put back in the half shell
and glazed

LES ENTREES

CARRE D‘AGNEAU DIJONNAISE
rack of lamb, roasted. with herbs and dijon
mustard

SUPREME DE VOLAILLE ALA KIEV |
Stuffed boneless chicken breast with herb butter

TOURNEDOS DE BOEUF AVEC QUEQUE
D‘HOMARD

§ oz. tenderloin with broiled lobster tail, lemon
butter

TOURNEDOS ROSSINI
& oz. filet of beef wrapped in bacon, sauted in
butter, foie gras on top, coated with madeira
sauce

a

Enjoy a pre-dinner cocktail and dine by candlelight in the

newly renovated Dining Room

e

Growing up to be an outfitter is many a boy’s dream.
Living a life in the mountains, working with horses,
seeing animals in their natural habitat is the best life
there is according to Gene and Mickey Overton who have
been in the guiding business here since 1959.

And Cassiar Country with its magnificent mountains
that support the Big 5 Game: moose, caribou, stone
sheep, goat and grizzly bear, is an area sought after by
hunters dreaming of our wilderness.

The Overtons bought their hunting area in 1963
after guiding with Frank Stewart, Mickey’s father, for
four years. The area was made up of 3500 sq. miles east
of Dease Lake — the Kucho Creek, Turnagain Lake area.
Gene and Mickey and their five children — Shelly, Judd,

Graham, Grant and Marlene — worked the area until 1981 :

when the Overtons sold to an American-Canadian partner- ©

ship. They now manage the area for the new owners.
Looking back Gene says, “It was pretty well a family
affair. All the boys learned to guide...the girls learned to
cook...Shelley and Marlene even loved to wrangle!”
They would set up Base Camp on a large lake where
a float plane carrying the arriving hunters could land. The
party. would then split up into small groups of about two
hunters and a guide; sometimes a cook went along. Each
group would take about 10 horses who carried their light
tents, poles, folding stove, roll up table and supplies.
The hunting parties would travel about 15 miles
at most each day with no exact destination in mind.
“We'd cover the entire area in a season,’ Gene said.
“Most of the people who hunt are super — very
appreciative of the area...a lot of hunters come back year
after year...most of them this far north have been hunting
before...(but) we had some hunters who’d never ridden a
horse before..All they’d have to do is get off and walk a
while and that horse would look pretty good,” he laughed.
They guided about 25 hunters per season. Gene
said, “A lot of the hunters were financially secure, but
probably two out of four or five had saved two or three
years for the trip..” Most times the hunters would get
their animal — but not always. “We'd feel bad if they
didn’t get their animal, but we weren’t there just to
hunt but to show them the country and to supply them
with a trip, ” he added. - - : ie

Cassiar Country

by Pat Lewis Beaton

Mickey & Gene Overton

In the early days a hunter could get all five of the big
game animals but since ’65 or ’66 the seasons have been
shorter and quotas have been set. “Most hunters now
come for one animal — sheep and grizzly are probably
the top animals today,” Gene said.

There’s basically a pretty good control on the animals
now. To shoot a ram it has to be 8 years old or have a
full curl to the horns. “When we first started you could

_take anything with horns, ” he said.

Mickey added, “The outfitter himself had to be his
own conservation officer. You had to manage your game
or there’d’be nothing left.”

“We were lucky we had someone’s footsteps to
follow...years and years of experience have. been passed
from one generation to another,” Overton said.

He added, “We learned a lot from Mickey’s Dad,
Frank Stewart...he was quite a man...he was the kind of
man everyone would pour their troubles out to.”

2 I EAW

The Stewarts and Overtons came to Cassiar Country
within one year of each other. Frank and Anne Stewart
came to Cassiar in 1957. Frank worked for Cassiar Asbes-
tos as a shovel operator and mechanic. His hunting area
was 7500 to 8000 sq. miles in size and went from Cassiar
to the Alaska Highway.

Mickey and Gene followed the Stewarts here in
March, 1958. They came from the Chilcotin country
in a pick up truck with all their belongings. Gene worked
for Cassiar Asbestos as an equipment operator. When he
first came he earned $1.92 an hour! In the early days the
company gave him time off during the hunting season.
Mickey taught the children their school lessons in the
bush until the season ended and they returned to Cassiar.

In the winter Frank and Gene wintered their horses
near Boya Lake. “We’d wander around on snowshoes
packing oats to feed the horses, ’’ Gene said.

Costs for feeding the horses were very high. There

- were hardly any roads in the early days and trucking in

feed was expensive. Costs have gone down now with
better roads.

There were other problems with the horses too.
“In 1963-64, ”’ Mickey said, “we came back from the
hunt. to find wolves had killed off 16 of our colts...up
to 1968 we had trouble with wolves.”

They also had to learn to wrangle and how to shoe —

horses. Gene said, “‘We tried to break the horses so
they’d be quiet...we’ve never had an accident in all the
years we've guided.”

Now Mickey and Gene are living on their Roaring
River Ranch near Boya Lake breeding horses, growing
hay and managing the hunting area. The children are all
grown up now. Judd is a heavy duty mechanic for Finning
in Vancouver, Shelley is married and living in Cassiar,
Graham and Grant are living in Calgary and Marlene is
a word processor operator at Tumbler Ridge.

Anne Stewart, Mickey’s mother, lives in a log
house near by — both houses looking out at the beautiful
Horse Range Mountains. The Overtons took 2300 bales
of hay off the property last year. They also grew 400 lbs.
of potatoes, some of which they sold to people in Cassiar.
They are thinking about raising some beef to sell locally.

Continued on Page 12.

BRU NCEE

Hvery Sunday

Hours 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

| THE COOKERY

$8.00 per person

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Cassiar Courier March 1986 Page 9