A walk through 100 Mile House can be a real lesson in history if one takes a good look around them.
The story of the local area’s growth and the pioneers who made it happen is told in the many outdoor murals that dot the town.
They are the work of the 100 Mile House Mural Society and the latest one to join the ever-growing collection can be found on First Street, on the south wall of Movies by the Mile.
The expansive painting done by Williams Lake artist Dwayne Davis takes one back to the roots of 100 Mile House and its modern day founder Lord Martin Alleyne Cecil, 7th Marquess of Exeter.
He wasn’t the first white man to settle in the area that is now known as 100 Mile House, but he was, perhaps, the most influential, as his arrival in 1930 sparked the growth of the area.
He was the second son of English nobleman, William Thomas Brownlow Cecil, 5th Marquess of Exeter, who had purchased a 12,000-acre (4,856-hectare) sheep ranch, known as Bridge Creek Ranch, in 1912. At that time, the ranch was more of a novelty to William Cecil, but it included the land that 100 Mile House, proper, would later be built upon.
Martin Cecil was only 21 when he arrived in the Cariboo to manage the enormous holdings. He left behind a privileged life on the family’s grand estate in Stamford, England, known at Burghley House. Built in the 16th century, it has been regarded as the finest Elizabethan House in England and is still owned and maintained by the Cecil family.
Martin Cecil’s background made him an unlikely candidate to take up residence in Cariboo settlement that boasted scarcely more than an old roadhouse, store, telegraph office and a large barn, which still sits near its original location.
He arrived in his new home during the Great Depression. Times were tough, but he came with an open mind and willingness to work hard and meet any challenges that lay ahead.
The transition from aristocrat to cowboy was relatively smooth for the young man who brought with him horse-riding expertise, not to mention a set of polo gear, which was put to use regularly for games played in a nearby field with ranch hands.
The existing buildings on the property were already old and run-down when Martin Cecil arrived, but he made do. His tiny bedroom, with its wood stove always had a ready supply of firewood. When it was 30 F below outside in the morning, it was scarcely warmer inside and Martin Cecil would light the stove from his bedside, staying under the covers until he could sense the heat.
He was gifted in being able to do almost anything he turned his hand to. If something was new to him, he would study and figure it out.
Such was the building of the 100 Mile Lodge, which was his first large project and it still stands behind the Red Coach Inn, at the north end of town. It became the replacement for the old vermin-infested stopping house, which burned down, with no sentiment from Martin Cecil. He was known to have commented on the fire, noting “the terrible loss of life – none of which was human.”
In 1934, he married Hungarian debutant Edith Csanady, whom he had met in 1929 and corresponded with for five years. She joined him in the Cariboo, taking on many of the duties involved in running the Lodge. Their son, Michael, was born in 1935, and in March 1954, Edith passed away.
Martin Cecil married Lillian Johnson in September 1954, and together, they had a daughter, Marina, who lives in 100 Mile House, and another, Janine, who passed away before her first birthday.
In 1954, he used his charismatic personality to gain leadership of the Emissaries of Divine Light, a non-sectarian ministry founded in 1932 by Lloyd Arthur Meeker. The United States centre of the movement was in Loveland, Colorado, and Martin Cecil established the Canadian headquarters in 100 Mile House.
He remained leader until his passing in 1988 at the age of 79.
Michael and Marina share memories of their father as a strong, but quiet man with a great sense of humour and a strong sense of spiritual destiny.
Martin Cecil allowed his land to slowly evolve into the village of 100 Mile House, but did it in a very controlled manner. In the beginning, he leased lots to those who were interested and only began selling titled land when the village was large enough to have its own council, which could properly manage and plan its growth.
Whether by fate or fluke, the recently completed mural sits on the exact site of the original 100 Mile House General Store, which was later replaced by Martin Cecil with a building of his own design.
Michael, who has become the 8th Marquess of Exeter, and now lives in Ashland, Oregon, and Marina, who is properly known as Lady Marina, both played major roles in laying out the mural design. They got together in August to see the newly finished painting.
“We’re so glad it’s done. Our dad was such an important part of what began here,” says Marina.
Michael is also very proud of his dad and admired him for his many outstanding traits.
“He could always see the essence of a person – the spark that was real.”
The mural chronicles the life of Martin Cecil, beginning with an image of Burghley House at one end, and then moving on to the 100 Mile Lodge, which he designed and built. There is a portrait of the aristocratic cowboy on horseback, wearing his signature angora chaps and a snippet of the scene that greeted him on his arrival in 100 Mile House. A smiling likeness of Martin Cecil in his later years completes the painted story.
