10024

$1,100,000

Contact Listing Realtors.

PID:
014 746 743
014 746 671 and 014 746 662
014 695 049
014 746 638
024 569 704
014 746 930
014 746 981
014 746 701
024 569 712

$550 (approx)
$850 (approx for Range Lease)

A-2, ALR

This is successful cattle and hay ranch and generates sufficient income to be self sustained. The Ranch is located in a desirable area with good economic growth and close proximity to the service center of Fort St. John. The airport is just over an hour drive from the property. Here is an opportunity to own a big ranch which offers excellent quality of life and is incredible setting to raise a family.

A capped gas well on the property generates yearly lease revenue of approximately $4,000.

CLICK HERE to see a virtual tour

This fascinating ranch sprawls across 2,560 acres of valley floor and gently rising hill sides with Gundy Creek and several smaller creeks meandering through the land. The idyllic setting has you re-stepping in time. Envision the pioneer days of the early 20th century, the quest for the wide open spaces and to conquer the wilderness. This vast ranch nestles at the edge of the Rocky Mountain foot hills (you can see the Butler Range from different sites on the ranch) and its present owners were very successful in establishing a cattle and hay ranch on this bountiful land. The entire ranch is fenced and cross fenced to the extent of roughly 12 miles of fences.

Since 1974 the owners have worked and tended the land and the immense grazing lease surrounding the homestead. They are currently running 100 cow/calf pairs and are able to feed the herd during the winter months with the hay harvested from the ranch. More cattle has been run in the past. The calves are wintered over each year and sold as yearlings the next fall. The land produces hay in excess of what the herd needs and it also feeds the 20 odd small herd of horses. The owners love the plentiful wildlife in the valley and there are always a few bales in the farm yard that can be easily accessed by deer, moose and elk.

The hay fields have never been fertilized and if a new owner wanted to register the land “certified organic” this fact might be helpful in the otherwise lengthy certification process. The hayfields are rejuvenated every 5-7 years.

The yearly sales of cattle go either to the yards in Penoka, Alberta or to the Dawson Creek/Grande Prairie cattle auction yards.

The ranch is off the power grid. The power that is needed is generated by a Honda inverter and propane is also available to the farm house. The approximately 50 year old farmhouse is of little or no value, but a “hopeless romantic” will love the rustic 6 bedroom approximately 1500 sqft. house with its sloping floors, a Yukon stove, an old wood burning stove in the kitchen, the low ceilings and the big fireplace. A scene from the pioneer days in a fast moving world may just give that special new owner inner peace and a sense freedom. Here is the opportunity to live a self sustained lifestyle and let the world roar by.

If a new owner should desire to build a residence, there are many absolutely stunning building sites on the property. Wind and solar power can easily be generated in this wide valley with fantastic sunny exposure and the north-west breezes moving through.

During the long daylight hours of the summer months a garden produces potatoes, carrots, peas and other hardy vegetables that can be stored and used during the winter months. An array of colorful flowers turns the yard around the homestead into a magical place.

The ranch offers a great lifestyle and an opportunity to make a good living for a family. You are located at the edge of a vast wilderness yet it is only a one and a half hour drive to the vibrant town of Fort St. John with all its services and conveniences. The extent of the deeded land is impressive and leaves a visitor awestruck. A seriously interested party should allow at least one day exploring and viewing the ranch. A minimum of one week notice for a showing is necessary.

N 56 degrees 44 min
W122 degrees 03 min

Altitude: 744 meters or 2440’

The property is located a short drive off Mile 109 on the Alaska Highway, northwest of Fort St. John and Wonowon.

From Fort St. John, travel along the Alaska Highway past Wonowon (Mile one hundred and one) until you reach Mile 109 on the Alaska Highway. Here you turn left. Follow 109 Mile Road for 9.2 km, turn right onto the Gundy road and proceed until you see the “Private Road” sign.

This is the start of an adjacent property, also for sale by LANDQUEST.

Continue following the road, following the road left at 3 km, continuing to cross a cattle guard. Continue on this road another two kilometers to the ranch. You will cross another cattle guard, and will see the LANDQUEST sign to your right on the fence of the ranch and another shortly thereafter on the entrance to the ranch driveway.

None.

The road accessing the property is on a 66’ right of way held and maintained by the rancher or an oil and gas company operating in the area.

Fort St. John has a population of about 18.000 with an average age of 29.6 years. Its oil and gas, forestry, agriculture and tourism based industries support a large work force and healthy economy. Average annual rainfall is 296 mm and snowfall 198 cm. Fort St. John has a regional airport a one hour drive from the property) serviced by Air Canada Jazz with direct service to and from Vancouver, Central Mountain Air and North Cariboo Air. The town is northeastern BC’s shopping and vibrant service center, with everything from boutiques to huge malls.

Fort St. John and its surrounding country side are an outdoor lovers’ paradise. Hunting on your own land is phenomenal. From white tail deer, mule deer, moose to trophy size elk, it is all at a hunters’ fingertips.

Quading, dirt biking, horse back riding, snow mobiling to name a few, only your imagination is the limit when it comes to outdoor activities year round.

The town offers parks and trails, the North Peace Leisure Pool, sports complexes, curling clubs, cultural centers, theaters, bowling, you name it.

Fort St. John is set in the low rolling hills of the Peace River valley. The original Fort St. John was established as Rocky Mountain Fort in 1794 by the fur traders, making Fort St. John the oldest white settlement in mainland British Columbia.

The Peace region was homesteaded in the early 1900s and the rich soils of the Peace River valley have been producing wheat since the late 19th century.

In 1942 Fort St. John became field headquarters for the US army troops and civil engineers working on the construction of the famous Alaska Highway, which was opened to the public in 1948 attracting vacationers and homesteaders.

An immense natural gas and oil field discovered in 1955 made Fort St. John the oil capital of BC. Since then the area has experienced enormous economic growth.

An extension of CN Rail from Prince George in 1958 gave Fort St. John a link with the rail yards and shipping docks at North Vancouver connecting this northern town with markets all over the world.

In the early 1960’s a Mormon family with 5 children from Utah built the homestead. In those days the land was rough and this pioneering family struggled with a herd of 1000 sheep during their first winter on the ranch. There was no hay to feed to the sheep. Most days the wife drove what was then a lengthy backroad drive to Fort St. John to pick up hay for the sheep while her husband hired himself out to work on the construction site of Bennet Dam on Williston Lake.

When the current owners purchased the ranch in 1974, and the Mormon family had grown to 8 children, “there were a lot of sheep bones fertilizing the ground”.