Ferndale is a scattered community located northeast of Prince George in central British Columbia. The name, derived from the numerous ferns in the district (or possibly Ferndale, Washington), appeared in the later 1920s. Adopted by the new school in 1931, and included as a settlement in Wrigley’s BC Directory for that year, the first newspaper reference was the following year. In earlier times, the northern part was considered as Willow River, and the western part as Shelley. Although Ferndale once stretched as far south as Tabor Lake, the 1977 completion of the Blackburn Bypass of Highway 16 effectively created the southern boundary. Comprising about 40 residences, it has a good-sized community hall, and the Ferndale-Tabor volunteer fire hall lies between the two localities.
History.
Railways &amp; Speculation.
Initially, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTP) planned following the Fraser River between Willow River and Hansard. About north of the Willow River confluence, heavy grades exist in the Giscome Rapids country. To find an alternative route, a survey party in the 1906 winter reviewed the possibility of a Prince George-Ferndale alignment, south along the Willow, across the divide, and east to follow the Bear River to its confluence south of Hansard. Subsequently, the surveyors discovered the superior shortcut via Eagle (Eaglet) Lake and Aleza Lake.
Consequently, the booklet's claim that political pressure caused the GTP to abandon the Ferndale route is false. In fact, the GTP regularly ignored government directives. The chartered CB&amp;WR through the Willow River settlement proposed a line along the Willow River that never eventuated. Consequently, most of the early investors abandoned their properties. Apparently on speculation, Lord Londonderry had equally unwisely acquired a parcel of land (E side of Upper Fraser Rd, N of Ferndale Rd). This would be Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of Londonderry (1852–1915), and Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry (1878–1949).
Misidentified Pioneers.
Although listed as pioneer settlers, Tom Sullivan, Elmer Cahoun, Mr. Bushell, George Teats, Bob McRorrie, and Ivor and Harry Guest, may have owned speculative properties, but no evidence of residence is apparent. Thomas Sullivan (1873–1951) owned land north of the Fraser River near Salmon River. Marcus Elmer Cahoon (1885–1957), a Public Works Department driver, who no doubt included the locality in his assigned duties, married Mary Isabella Stewart (1890–1969) in 1915.
Ivor B. Guest (1886–1980), and his brother Harry (1882–1973), arrived in South Fort George in 1911. During the 1912 summer, Ivor worked for the forestry service as a fire warden along the Crooked River. The following winter he broke trail for Kidd's Emmet Baxter (Shorty) Haynes' dog team taking mail, food, and whisky, to the GTP construction camps. Ivor operated a trading post at McLeod Lake 1914–20, interrupted by almost three years army service. A keen amateur photographer, he ran a photography supply, fishing tackle and stationery store in Prince George 1922–75. He married Mary Elizabeth Howes (1895–1979
 in 1923. Harry B. Guest married Augusta Freida Grossman (c.1892–?) in 1915. He was connected with the pharmaceutical trade, and became a partner in the Prince George Drug Co. 1917–31. As coroner for the region throughout the 1920s, he no doubt examined cases in the vicinity. Harry's family relocated to Vancouver in the early 1930s.
Pioneer Forestry, Farming &amp; Mining.
Arden Pickering, E.C. Perry and Fritz Bertschi appear to be the only bona fide Ferndale pioneers on the list. Leaving his family at Wardner, George Pickering took up a quarter section preemption (E of Upper Fraser Rd, S side of Perry Rd) in 1910, but died in 1913. The following year, Arden (1889–1979), his son, moved onto the farm. In 1921, he married Ettie Muma (1899–1974). Their children were Cecil (1922–74), William (Bill) (1924–84), George (1926–27), Earl, Len (probably 1929–2004), Clara, Dorothy ;templatestyles src="Crossreference/styles.css" / ;, L. Gordon (Gordie) (1936–2012), Nina (probably 1937–2004), Howard (1939–64), and Shirley. The absence of nearby schooling for the older children prompted the move to Mud River around 1929, but the family relocated to Prince George in 1950.
The outbreak of World War I, and the decreased availability of capital, delayed the development of the high-grade gold, silver and copper ore seams discovered near Ferndale by William Bonner around 1913. A decade later, the Snowshoe partnership, managed by Bonner, drilled exploratory shafts that showed promising results. A similar exercise at other sites equally encouraged another syndicate and the Bertschi brothers. In default for his 1927–30 financial contributions, Bonner forfeited his interest in the claim. By 1936, Alexander (Alex) Hutchison (1879–1961) was also in default. At that time, Alex was in the cordwood business. 
Albert Fredrick Bertschi (1889–1971) was a B.X. riverboat engineer from 1914. He married Emma Bruegger (1896–1959), and settled in 1920 (about W of Upper Fraser Rd on Shelley Rd E). He operated the first horse-driven sawmill in the area. The improved section of their 160-acre farm comprised hay and poultry.
Longtime city worker Louis (1882–1951) &amp; Eveline (1900–88) Strugala lived in Prince George from about 1919. Their children were Robert (1925–41), who died of pneumonia, Dorothy (1927–77), and Carol (1936–?). The Strugala farm was on Shelley Road N. about from the Bertschi property. Louis was acquitted at trial for the 1931 shooting at and wounding straying Bertschi horses that ate his oat crop.
The Bertschi children were Rosabelle (Rose) (c.1925–2016), Arnold Louis (Louie) (1927–2016), Albert Frederick (1931–2011), Charles (Charlie) Henry (1934–2015), and Margaret. Over time, Louie and Albert Fred assumed more responsibility for the farm, and Albert Fred and Charlie for the logging operation. Louie and Charlie never married. In the early 1940s, the family produced railway ties, and had a logging camp on the property. In 1944, A.F. Bertschi Sr. had a severe heart attack, and Rose left for Vancouver. Five years later, she married Henry Gray Munro. By this time, the farm had pigs and a dairy herd. Emma's butter and cheese were unrivaled.
In 1952, Louie suffered a facial injury at one of the local mills, requiring a short hospital stay. The next year, Bertschi Sr. advertised the farm for sale. The couple moved to Prince George in 1954.
Louie continued managing the farm at least until the early 1960s.
In 1963, Albert Fred married Fern Elizabeth Adams. The period of operation of the small Bertschi Bros.' sawmill included the 1950s, the 1970s (manufacturing cabins), and the 1990s (log homes).
Edwin C. (1880–1927) &amp; Frances A. (1880–1974) Perry purchased their property (about E of Upper Fraser Rd, on S side of Perry Rd) in 1914, but the family initially resided a few years in Prince George, while Edwin was alone at the homestead. On one occasion during this period, Edwin disappeared for six months while he tracked, but failed to retrieve, an expensive pair of newly obtained horses that had escaped. Their children were Lila (c.1907–?), Myles (1914–?), and John (1918–2017). John was the first baby born to Caucasians in the locality. During the Great Depression, the brothers made their living mining gold, and guiding and packing miners up the Willow River. They also had an episode with a newly purchased purebred bull that escaped by plunging into the flooded Willow River. They pursued the animal downstream, and after a long struggle, led it to their parked wagon south of Giscome. In 1936, a cow moose attacked and twice tossed John, who was fencing on the farm. The animal then followed and cornered him in a shed, from which he finally escaped with bruises and scratches.
Myles married Margaret Goddard (1914–1993), who had arrived in 1937 as the schoolteacher, and remained actively involved in community projects. John married Mona Calhoun in 1940, but divorced in 1945. In 1942, the brothers tracked and killed a young grizzly that had feasted on more than 25 of their chickens. In 1939, John and Myles purchased a decrepit small sawmill. The two-cylinder tractor motor, sourced to be the power unit, regularly caught fire. A few years later, they purchased a small sawmill from Carl William Strom of Willow River, which cleared the trees on the family farm by the Willow River. Available timber stands determined later relocations. In 1951, John married Dorothy Pickering. ;templatestyles src="Crossreference/styles.css" / ; That year, he suffered a serious back injury, requiring an eight-month hospital stay, which left him crippled. At its peak, the 8,000–9,000 feet capacity sawmill remained in use until 1964, after which it became more profitable to sell raw logs rather than rough-cut lumber to the large operators. The Perry Bros.' logging and ranch operated into the 1990s. They still held TSLs (Timber Sales Licences) in 1999.
Ottiso (Otis) (1873–1955) &amp; Laura (1874–1961) Pariso farmed (W of Upper Fraser Rd, N of Ferndale Rd) from 1920 until their retirement around 1945. Their son Leo died at five. In 1920, daughter Muriel Mildred (1898–1987) married Herman G. Griese (1892–1940) of Shelley, and later married Per Arvid Edmark (1893–1979).
Chris Cron (1876–1961) farmed from the 1920s until the 1950s. He hauled his harvested hay to Shelley for rail freighting to the Upper Fraser mill for feeding their logging horses.
Brothers Levi (1879–1947) and William J.E. (1880–1950) Graham, whose spouses were sisters, held a preemption (immediately E of the Shelley Rd and Highway 16 junction). However, their focus was largely in Prince George, where Levi ran extensive business enterprises, and William was assistant and later fire chief.
Andres (c.1859–1930) &amp; Otilia (Tillie) (1867–1940) Pipke settled in Prince George in 1915, and assumedly soon after, acquired their farming property in Ferndale. Their children were Tillie (1891–1959), two daughters who became Mmes. Shepherd and Kemp, Reinhold (1897–1957), Ludwig (Louie) (1905–92), and Wanda (1909–2000).
Alverino Perkoni Wassil (1892–1959), a.k.a. Albert Peter Wassil, Alvin Peter Wassil and Charles Wassil, apparently resided from 1914, but appears not to have been part of the early Caucasian social set. Initial reports on his death misidentified him as his brother Peter. He purchased the Pipke property in 1928 (E side of Upper Fraser Rd, N of Perry Rd). Apart from his World War II enlistment, Pius Vosylius (1884–1961), a.k.a. Peter (Pete) Wassil, resided from 1929 until his final illness. Selling his property (E of Upper Fraser Rd, N of Ferndale Rd) to Alan MacDonald, Pete moved to the former C. Cowell residence in 1957. His estate included another property (W of Giscome Rd, S of Highway 16). 
John G. Nehring (1860–1946), ;templatestyles src="Crossreference/styles.css" / ; and his teenage son Ralph (1896–1989), arrived at Prince George by scow in 1913. John's wife, Ernesyna (1864–1958) followed a short time later by stagecoach. They settled at Ferndale around 1920. In 1921, reports of Ralph's death in Seattle proved a misidentification, unlike a sibling who had died in the prior year. John established a sawmill in 1922, powered by a traction engine. Sons, Walter (1907–51) and Robert (1905–1928) were outstanding hockey players. Ralph married Elizabeth Schlitt (1910–2008) in 1929. John sold the mill (E of Giscome Rd, S of Highway 16) in 1941 to John H. Evensen ;templatestyles src="Crossreference/styles.css" / ;, but his son Walter remained in the mill's employment until called up for active service. In 1946, Ralph and Walter operated a sawmill on their farm. Ralph's son Wilfrid Nehring and Ollie Florrel operated a mill. While later working at Evergreen Sawmill, Wilfrid sustained a critical head injury when a saw ejected a piece of machinery.
During the 1920s and early 1930s, Peter (Pete) (1886–1953) &amp; Alexandria (c.1886–1964) Krawchuk (Krowchuk alternate spelling), who ran a mixed farm (immediately E of the Shelley Rd and Highway 16 junction), cleared only a small portion of their quarter section. Nick Kostuka received a one-year sentence for assaulting Alexandria. 
Matilda Zilkie and Margaret Cowell were sisters. Charles (Charlie) W. (1880–1974) &amp; Matilda S. (1898–1980) Zilkie settled in 1929, acquiring 90 acres from the Cowells (E side of Upper Fraser Rd, S of Ferndale Rd). Their children were Caroline, Anne (c.1921–?), C. William (Bill) (1923–2012), Rose, Emily (1929–?), and Frederick (Fred) (1931–2016). Assumedly, Caroline died in infancy. In 1938, Anne married Monte Mandruk. ;templatestyles src="Crossreference/styles.css" / ; In 1943, a bear killed one of Charlie's pigs, and two of his horses died on the highway. Bill enlisted. Around 1944, Rose married Leslie Aiken (1916–96). Bill married Eileen in 1946, Emily married Mathew Handford in 1949 ;templatestyles src="Crossreference/styles.css" / ;, and Fred married Doreen in 1961. Only, Anne and Emily, who married locals, remained in Ferndale on marriage. After Fred left around 1960, only the Zilkie seniors remained throughout the 1960s. Matilda probably left