The Columbia Valley Pioneer • June 20, 2008
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New Homes Your Guide to New Housing Developments in the Columbia Valley
Elk Park Ranch
Business Feature submitted by Elk Park Ranch
Homestead – it is a word that conjures up the romance and adventure of the western, of the Ponderosa or The Big Valley. To own new ranch land seems a dream almost impossible to grasp in today’s world. Yet the Elk Park Ranch development offers a masterplanned community with 16 ranches ranging in size from 38 to 480 acres, for sale, just two kilometres from Radium. “If you want to have your horses and a few cattle, you can,” says Fred Schickedanz of Schickendanz West, developer of Elk Park Ranch. “Or you could simply build your dream home on it and enjoy the view of the Purcell Mountains, the lake, streams and all the amenities that British Columbia’s Columbia Valley offers – fishing, skiing, golf, mountain biking, hiking – all three hours from Calgary.” The Elk Park Ranch development covers 4,300 acres, of which 3,500 have been allocated for 16 variously sized ranches. A working 600-acre ranch, called the Upper Ranch, which offers horse boarding and trail rides, borders the offered acreages. A community has been planned within a core 200 acres that will feature amenities including restaurants, boutique shops and accommodation. Around this core will be a mix of single-and multi-family homes. Yet, one is never further than a horseshoe’s toss from the history that permeates the area. Elk Park Ranch was settled in 1886, when 18year-old James McKay bought 15,000 acres from the B.C. Government. Now known as the McKay Ranch, 160 acres of that land is a unique ranch offering that contains 80 per cent of Baptiste Lake. The other 20 per cent of the lake is part of the 40-acre Clear Water Ranch.
The original McKay ranch house will become a community centre for Elk Park Ranch owners.
www.elkparkranch.com
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