Site 10 of 14

The Burns Ranch was the manager's house for the 6,000 acre farm holdings of Dominc Burns, after whom Burns Bog was named. The Burns family originally called themselves O'Bryne. The O'Bryne family moved to Canada from Ireland during the Potato Famine. The family settled in Oshawa, Ontario, and moved to Kirlfield subsequently. In 1905, Domenic and his brother, Pat, moved out west. Domenic bought the area now known as Burns Bog for $26,000.

The building shown here is part of Burns' cattle ranch. Unfortunately, the Bog was not a very good location for cattle-raising. Not only did the cows sink into the mud, they kept poisoning themselves on Western bog-laurel (Kalmia microphylla ssp. occidentalis) and Bog rosemary (Andromeda polifolia).