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The backbone of Mara, its initial
founders, or homesteaders, started with a fellow by the name of Thomas Gray, known by
friends as Tommy Gray. According to Gateway to the Okanagan (1985), Mr. Gray
arrived in Mara in 1885. Tom Gray was a long time resident of Mara until his passing on
July 5, 1941. A settler by the name of George Little also arrived in Mara in 1889 with Van
Houck.
George Little was the first settler to build a cabin on Mara Lake with the sign posted "George Little, Give a Holler" (Gateway to the Okanagan, 1985, p. 371). At this same point in time, while the S. and O. Railway was being put into Mara, the term 'bushwacked' described the task of settling in to a new location.
The actual property owned by a homesteader consisted of square or rectangular plots of land usually in sizes of either 80 or 160 acres. Unsettled plots of land were marked but were classified as Crown Land. A list of homesteaders as found in the book Mara Memories gives a fairly accurate account of when the settlers took ownership of land in Mara.
List of Homesteaders in Mara
The following list of Homesteaders in Mara was found in the book Mara Memories. The list is accurate as far as land ownership records go from the Kamloops Land Registry Office. This list tells who pre-empted the land; however, it does not reveal the actual dates the homesteaders arrived.
The only two families that currently still own original homestead property in Mara today are the Gray and Zettergreen families.
1887 - Thomas Gray
1889 - George Little
1889 - Van Houck
1891 - C. Roitner
1891 - John Moser
1891 - Henry Johnson
1892 - Mark Hill
1892 - Soames Appleby
1892 - Sullivan
1892 - J. Guilleto
1892 - Wm. Long
1893 - Thomas Gray
1893 - Wm. Owen
1893 - J. E. Rosoman
1895 - Dave Shannon
1895 - Dan Jones
1896 - August Zettergreen
1901 - Harry Blurton
1902 - Ernest Bennett
1902 - Fred Dean
1903 - Van Houck
1913 - Harry Coell
1919 - Matt Cadden
Dawn Gerlib, Niels Konge, Kurt Schubert
ALF School, 1989