The parents arrived in June 1895 for a visit.

“By August, Emile must have decided to develop the enterprise and immerse himself into it completely. During the winter past, back in St. Charles, he had prepared plans very carefully, just in case he decided to go ahead. He had given the approval for the building of the house, the cookhouse and the mill. Beyond that, further building would await his arrival. After all, he was paying and he felt he had to restrain the enthusiasm of his sons.

“Building a family home large enough to accommodate eleven children, the parents and Katie, started then. It would … be finished by the coming fall before Emile Stehelin returned to France. The new little house would become part of the bigger one. Its downstairs would become the dining room and its upstairs bedrooms would be suitable for the unmarried sons. The house would stand at the bottom of the square, facing the incoming road with the mill and the river behind, and Langford lake on its left, a location which would give it an air of dominance over the entire settlement.”

​

“Emile wrote in a letter to his sister Mathilde in August 1985:

“Our homestead was cut right out of the forest, that is to say, the land we opened to form a yard of about three hectares was forest one year ago. We already have a mill, our house, a house for the workmen, and we are about to build a barn for twenty animals, horses, oxen etc., and homes for my sons, Emile, Paul and Roger. This makes already quite a few houses, all of wood covered with wooden shingles.

​

I also bought a plain next to my lands (Cariboo) which Emile and the young ones are now plowing to seed with hay this fall and next spring with oats and potatoes etc…. Here everything goes fast and buildings of wood seem to go up as by magic.”

Excerpts from the book “Electric City, The Stehelins of New France” by Paul Stehelin