Street Names
Gruhs Road
Gruhs road, which runs in 2 km in off the Black Creek Road was founded in 1955 and officially then named after Benjamin (Ben) Gruhs Junior.
Ben was born November 5, 1892 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the second child of Bernhardte (Ben) Gruhs Senior and Margaretha Dorothea (née) Reimer, both originally from Germany.
Ben Senior was a cabinet maker, who after emigrating to the U. S. A., married 1890. The couple moved many times, buying property, building it up and selling before moving in. Ben Junior lived in Cedar Rapids, Lewiston, and Russell Idaho, Euclid, Minnesota, and Spokane Washington and Elgin Oregon all the while learning building skills from
his father.
By 1910 eldest son John had left home. Ben, then 17 years old, and his father decided to move to Canada. The later part of their journey was on horseback. After reaching Soda Creek on the way to Fort George
(Prince George) they heard about land near Harpers Camp, finding it to their liking Ben Senior pre-completed the properties now owned by Laffer, Wynstra and Webb. And accessed from the Horsefly Lake Road a log
house was begun and Ben Junior returned to the USA to bring up his mother, sister Agnes (Williams) aged 15, brothers Frank aged 12 and Charlie aged 4. Eventually Ben Junior pre-completed the present Gruhs property. Which is accessed from the Black Creek Road. Farming provided some income but the two Bens' also made a living building log houses for others; notably part of the Corner House (now gone), the old Woodjam ranch house and the old Walters ranch house in
Horsefly.
In 1930 Ben Junior married Esther Larson, school teacher, boarding at the Corner House. They lived in a log house which was eventually replaced in 1940 with a small frame house, when their son Ernest was 6
years old. In 1934 Ben went to work for Department of Highways which he continued with until his retirement in 1957. He passed away in 1976. Ben is survived by his wife Esther (95 years) of Williams Lake and son Ernest and family, who still live at the end of Gruhs Road.
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