“Smith was a very ordinary sort of man. He was in his late thirties at this time, smoked rollings, used the standard Association saddle and from the top of his head to his heels was one straight line, which some people say is a sign of stubbornness and others attribute to Irish ancestry.”
—Breaking Smith’s Quarter Horse by Paul St. Pierre (Ryerson Press, 1966)
Fictional cowboy Smith ambled out of Paul St. Pierre’s imagination at Big Creek in the Chilcotin where he spent years mining stories and characters for(1959–1967). The show launched the acting career of 60-year-old Chief Dan George in his role as Ol’ Antoine, and spawned novels, including the classic . St. Pierre’s wry storytelling and realistic portrayal of ranch life, cowboys, and Indigenous people earned high praise and a special honour—the Joe Marten Award for Preservation of Cowboy Heritage from the BC Cowboy Heritage Society. In later years, he lived in Fort Langley, but his heart remained in the Chilcotin until his death in 2014 at age 90. His headstone reads: “This wasn’t my idea.”
