Huble Homestead’s History: The Life & Times of Edward Seebach

Edward Andrew Seebach was born in Fullarton, Ontario in 1880. The eldest of 11, Seebach had one full sibling and 9 half siblings. He was still living in Ontario in 1901, but by 1903 he was in British Columbia working on a trap line north of the Giscome Portage. It is here that he met Albert Huble and the two men started a business partnership that would last for the better part of 30 years.

When Huble pre-empted land at the southern end of the portage, Seebach applied for the land bordering it to the north. Previously, A.G. Hamilton had operated a small general store on this lot, which Hamilton had left in the care of a long-term employee named Ah Yee. Despite the fact that Hamilton was not developing the land, he did not want to give the property up. In 1910, an entry in Huble’s diary notes that Seebach and Ah Yee had reached an understanding regarding the use of the land, and Seebach received a Crown Grant for the property in 1912.

According to Sam Huble, Seebach was “tough as nails” and could hike 50 miles in a day. A lifelong bachelor, Seebach often conducted tasks that took him away from the homestead, such as freighting goods to McLeod Lake or Summit Lake or making the trek into Fort George to pick up mail for the Giscome Portage community.

After the Huble family moved into Prince George, Seebach continued to operate the partners’ McLeod Lake store. In April of 1931, while attempting to put out a fire at the store, he fell from a ladder and fractured his leg, which resulted in it being amputated. He passed away in February of the following year at the age of 51.