I became a part of Driftwood Ranch in the 60's when I met my husband Andrew (Jerry) Langan. The Ranch was then located by the fast moving Driftwood Creek in the beautiful valley of Smithers, northwestern British Columbia. We had a large herd of commercial cattle and we also did guiding for big game hunters. In those days there were no quads so by horseback and pack horse were the modes of transport to get into the mountain camps. Jerry owned a big black Akita, the second one I had ever seen (see Akita History) and that started an on going love affair and fascination for this big Japanese Breed. My other real passion were horses, horses, horses. The Pack horses just didn't do it for me and it was the elegant Arabian Horse that sparked my interest.
Lots of reseach, letters, phone calls of both the Arabians and the Akitas and soon I had the beginnings of my foundation stock. It was clearly a one-sided project as Jerry felt he was a cattleman and that was that. Our two daughters Ginger and Jody were born in the late 60's and grew up and participated in all the different facets of ranch life. In those early days we did our fair share of showing both the dogs and the horses.
In 1974 we moved the Ranch or the name to Alberta in the north west corner of the province near the town of Beaverlodge. Moving a whole ranch, consisting of two young children, animals, machinery, shop and household was no easy feat. The place Jerry had found was perfect, but required a quick set-up of corrals, out-buildings, shops and dog pens. The Ranch is located in the vast prime agricultural lands of the Mighty Peace River District in the the county known as Grande Prairie.
The area is extremely rich in oil and gas reserves.
So time passes and some things come to a end, that is our marriage which ended in 1984. I stayed on with my two girls on a much smaller Driftwood Ranch and continued to raise our horses and dogs. it was a challenge and has been a long, sometimes rocky road. In the mid 80's we started a small tourist facility on the Ranch and had numerous exotic animals & took in and cared for orphaned wildlife. We always had various baby animals around to tend too. Some were able to be released back into the wild and others went to zoos or game farms. In the early 90's I remarried and Doug and I still work with the horses, dogs and cattle. We no longer have the tourist facility or take in orphaned animals as the work load was proving too much for our health.

Below you will find some early photos around the Ranch and some very early Akita articles

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