Cougar Annie

Early Life

On 19 June 1888, Ada Annie Jordan was born to Margaret Elizabeth Coleman and George Jordan in Sacremento, California. She was their second child and the only one to survive to adulthood. Jordan often changed jobs; his family followed his various career ventures, from fruit farming and cattle ranching to furniture importing and exporting to veterinary school. Ada was never in one place for long, moving from California to England to South Africa. Eventually, the Jordan family settled in Western Canada, first in Lloydminster, then Winnipeg and finally Vancouver.

Ada’s interest in gardening began when she was young. While the Jordan family lived in South Africa, she won a horticulture competition in Johannesburg. Ada also developed her sense of independence at a young age. Her father trained her in basic survival skills; by the age of seven, she knew how to shoot and by the time she was a teenager she knew how to trap.

Vancouver Life

Ada was helping her father run his veterinary business in Vancouver when she met her first husband Willie Rae-Arthur. They were married on 4 September 1909, when Ada was 21 and Willie was 36.

Ada gave birth to three children in Vancouver: George William, Frank Stephen and Margaret Ada. Willie worked various jobs while Ada developed a business breeding Pomeranian dogs, as well as buying and selling other pets. Prior to their marriage, Willie had struggled with addiction to alcohol and opium. During the family’s time in Vancouver, his addiction worsened. Apart from the personal distress this caused to the growing young family, it also started to impact their financial stability. For Ada, the only way for her family to survive was to remove Willie from the temptations that existed in Vancouver.

Pioneer Life

In 1915, Ada, Willie and their three children relocated from Vancouver to Hesquiat on the west coast of Vancouver Island. At the time, 112 members of the Hesquiaht First Nation lived in the area, according to a 1915 census conducted by the Department of Indian Affairs. These residents primarily fished and, in April and May, sealed off shore. Many worked in nearby canneries from June to September or October. Ada chose to clear the land, proving herself to be a more capable pioneer than her husband. She did so mostly while she was pregnant; between 1915 and 1931 she gave birth to eight more children: Isobel Agnes, Rosina Boyd, Helen Buchanan, Thomas Jordan, Lawrence Robert and Marjorie Elizabeth, who did not survive infancy. There are at least two others who also did not survive infancy, one named Agnes and another listed as an “Unnamed Female Child.” All three infants were buried in the Hesquiat area. By the age of 43, Ada had given birth to at least 11 children, with eight surviving to adulthood.

Ada ran more than one business from her new home, including a nursery, a post office and a general store. She also developed a fierce reputation for her deadly shot; she allegedly killed about 70 cougars in her lifetime and survived two cougar attacks, earning her the nickname “Cougar Annie.”

At first, Cougar Annie killed cougars in self-defence, but her shooting reputation soon led people to recruit her as a cougar bounty hunter. According to Alex McGillivray, a reporter from the Vancouver Sun, Cougar Annie earned $400 for killing 10 cougars in 1955, or a little over $4,000 in today’s figures. But for Cougar Annie, protecting her livestock and livelihood was always her top priority. Hunting cougars and any other animal who threatened her homestead was simply part of her day’s work, and as McGillivray observes, she offered hunting advice in the same manner “as she would a cookie recipe.”

Marriages

In 1936, tragedy struck the Rae-Arthur family when Willie drowned in a boating accident. Cougar Annie’s business ventures — the homestead, farm and gardens she had worked so hard to create — relied on Willie’s support (reluctant as it was). So, she began her hunt for a new husband, with the expectation that the chosen suitor would help her run her homestead and businesses. One of her advertisements in a local newspaper bluntly read: “BC Widow with Nursery and orchard wishes partner. Widower preferred. Object matrimony.”

In 1940, Cougar Annie married her second husband, George Campbell. Their marriage lasted until his death in 1944. Accounts differ on the exact cause of Campbell’s death. It was officially listed as an accidental gun misfire, but rumours circulated among locals that Cougar Annie had shot him, though there is no evidence or direct eyewitnesses.

Cougar Annie married her third husband Esau Arnold, in 1947. Arnold died in 1955, leaving Cougar Annie widowed for a third time. She sent out another advertisement, and in 1961, she married her fourth husband, George Lawson.

Cougar Annie’s Garden

Cougar Annie left her homestead in 1983 due to her declining health. She died in a hospital in Port Alberni in April 1985, just before her 97th birthday, and her ashes were returned to her beloved garden.

Without Cougar Annie, the homestead and garden became unkempt. As a young prospector from Vancouver, Peter Buckland had come upon Cougar Annie’s home and garden in the 1960s. The two formed a strong friendship which lasted until her death. In 1987, Buckland left his job as a stockbroker and set out to preserve Cougar Annie’s garden and legacy.

In 1988, he formed the Boat Basin Foundation to “preserve the garden for future generations, and to promote interest and education in cultural and natural history.” The organization owns the property and, in partnership with Ecotrust Canada and Hesquiaht First Nation, constructed the Temperate Rainforest Field Study Centre.

Due to financial troubles, Cougar Annie’s property was listed for sale in 2010. However, after some internal and financial restructuring, the Boat Basin Foundation was able to reopen Cougar Annie’s Garden. Today, it remains open to small groups of visitors who can book site visits through the Boat Basin Foundation.