Beyond the Chilcotin: On the Home Ranch with Pan Phillips

Pioneers Pan Phillips and his partner Rich Hobson carved their places in ranching history when they discovered "grass beyond the mountains" in the far reaches of the Chilcotin. Thanks to a series of hugely popular books, their exploits became the stuff of legend and Phillips became one of Canada's enduring folk heroes.

But if a man had to be tough to survive some of the roughest living in creation, what did a young girl have to be? This is the story of Pan Phillips' daughter Diana, who learned to trap muskrat when she was little more than a toddler, worked with haying crews before she was into her teens and was renowned as the only person feisty enough to best her legendary father in a slanging match.

Diana Phillips grew up on an isolated ranch with her famous father, Pan Phillips. Her love of the country and cattle kept her in the same area till 2004, when she sold her ranch and moved to Vanderhoof. She has three sons and ten grandchildren all living in the area and still works in the cattle industry.