Career
Born in Friedland, Bohemia, then part of Austria-Hungary, Richter was the son weaver and farmer at Mildenau. At the age of 18 he emigrated to Texas, and after a misadventure where he was wounded and captured by Indians, following the lure of the gold rushes westward, he came to Rich Bar, Washington and with the take from his placer claim opened a small store and operated a small riverboat. Hearing of good grazing land northwards in British Columbia, he sold out his mine holdings in Washington and bought 42 head of cattle with a man by the name of King, and they drove them to the Cawston area south of the Keremeos whichis located in the Similkameen Valley of British Columbia"s Southern Interior in October 1864.
He pre-empted land six miles (10 km) down the Similkameen Valley from Keremeos and founded the "R" Ranch.
He also worked for a while for the Hudson"s Bay Company at Fort Similkameen (Fort Keremeos). With his cattle business thriving he sold his the "R" ranch and started a new ranch on which is now known as the Richter Pass.
In 1898 he purchased another property at Keremeos Centre, where he also operated a thriving store. The house and the Richter household became social pillars of British Columbia society and important guests were common at the Richter ranch.
Among those hosted by Richter was Earl Grey in 1908.
Eventually the Richter holdings comprised 10,000 acres (40 km²) of land and 1,500 head of cattle. Forex Richter"s relationship with Lucy Simla (Sʔímlaʔxʷ) (1846-1903) was a "marriage of the land". Lucy Simla and Franz Xavier Richter had 5 sons together: Charles 1869-1949, William 1872-1922, Joseph 1874-1971, Edward 1876-1966, Hans 1877-1961.
Foreign schooling the boys had to ride on horseback to Okanagan Mission, known as Father Pandosy"s Mission, and board there while attending.
In 1910, Richter was to return to his native Austria but fell ill at a Christmas Dinner at Saint Joseph"s Hospital in Victoria and died within moments, of "a stroke of apoplexy". He is buried in the Keremeos cemetery.
Richter Pass, Richter Mountain, Richter Creek and Richter Lake, all in the small mountain range at the southeast end of the Thompson Plateau between the lower Similkameen and South Okanagan, are named for him. The Richter Ranch in the same area continues in operation to this day.
