from: https://lakecountrymuseum.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/History-of-Lake-Country.pdf
History of
Lake Country & Carr’s Landing,
Okanagan Centre, Oyama, Winfield
Duane Thomson, PhD
Duane Thomson
[Class, Semester]
[Teacher Name]
[Insert Date]
History of
Lake Country
1
History of
Lake Country
Carr’s Landing, Okanagan Centre, Oyama, Winfield
The District of Lake Country is located on the Interior Plateau of British Columbia,
bounded by mountains on all sides, making it, until recently, a very isolated part of
the world. The region receives insufficient precipitation to successfully engage in
agriculture — large-scale irrigation projects tapping water from the plateau are
necessary. It is not surprising that transportation infrastructure and outside capital
have been critical factors in the development of Lake Country.
The Okanagan Valley is the homeland of the indigenous Okanagan peoples who
used the north-south waterways to transport bulk goods to winter villages at
Penticton and the Head of the Lake. In the latter part of the 18th century the
Okanagan people acquired horses, vastly improving their transport capability and
allowed for easy east-west traffic. On the basis of horse technology the Okanagan
people began exploiting the plateau region to the west, expanding their territory at
the expense of their Secwepemc neighbours.
The first Europeans to enter the interior of BC were fur traders who arrived in
1811. Because of mountain barriers and wild rivers, these fur traders could not
utilize their normal modes of transport and so they turned to the indigenous method
— pack trains. The Okanagan Valley became the Hudson’s Bay Company supply
route for the New Caledonia and Thompson River Districts with heavily laden
horse brigades traveling south along the west side of Okanagan Lake delivering
bales of furs to a depot on the Columbia River and then packing their annual outfits
north.
History of
Lake Country
2
The California gold mining frontier advanced to the Fraser and Thompson rivers in
1858. One legacy of the gold rush was improved transportation links connecting
the Okanagan to the Lower Mainland. The main artery over which supplies were
packed into the region was the Dewdney Trail running from Hope to Rock Creek.
Following completion of the Cariboo Road in 1864, steamers operated on Shuswap
Lake and the Spallumcheen River as far as Fortune’s Landing (Enderby), which
was connected by wagon road to Priest’s Valley (Vernon). Northern access was
enhanced by a wagon road, constructed from Kamloops to Priest’s Valley in 1871
and extended through Lake Country to the Okanagan Mission in 1875. The prerailway
economy developed within the context of this horse and buggy
transportation system. The
region developed a significant
cattle industry, producing a
product that could walk itself
to Hope and thus to markets in
New Westminster and
Victoria. A gristmill at the
Brent ranch on Mill Creek and
a sawmill at the Postill ranch
supplied the local market.
Garden produce, fruit and
grapes were grown on a small
scale because the market was
limited. Mail service was
provided twice weekly by the Vernon to
Okanagan Mission stagecoach.
The pioneer ranchers in Lake Country were Thomas Wood, George Simpson, the
Postill brothers and Kelowna rancher, Arthur B. Knox. Their ranches were initially
small holdings, 160 or 320 acres taken by pre-emption on good bottomland.
Ranchers’ cattle grazed freely on adjoining Crown lands, which by 1880 were fully
stocked, just in time for the CPR construction contractors to begin purchasing beef.
With money from these sales in their pockets and noting that railway construction
was stimulating outside interest in land, local ranchers purchased their ranges. For
example, by 1892 Wood held title to 3800 acres which included extensive
meadowland and most of the rangeland on the east side of Wood Lake.
Figure 1: Vernon-Okanagan Mission Road
History of
Lake Country
3
The building of the mainline CPR stimulated transportation projects, land
development and agriculture in the Okanagan. In 1892 the branch line Shuswap &
Okanagan was completed to Okanagan Landing and CPR steamboats, beginning
with the launching of the SS
Aberdeen, extended the
railway’s reach from Okanagan
Landing to Penticton. Wharves
at Carr’s Landing, the Rainbow
Ranche and Okanagan Centre
received daily mail delivery and
enjoyed rail access to the
markets of the world.
The Commonage, a grazing
range set aside for the cattle of
both Indians and settlers, was
thrown open to settlement in
1893. This large tract of land
lying between Okanagan and
Long Lake (Kalamalka and Wood lakes) and extending from Okanagan Landing to
Okanagan Centre attracted speculators, developers and farmers to locations on
Okanagan Lake. A small farming community, Sunnywold, developed on the
Commonage. Development of The Railroad (Oyama) was also spurred by the
Commonage land sales as individuals acquired most of the isthmus and land on the
shores of Long Lake.
Agricultural development of Lake Country awaited the sale of the large cattle
ranches and outside investment in infrastructure, both of which were advanced in
1908. Properties in Okanagan Centre had been accumulated by the Maddock
brothers who sold to the Okanagan Valley Land Company and the Okanagan
Centre Irrigation and Power Company Ltd. which, in turn, completed the irrigation
system and began selling orchard lands and Okanagan Centre town lots. By 1911
Okanagan Centre featured two hotels, two stores, a packinghouse, cannery, church,
wharf and various small businesses and homes. At Oyama a navigation canal
between Wood and Kalamalka lakes was constructed in 1908 allowing for logs,
Figure 2: SS Sicamous landing at Okanagan Centre
History of
Lake Country
4
passengers and freight to be transported to and from Vernon. The Wood Lake
Fruitlands Company purchased the Wood range, subdivided it and sold orchard
land to prospective settlers. Water was delivered by flume from Oyama Lake to the
east side in 1908 and by a wire-wrapped, syphon pipeline to the west side in
1909. By 1914 Oyama boasted an elementary school, two packinghouses, a
community hall, store and gas station and community organizations such as the
Kalamalka Agricultural Association and the Kalamalka Women’s Institute.
Winfield’s agricultural development was delayed somewhat by the prolonged
existence of cattle ranches on the east side of the valley, those of M.P. Williams
and Price Ellison. Logging
began on the “flat” and
progressed to the Okanagan
Land Company property on the
west and to Fir Valley on the
east. Logs were dragged to
Wood Lake and towed to a
mill at the north end of
Kalamalka Lake. Orchards
were established on the west
side on the Okanagan Valley
Land Company subdivision.
By 1911 Winfield was settled
by a few families and had the
necessary community
amenities.
The economy and population of Lake Country remained stable in the next few
decades. With the completion of the CNR railway from Vernon to Kelowna in
1925 and the subsequent abandonment of the CPR boats on Okanagan Lake in
1935, Okanagan Centre and Carr’s Landing lost their transportation advantage
relative to Winfield and Oyama. Access from outside the region was still primitive
but two highway construction projects changed that – the Hope Princeton Highway
opened in 1949 and the Rogers Pass portion of the Trans-Canada Highway opened
in 1962, providing good access to both Vancouver and Calgary. The expansion of
the Kelowna Airport in 1960 provided much improved connections to the outside
world. Local highway improvements and opening of the Kelowna bridge in 1958
Figure 3: McCarthy's logging operation
History of
Lake Country
5
fostered growth in the Central Okanagan. Tourism and retirement living became
important industries in Lake Country.
Lake Country retains its mostly rural character today. Its economy is based on fruit
growing, light manufacturing, all-season tourism, viticulture and retirement living.
With the University of British Columbia Okanagan on its doorstep, universityoriented
activities will become more significant over time.
Duane Thomson, PhD
History of
Lake Country
6
Photograph Sources
Title page. Moore, C. (c. 1914). Wood Lake rock cut.
Figure 1. Smith, Bill. (c. 1905). Vernon-Okanagan Mission Road.
Figure 2. Gleed, Jim. (c. 1915). SS Sicamous landing at Okanagan Centre.
Figure 3. McCarthy Family. (c. 1915). McCarthy logging operation.
