by lakecountry | Oct 9, 2015 | Bloggers, Thomson, Carol
The first Thanksgiving Day after Canadian Confederation was observed as a civic holiday on April 5, 1872, to celebrate the recovery of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) from a serious illness. For many years before it was declared a national holiday in 1879,...
by lakecountry | Sep 11, 2015 | Bloggers, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Carol
from Slates to Blackboards to Computers. A History of Public Schools in the Central Okanagan. Kelowna, BC: The Educational Heritage Committee of the Central Okanagan Retired Teachers’ Association. 1999. Back cover.
by lakecountry | Sep 4, 2015 | Bloggers, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Duane
A response to last week’s blog post, Write in on the Heart: The sentiment behind this little poem [Fur Traders by Harry Robinson] is that the terms of trade between the fur traders (North West Company or Hudson’s Bay Company) and Indians were manipulated...
by lakecountry | Aug 28, 2015 | Bloggers, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Carol
Fur Traders They tell the Indian to get fur. Put it in a trap and get fur. Then they buy that and trade ’em. They trade, you know. They cheating the Indian at that time. See the gun? See this gun here? See? They put this gun, they stand ’em on the...
by lakecountry | Aug 21, 2015 | Bloggers, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Duane
On last week’s blog the mention of the possible origin of the name Kalamalka was interesting but it left the impression that there is agreement on the derivation of the name. Carmen Weld suggests that Kalamalka may be a form of the name Kenamaska, the name of the...
by lakecountry | Aug 14, 2015 | Bloggers, History of Lake Country, Natural History, Thomson, Carol
Every resident and tourist alike will agree that one of the jewels of the Okanagan is Kalamalka Lake – but what is it that gives the lake that alluring blue-green colour? As it turns out, Kal Lake is one of only a handful of very special “marl lakes” that...
by lakecountry | Jul 17, 2015 | Bloggers, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Carol
A Post Office at Okanagan Mission was opened in 1872 and mails came from Kamloops to O’Keefe’s, a few miles north of Vernon. From there they were taken to the Mission post office by a rancher of Swan Lake named Charles Lawson, on horseback. …...
by lakecountry | Jul 10, 2015 | Bloggers, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Carol
In 1921 the Okanagan Centre Women’s Institute decided to open a small library for residents. To become of a registered member of the library, people would have to pay an annual fee of $1.00. The librarian was appointed solely by the Institute and funds were...
by lakecountry | Jun 19, 2015 | Bloggers, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Carol
From 1860 a steady settlement of the Valley took place and among the first four cattle men who came in was Thomas Wood. He first had a cattle ranch with Connie (Cornelius) O’Keefe, north of Vernon but soon moved to the Pelmewash lake, now known as Wood Lake,...
by lakecountry | Jun 12, 2015 | Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Carol
Following an earlier blog post on Spion Kop I received an e-mail from Vancouver resident Douglas Broome1. He sent such an interesting followup to the post about Spion Kop that I asked if I could share it with our readers. It follows below: “My parents [Ernie and...
by lakecountry | May 22, 2015 | Bloggers, Hayes, Bob, History of Lake Country
Within the boundaries of the District of Lake Country, there are several cemeteries: Oyama Community Cemetery, on Oyama Road; Winfield Cemetery, on Newene Road; Old Winfield / Okanagan Centre Cemetery, on Cemetery Road; and two First Nations burials in a small...
by lakecountry | May 8, 2015 | Bloggers, Thomson, Carol
70 Years since World War II Liberation Day “In the final months of the Second World War Canadian forces were given the important and deadly task of liberating the Netherlands from Nazi occupation. From September 1944 to April 1945, the First Canadian Army fought...
