If you’re still looking for a great Christmas gift, especially if it’s for a history buff, a senior, or a new resident interested in learning more about the Okanagan Valley, look no further than the Okanagan Historical Society‘s latest annual report Okanagan History.
There are a number of sections in this book, First Nations, Natural History, People & Events as well as Tributes and Lives Remembered. The story that caught my eye was “Annual Challenge: Travelling the Fraser Canyon” by Sylvia Preto.
Preto’s entertaining story relates her family’s trips to Vancouver — a long journey in the 1920s and 1930s. She states “Dad did all the driving and Mom’s role was that of peacekeeper” and wonders if her father took the more hazardous Fraser Canyon route as a way of “offering adventure on a trip that might have been monotonous” had they gone the southern American route.
This story in particular reminded me of earlier posts on this website, “Okanagan Isolation” and “Driving to Vancouver in the early 1900s” both of which recounted travelling from the Okanagan to the coast in the first decades of the twentieth century.
Many seniors in British Columbia will remember these early harrowing road trips, and reliving them through an article such Sylvia Preto’s will bring back wonderful memories. Treat yourself or a friend to some Okanagan History this Christmas!
This treasure trove of Okanagan lore is the 77th Report of the OHS and can be purchased at Mosaic Books in Kelowna, or through the Lake Country Museum’s director, Robert Hayes (phone 250-763-8859 or e-mail bob22@telus.net).