by lakecountry | Feb 26, 2016 | Bloggers, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Duane
At the turn of the century Johnston & Carswell operated a sawmill at the north end of Long (Kalamalka) Lake. When the canal was completed in 1908 the Winfield Flats were logged and the logs hauled to the shore of Wood Lake along what became Bottom Wood Lake Road....
by lakecountry | Feb 12, 2016 | Bloggers, Community Events, History of Lake Country, This Day in History, Thomson, Duane
During some particularly cold winters Kalamalka Lake freezes over. Harold Thomson, who was raised in Oyama, said that in his experience Kalamalka Lake froze once every ten years and the adjoining Wood Lake froze nine out of ten years. Hauling freight on the lake was...
by lakecountry | Jan 2, 2016 | Bloggers, Community Events, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Duane
Curling became popular in Eastern Canada in the early nineteenth century and as the West opened up, the game found a natural home – long cold winters and idle time for prairie farmers. Clubs were formed in Winnipeg, Calgary and other western cites in the 1880s. The...
by lakecountry | Feb 27, 2015 | Bloggers, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Duane
In the days before good road and rail communication serviced Oyama orchardists, the most efficient way to move fruit to market was via steamer to the north end of Kalamalka Lake where it was transferred to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) station at Vernon. This...
by lakecountry | Jan 16, 2015 | Bloggers, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Carol
In early days it took dedicated community members to provide recreational facilities in the Lake Country area. The following except is from the manuscript, The Autobiography of Harold David Butterworth of Oyama,1 where Butterworth documents the making of an outdoor...
by lakecountry | Nov 28, 2014 | Bloggers, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Carol, Thomson, Duane
Fourteen years ago (2000) Ken Ellison published a book, Irrigation is King: A Century of Water in Oyama, BC. 1892-2000. This work exhaustively examined and interpreted the land, water and irrigation records of Oyama, BC. Now, a complementary video, Flume. The story of...
by lakecountry | Nov 22, 2013 | Bloggers, Community Events, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Duane
In the pre-WWII years, Oyama boys were numerous enough to field a hockey team that played against Vernon and perhaps other teams. They practised and played on a community hockey rink on the flat land formerly occupied by the Sterling and Pitcairn Packing House (just...
