by lcmuseum@shaw.ca | Nov 23, 2022 | Deana Asham, Guest Bloggers, Natural History
Kokanee, a form of landlocked salmon, are Indigenous to the Okanagan and at one time were abundant within Okanagan and Wood Lake. Kokanee adapted from sockeye salmon, who migrated from the Columbia River approximately 10,000 years ago after the last ice age. Once...
by lcmuseum@shaw.ca | Nov 5, 2022 | Uncategorized
A Railway Runs Through It: The Okanagan Railways Today (June 30, 2005). By David Madison The locomotive feels like a living thing as it rolls from side to side over the weed-covered rail bed. “That’s just the harmonic roll,” says engineer Dean Taylor who is at...
by lcmuseum@shaw.ca | Nov 5, 2022 | Guest Bloggers, Okanagan birder, Pam Laing
Red-winged Blackbird, Yellow-headed Blackbird, and Brewer’s Blackbird One and perhaps two of today’s birds are probably familiar to you, the other might not be. They are all blackbirds, members of the Icterid family, a group comprising (in our valley) these two, as...
by lcmuseum@shaw.ca | Dec 11, 2021 | Guest Bloggers, History of Lake Country
Nancy Josland Dalsin In 2018 I was working as a volunteer at Mackie Lake House in Coldstream researching some of the artifacts. One of the artifacts that I was researching and trying to provenance was a beautiful, wall mounted artists jewel case designed by the...
by lcmuseum@shaw.ca | Jul 20, 2020 | Hayes, Bob, History of Lake Country
Lake Country is aptly named. Its four wards – Winfield, Okanagan Centre, Carr’s Landing and Oyama – have access to three major Lakes: Okanagan, Kalamalka, and Wood. The latter lake was named for pioneers Thomas (1841 – 1931) and Ellen Florence (nee Whelan) Wood (1861...
by lakecountry | Mar 2, 2018 | Bloggers, Community Events, Displays, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Duane
The fourth heritage marker panel examined in this series is entitled “Water before Rail,” dealing with the transport of fruit and other goods by water, roughly between the opening of the canal connecting Kalamalka and Wood lakes in 1908 and the completion of the...
by lakecountry | Sep 1, 2017 | Bloggers, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Carol
“The Railroad” was the name used on the earliest colonial maps, before the settlement in Lake Country, to refer to the isthmus at Oyama. The term certainly did not refer to any European-made feature; it had to refer to either a natural or an Okanagan First Peoples...
by lakecountry | May 26, 2017 | Bloggers, History of Lake Country, Natural History, Thomson, Duane
We read in the newspaper that the current flood conditions are a “once in two hundred year” event. How would we know that? We have no written records for Lake Country before settlement, which began with Tom Wood’s pre-emption of 160 acres at the south end of Pelmewash...
by lakecountry | May 13, 2016 | Bloggers, Gibbons, Richard, History of Lake Country
“Everyone should believe in something; I believe I’ll go fishing.” (H.D. Thoreau) Our particular part of the Okanagan Valley affords myriad opportunities for recreation. One of the most pleasant, enjoyable and affordable, enjoyed by residents and visitors alike, is...
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 | Jan 23, 2015 | Bloggers, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Carol
‘Tis hard to believe that it’s been twenty years since the District of Lake Country was incorporated. In 1995 the four communities of Carr’s Landing, Okanagan Centre, Oyama and Winfield incorporated to form the municipality of Lake Country. It is...
by lakecountry | Oct 17, 2014 | Bloggers, Hayes, Bob, History of Lake Country
Recently, I wrote a short article about our family cabin on Clement Road, at the south end of Wood Lake. In this article I made reference to the adjacent campground and cabins known as “Sam’s”. This facility, also known as Wood Lake Resort, was a popular tourist...
