Washrooms higher priority than paving for respondents to city survey on Vernon-Kelowna trail amenities1 By Ron Seymour, The Daily Courier Paving the Vernon-Kelowna railway path is both the most popular and the least popular idea among respondents to a City of Kelowna survey. One-quarter of those...
A while back when I was “staffing” the Lake Country Museum & Archives one Saturday afternoon, a very pleasant couple entered the Museum. Upon greeting them I discovered that the lady had once taught school in this building when it was the Okanagan Centre Elementary School. The then...
The hills and valleys are covered with gold, A sight to see on the winding road. The Sunflower, gay and yellow, Seems to say “Cheer up, old fellow,” I send you a message of hope and cheer, By “Shooting Star” who dwells quite near. Then when I am gone, others are born, To carry you on through every...
One can see the progress — the Okanagan Rail Trail is happening! http://devsite.lakecountrymuseum.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/IMG_6040.m4v After removing the tracks1 in January 2016, the Canadian National Railway (CNR) has now picked up the other metal — the spikes and plates....
Here are two pictures taken in Okanagan Centre Hall, probably early spring of 1947 or 1948. According to Eleanor (Brixton) Geen, who supplied the photos, there was a tradition of spring shows at the hall, with local ladies acting as models. The items they are wearing were borrowed from Kelowna...
The mayor of Lake Country says it’s something he was hoping for right from the start of the acquisition of the former CN Rail corridor. James Baker says it was a good news announcement from the Okanagan Indian Band that they are joining the inter-jurisdictional development team (IDT) that will...
Some months after Dorothea Scott-Coward wed Robert Allison1 she wrote to her sister, Mib (Milborough Mackay), about being a newlywed in a lonely new country. In the letter she tells of the wedding itself (on the doorstep of the church because she was marrying a non-Catholic) and of the days...
In June 2013 a blog was posted about a letter from Okanagan Centre written by pioneer Dorothea Scott-Coward. That post, and the letter it contained, initiated a number of interesting responses — one from a relative in the UK. Now, a collection of these letters has been added to the Lake...
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. The logs were piled on to the...
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 not very common. However, the...
In response to last week’s blog post about colourful Tom Carney I have received e-mails from two nieces and a nephew of Tom Carney. These descendants of John Joseph Carney (1859 – 1943) have supplied more interesting information about the Carney family. In his e-mail nephew Jim added...
Tom Carney was a colourful character. He was born on the Simpson Ranch in Rutland and in 1900 his family moved to the Carney Ranch on Highway 97 just north of the University of British Columbia Okanagan. The capital letters TC are still found on the side of a roadside building. My father (Harold...