Settlers began planting fruit trees in the Okanagan in the 1860s. Thought at this time planting fruit was considered a risk because the fruit was perishable and the only means of transportation could take up to two weeks to get the fruit to a major center. Most farmers preferred the certainty of...
The story of the Fir Valley settlers on the grasslands east of Winfield has been ably told by Lake Country historian Ronald Taylor in his book Fir Valley: A History. A part of that story that hasn’t been fully explored concerns two Americans and their families who were among the first to ranch in...