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British Columbia Historical Books Collection
Buckland, F. M.
"Mimeographed. A history of the Okanagan Lake district from exploration days to 1905."-- Lowther, B. J., & Laing, M. (1968). A bibliography of British Columbia: Laying the foundations, 1849-1899. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria, p. 203. "Mimeographed. Also: Ogopogo's vigil; a history of Kelowna and the Okanagan. [Kelowna, B.C., Kelowna Branch, Okanagan Historical Society, 1966]"-- Edwards, M. H., Lort, J. C. R., & Carmichael, W. J. (1975). A bibliography of British Columbia: Years of growth, 1900-1950. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria, p. 42.
111 pages : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm
application/pdf
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA LIBRARY L —^ OGOPOGO'S VIGIL i A HISTORY OF KELOWNA AND DISTRICT -MdJ ON OKANAGAN LAKE Reaching into Antiqu Permeates - Ancient Leg Modern Story From time out of raind this legendary creature has viewed with bulging, "piscis-jjooid" eyes the hills, benches, and flats surrounding Great Okanagan I. A Mysterious Something makes its appearance, usually in the warm Summer, and early Autumn, to excite the credulity of those it looks upon. In the long ago the elusive monster was known as "H'ha-a-it Sacred Creature of the Water. Lator it was referred to as the "Lake Demon", and in recent years was given the name "Ogopogo", which is not a native word. The story of Kelowni and district is part of a development witnessed during Ogopogo's Hundred Year Vigil and told P R E F A C : My knowledge of the Okanagan Lake District has been quired by many years' residence, consistent reading, and min ling with all the classes which go to make up our population records: For my authority I have those who have left David Thompson Alexander Ross David Douglas W. G. Cox Franz Boes W. C. Young J. W. Trutch and several contributors of Vernon. It has been my pr the original settlers, ha Worthy of mention are: Bernard Lequime HS1 Jos. Christian Fred and Leon Gillard Joseph Brent Joseph Lawrence A. Lefevre Mrs. Saucier G. M. Dawson Agnes C. Laut T. C. Elliott Denys Nelson Dr. W. N. Sage Arthur S. Morton A. G. Harvey Okanagan Historical Society neet and talk with many of allies, and old-time Indian M. Dorickson Chief Toraat Paul Kalaraalka Mrs. Swalwell Clement Bros Casorso Bros. George Whelan David McDougal & his several brothers J. Haynes V. Bourier Thos. Lindley H. Watson the Border. istorians are careless with dates and detail, so ains to have these stories checked and double- future generations may rely upon the information F. to. Buckland, Kelowna, B.C. January, 1948. OGOPOGO'S VIGIL CHAPTER 1 Discovery 11 Fur Trade 111 Mission IV Settlement V Ranch Development VI Okanagan School Vll Mail and Transportation Vlll Boats and Railroads IX Town Development OGOPOGO'S VIGIL CHAPTER 1 In weaving a tapestry on the loom of Kelowna's past, I am using history for warp, with folklore and old timers' tales for woof. The picture, or pattern, produced may seem patchy in places to those who are trained for such a job. However, having never learned the art, I expect to be excused literary inability, and accepted for the material gathered. The exploits as told, of old pathfinders, traders, and settlers, should be an Inspiration when the tenacity and fortitude they displayed in their struggle to establish civilization in a wilderness is revealed* They were the foundation of our present happy position in this Okanagan Valley. "Canadian, you find them everywhere in this Western country", wrote one traveller and writer* And what class of men would be more likely to "be everywhere'1 than those who represent a fusion of the Celt, the Saxon and the Norman races - a fusion that gave them courage, perseverance and strength to accomplish those undertakings which we are so proud to relate. So we find Canadian Traders working for an American company entering this valley from the South. As nearly as can be estimated, it was about October 1, 1811, that David Stuart and his three companions passed along the lake front opposite where Kelowna is today. They were on their way North, opening trade relations with natives who had already been canvassed by a Kootenay Indian for trade with the North-West Fur Company's men. Stuart and his party were undoubtedly the first white men of whom we have any written records to visit the Okanagan Lake country. Although we have no stories handed down by way of California or Mexico, telling us of other adventures in this part of the world, it is quite believable that Spaniards entered the Valley at a much earlier date, so many years before, that the momory of their short sojourn and contact with the tribes here was forgotten. Might this supposition be reflected in the Indian legend of their origin, which tells of a White Queen called "Scomalf in a distant land, Somali-tuma-whoolan, or White Man's Island. A man and a woman had been expelled from this homeland, and during their long voyage toward the setting sun they were exposed to such hardships that their skin changed to a colour they have retained to the present day* . Then there are examples of the "unexplained pictographs inscribed on rocks from here to the Gulf of Mexico. These crude rock drawings are not similar to those picked on rocks at the Coast, in either style or subject, nor do they resemble the Indian art of Ontario or the Prairies. The paintings are to be seen along old Indian trails and passes in certain places. ~Wj\ £%IC*H PlC-tOC ftAPH S Wh?cH i^o/iou/* 0 fn» Horses, BeyonoSo yfe iV ,0 f\ a MH r A 1 k '0 A A ( J # *! /I A ft. M LAKE si /A/. f y r 6'' A f "SX NAR AhAfR PfNTiCfON Qgopogo's Vigil Page 2 Were they Mexican road signs? Did some of Coronado's Spaniards in quest of the Seven Cities of Cibola pass there? These, and the hundreds of horses used by natives for saddle and pack animals, as well as food in hard winters, give one reason to think some other white men were here before John ' Jacob Astor's Canadians. To continue with the Fur Traders and their story it will be necessary to go back to the years 1809 and 1810, to a time when the North-West Company's men were pushing their way through the mountains, streams and lakes of Western Canada in search of fur and suitable places where they could establish trade with the Indians. At this time the Nor-Westors had two rivals. First, the Hudson's Bay Company, that ancient and honourable body of gentlemen who were incorporated May,1670. Later, the Pacific Fur Company, formed by Mr. John Jacob Astor, who remained at its head until the wars of 1812-1813, when they sold out to the North-West Company. Mr. Astor started in the fur business as early as 1796, working with the Canadians at Montreal until 1807, when he started in a small way for himself. In 1809 he obtained a charter from the State of New York and organized the American Fur Company, or, as it was sometimes called, South-West and Missouri Fur Company. Then, in the year 1810, he organized the Pacific Fur Company with the object of obtaining control of the fur trade on the Oregon or Columbia River for the Americans. Also, he hoped to hold that country which was visited in 1792 by Captain Gray in his ship "Columbia". Gray anchored at the mouth of the great river that now bears the name of his ship, and claimed all its watershed for the United States. Mr. Astor wished to back up the Lewis and Clarke discoveries carried out in 1804-1806, when these brave pathfinders made their overland journey to the Pacific and back. So, on September 8th, 1810, he had the good ship "Tonquin" sail from New York harbour for the mouth of the Columbia with a band of traders and trappers who were mostly Canadians won over from the Nor-West Company by inducements of bigger pay for their services. A good description of the long voyage around Cape Horn and by way of the Sandwich Islands can be had by reading Washington Irving's "Astoria". Some Islanders were brought along when the "Tonquin" sailed for the American Mainland, because they were excellent canoe-men and would be useful on the inland waters of Oregon. The Hawaiians were used for many years by the fur companies in this section, and a thread of Kanakan woof runs continually through this story. On March 25, 1811 this famous, and afterwards ill-fated, ship arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River, landing the partners Alexander McKay, Duncan McDougall, David and Robert Stuart, and four other clerks and apprentices, namely Alexander li. Ross, Francis Pillette, Donald McLean and Ovid Montigny. All these clerks were subsequently on the Okanagan. The most prominent was Ross, who wrote three books, two of which treat of the early history of this part of the country. These men commenced to build a fort, as soon as a suitable site was located, about eight miles from the mouth of the Columbia River, on April 11, 1811, and called it Astoria. Now what of the Nor'Westers? They had heard of Astor's ambitions in the West, and likely missed some good men who had been decoyed from their services. If they were to hold their own in the Fur Trade of this Western country, they would have to extend a line of posts and forts to the Pacific. For this purpose Mr. David Thompson, the astronomer and explorer, was called into action. le was on the Saskatchewan at that tine, surveying bounds suggested as early as 1782, between what Is now Manitoba and the United States So, we have a one-time "Blue Coat Boy" of London delegated to carry out the policy of expansion his Company had framed ten years before at a Montreal meeting with Duncan McGillivray in the chair. In 1810 Mr. Thompson, we learn, was dispatched overland with orders to reach the Pacific before the Americans, if possible. Coming through the Rockies by way of Athabasca Pass, he reached the Columbia at the Big Bend. Some time was spent at "Boat Encampment", while he and his three remaining companions fashioned a canoe out of a cedar log. When this had been completed, Thompson and his men ascended the river as far as Koot- enay House, the Trading Post established when he first crossed the Rockies through Howse Pass in 1807, following a trail blazed by Jaco Finley the year before. This first trail ran from the head waters of the North Saskatchewan River to the Columbia, but was not at that time cut out for pack horses. David Thompson spent the Winter in Windermere Valley preparing his equipment and the voyagers he had gathered together at that point for the unknown dangers of a run to the Pacific. The following Spring, 1811, he continued his journey by way of Moyie Lake to the Spokane country. He endeavoured to make friends with the natives as he passed through East Kootenay, and presented the Chief men with a Union Jack as a token from King George. Thompson visited Spokane House, established 1809 by Finan McDonald in a district opened for trade by Jaco Finley, the half-breed, 1806. These are the men who encouraged the Indian Pila-ka-lah-uh to travel through the Okanagan Countries to drum up trade. July 3, 1811 found Thompson and his voyagers on the Columbia River heading West and South for the sea. Passing the mouth of the Okanagan, July 5, 1811, David Thompson was Qgopogo's Vigil. Page A undoubtedly the first white trader of whom we have any record to see that River, or who had ever travelled the upper reaches of the Columbia and follow its course to the sea. He arrived at the mouth of this great river July 15, 1811, to find a Fort being constructed by the Astor people who had arrived on the ground nearly four months earlier. Mr* Thompson's journals have been printed, and are referred to and copied on all occasions. That part of his Columbia trip which interests us most, exists also in Its original manuscript form, occupying Book 27, Vol. 11 of the David Thompson M.S.S. Crown Lands Department of Toronto. It is entitled "Voyage to the Mouthof the Columbia by the Grace of God, by D. Thompson and Seven Men, on the part of the N. W. Company." On July 23 Thompson started his return journey to Fort William, the Western capital of the Nor-Westors. and was accompanied by the Astorians, who immediately determined to establish an inland post to counter-check the Canadians. It was agreed that thoy were to travel together for mutual protection against Indians, and the perils of the river. Old David Stuart was in charge of the Astor party of nine. Those who interest us most are David Stuart, Alexander Ross and Montigny. We are indebted to Ross because he left us the early history of our Valley in his "Adventures of a Fur Trader, or Hunter"; and "Adventures of the First Settlers on the Columbia or Oregon River." David Stuart and Ovid de Montigny are remembered primarily because they were the first white traders of whom we have record to travel the Okanagan Valley to its headwaters, Okanagan Lake. Ross says: "The joint parties of Stuart and Thompson did not travel far together. The Thompson party travelled light, having no merchandise for trade. Stuart and his men had canoes, such as were designed and operated on the Coast, but quite unsuited for "upriver" travel; so on July 31st Mr. Thompson's party, finding that they could travel much faster, proceeded by themselves, after advising Stuart that the Mouth cf the Okanagan would be a good site for a Fort." Mr. Ross tells us: "On the 31st of August, 1811, we parted, early, from our friendly visitors, the Indians, and shaping our course in an easterly direction along the bend of the river, we pushed on for about nine miles, till we reached the mouth of a smooth stream called "Oakinacken", which we ascended for about two miles, leaving the main Columbia for the first time, and then pitched our tents for the night. On September 1st we embarked, and descending the Oakinacken, landed on a level spot within half a mile of its mouth. There we unloaded, took our canoes out of the water, and pitched our tents; ending a long and tedious voyage." L We are told also that the source of this river is 280 due north, and in its course south the stream runs through three lakes to its junction with the Columbia. Soon after the tents were pitched an Indian, nicknamed the "Priest", arrived with horses for which the traders had bargained, all safe; but, having been caught with Mr. Stuart's watch in his possession, the "Priest" was paid for his services, and dismissed. The horses had been procured several days earlier, August 2Ath, from Indians whom they met in great numbers. The Chief Sopa, head of one of the Southern Okanagan bands, made them a present of two, and they purchased four more, giving for each, one yard of print, and two yards of red gartering. These trade goods were so highly prized by the Indians that horses from all quarters were brought to them, but as they did not know what to do with them, the white men would not buy any more. Wc are told that the wealth of the Indian was in his horses to a large extent - some owning several hundred - and the family was considered poor whose horses wore not sufficient in number for every man, woman and child to be mounted, with plenty of pack animals to transport their effects when there was occasion to travel from one part of the country to another. Indian saddles were rude affairs, somewhat resembling the Spanish type, having a high knob in both front and back, and generally looking and sitting uncomfortably on the horse. Bridles were made of buffalo shag, or hair rope fashioned into a "hackamor", and fastened to the under jaw of the animal with a vary long line to trail on the ground, or to be used as a lariat, which was handled with dexterity. As soon as Stuart's men had their buildings well started, Pillett and McLean, with two voyagers, were dispatched back to Astoria in one of the canoes, as there was insufficient food to last the whole party all Winter. The remaining traders then prepared to winter in the wilderness. When their Fort, or Post, built of driftwood, 16 X 20, was completed, Mr. Stuart, with Montigny and two others, set off on a journey to the North, or headwaters of the Oak-in-ack-en, September 16th. Mark the word "Journey", and remember that a few days earlier they had finished a "Voyage". Some Historians mistakenly bring the first white traders up the Valley in canoes; but if Mr. Stuart had made the trip up by water, how could he have made the return voyage at a time of year when most small lakes would be frozen over? Stuart expected to be back in a month's time. Here is his story of the journey: "After leaving this place, we bent our course up the Oak-in-ack-en, due North for upwards of 250 miles till we reached its source. Then crossing a heighth of land, fell upon Thompson's River; or rather, the South branch of Fraser's River, after travelling for some time among the powerful Nation called the "She-waps". Qgopogo's Vigil. Page 6 "The snow foil while we were in the mountains, and pre> vented our immediate return. After waiting for fine weather the snow got so deep that we considered it hopeless to attempt getting back, and therefore passed the time with the She-waps and other tribes in that quarter. The Indians were numerous and well-disposed, and the country throughout abounded in beavers and all kinds of fur, and I have made arrangements to establish a Trading Post there the ensuing Winter. On the 26th of February we began our homeward journey and spent just twenty-five days on our way b;.ck. The distance may be about 280 miles." Stuart arrived back at Fort Okanagan March 22nd, 1812 spending 188 days on the trip. Attention must be given to the next journey made to "followed Mr. Stuart's route", to reach Cumeloops in the land of the She-waps. These reports should be convincing evidence that the traders made use of horses when they first traversed this Valle' in 1811. On April 24th, 1812, Mr, David Stuart, with some of Astor's men who had come up the Columbia to Fort Okanagan with food and merchandise that Spring, headed for the Coast with 2,500 Beaver skins, which were worth in our money at that time $7.50 each on the Canton market in China, where they would be sold* These skins cost the traders about 12£ a piece in merchandising. Ross in writing of this says: "A specimen or our trade among the Indians." The system, as adopted by the Pacific Fur Company for transportlon, wa3 to have a ship leave Now York fcr Astoria loaded with supplies and merchandise suited to Indian trade. At Astoria a new cargo was taken aboard when they stowed away what furs had been collected at that place during the preceding year. The ship then sailed for China where these furs were traded on the Canton market for the rich merchandise of that country. They then came back to Hew York, once more to dispose of the third cargo, and to load again for Astoria, On May 6, 1812, Ross left McGlllis,.who had come up from Astoria, in charge of Fort Okanagan, and he, Ross, accompanied by Boullard and an Indian with sixteen saddle and pack horses, started on a trading excursion up the Okanagan Lake and on to the country of the "She-waps", returning to Fort Okanagan July 12,1812. Then David Stuart, who had arrived from the Coast with a stock of trade goods, came North to winter whore Kamloops is today. He was accompanied by Ross as far aj the junction of the Similkameen. On December 20,1812, Ross, who Qgopogo's Vigil Page 7 had just returned from a visit to Spokane House, started North to visit Mr. Stuart at Kamloops. He arrived there on the last day of the year. To accomplish this trip Ross would need to make 30 miles each day. When we consider hew they had to make camp in these short days of mid-Winter, in addition to their 30-mile ride over rough Indian trails, we have some idea of what hardy men these old Pathfinders must have been. But that was Alexander Ross, on a Christmas visit to his neighbor, 280 miles away - the man who tells us that his only friends during his first Winter in this Valley were his Bible and his dog, Weasel. Mr. Ross evidently returned from Kamloops by the Nicola Valley route, and after great hardships reached the Slmilkaraeen. At some place near Princeton he came down to that river and struck the Okanagan at the "Forks" as he puts it, and arrived back at Fort Okanagan January 24, 1813. On May 13,1813, Mr. Stuart came down the Okanagan Lake trail with a rich catch of fur, and after spending ten days at Okanagan pressing and packing the fur into suitable bundles, he and Ros3 started for the Coast. Ross married an Indian girl of the Okanagan tribe, and when he returned to Fort Garry in 1325, took her and his children with him. His wife in later life became one of^the grand old ladies of the Red River Settlement. Some of their children and grandchildren have filled responsible positions in commercial and political life, while Mr* Ross continued to play a prominent part in Western development. Mary Ross, a great granddaughter of this historic couple lived on Eli Avenue, Kelowna, with her two maiden aunts, the Misses Inkster of Winnipeg, 1904-05. This young lady gave cause for some amusement when, on a certain day, she, with a dozen other young people, was riding with the hounds in a paper chase. Galloping along over the Gui3achan Meadows on a paper scent, they came to a sizable irrigation ditch. Two or three horses went over, others got through, but the little black mare carrying the scion of Okanagan's oldest family on its back, set its feet quickly and firmly on the edge of the hazard, with the result that its charming rider slid gracefully over the pony's head to land squat in the bottom of the ditch. There were no bad effects other than a slight shaking up. Several young gallants came to the rescue, brushed her off, caught her pony and saw that she was safely mounted again. Alexander Ross, Mary's grandfather, wrote three books on this Western country, and one dealing with the Red River Settlement, leaving accurate and detailed descriptions of his time, which Canadians will always cherish with gratitude. Vvfc, r Page 7-A One hundred years later, an old lady of mixed blood who lived near Penticton, told a story whioh had come down to her through the years. Her Grandmother's Aunt, it appeared, had a sister who had gone away with a white man to another part of the Country, but just where wasn't remembered. She had taken her young family with her and never come baek. The white man she went away with was the first Trader to live at Ft, Okanagan then later at Kamloops,' and the young native wife was a daughter of one of the Chief men of the Okanagan Tribeo Why was she remembered down through the years'? What was it that marked her as an outstanding personage' It seems this Indian girl had impressed her relatives and friends up and down the Ok&u- agan because she had the ability to fill her position in native society as leader in new and modern ways of home keeping, and more particularly in her up-to-date mode of dress, styled quite likely by her husband's suggestion., which, no doubt reflected far off memories and distant plaoes. Certainly, she was married to an influ- ential white man who no doubt encouraged her to adopt a higher standard of living than her families had been accustomed to In the past. Her popularity reached its peak as she lead the fashions and customs being introduced by the Fur traders. She was the only woman in the Valley at that time who sported clothes made of white man's cloth. But when she paraded herself before her admiring friends and relations fitted out in a costume of skirt and blouse, created from her Scottish Husband7 a tartan plaid, wi*-b. iA$ pronounced oolors. patterns and fan^y fringe, that did it. She was the envy of all who knew or came in contact with her. and her fame as one who sot the fashions was oarried down through four or five generations. Her husband's nomo had'been forgotten by those wnt narrated this story - It might have been Rose. But/in any event he was the first trader to winter in the oountry and to introduce colored ^loth in barter for furs and decorate his woman in never to be forgottan Highland tartan. ~«""l,u! F* /' \1 fib''ft, 517 tones ( Hoi* •%<| \ "\-^Q. FT. GfiOAGg 1 /79 3 J Gu&&n C L Pv / /go ?. C| Ft, 4L£ kanOAi h T 5 o«r 4^,^ /^ If IC >\^— / \ \»2/Z / \ /, £ CrtrJ J> vy [ Canoz J*/ flAr.K r«h\L O TtAOlUC Pos< 1 I T \ ;' tfoe \ \/8o7 I W Pft<l4Lk£L i / ).-_ 1 1 ( i&n 6 AaJ j V 5 P<3K ^ ■\%o% L CoiuflA ^.tfiA^^^^^F^ £" it u \n\fiifoKifi It 11 J OGOPOGO'S VIGIL JR 11. FUR TRADE The second period of our Valley's History commences with the coming of the Nor-Westers. Mr. W. C. Brown, whom I have quoted before, says in his "jiarly History of Fort Okanagan"- "There suddenly appeared at the Okanagan Fort on the last day of September, 1813, a big North-Vest Company's Brigade of ten canoes and seventy-five men under the leadership of John Gordon McTavish and John Stuart, with news of the war between Great Britain and the United dtates." They stopped but a few hours with Ross at Okanagan, for they were hurrying down to Astoria to meet the "Isaac Todd", a British ship, upon its arrival at the mouth of the Columbia. They also had full authority to make a purchase of all the holdings and property of the Astorians, if a good bargain could be made. As the "Isaac Todd" was well armed, and carried letters of mark, together with the fact that most of the Astorians were Canadians and delighted to meet their old companions again, they were not long in making a deal, which delivered up the Fort to the Nor- esters on November 12, 1813. Duncan McDougall, the factor in charge, sold out lock, stock and barrel for $80,500 in Bills of Exchange on Canada. The American flag was hauled down, the Union Jack run up in its stead, and the name of the place changed to Fort George. This gave the territory of Columbia, the Okanagan and Kamloops to the Nor-Westers, and although Astoria was given back to the Americans by the Treaty of Ghent on Christmas n!ve, 1814, the Canadians had control of the country that is now Washington, and Oregon, and as far South as the Spanish territory of San Francisco, until the Boundary dispute was settled in 1846. When the Astorians disbanded, most of them engaged with the Nor-Westers, and we find Stuart and Ross back in this district during the Winters of 1813-1814. John Stuart, David's nephew, came through the country to search out a suitable overland pack trail between the two great rivers. He wrote a letter from Great Okanagan Lake to his friend Harman at Fort St. James, which was delivered by an Indian after weeks in transit. It was at this time the first communication between the Columbia and the Fraser Rivers was established via the Okanagan Valley and Kamloops. From that time until the International Boundary Settlement all merchandise for trade, and all furs obtained in barter, were taken in and out of the country by way of the Okanagan Valley. Under management of the Nor-Westers the mode of obtaining furs was somewfeat different from that previously adopted. Now, by order from Fort William, their men were to hunt in companies of two or more, as a protection against hostile Indians. So their hunters and trappers, establishing themselves at favourable points, roved up and down our creeks and ranges in search of beaver and other fur, either from their own traps, or obtained in barter with the Indians. Ogopogo's Vigil. Page 9 George M. Dawson, S.S.D.-F.R.S., refers to such a rendezvous in his report of May 27th, 1896. He tells of N'Kuela, a son of Pcl-ka-lah-uh, the Kootcnay Indian who first acquainted Okanagan tribesmen of the coming of the White traders. N'Kuela, with Pion, a Sandwich Islander nicknamed "Bonaparte" by Ross Cox, and Ovid Montigny had their headquarters on the tip of the peninsula at the head of Okanagan Lake, I8L4. N'Kuela was so successful in his trading during the Winter that he was given ten guns with ammunition and other trade goods dear to the Indian's heart, for his Winter's work. What a country it must have been for hunting at that timel If you had taken a walk through the City Park at Kelowna some years ago, before that property was improved and beautified, as it is today, you could see numerous old beaver dams, then grown over with willow and poplars. What a lot of work it must have meant for those industrious little animals to throw down dam after dam across the mouth of Mill Creek, where a colony of considerable size existed before it was destroyed by traders, of whom it was said, "They hadn't a soul above a beaver skin"; trappers who, for a questionable livelihood, tried to supply the material which fashion demanded for its beaver hats, a mark of distinction and respectability one hundred and more years ago. Elk were also plentiful here at that time. In late. years antlers of that splendid animal have been dug up on a ranch just North of CKOV radio tower, and 80 rods East of the Gyro Park. The last known band of native Elk in this part of the country was rounded up and slaughtered under the clay bank at the North end of what is now Richter Street, Kelowna. The cause of their sudden and complete disappearance from this country can be attributed to the introduction of fire arms, although we read of great destruction wrought by savage and powerful timber wolves which ranged this Valley when fur was King, and down to the memory of living rar.n.. . They were always the enemy of the deer family. Ross tells of a band of v/olves killing five of his horses, and on another occas ion of a band of seventeen forcing two of his men to take shelter in a tree for several hours. He wrote that,.although they shot two of the most forward of them, before they reached the tree for protection, the others, Instead of dispersing, kept at their heels. This was in 1815. Eighty-five years later six of these ferocious animals treed two neighbors one Winter's night on the trail between Trout Creek and Shingle Creek and kept them there for hours. Another species of game we read about at that time, which has since disappeared, is the wild turkey, or what Ross called the Columbia Grouse. We are told of a fight witnessed Ogopogo's Vigil. eagle, which he ended by shooting both. Alth was nearly blinded by the encounter, Ross thoug ultimately come off the conqueror. This turk One of the recreations of a fur-trader's life was to accompany the natives on their bear hunting expeditions. On these occasions Ross tells us "They are all mounted on horseback and exhibit a fine display of horsemanship." He tells us of one excursion in which he took part when they killed seven tears, nine wolves, and eleven small deer in two days' hunting. There were seventy-three in the party, and as the hunt took place some three days out from Kamloops, it might well have been in the country drained by what the trappers called "Bear's River", now "Bear Creek", and South along the ridge of mountains West of Kelowna to the headwaters of Trepanier Creek, where it is likely the following Trepanning incident took place. Ross writes, "One of the Indians named Short Legs was badly wounded by a female bear." The bear in question had been wounded and taken shelter in a small bunch of scrub. The bush was immediately surrounded by horsemen, then the more daring entered on foot armed with gun, knife and tomahawk. Chief Short Legs, while scrambling over some fallen timber, stumbled on to where the wounded and enraged bear was concealed, but too close to defend himself before the vicious animal got hold of him. They finally shot the bear and saved the man, whose scalp was torn from the crown of his head down over his eyes. He was insensible and for sonic time thought to bo dead. They then hastened home, carrying the dead bear along with them, and arrived in camp the morning of the 4-th day. The Chief remained speechless for three days. Then we have a description of a surgical operation performed in the wilderness. Of this I will quote Ross verbatim, "In cutting off the scalp and dressing the wound we found the skull, according to our imperfect knowledge*- of anatomy, fractured in two or three places, and at the end of eight days I extracted a bone measuring two inches long of an oblong form, and another about an inch square, with several smaller pieces, all from the crown of the head. The wound, however, gradually closed up and healed, except a small spot about the size of an English shilling. In fifteen days by the aid of Indian medicine he was able to walk around, and at the end of six weeks from the time when he was wounded he was on horse-back again at the chase." These stories are of special interest to us tocause Ross says of those years 1815-1816 "I passed this Winter between the Shuswaps and Okanagans, sometimes at one, sometimes at the other, constantly employed in the pursuit of fur3." A great event in Western history took place in 1821 when the Nor-Westers and the Hudson's Bay Company consolidated by 1 1;} \ i- -i C-rl "H: / -r V/Zi/fle !*<£- 10- A/^Afe5 /v r//£ r?o/// r«w( "°'<'W V \ _ -—— ~^> r Ba f _ffib— / \) ,V j r Ogopogo1s Vigil. Page 11 especially at that dreadful affair of Seven Oaks. About this time Tom McKay, son of Alexander McKay who was killed on the Tonquin whon the massacre took place off Vancouver's Island and stepson of Dr. John McLoughlin, was put in charge of the Hudson's Bay Company Northern Fur Brigade. One of the first pieces of business passed at a meeting of the wintering partners at Norway House, Lake Winnipeg, the new headquarters of the Company was to authorize the establishment of a trade route between the Eraser and the Columbia. It is Tom McKay who is credited with blazing the old H.3.C. trail in 1824, still to be traced across the Lake from Kelowna. The story of the Hudson's Bay Brigade Trail is told at some length in the Sixth Annual Report of the Okanagan Historical Society, so this reference will deal with the more immediate traverse, the Columbia to the Thompson River, a hundred odd miles on either side of Westside Ferry Landing. Leaving Fort Okanagan, the Brigade trail headed up the East side of the river, through McLoughlin's Canyon, and on to the forks of the Similka- meen. Continuing on the East bank until it reached the head of Sooyoos Lake, it crossed over to the Western side and leaving the river, climbed the open country above Oliver. Passing thruugh Myers Flat to the White Lake country, the trail threaded a draw which came out to the open range again under the amazing likeness of a human head — a profile that gazes into the West, which can be seen from different directions and at great distances as it looms up on the rock mountain side. This could well be one of the God-made heads referred to in the first syllable of Okanagan — but that story is told in another place. Leaving White Lake, the trail traverses a broken grass country to Marron Valley, then crossing Sheep Creek at its junction with Shingle Creek, it follows up the latter some miles. Leaving the open grass country around Shingle Creek, the trail passes over a height of land where the old-timers left a lob stick, in evidence to this later day. What this trimmed tree with the bushy top was supposed to commemorate is not known, but it might well bo to mark a halfway between the two Rivers or Fort Okanagan and Fort Thompson, as Kamloops was called at that time. From the lob stick and this wide upland back valley, the Brigade trail dropped down into Trout Creek above Prairie Valley, Summerland. From there it passed to Three Lakes, the head of Garnet Valley, and down the mountainside to the shores of Great Okanagan Lake at Deep Creek, a short distance South of Peachland. From that point it followed the present road to the Kelowna Ferry, passing through Westbank business street, and the.Indian Reserve. North of the Ferry Wharf the trail followed benches along the waterfront, with a branch hooding up Bear Creek to cut in behind Grouse Mountain and come out to join the shore trail at Shorts Creok. Continuing to the head of the Lake, it took a Westerly direction, through Grand Prairie, the head of Monte Creek, and Kamloops much as it does today. We are told those Brigades consisted of as many as three hundred horses and a great many people, representing hunters, cooks, packers and rangers. In the early morning campfires are lighted and breakfast of dried salmon prepared and eaten. Next the horses are run in and roped. Then commences the tedious job of packing. Great care must be taken when loading, and the diamond hitch is adjusted in such a manner that the packs will not become loosened to chafe and cause the horses to have sore backs. But these men are experts. They go through the same performance perhaps fifty times in a season, when they lead cayuse aft cayuse to the lines of regimented bundles stacked on the ground. With a packer on either side, the freight is placed, and a 30- foot pack rope is fastened in its intricate loops. Two packer were assigned to each forty horses, which they loaded and unloaded once every day the Brigade was on the move. When every thing was loaded - merchandise, or furs, with camp pots, blanket and all - they filed away along the trail preceded by a couple o expert hunters who rode ahead to pick out and prepare the next camp on good grass and water, and shoot, if possible, fresh meat for the next meal. First rides the factor or chief trader at the head of t cavalcade, through the dust or mud, as the case may be. He is attired in his best broadcloth with white shirt, and collar to his ears, wearing on his head the tall Beaver Hat, the fashion of that day and time. His position in the Company demands something a little different from the rest of the cavalcade, tat he must have had a hard time riding under some of the trees with that stove-pipe hat. Poor fellowl He carries with him his Fire bag, which contains flint and steel, tinder box, touch-wood and tobacco. This kit is carried to the present day by old timers in the north Country. Also, our Hias Tyee trader must have a separate fire when in camp, and his tent must be the first to be erected. Salutes were fired on his departure from and his return to a fort. All this ceremony was considered necessary, as it added to his dignity in the eyes of those under his command, and had a good effect upon the Indians. Father Morice says in his History of Northern B.C. - "Proud indeed was the Indian who was fortunate enough to be presented with his cast-off hat. It would be worn on all occasions, and during warm weather he might be seen divested of everything but the hat Many outstanding men of science and learning, as well as mission aries and high officials of the Company, travelled with the Okanagan Fur 3rigade in and out of the Valley - intrepid travellers who endured the hardship of the trail to leave us many interesting accounts of the country as they found it. The day's journey usually started about 9 a.m. and lasted until A p.m., when all would make camp and the horses turned out to graze. Camping grounds had necessarily to be on Jl Ogopogo's Vigil. Page 13 water with plenty of bunch grass feed for their horses and for the horses of Indians with whom they met at these selected places where trade was conducted. So they chose, among others, the head of Sooyoos Lake, the open country around White Lake and the crossing of Shingle Creek. There were large areas of grass land at McDonald Plains, "Westbank", at the head of the Lake and at Grand Prairie. These, with three or four smaller camping spots, led them into the Kamloops District. Each camp was about eighteen miles apart, making a day's travel with the pack train. A courier riding with dispatches from one post to another was expected to make twice the distance, or, about thirty- five miles, as his day's ride. On the Westbank reserve there stood a great fir tree until a few years ago, and under its sheltering boughs the old traders opened up their packs of trade goods and bartered with the natives who congregated there to meet them, as they passed up and down the Valley, many no doubt from L'Anse au Sable directly across the Lake. Kamloops was the great half-way house of the interior. Here the horses that came up the Okanagan were turned out to rest, and a fresh band run in for the trip up the Eraser to Fort Alexandra. When the Brigade arrived back at Kamloops loaded wit the Winter's catch of fur, they would turn those horses out and pick up the rested band for the trip back to Fort Okanagan. Three essentials were necessary for a good pack-trail; grass, water, and soft footing for the unshod horses. That is why back valleys were followed rather than keeping to the rougher paths along the lakes in the main valley bottom. At the Eastern end of Westbank's business street, on the present Okanagan Highway, where it parallels the "Old Brigade Trail", the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada will erect a cairn. A resolution was passed declaring the Okanagan Brigade Trail to be of national importance, and recommending that a suitable monument be erected at a later date. During the early operations of the Fur Trader in this Western country it had been found necessary to have some common means of communication with the natives, as there were more than a dozen different dialects spoken on the Coast, and in Oregon and New Caledonia. To be able to exchange ideas with all and sundry, while bartering and trading, the Chinook jargon was conceived and developed by those having intercourse with the natives. This language, or jargon, which is a mixture of English, French, Spanish, Chinese and Indian, was introduced as early as I8O4. — .some say 1778, Captain Cook's time at Nootka Sound. By I84.O the vocabulary amounted to about 250 words. Eighteen of these were Nootka or Coast Indian, forty-one were English, one hundred eleven were Chinook or Columbia Valley Indian, thirty-four were French, some were Spanish and some Chinese. The Chinook jargon grew until the year 1860, when it contained about twice that many Jjl words. Although a formless sort of talk, it was a source of great benefit; trade was made possible by it; friendly intercourse was stimulated between tribes, all of which was leading toward an earlier attainment of civilization. Chinook jargon was so much more superior to the "sign" language used by trader and neighboring tribes East of the Rockies, that it is a mystery why it did not spread to the Prairies. True, Indians and whites of many different tongues could find out all about one another, and what was wanted quite as quickly by the sign talk; nevertheless, it has practically disappeared, while the Chinook jargon is still used in many outlying places, even between a Chinaman and a Swede, who could neither converse in their own languages, nor speak English very well. Before the advent of traders one circulating medium of exchange among the tribes' was a small white shell, "Pearly River Mussel", called "Higua", a salt water mussel which the natives of the interior valued very highly. Ross tells us that shell money was taken in exchange for a wild hemp from the upper country, which Coast Indian.- used for "making fish nets. A considerable cache of this shell, together with a stone axe and several arrowheads, was found a few years ago on the bank of the Creek that runs through the Park at Vernon. This find can be seen at the Court House. Large shell money, "Hy-kwa", and small shell money "Koop-koop", run from inch and a quarter, to three inches in length, and were valued according to their sizes or the number it took to make a fathom. For instance, one string of thirty to the fathom was equal to three strings of forty to the fathom, or four strings of fifty. Ross tells us he saw an Indian refuse a new gun for six fathoms of two and one-half inch shells, which gives some- idea of the value placed on them. The Higua is of convex shape, thin, light and durable, and was a medium of exchange long after the beaver skin came to take its place. At the present time, wherever Chinook is spoken, "Hy-kwa" denotes the Silver Dollar, half dollar, twenty- five cent piece or other large coin; while'"Koop-koop" refers to dimes, nickels and coppers. Hard money is also referred to as "Chick-a-rain", but, when commanded or invited to "shell out" for some cause or another, ono is supposed to hand over the exchange tokens of the day, even though they are not shells. It would be well at this point to direct attention to some of the notable men who passed up and down this Valley while it was the great highway of the Interior C^stwe.en the Columbia and New Caledonia. Perhaps the greatest man of his time was Dr. John McLoughlin, who is known in history as "Father of Old Oregon", or "The King of Cregon", and by the Indians as the 'Great White Eagle". Dr. McLoufhlin was Governor of a territory which reached from San Francisco in the South, where the Hudson's Bay Company had a farm, to Russian Alaska in the North, and many are the kind deeds accredited to his memory. - But for him the r Ogopogo' s Vigil Page 15 first settlers from the Eastern States would have starved to death. These people arrived overland by the Oregon Trail in the beginning of Winter, without food or clothes sufficient for the coming season, and John McLoughlin, in defiance of the orders from his company, to have nothing to do with these people who were settling the land and spoiling the fur country, fed and clothed them out of the Company stores at his own expense. Otherwise, they would have starved and suffered miserably that first winter. In return for this kind and charitable act of a Canadian gentleman, the American people wished to claim all of what is now the Province of British Columbia, together with the Oregon country, and the silly cry of "54-40 or fight" was heard in every state in the Union. Dr. McLoughlin was a Nor-Wester before the two companies amalgamated. He married an Indian woman according to the custom of the country, while he was at Fort William. She was the mother of the man who blazed the Okanagan Brigade Trail. McLoughlin was made Chief Factor of Oregon in 1824. Several years later when a missionary arrived in that country as Chaplain of Fort Vancouver, it was made uncomfortable for the great man and his family, when it was Pointed out and explained that a Fur Company's marriage contract was not sufficient, and that he was not properly married. He had quarrelled with the Rev. Herbert Beaver, but to save trouble and keep peace in his family, he was again married to his wife by James Douglas, who was a Justice of the Peace. McLoughlin, however, was a staunch Roman Catholic, and his Church did not recognize either the Company's bond or the Civil ceremony, so the poor couple were married a third time. Another famous man who travelled up and down the Okanagan Valley was Peter Skene Ogden. He was perhaps the greatest leader,of them all. Born in Quebec in 1794* the son of the Hon. I3aac Ogden, afterward Judge of the Admiralty Court at that place, Peter's boyhood was spent in Montreal where he commenced to study law. But his was a spirit which demanded adventure, and the call pf the wild led him to join the Nor-Westers in the capacity of clerk. We hear of him in this country first about 18I8, and from that time until his death in Oregon City, 1854, he was one of the greatest pathfinders, traders, and diplomats that the West knew. For about nine years Mr. Ogden lived as Chief Trader in Northern B.C., at Stuart Lake, where he encouraged farming to some extent. Every Spring he made a journey to Fort Vancouver on the Columbia by way of Kamloops and the Okanagan, to sit as a member on the Board of Managers of the Hudson's Bay Company in the mountain district. During his life Mr. Ogden did a great many brave and noble deeds, which should not be forgotten by us who now enjoy the privilege of living in this Western Province with all its advantages today. Mr. T. C. Elliott, in his "Peter Skene Ogden, Ogopogo's Vigil. Page 16 Fur Trader", says; "His last great and good work was when he went with a small body of men to liberate the poor women and children who were captured by the Cayuse Indians after the Whitman Massacre which occurred December 6, 1847. It was a dangerous task, and one which, the Indians plainly told him, no other would have attempted. The International Boundary had been determined eighteen months previous to the massacre, and the Whitman Mission was an American Settlement. When Ogden heard of the trouble, he immediately set out to try to save further bloodshed if possible. Twelve days were consumed In the journey, and it was not until December 24th that he was able to assemble the Chiefs in Council, which lasted all day. Mr. Ogden alone of all the whites attended, and in the end prevailed. "We have been among you for thirty years without the shedding of blood", he said in his address, "We are traders and of a different nation from the Americans who are of the same colour, speak the same language, and worship the same God as ourselves, and whose cruel fate causes our hearts to bleed." In the end Chief Tolohaik of the Cayuses replied, "Chief, your words are weighty, your hairs are grey, we have known you a long time, you have had an unpleasant journey to this place. I cannot, therefore, keep the families back. I make them over to you, which I would not do to another younger than yourself.1 Mr. Ogden at this time wrote, "For two nights I have not slept. But thank God, they are all safe and have not been ill-treated." This and many other brave deeds were done by that little gentleman from Montreal. Two of his grandsons once ran a skating rink in Kelowna. The Roman Catholic priests' were the earliest missionaries in the Interior. They came overland from Canada and started a Mission on the Columbia in I84I. About that time the Rev. Father Demers undertook to give a Mission to the people of New Caledonia. So, in July, I842, he joined himself with the Northern Brigade of the Hudson's Bay Company, then under the command of P.S.Ogden. When they arrived at Okanagan Forks, or the junction of the Similkameen, he was well received by the Indians who had been visited earlier in the year by Father de Smet. At this place he baptized twenty-eight children, and went on with the pack trains to Kamloops, being the first missionary to pass along this lake. We hear of Fr. Nobili, S.J., who, under instructions from Fr. De Smet, in August 1§45, started North to explore New Caledonia. He says, "With a half-breed companion, I visited and instructed the Indians as far North as Fort Alexander, and in May came to Colville to give an account to Fr. De Smet, who sent .me back again." The story is told that at the head of the lake the Indians stole all his belongings. Years after, Fr. La Jeune was informed that an Indian there was found wearing the Priest's cassock, while another had thought the Church vestments were logo's Vigil. Page 17 suitable material for making leggings." But amends were made, says Mr. Denys Nelson in his "Links with the Past", and in later years Fr. La Jeune blessed the church built by one of the Indians concerned in the affair. Although Rev. Demers, Fr. Nobili and other "Black Gowns", as the Indians called them, made annual trips up and down this Valley,•there was no permanent Mission settlement made here at L'anse au Sable until 1859, when Fr. Pandosy and Fr. Richards established the Okanagan Mission, a mile back from the Lake on the North side of the creek where a frame church stood for thirty years. In I846 the 49th Parallel was made our Southern boundary, and a territory as large as some European Kingdoms was handed away because it was not considered worth bothering about. It was told that the salmon would not rise to a fly in the Columbia River for a certain gentleman who was sent out from England to look into the matter of the boundary dispute. So he considered the country no good, not worth keeping, and acted accordingly. This, of course, was just a story. To show how little was known of our country at that time, a writer in the Edinburgh Review of July, I845, reflected the best knowledge of his day when he said, "It seems probable that in a few years all that gave life to the country, both the hunter and the prey, will become extinct, and their places will be supplied with a thin white and half-breed population scattered along a few fertile valleys, supported by a pasture instead of' the chase, and gradually declining into a barbarism far more offensive than the savage which degrades the backwoodsmen." However, the Boundary Settlement had the effect of changing the course of travel, and in I848 the Brigades from the North, instead of descending to the Columbia by the Okanagan Trail as usual, took the more direct route of the Fraser Valley to Fort Langley, which was made the first Capital of the Crown Colony. So, for several years, until the stampede for gold in the North Country and Fraser Valley, the old Okanagan Trail OGOPOGO'S VIGIL CHAPTER 111 The third period of our history should be known as "Mission", or Settlement Period, and starts with the discovery of gold in the vicinity of Kamloops as early as 1852. An Indian who found shining pebbles when drinking from a creek, took the nuggets to McLean at the Fort, and that was the beginning of the end of the fur companies. Eighteen years prior to this history-making discovery, we learn from records left by David Douglas that he panned enough gold from an Okanagan creek bed to make a signet. The Botanist while travelling north up the west side trail with the Fur Brigade, took a comparative geographical position at Bears River during the summer of 1833, when he washed this gravel, but traders preferred furs to gold, and realizing what would happen to their hunting grounds if the country were overrun with prospectors, no importance or publicity was given the find. News of the Kamloops gold discovery, however, soon spread through the country. It spread by that mysterious means known as "Moccasin Telegraph", and a peculiar method of transmitting mail from post to post in vogue at that time. When a person wished to communicate with someone at a distance it was customary to hand the letter to an Indian, who took it as far as it suited his convenience and safety. The Indian then sold the letter to another who carried it until he found an opportunity to sell it to advantage. As the letter increased in value according to distance, the last possessor received a reward for its safe delivery from the person to whom it was addressed. In this manner important letters were sent with security and rapidity through the mountain country. If a letter was sent to the Canadas, it was necessary to use the postal system established by the Hudson's Bay Company, June 7, 1845. The Norway House Council decreed that postage on all letters from strangers in future was to be charged west of the Rockies. Letters to and from the Columbia not exceeding half an ounce were to be delivered to their destination for the consideration of One Dollar, and twenty-five cents for every succeeding half ounce. These terms were as reasonable as those aftorv/ards used by the New Government which charged that amount from New Westminster into the Interior. By this'means of communication the discovery of gold was soon made known to the outside world, and by the year 1858 there were as many as 30,000 miners in British Columbia, scattered from the boundary north — how far we do not know. Again the Okanagan Valley was the great highway to the Interior, the land of gold. On almost every creek and river in the country prospectors and miners searched for that Ogopogo's Vigil. Page 19 precious mineral which claimed in return a toll of privation, hardship, misery, and often death. In this district a visit to Mission Creek in the neighborhood of Dan Gallagher's ranch will repay anyone interested in their old workings. Until a few years ago the remains of rifled sluice boxes, and an old rocker, were in evidence, and the apparent objective to reach bedrock, where gold dust and nuggets were scraped from the fissure, can still be recognized in the pits and mounds which scar the little flat. At that place a considerable amount of gold was taken out in the early days, as much as $80,000, it was said, and for years afterwards Chinamen worked the old dumps until one of them was drowned when attempting to cross the creek on a log. The Chinamen considered this occurrence an ill omen, and they immediately abandoned the diggings as unlucky. Even until the turn of the century such men as John Moore and John Herman made a business of washing gold from certain bars on Mission Creek. Across the lake, at Bear Creek, one can look down into the canyon from the end of the flat a mile from the lake, and see there a miner's abandoned cabin and the remains of an old ditch which fed water to a sluice through which the pay dirt was rifled years ago. Many of the first settlers in this district came into the country with the great wave of mining men who rolled up from the California Diggings to the New Eldorado of the North. It was this army of gold seekers who introduced the measurement of water here, and old records taken out for both mining and irrigation purposes were of "so many miner's inches", this California measure having been adopted. ( A miner's inch is that amount of water which, with a seven-inch head, could run through a one-inch square orifice.) Another interesting reminder of those stirring times which has stayed with us to the present day is the expression "two bits", "four bits", or "six bits". This also was introduced into the country in the Fifties and Sixties by these men. Gold dust at that time was the common tender in most business transactions, and the "bit token" from the Spanish pieces of eight had the same value as a York shilling, or twelve and one- half cents. Measuring a small quantity of dust between the thumb and" first finger, instead of weighing it, the usual way of determining values, was sometimes resorted to when no scales were available. A long bit represented fifteen cents, and a short bit ten cents, with two bits a quarter of a dollar as it is today. Although the decimal was brought into use during the gold rush, it was not until 1870 that the Hudson's Bay Company discarded the pounds, shillings and pence. Miners often travelled in companies of forty or fifty strong, as a protection against hostile and thieving. Indians, Ogopogo's Vigil Page 20 Canadian Line. Once on British soil they considered themselves fairly safe. The early rule of the fur companies had had a good influence upon the Indians of British Columbia, so there was very little trouble during the gold excitement, and it is due wholly to the example of the Hudson's Bay Company's fair dealings with the natives that the early settlers of this country were free from the dreadful outrages perpetrated on white settlers of the Western States. The Massacre of McLoughlin's Canyon took place in the summer of 1858, when Indians ambushed sixty miners with four hundred mules and horses on their way to the Fraser bars. This happened on the Okanagan Trail, south of the International line, where some of the wild Indians from the head of the lake, West- bank and Penticton, gathered to rob the miners of goods and baggage. Old Tomat, Chief of the Westbank band, took part in the fracas at the age of sixteen, and lived to be buried in 1942, one hundred years old when he died. William Pion, packer for the Hudson's Bay.Company, and brother of the Pion who was clerk at Spokane House, was packing for the miners and escaped with his life, by swimming the Okanagan River and concealing himself among rocks and bushes until night came. Pion was wounded in the head and carried the scar of a bullet crease through his scalp until his dying day. Our Indians would net organize so great a crime on their own King George "Illahi" but had no compunction when the fight and robbery took place on the "Boston Man's Land". An evcttt of importance took place in this Valley in the year 1858, which *wa,s remembered by some Indians as long as they lived. That was the coming of the first wagon train, or the Palmer and Miller Expedition, as it was called. These adventurers loaded their nine wagons with merchandise, mostly provisions, and Joel Palmer with thirty-five others started,out for the Fraser Mines from Portland, Oregon, following the insNide route. Coming in by way of Walla Walla, Washington Territory, to Okanagan, they lost one wagon loaded with sugar when crossing the Columbia River at that point. Travelling up the old Brigade Trail to Jacques Creek "Peachland", they were con\ fronted with miles of rough shore line cut up with ravines. So they felled trees near the lakeshore and built a raft to ferry their merchandise and wagons up and across Okanagan Laks to L'Anse au Sable, "Mission Creek", where they landed. This east side open country was more inviting in appearance, and promised many miles of easy going for the wagon train. Meanwhile, cattle and riding stock were driven back south, around the foot of the lake, and up the east side through the Big Canyon and north to where the wagons and goods were landed. Once Ogopogo's Vigil. Page 21 more wagons were assembled, goods loaded, and with the swampers out ahead, the teamsters cracked their whips and they were on their way again. These wagons, seven innimber at this point, were drawn by ox teams, two or three yoke of cattle as the case might be, to each wagon loaded with 3,000 lbs. of tools, clothes and food, for sale to miners and prospectors in a mountain wilderness. It is told that when the country too difficult to travel was encountered, wagon and loads were taken apart and packed over the rough place on the backs of horses and oxen, until wheeling could be resumed. Then they would re-assemble and with oxen yoked, go creaking over the open country up hill and down. If a hill were too steep to climb, the teams were doubled up, and to descend a bad piece of country ropes were attached to the wagon with a turn around a nearby tree to ease them down; or perhaps a Mormon brake, in the shape of a small true, attached to the rear axle and allowed to drag, would be resorted to; a very effective way to reduce the speed of the load and relieve pressure. After this manner, the wagon trail arrived at Kamloops. There they were told it would be impossible to continue farther north, due to the roughness of the country. Thus the adventurers were induced to sell their goods at that place. Potatoes sold as high as Eighty Dollars per ton, while sugar, beans, tobacco, etc. were disposed of at a correspondingly high price. The oxen sold at Nine Hundred Dollars a team, and were no sooner bought than the miners had one roasting. It was the first tame meat some of these men had tasted in two years. This wagon train was remembered and talked of as one of the outstanding events in the lives of those Indians who saw and heard of it in their youth, and were able to vouch for the story of the crossing of the lake. Governor Douglas, who was head of the Hudson's Bay Company, as well as the Crown Colony, moved the stock of trade goods Up from Fort Okanagan on the Columbia, and established two Trading Posts in these parts soon after the International Boundary was settled. One was at Keremeos in the Similkamcen, afterwards owned and occupied by Frank Richter, who became one of the cattle barons of that Valley. The other was at Soyoos, and later became the property of Theo Kruger. Both these posts were situated on the Hope-Kootenay, or Dewdney Trail. A trail put through in 1861 by Mr. E. Dewdney, afterwards Minister of the Interior for Canada, was made on Canadian territory to avoid the continual trouble caused by Indians and outlaws south of the border, who waylaid, and often murdered, miners travelling through that country. Then again, it would do away with so much trouble with the Customs. It would seem that even larger plans than these had occurred to the minds of the men of that day. The trail from Hope to Kootenay, in their ambitious dreams, might some day cross the Rockies, meeting at Edmonton a similar road built westward from the Canadas. Douglas looked to Canada rather than to England for the replenishing of the Pacific Province with settlers. This plan of a Ogopogo's Vigil Page 22 National Highway is now an accomplished fact, and the dreams of those old Empire builders of eighty years ago have been realized. A proclamation issued by Governor Douglas, dated August 20, 1860, sets forth that an indenture was made dated 17th of the present month, between Richard Clement Moody, Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works in British Columbia, and Edgar Dewdney of New Westminster, for the construction of a certain trail, or road, for seventy-six pounds sterling ($380.00) per mile. The proclamation was cited "The Similkameen Road Bond Act, 1860." Dewdney had a partner in Walter Moberly, C.E., and they must have started work immediately, because we hear of Governor Douglas and his retinue returning from Okanagan and Rock Creek in 1860, over this trail, then almost completed. Alexander Begg relates a story about Mr* Dewdney's partner, who complained of the treatment he had received while making the survey for the trail. He relates that the landlord of a place a few miles from camp, who had accepted a small quantity of rum as a present, invited him to make a visit and stay overnight. Asking for his bill in the morning, he found on the slate: Meals, $2.50 a piece; Drinks 50 cents each; Fresh eggs $1.00 a piece, and 75 cents per pound for barley for his horse. Moberley paid the bill, jumped on his horse, vowing it would be some time before he accepted another invitation, or enjoy the luxury of fresh eggs. The stopping place was called Blackfoot, somewhere near Princeton. The Dewdney Trail was used for years by settlers in this valley, many of the old-timers having come into the country by that route. After they had become established in cattle ranching, thousands of beef cattle were driven over the Hope Trail to markets on the Coast. It is told that about this time Governor Douglas visited Rock Creek, hoping to bring law and order to that turbulent camp consisting chiefly of California miners who would not pay their miner's tax. When Douglas arrived, this camp of wild t men refused to see him, or to listen to his demands, until Robert Stevenson, a young Canadian who was the only one to meet him, volunteered to round up the miners. Learning that the Governor wished a meeting called for two o'clock that afternoon, Stevenson visited flumes on the creek and delivered the message. The miners failed to be interested, and refused to come, so Douglas, a careful, conventional and methodical man, with a very grave situation on his hands, decided to try other tactics, and asked Stevenson to rent the largest saloon in the place for a night meeting. Stevenson applied to the proprietor, who refused to rent to the Governor, but told the messenger that if he wanted the hall, he might have it, and here was the key. When the miners arrived in town that night, and drinking three deep at the saloon bar, Douglas, with his staff, including Mr. Cox and Mr. Stevenson, opened the meeting. At first the miners refused to listen; but finally, with curiosity, then interest, they heard what the Governor of British Columbia had to say, which was to the effect that he was a frontiersman himself, and as Governor of the Colony was responsible for law and order; therefore, miners on British soil must take out a license, according to the Law of the Land. He wanted to be their friend, if possible; otherwise he would be forced to bring in the Blue Jackets from Victoria, and make them obey regulations, as was required of them. Ho further stated that he wanted to meet them individually and shake their hands. In this way, the so-called Rock Creek Rebellion was averted. This was September i860. Earlier in the summer, a famous express man of the time, W. J. "Billy" Belleau, took his pack train to Rock Creek by way of Kamloops, Head of the Lake, L'Anse au Sable Creek and Big Canyon, loaded with mail and express for that mining camp. Leaving Mr. Cox at Rock Creek as Government Agent, Douglas took Mr. Stevenson back as far as Sooyoos, where he was installed as the first Customs Officer at that point, and where he collected ten per cent duty on all incoming goods while he held the position. The Indians of British Columbia had -in James Douglas a friend of many years' standing, and, although they demanded payment for the gold taken from the creeks and rivers, and had one or two encounters with the miners on the Fraser, except for the Chilcotin massacre in 1864, there was no real trouble in the Colony. Douglas was knighted in 1863. Vancouver Island became a Crown Colony in 1849, British Columbia in 1858, and the ' two Colonies were united in 1866, with Sir James Douglas sworn in as the first Governor November 11th. Land was first thrown open for settlement in 1859-1860, and it seems to have been the desire of the Home Government to establish a land policy here with favours to none, and open to all. In a letter from Sir Edward Bulwar Lytton, Colonial Secretary to Governor Douglas, he says: "You will pardon me if I enjoin you, as imperative, the most diligent care, that in the sale of lands, there should be not the slightest cause to impute a desire to show favour to the servants of the Hudson's Bay Company. Parliament will watch with jealousy, every proceeding connected with such sales, as, of course is its duty, and I shall rely upon you to take every precaution against various kinds of landjobbing either to benefit favoured individuals, or to cheat the land revenues which are of so frequent occurrence at the outset of colonization." Prior to this, by two or three years, a squatter would stake a rural claim and improve it with buildings, corrals and drainage. Then, if he wished to move on, he sold these improvements, at an agreed valuation to the next comer. This evidently was the case when Parsons Bros, first settled at Duck Lake as early as "1857-58, and sold their improvements for $600.00. ft Ogopogo's Vigil. Page 24 This included a long hand-dug drainage ditch, still known to old-timers as Parsons' Ditch. Now we come to a period, of great importance td this Valley: the establishing of Okanagan Mission and the settlement of the surrounding districts of L'Anse au Sable. It will be necessary to refer back a couple of years to 1857, to a time ' when American soldiers were having trouble with the Indian tribe in Washington and Oregon Territories. At Yakima, we hear of Father Pandosy, an Oblate Priest who has established a mission at that place, getting into the bad graces of the authorities. They accused him of favouring the Indians, and found powder and ball buried in his garden when they were stealing his vegetables Pandosy was told to leave the country; so seeking an asylum with the Jesuits at Colville, he waited there until word came to him that he was to go to British Columbia and establish a Mission In the Okanagan. The following winter, 1857-58, he must have bee •with the Jesuit Fathers at the Old Mission of Coeur' d'Alene. This Mission still preserves music and instruction in the Yakima language, in Father Pandosy's handwriting, which is the characteristic style known as the■"Gironde". Father Cataldo, an aged Priest, more than ninety years old, at Cataldo, Slickpee, Montana, stated that when he went to the Old Mission in 1865,the Mission fathers frequently told him of the wonderful amount of good that Pandosy had done there, through teaching the Indians singing and music. Father Pandosy was heart-broken at having to leave his beloved Yakimas, but prepared to follow the instructions of the Bishop Demers of Vancouver Island and take his exile with good grace. As the Bishop of Vancouver had not a large enough staff at his command to allow the establishment of a pro posed new Mission in the Interior of B.C., negotiations had to be opened with Monseigneur Nesqually, "Archbishop Blanchet", (Tacoma), whereby reinforcements could be obtained. This, for a time seemed doubtful, but on the arrival of two more Priests, or students about to be ordained, the situation cleared. Father Pandosy was called to Esquimalt June, 1858, and respond Ling to the call, spent the winter of 1858-59 on Vancouver Isle md. In March 28, 1859, the Yakima Mission was finally abandonc had work of preparing to establish a new Mission was begun in earnest. The Cascade Mountains could not be travelle ;d i n the Spring, so it was arranged that Pandosy should return i ;o C olville for supplies, and to enlist the aid of any families who ght wish to accompany the party to the new Mission site In the agan Valley. But the crops were not harvested and' tl: were unable to give the needed aid. They were very j >oor their poverty so great that Pandosy failed to obtain tlj le n !ece.s~. sary supplies or horses to lead a missionary band into the wilder- ness, and In April was still at Colville awaiting furtt ier orders . Father Pierre Richard was then commanded to go with Brc >the r Surel to Fort Hope on the Fraser River and there procure hors and JP ~T Ogopogo's Vigil. Page 25 equipment. From Hope all three missionaries would then proceed, as Pandosy was expected to meet them there. Letters from Fr. RipUftrd, however, show that horses were not to be obtained at Hope. So, leaving Br. Surel to take care of the baggage he proceeded to Kamloops where he was successful in procuring the necessary pack animals, eleven in all, through the kind assistance of Lolo St. Paul, a Chief of the Shuswap Indians. These horses cost the Priest fifteen piastres each and he could not have acquired them on his own account, because the Annual Brigade was securing all available horses for the Fur Company at that time. This is August, 1859, and Fr. Richards had written two letters to Colville asking Fr. Pandosy to meet him at Fort Thompson or Kamloops. Fr. Richard then sent the pack horses by way of the Nicola Brigade Trail to Brother Surel, v/ho was still at Fort Hope, with the baggage they wished to transport to the Interior. Fr. Richard then journeyed to Great Okanagan Lake and his later appointment with Fr. Pandosy at L'Anse au Sable in a country watered by what is now known as Mission Creek. Originally the Mission Creek and district was known to the tribes as N'Wha-quisten, meaning a stone found there for shaping weapons of the chase and of war. When the Fur Brigade with their hunters and trappers roved up and down the Valley, the name changed to L'Anse au Sable, "The Cove of Sand". That name applied to the Creek and district it drained, with the sandy shore line on either side of its mouth. In the meantime, Fr. Pandosy had made up a party in Colville, including Cyprian Laurence, his native wife, Teressa, and Theodor, his brother. A Flathead Indian and his woman, who were devoted to the priest also resolved to follow him into exile. With them was William Pion who packed the party into this place where Fr. Pandosy and Fr. Richard met October 9,1859. Influenced no doubt by reports received from fur traders and others who had visited the district for forty odd years, they decided to locate here. That they were not disappointed In their expectations, is evident by this letter they wrote to the Rev. Fr. D'Herbonne, which was forwarded to the Rev. Founder in France with the remark, "I have received some letters from Fathers Pandosy and Richard - (Translated from the French) Anse au Sable, 9 October,1859. "Rev. Father: We arrived tonight at a place which we have chosen for our Mission. It is a great valley situated on the left bank of the great Lake Okanagan, and rather near the middle of the Lake. I shall not attempt to make you understand the reason why we have adopted this place in preference to any other. L'Anse au Sable is the largest valley of all the surrounding country, all who know it, praise it. The cultivable the plain, against a little hill, very well exposed and we shal be able to sing: C'est surtout a l'abri du vint Qu'11 se chauffe au soleil levant C'est une vigne, etc. Already we have a white family near us, and it is probable that others will present themselves before winter, or at least at th beginning of the season. Upon the Fraser and the Thompson Rivers, there are not ten thousand acres of agricultural land. All we could do on the Fraser would be to build a depot-house for the necessary provisions for the Missions. This depot wil be placed on the right hand of the fork where the Lillouette River empties itself, and our Mission, like that which is proposed to establish at Fort Alexander, will there find all the necessary resources without exposing any of the horses to peris in the Hope Mountains." The white family mentioned in this letter is likely that of the Parson Bros, who squatted at Duck Lake about 1858, and sold to Frederick Bra it, 1865. Fr. Pandosy wrote regarding the Valley, "All who kn it, praise it." This remark was substantiated by Governor Dallas of Fort Garry in 1862, when approached by the leaders of that adventurous overland party, who crossed the plains and entered this Province by way of the Yellowhead Pass. He told them after a long and encouraging interview, "to be sure to visit the Okanagan and have a look at that most wonderful valle; Br. Surel eventually arrived with the pack-horses, and tha missionaries proceeded to make their first camp at "Schloocuat'i;.,Due Lake, where they spent the winter beside the white squatter, and his family who had a cabin on what is now the Eldorado Ranch. There they experienced a winter of intense cold with deep snow. Game was scarce and the hunting so difficult it became necessar; to slaughter their horses to sustain life. They were reduced to living on Indian food, sometimes consisting of baked moss, dried berries and roots, washing them down with a brew made fro: "Ledum Greenlandicum", or Hudson's Bay tea ..sArub which grown I the hills. For the first few years these men lived off the country as they found it, going bareheaded and barefooted in summer, clothed in skins and moccasins in winter, v/hile they introduced Christianity to the Okanagan. They worked in pver as they planted their vines, fruit trees, and garden seeds unde: the most trying conditions, und with very little assistance fro the outside to encourage them in their desire to teach the natives husbandry as well as Christianity. j what .a heroic occupation for a man like* our John Felix Adolph, Charles Pandosy, known in religion as "Charles Marie Pandosy", who was born on November 21,1824, at Margerides near Marseilles, France. He was the son of a barrister, reared in a home of luxury, educated and accomplished in music, yet he laboured at his Mission here until he was called to his great reward, but that is another story. In the spring of 1860 we hear of the Fathers moving to the little hill well exposed to the rising sun that lies between Dry Creek and Rutland siding. There they spent the summer, neighbors to N'Skeuse and his Rancherie, and planted a garden of sorts. No doubt they looked the country over carefully, for land that could be easily cultivated and irrigated, and that would assure them of a fair return for their labour. They looked for wood and shelter for the stock, and above all a district where they could have neighbors close by. 3o we find them driving preemption stakes on the bank of the stream several miles farther south. The claim recorded at Rock Creek reads, "November 30th, 1860." Father Richard recorded his rural claim on the Great Lake and bounded on the east side by the river De L'Anse au Sable, running north from a certain point 7810 yards, then west 528 yards, then south 7810 yards, then east 528 yards to the point of commencement, "Records of Land Claims, M. G. Cox, Magistrate, Rock Creek, B.C." This property was situated on the Creek where the north and south trail on the east side of Okanagan Lake was fordable. That, and the fact that it was within sight of the narrowest place on the Lake, where Indians had crossed time out of mind, and where there was room for many more farms and families close by in open country, may well have been the determining factor which induced the Fathers to locate there. Here they established a permanent Mission, building themselves a Mission House, a little Church, and a school of logs cut from the bush nearby. The logs were hauled to place with a horse whose harness the ingenious Fathers had constructed by twisting rye grass together with shaganappie or raw horsehide. Two or three of these old buildings are still standing, and can be seen from the Highway which followed the old trail. The Church and School, 12 X 14, with projecting roof over the door show what splendid axe men Br. Surel, the builder and his helpers including Louis Falardeaux, a 17-year old Hudson's Bay man, were. The broad-axed walls are still straight and true, and the dovetailed corners are a work of art considering what tools there were to work with - axe, saw, broad-axe, adze and auger. Original shakes which cover the roof were fastened by wooden pegs, while the chink between the logs was filled with moss and clay. After long years of wind and weather the buildings are still there. So is an old orchard planted 85 years ago which displays two old gnarled trees that still bear apples. Besides these improvements, the Missionaries soon had a cattle ranch to manage as well as a Church and School. Ogopogo's Vigil Page 28 Three years later a report by Provincial Constable W. C. Young, dated December 12, 1863, says in part: "The Catholic Mission buildings are new and very neat. All crops have been very good this past season and that without any aid from irrigation. I saw some very good tobacco of their own growing and was told by Fr. Richard that the total produce this year is not less than - wheat 1,000 bushels; barley 200 bushels and potatoes 2,000 bushels." A story has been handed down from mouth to mouth that may give some idea of what strained conditions these men worked under at times. According to legend, the log walls of their first building had been erected, and the builders had cut cut a doorway. A small band of Indians visiting the scene of operations made a nuisance of themselves, meddling with tools and equipment, and resented being told to clear out and leave things alone. They had made threatening gestures against the white men and their helpers, so to distract attention and impress thei Red Brothers of the foolishness of a scrap, Fr. Pandosy walked over to a large cottonwood tree, and with the point of a big hunting knife he drew from his belt, traced the shape of a man on the rough bark. When this was finished the Priest then stepped back four or five paces, and holding the blade of his knife between the thumb and forefinger, whirled the weapon at the tree with such aim and force, its point was buried in the bark at a spot where the heart was marked. After having two or three exhibitions of skill in knife throwing, the Indians backed away. As a precaution, the blocks of wood cut from the doorway were replaced for the night, and the white men slept undisturbed inside the roofless walls. These were the men who performed the first marriage ceremony, baptism and funeral rites, and many of our old timers up and down the Valley owed their knowledge of the three R's to the men who founded Okan.gan Mission. At the early date of settlement, 1859, ber Cyprian Laurence and his brother Theodore, F from Three Rivers, Quebec, who had been employed Bay Company, accompanied the missionaries when W packed Fr. Pandosy and his retinue in from Colvi way up the Valley, an incident occurred which is as it might have changed the course of events th today. It is told that Capeau Blanc, Chief of Indians on Beaver Creek and De Chien Lake, where today, objected to the settlement of white men ij and had warned several to keep moving. He had i to visits from trappers or traders, but drew the Hearing of the proposed Mission, Capeau Blanc th: all white men who attempted to take up land, and to go away. Now it happened that Cyprian Laure: to Canaan Blanc's niece, a native girl named TerJ you will rei Laurenc sband and ttlers kill arried rs. with J Ogopogo's Vigil. Page 29 her uncle that these men intended to do good in the country and help improve conditions for the Indian. At last she prevailed upon the Chief to listen to the reasons put forth by the traders and Priests to allow them to settle here. If they were killed, she said, he would be obliged to support her for the rest of his life. These arguments must have had the desired effoct and created a better feeling in the critical situation, for we hear that Capeau Blanc and one Francois, who was a future chief, accompanied the party to L'Anse au Sable, showing them the trail. The Laurences decided to settle, so stak; a farm and posted the following notice: . Anse de Sable, 15 December,1860. "This is to notify that I Cyprian Laurence, have takin a land claim, of one hundred and sixty acres (160) according to the laws of the Crown Colony of British Columbia, said claim is situated at a place called L'Anse de Sable near great Okanagan Lake and is bound as follows :• Beginning at a stake near the river just at the head of Father Richard .... etc. X Cyprian Laurence Witness: (the cross is my sign) Richard, P.O.M.I. M. Chas. Pandosy Recorded by Mr. Cox the 26 inst. i860." This is the fourth rural land claim registered with Judge Cox, Magistrate, who was in charge of the Land Registry Office at Rock Creek, where mining claims would, of course, predominate, in that boundary country, and there is no doubt that if old records could be carefully examined, they would throw a great deal of light on the early settlement of this district. In i860, anticipating the arrival of other settlers, it was found advisable to open a new and easier trail to the South. The old Indian trail on the east side, through Big Canyon was considered too long and rough. So we find the Priests, W. Pion, McDougall and the Laurences, cutting a shorter and easier way to the foot of the Lake. They followed up Cedar Creek, by Shute Lake, and down Shute Creek to the open benches about Nine Mile Point, "Naramata" where the Indian Jeronamo had his ranchlerie. There they came back on the old Indian trace, which led south to Capeau Blanc country, White Lake and the old Hudson's Bay Brigade trail. This would give the settlers direct connection with the trail Mr. Dewdney was surveying from Ft. Hope on the Fraser, to Wild Horse Creek in the East Kootenays. The trail opened by missionaries and settlers fifty years I ./?'• 1 l U-M. J. J. AA "**. r ~ '1 /A y5'" -/ g 40 ' l,S.-'t*>' W. § lley was first travelled by white men y years for saddle and pack animals, on or Upper Trail. Perhaps by I960 r the hill. CHAPTER IV. SETTLEMENT. The hard winter of 1859-60 had a further bearing on the history of the Okanagan Valley when we learn that William Pion, the pack master, took his pack horses from Ft. Thompson loaded with supplies and food into the upper Nicola Valley for the Hudson's Bay Company or the Government. Fighting his way through deep snow and intense cold, Pion helped to stave off starvation which threatened a band of Indians there. This branch of the Nicola tribe had not been fortunate enough to participate In the generous distribution of their Chief Chilahichan, who had gathered up a band of one hundred and fifty horses which he drove from camp to camp throughout his country, leaving a few at each rancherie, or Indian hamlet, to be slaughtered for food. In this way Chilahichan tried to save his people from their dire hunger. For the part William Pion played in this undertaking the Colonial Government, or "The Queen", as family tradition has it, gave him scrip for a square mile of land which he located on the bank of what is now Mill Creek, about a mile from its mouthy Pion evidently had this grant of land staked to the north and east of a preemption claim he filed on in the usual way, as is recorded thus: "W.G.Cox, Magistrate, Rock Creek, B.C. registered No. 18, June 13, 1861." William Pion recorded his rural claim situated on the east bank of Lake Okanagan about three miles and a half north-west of the mouth of River de L'Anse au Sable. The claim runs directly into the lake. Running from stake to stake 900 yards, then east 800 yards, thence south 900 yards, thence to the point of commencement 800 yards. This claim includes the creek commonly known as Pion Creek (as per map), a poor description, as the Pion property lay, if anything, northeast of the mouth of Mission Creek. William Pion built himself the first house of any pretensions in the Valley, raising it on the low Is Ogopogo's Vigil Page 31 ridge which extended almost to the creek. The house was built of logs and whip-sawed lumber, and was an outstanding feature in the district, commanding a fine position close to timber and creek, with a view overlooking the lake and the flat land where Kelowna is today. An ideal place, this, where he could winter his pack horses and where there was abundance of feed and water to assure him of fat stock in the spring when he took to the trails again. The previous winter Pion is credited with discovering gold in Mission Creek and is reported to have washed $4.00 per day with a rocker, which no doubt made him one of the affluent members of our early society. The placer diggings on Mission Creek and the opening of the trail to the south over Mission Mountain brought many travellers into the country by 186 John McDougal, who had visited this Valley since the early forties, retired from the Hudson's Bay Company's service because he resented the treatment accorded his old time Factor, Peter S. Ogden. Staking a rural land claim March 20, 1861, an taking over that staked by George Ford July 1st of the same year McDougal cultivated some of the land where Woodland and the Guisachan Ranch is today, and built a substantial house with out buildings. Born at Fort Garry in 1827, and married in Fort Kamloops to a native woman, Johnny McDougall decided to settle here after twenty years coming and going with the pack trains. The Hudson's Bay Company staked him to trade goods which were dealt to local Indians for what furs they could deliver. John McDougall raised six boys, some of whom became the most efficient hunters and trappers, and guides, this country has produced. With their intimate knowledge of the surrounding country they were of great assistance to irrigation engineers, in later days when reservoirs and dams were being constructed. Eli Lequlme and his wife, Marie Louise, were t^e next people of consequence to come here and make a home. Mr. Lequim had record 17 when he recorded his rural land claim June 13th at Rock Creek. "The said land was situated next to Laurence's •boi 2,200 feet northeast of Mission." Lequime, who was a Frenchma from Bordeaux, came to the country by way of California, where he first operated a hand laundry in San Francisco; and later a saloon at Marysville where their first child, Bernard, was born April 30,1857. In the spring of 1859 Mr. and Mrs. Lequime took ship for British Columbia when the gold rush was at its heighth, and spen a summer and winter mining on Strawberry Island in the Fraser Valley. Their second child, Gaston, was born at Hope in I860. When the stampede for Kettle River was on Mr.,and Mrs. Lequime walked the trail from Hope to Rock Creek with their belongings and two small childred. There they opened a saloon and store for the convenience of the miners. It was here their baby, Gaston, was drowned in a miner's ditch. Ogopogo' s Vigil. Page 32 By 1861 the pay gravel at Rock Creek had "petered out", and the Lequimes, like many others there, were broke. They had given the miners too much credit, and couldn't get pay for the goods sold, so lost almost everything they had. Hearing of the Valley de L'Anse au Sable, from Father Pandosy, whom they had met on several occasions, and who advised them to go into business at his new Mission, they decided to come to the Lake Country and try to retrieve their lost fortune. It was at Rock Creek their firstborn, Bernard, was kidnapped by Indians. Nothing vicious, the Red Man was just inquisitive and wished to display a white child to his family and satisfy their curiosity. Bernard was returned to his parents after a day or two of detention, unharmed, and there were no hard feelings over the affair. The late summer saw this intrepid family on the move again to Okanagan Mission with all their Belongings packed on a horse, while Bernard and their third son, also called Gaston, "and the first white child born in the Interior of B.C.", were carried on the back of a cow. Mr. and Mrs. Lequime trudged along on foot leading the animals. The two cows they brought along proved a blessing to the family, as they supplied plenty of fresh milk when meal time came, or when the children were thirsty on the trail. Eli Lequime was a trader; Mrs. Lequime was a better one, and when the family were settled in their Okanagan home, they proved successful business people aid stock raisers. Two children were born to them at the Mission - a daughter, Aminade in 1866, and a son, Leon, in 1870. Mrs. Lequime had the distinction, among others, of being the first white woman in the Okanagan. Three or four rural claims were taken up during the summer, but the one next in importance in our development is No. 21. Augustus Calmels, July 7, 1861, recorded 160 acres bordering on Pion Creek to the west and north of what is now called Dry Creek, which wasn't there at that time. Augustus Calmels and his partner, Chapee, both French Canadians from Oregon, improved their property and gathered a small herd of cattle, only to lose most of them for want of feed in the winter of '63-64. In desperate efforts to save their stock, they used log scrapers drawn by horses to break the crust and clear off long swathes of snow, that their starving cattle might get to grass. The cattle losses discouraged them, so they drove in a flock of sheep from Oregon and handled these very successfully. Mrs. Calmels, who followed her husband from Oregon was a white woman. No. 2A. July 31st, Joseph Christian recorded his Ogopogo's Vigil. Page 33 claim, near the river and timber. Mr. Christian told of working on a road to Cariboo by way of Anderson Lake and Lillooet with pick and shovel, when the miners opened that country with their volunteer labour, at the invitation of Governor Douglas and without remuneration. He also told of tending bar inn Victoria the winter of 1860-61, and of meeting Fr. Pandosy, who was visiting Victoria that spring for mail and supplies. Hearing of new settlement in the Okanagan, Christian decided to throw in his lot with the farmers, so came in with the Priest's pack train. Joseph Christian farmed his first claim for many years, planting apple trees around his house that produced fruit, which won first prize in their class at a World Fair Competition forty- five years later. Christian made a visit to his native Province of Quebec in 1869 and was married, returning to British Columbia by way of the Panama, San Francisco and the overland route to the Dalles, Oregon. They arrived home in the Mission Valley by horseback. On April 25, 1870, a baby girl was born to this couple, but it cost Mrs. Christian her life. Farther up the N'Co-quel-tack, or Pion Creek, Isadore Bucherie, another miner, staked a claim above the Rancherie of N'Skeuse, or about a mile below Rutland Packing Houses. There he started farming, and it was this man and his help who, when clearing land beside the creek for a garden, came upon the ruins of what had once been a large shelter built of cedar logs which had been cut and trimmed with iron axes. Although the cedar was buried in four to six inches of loam and earth, and was in a badly decayed condition with large trees growing where the structure once stood, the logs still showed marks of European tools. This ruin was some forty by eighty feet, and they thought at the time it had been built to shelter mounted men and their horses. That is the conclusion the old timers came to when they disturbed those buried foundations in 1862. It was considered that this was a place where some long-forgotten explorers had wintered, men who may never have returned to their base, to report on the adventures of hunting an elusive Eldorado. The ruin was situated under the "little hill well exposed to the rising sun" that the Priests had written of in their first letter from L'Anse au Sable. It was sheltered on the north by low hills; a creek of running water ran close by on the west, and thousands of acres of open grass range lay to the east which could provide horse feed the year round. North of this again we hear of Lindley, a young Englishman from Yorkshire who came down from the mines with a poke full of gold dust worth a thousand-dollars or more, but it would not buy him food. Provisions were so hard to get that he was almost starving when he rode into an Indian camp, where he was Ogopogo's Vigil. Page 3A traded flour and bacon for his horses. Afoot, he decided to stay in the Valley, so taking a native girl for a wife, he was married at the Mission, and squatted on land in the Ellison district, where he attempted to grow grain crops and vegetables. His first crop was frozen in July and completely spoiled. The following year grasshoppers were so bad they cleaned him out. Giving up farming as a bad job,he moved away. Other miners were not so fortunate as Lindley. We hoar of two who were waylaid on the lakeshore, north of Kelowna, and robbed of the gold they had won by hardship and privation in the Cariboo. They were on their way to the outside, when attacked by an Indian near Knox Point. One miner was killed and his mate, though badly wounded in the leg, managed to escape by swimming the lake to Bear Creek, where he was cared for by other Indians camped there. The gold dust and nuggets they had carried in moosehide pokes was hidden by the robber at the foot of a rock with white markings, further marked with a certain sign, but he never did return to dig up the treasure. This was a death-bed confession of an old Indian overheard by a friend, Enoch by name, who kept the secret for years. Eventually the story of murder, robbery and hiding of the gold was told, and many men have searched for the cache without success as far as is known. When Fr. Pandosy returned from Ft. Hope where he had gone for mail and supplies in 1862, he was accompanied by August Gillard and his partner, Jules Blondeaux, Francois Ortholan, and others who wished to take up land and settle in the Valley. Ortholan staked a farm claim where Benvoulin is, and married the Flathead woman, widow of the Yakima Indian who came into the country with Pandosy. Gillard and Blondeaux staked out land that is now part of "the City of Kelowna, land v/hich seems to have been held in reserve until that time, and opened for settlement in half sections for reasons not explained. Because August Gillard and his partner played that important part in our history, a short sketch of the adventures v/hich led up to this event should be told. Gillard and Blondeaux were both from the Department de Doubs, France, where Gillard was born in 1825, and where he lived until he reached twenty-five years of age, growing into a powerful man of reddish complexion. There he learned the trade of blacksmith. In 1850 he, with his partner and hundreds of other Frenchmen, sailed for California, enticed by the news of gold discoveries. Sailing from Marseilles, they landed at the Golden Gate, after a voyage of six months, on October 20th of the same year. At first Gillard worked at his trade as blacksmith, sharpening picks and shovels for the miners. After a time, he took to prospecting on his own On one occasion,when out shoting ducks, he came upon an enormous California grizzly boar, a species now extinct, that weighed 1,700 lbs. Loaaing his shot gun with slugs, he went after it, and blazing away with the old muzzle loader, wounded the bear badly. The grizzly • turned on Gillard, who took refuge up a nearby tree, but it had received its death wound, and after shuffling off a short distance, died. This adventure gave Gillard the reputation of a.bear killer that clung to him through life. After spending ten years in California, Gillard and Blondeaux came north while the Fraser River excitement was on in 1860. They sailed in a Spanish ship that landed them at the mouth of the Fraser, where Gillard and two Spaniards had a set-to with Indians, despite the fact that they had been warned by a Priest not to cross the river and interfere with the natives. One of his companions was killed in the row. Leaving that part of the country, he went up the river with his partner and located at Boston Bar where they worked a claim with success. One day an Indian attempted to shoot Blondeaux while he was working at the bottom of their shaft. Gillard, who was an exceedingly strong man, came back to the windlass as the Indian was aiming his gun to get a shot at the trapped Frenchman. Gillard struck the Indian with his fist and killed him instantly. They immediately buried the remains in the dump to avoid detection and decided to leave Boston Bar before the affair became known to the Indians who were hunting for their companion through the camp. On reaching Hope, the miners met Fr. Pandosy, and hearing of his new Mission and settlement in the Interior, started for the Okanagan with the pack train. Upon arrival at the Mission, Gillard first worked for August Calmels clearing land and other ranch work, while Blondeaux panned the creeks for gold. Then came a Sunday when Gillard was on a tramp over the benches and down to the lake. He had a shotgun on his arm, and the ducks on the slough were his objective. Crossing the drumlings on William Pion's place, he came to the great open flat, which was well covered with long grass, and walking over this piece of country, decided to stake a farm for himself and his partner of 320 acres each. Blondeaux joined the Pion property on the east, with his western boundary where Richter Street is now. Gillard's claim ran from that line to the lake, both properties reaching from Bay Avenue in the north to Pion Creek at the south. Gillard then built himself a Keekwilly house, partly underground and partly above, at the south end of Ellis Street on its east side, facing what is now Buckland Avenue. The cabin was a very poor affair, small and smokey, with a mud roof and no floor, door or window. It had a chimney built on a crossbeam about four feet from the ground. This pole stood directly across the bunk whore one would bump his head if not careful, as was the case with Fred Gillard on the only night he stayed in his uncle's abode. Ogopogo's Vigil. Page It is told that some Indians passing this cabin one wij day when the ground was covered with snow, saw smoke coming the rudely built chimney, and stopped to investigate what so of person lived there. Gillard, upon hearing the chatter side his dwelling, came crawling up from his dugout in much same manner a bear might do. This thought must have strucl the Indians, for upon seeing his reddish whiskers and rough manner, they called to one another "Kim-ach-touch", kim-ach- meaning in their language "Brown Bear, Brown Bear"; and laug] at their joke, the Indians continued to call Gillard or his "dwelling place Kim-ach-touch. The settlers in the Valley hearing the Indians had given Gillard the name of Brown Bear followed their example and referred to the old Grizzly Killer in those terms and so the name stuck. The year 1863 saw very hard times, with disappointed miners coming cut of the mountains while prospectors and tra pers roamed the creeks and hills for a grubstake. Blondea continued to work the creek bed with his partner holding dew; the ranch, gathering togother a few horses and cattle, which brought little or nothing in the way of money, but supplied i meat diet to go with the roots and herbs gathered from the gardens, woods and hills. Small plots of grain were plant by the settlers and wheat was boiled or ground in a small ma of the coffee mill type to make flour. A yea'r prior to this, in a letter dated August 24th,18 W. G. Cox refers tc the owners of the five cultivated farms the district as "paupers, comparatively speaking", saying th had not enough funds between them to have a flour mill constructed. "This is discouraging as the wheat crops look p raising.,." Then in 1863 we hear of Cyprian Laurence journeying to Kamloops with his winter catch of fur, from L'Anse au Sable, bargaining for a used handmill with the Hudson's Bay Factor. The mill is net in good condition so Laurence orders a new o to be delivered the following spring, promising to procure a the fur ho can around L'Anse au Sable for the- Company's trad at that post. At the Mission Fr. Pandosy and Richard were joined by other priests, including one, Fr. Hetue, who died that year, and was the first priest to be buried in the old Catholic cemetary, followed by Fr. Gandre and Fr. Pandos; time went on. Young further describes the country as "From the Miss the trail passes through a valley running in a N.E. direction about ten miles from the Mission, reached Lake Cholootsoos a fine lake about fifteen miles in length. The trail along ^BIK Page 36-A A letter, dated December 12, 1863, at Shimilkomeen Customs Station, to John C. Haynes, Esq., D.C.C., Sooyoos Lake, written by William Young, reads in part: "I left this station on the 25th Novr., in company with four miners, two of them intending to winter there (Cherrie Creek) and prospect the country .... and six horses loaded with provisions. The trail between here and the Catholic Mission is good with one exception — at the first bend of the Great Lake between Penticton (Indian Reserve) and the Mission for about ten miles the trail is of the worst description, passing over a succession of rocky spurs from one to five hundred feet above the Lake. Not a stick appears to have been cut nor the slightest improvement attempted on this trail since I last was over it three years ago. (Settlers were using the newly cut upper trail.) Arriving at the Mission Settlement on the 28th — weather warm and pleasant and the country free from snow. The cabins, farms, fences and haystacks in every direction gave the country a pleasant appearance after travelling the dreary mountain trails. "The settlers' houses are generally of the smallest and poorest description. Wm. Pion and J. McDougall's are good well- built houses and at present the best in the settlement. The improvements yet made are very small, and for the want of a home market and more particularly for want of a good flour mill, the farmers have not attempted to raise more than sufficient produce for their own use. As a general thing their means are very small. There is a fine range for stock around the settlement - but they own very few horses and neat cattle. "The land, though not of first quality? appears to produce abundantly; all crops have been good this past season — and that, without irrigation. They have a few hogs and sheep. Saw some good tobacco of their own growing, also several small fields of fall wheat very well put in and looking excellent. The priests have a good school for the children of the settlers. "On my return, found the Rev. Fr. Richards in a neat school room teaching five or six children to read and write. All instruction is given in this school in the French language. With a good flour mill here and mines in the vicinity this will doubtless yet become one of the best of our agricultural settlements in this Colony, as men of bettor means and greater energy would soon supersede the present settlers who are principally French and half-breeds." Young further describes the country as "From the Mission, the trail passes through a valley running in a N.E. direction — about ten miles from the Mission, reached Lake Cholootsoos a fine lake about fifteen miles in length. The trail along this Ogopogo's Vigil. Page 36 -B lake is good but pitty, the outlet of this lake is at the north end." In another letter to J. C. Haynes, Mr. You "The east road is good from the Mission to Capt. On the 16th we arrived later opposite the Mission where we camped. I stayed at the settlement du day for the purpose of giving certificates of imp or three inhabitants who requested me to look ove I also recorded for I. Bouchiree his 160 acres, M Mr. Young had visited Cherrie Creek where Mr- Pion is reported to be prospecting, without the success enjeyed at Mission Creek. It took a yeast powder box to hold one oz. of gold dust from these new diggings, while over in the Wild Horse Creek, every one was talking of a 37 oz. nugget of pure gold just found. J. C. Haynes received his J.P. Commission July 17th, 1864.. And the Crown Colony still continued to use Pounds, Shillings and Pence in the tax accounting. Frederick Brent, of German Descen to settle in 1865. He came by way of . native wife and small son, Joseph, aftc discharge from a U.S. Cavalry Regiment. Brent had been a Scout since 1855, and he acted as one of the escort for miners on their way north through Washington Territory. Taking part in the stirring times of 1857, and the Indian wars of that period, he rode with his troupe as far north into B.C. as White Lake on the old Brigade Trail. For a short time Mr. Brent worked with Okanagan Smith at Sooyoos Lake, just south of the International line. Then on coming to the Mission Valley, he bought out the • Parsons Bros, who lived at the south end of Duck Lake. Frederick Brent made his home there for five years, improving the place by erecting new buildings and corrals. He packed on horseback whip-sawn lumber from the Winfield flats where an abandoned property of some restless pioneer stood, having been erected some years before. By this means Brent was one of the few homes with board floors and roof. Here he introduced a small grain grinder which he had packed in from Ft. Hope. The machine was run by a waterwheel on the head waters of Pion Creek. Wheat was ground as finely as it \ was possible into flour that in turn was sifted, or bolted, through a fine sieve. The sieve was made by weaving the long hairs from a horse's tail into a fabricated bottom for the wooden bowl. The bowl when filled with grist was shaken by hand in such a manner as to strain the fine flour through, while the bran was put to one side for other uses. Brent sold this property . to George W. Simpson and moved farther south, whore he bought the farm of August Calmels and his partner Chepee, which was staked out nine years earlier, and took possession May 1,1370. George W. Simpson, born in Philadelphia, U.S.A. was -,|| the son of a Presbyterian minister who had emigrated to that country from Scotland. California had called young Simpson west, and the Fraser bars north. So he arrived in Victoria in 1859, and was one of fifty men who answered the call of Governor Douglas, when he endeavoured to open the road to the Cariboo the same year. Simpson was also associated with Harper Bros., following their herds into the Chilcotin and Cariboo from Oregon, and his family claim he was the first man to introduce domestic cattle into our Valley. He made his first home beside Luc Girouard on Nin-til-moos-chin, or "little jump over", now Swan Lake Croek, Vernon. Both these men must have been squatters only at that time, for we read of Luc Girouard recording his preemption claim much later, September 1, 1867. Coming to the Mission Valley, Simpson bought Frederick Brent's farm at Duck Lake in 1870. There he operated a cattle ranch, and the iron flour mill run by a waterwheel on a nearby creek that was installed by Brent This mill was later moved to the Simpson ranch four miles larther down the creek. A sawmill bull* on this original site by Postill fftSos. was run by the same watc power. One year later a grist mill was driven by the same water, much nearer the lake, 3 Ogopogo's Vigil Page 38 and the name of the stream that drove these wheels was then changed to Mill Creek, as it is today. After selling his Duck Lake property to the Postill Bros. Simpson moved south to the ranch which still bears his name. There he continued to farm for a number of years,using oxen as work animals in the fields in preference to horses, until his sons grew up and introduced different methods. Simpsoj was noted as a studious man, and a wellworn, thumb-marked Bible he had carried with him over rough trails and through rougher camps marked him as a reader. Back at Okanagan Mission we learn that by 1865 Eli Lequime had his first pack train of about thirty horses and mules that made three to four trips each summer over the Hope Trail to the outside. Freight handled in this way naturally consisted of actual necessities to the people of the Valley, as packing was hard, tedious work. Yet the cost of goods delivered to the Mission at ten cents per pound seems quite reasonable. One Cayuse carried 200 pounds for ten days for $20.00, when loaded, or earning its owner $1.00 per day for the round trip. So three men with forty horses and mules, freighting a oneway load, would reoeive $800,00, or about $40.00 each day. The first piano in the Okanagan Valley was brought in from Ft. Hope by Lequime's pack train. So, also, was the first pool table, and many strange trick packs, including a knocked-down horse-drawn moving machine, and other small implements. This was the only transportation setup the Valley could boast in the 1860's. # r r~ ort Co: vill s, iron fra on sai ling CHAPTER V. The Colonies of British Columbia became the Dominion of Canada July 20th, 1871. That j Frederick Brent erecting the first flour mill to' stones that was operated between the Columbia at and the Thompson at Cache Creek. The mill sto] and hopper complete, bought in San Francisco, cai ship to Victoria, where it was re-shipped to Yalj by freight wagon up the Cariboo Road to Savona's again transferred to a steamboat and taken up the Tho River to pass through Shuswap Lake into the Spallumch as far as Fortune's Ranch at Snderby, or Belvedere as then called. At that point Mr* Brent took delivery brought the mill down the Valley on a handmade wagon, solid wooden wheels, which he had borrowed from Luc G. who was afterwards Priests' Valley's first Postmaster, Brent drove his freight south, following a road through Round Prairie, Salmon River, Round Lake to O'Keefe's. On reaching Okanagan Lake, the mill was loaded in a rowboat, also owned by Girouard, and-in charge of an Indian called Nitasket, and the voyage was made in rough weather to Lequime's Landing (City Park;. Although some of the bystanders told Mr. Brent; that his mill would likely find a resting place on the bottom of the lake, it arrived safely, and was taken on the last leg of its journey, four miles inland to the mill site, riding en a stone-boat drawn by horses. When the mill was set up a mile north of Dry Creek on what has since been known as Mill Creek, it was driven with an undershot waterwheel fabricated on the place. To "Brunt's Mill", as it was called,- the settlers and Indians from up and down the Okanagan Valley came to have their wheat ground into flour. They came from the west side of the lake, Penticton, Osoyoos, and the Similkameon, as well as from northern parts of the Valley, where grain had „ been grown in small quantities for some years. The wheat was a spring variety, sown by hand, reaped with a cradle, gathered with a homemade wooden rake, and bjund into sheaves with its own straw and a dexterous twist of the wrist. To separate the grain the sheaves were broken, then placed on a threshing floor to be turned and turned with a wooden fork while several horses were kept moving to tramp out the cereal from the straw. In the was used, windy day r separate cli mill in the by all the was affecte to wash anc Then the grain was carried up a ibt a bin, that the jr Ogopogo's Vigil Page 40 A pack train loaded with grain, and often accompanied by an entire family, would wend its way from distant parts, over mountain, up hill and down, to Brent's Mill at N'Lakwaston. In the Indian tongue N'Lakwaston meant "Valley of Mills", a •name the natives had given to this district. Here along the bank of Mill Creek as many as a dozen camps could be seen at one time, representing families awaiting their turn to have a grist ground. While waiting, these people would visit and exchange the gossip of the countryside and the respective districts whence they came. Men and boys amused themselves by matching their "Cooloy Cuitan", or running pqnies, and would hold, what might be termed in these days, a miniature stampede. Then there was the exciting game of Hel-hel. This game was played by the natives who formed sides, and across a blanket spread lengthwise would bet their opponents that they could locate a small sphere of polished bone or other token, as it passed back and forth between the players' hands. The mysterious manoeuvering of hidden hands was accompanied by an everlasting and unchanging "He-ha-ha-ha, He-ha-ha-ha" chanted by all parties while the game lasted. When the opposing side guessed the location of the token correctly, they claimed the stakes and took possession of the sphere, or ball. Another bet was made when the sides changed and the game went on, sometimes lasting for days. This amusement resembled "Button, button, who has the button?" as played by our children of eight or ten years old, but it was the main gambling game of the natives at that time, and was played with all seriousness. Horses, saddles, and even his shirt would be staked and lost when some buck was outsmarted by an opponent. At night around the campfire tall tales would be told of some noted rider, or rifle shot. Stories might be recounted of an adventure with a Grizzly*;-; or the latest antics of "N'ha-a-ith", the Lake Monster; a monster that was said to have its home in a cave under Squally Point, but when a native had occasion to speak its name, he did so with bated breath. This terrifying creature would race up and down the lake at times, we are told, heaving water with its tail, making a great wind, preparing to devour any unprepared Indian who might be caught out in a canoe. Perhaps stories would be told of the "Little People" with round heads, beady black eyes and long hair - creatures half human, half fish, often standing head and breast out of the water as the female suckled her young. Little people were thought to be banded together to annoy and add strange te-rrors to the voyager or fisherman with their Piscis-zooid, pranks and mischief. Old ones would talk of wind devils and ghosts in which they firmly believed, until the young ones, pop-eyed with fear, were afraid to go back to their camp in the dark. _"N'ha-a-ith" could come ashore and gobble them up. A ghost might carry them off; or the Little People would bo hiding arcnncl to play J Ogopogo's Vigil. Page 41 lived seventy years later and viewed some of the modern "Bunkum" at a picture theatre. Brent's Mill could grind about one ton of wheat in a run of twenty-four hours, and operated from the sprink.breakup until the early winter. The miller took as his toll a customary one-third, but Indians often paid in horses, buckskin or furs. One dissatisfied rancher took exception to the one-third tariff collected by the miller, claiming it was too much. When- asked what he thought was a fair proportion, the rancher expressed an opinion that one-half was quite enough. So the miller, going on the theory that the customer is always right, let him-have his way. The first bolter, or separator, like the water wheel which drove the mill, was homemade, and turned out three grades - flour, shorts and bran. Later a bolter manufactured in Brant- ford, Ontario was brought in. It was of hard wood but unfortunately, it has been demolished. Steel picks used for dressing the mill stones were at first sent all the way back to San Francisco by express to be sharpened and tempered. Later when Henry Scholts opened a shop they were taken to Vernon instead. Fifty years later Brent's Mill, then obsolete, was purchased by the writer and stowed away in his garage for years in hope that at some future date the City of Kelowna would supply public shelter in the form of a museum, where-articles of historic value, such as this old mill, could be displayed. According to a letter written December 31, 1925, by E.J. Underwood, Superintendent of Post Office Service, Ottawa, the Okanagan Mission Post Office was established 1872-3. Eli Lequime was the first Postmaster. Mail, brought in previously over the Hope Trail, or through Kamloops by travellers, was now routed over the Cariboo Highway with the British Columbia Express Company. The B.X. also had the mail contract from Cache Creek to O'Keefe's and Okanagan Mission, weekly in summer and monthly in winter, November to March. From O'Keefe's to Lequime' s at the Mission, mail was carried on horseback by a Swede called Charles Lawson who lived near Priests Valley, "Vernon". Our first mail carrier would make the trip down in a day, and ho probably instituted the first Rural Delivery in the Valley. We are told that Lawson would come galloping up to each ranch house along the trail, 3houting at the top of his voice as he approached, and waving any letters to prepare the settler for that great event, the monthly mail. Frederick Brent had the mail contract from Okanagan Mission to Penticton. Following the trail over the mountain in sixmmer, or tramping across on snowshoes in winter, the went through once a month at first. Occasionally Mr. Bront took this opportunity to deliver flour from his mill, and would have several pack horses loaded to pass over at the same time 1 Ogopogo's Vigil. Page 42 as the mail. Some years later when Brent's boys were grown to manhood, his eldest son, Joseph, became the Mail Carrier,an official position he took very seriously and upheld the job wit] what dignity he could command. Asked why he always dressed up in his very best clothes, including "boiled shirt", collar and tie, when he started over the mountains with mail, Joe replied that he dressed the best he knew how because he had a horror of being found dead in the hills with old clothes on while he was attending to the Queen's business - carrying the Mail. Shuttleworths had the mail contract from Penticton to Osoyoos. It was 1873 when Goorge Whelan came tramping down the Valley with all his worldly possessions, including blankets on his back, seeking an opportunity to work himself into a home. Whelan was born in England in I844 and came to Canada by way of New Zealand in 1870. Arriving at the south end of Duck Lake, where George Simpson was farming, Septe mber 18, 1873, Whelan heard someone voicing a monotonous "who-haw, who-haw" long before he saw anyone. Following up the sound, he found Simpson plowing v/ith oxen. Whelan asked for work and was informed .' that the only person in these parts who could supply a job was the King - go and see him. "What do you mean by the King?" asked the man whose favourite song was Rule Britannia. He was told that Eli Lequime was considered King of these parts, because of his opulence and vested interests. Whelan, therefore applied to the Mission Store, and was given work on the Lequime ranch for a short time. Mr. Whelan then mined on Mission Creek and in 1874 formed a partnership with John B. Moore, taking over a traplin previously worked by Tronson and Bruer that ran from Okanagan Mission to Fort Shep.herd in the Kootenays. This was a profitable venture whicn he worked for three years. Whelan then preempted land where Lindley once tried to grow wheat. He was told he would starve to death on that ranch, but he proved to the world at large what brains and muscles could do when directed through the proper channels in this country. Making himself one of the most successful farmers our Valley has ever known, he also made "Cloverdale" one of the finest farms. Preemption Claim No. 234, District of Yale, was granted Eli Lequine March 3, 1874, of One Hundred and Sixty Acres (Extension) situated in Mission Valley,- Okanagan. Claim description - Adjoining my present preemption of 160 acres, etc., with this plan (See inked map next page.) This was the first extension of a ranch which grew much larger as time passed. For nearly forty years LeQuime's Store at the Mission was the business and recreational hub of this section of country. It was here that the lonely trapper came to trade his furs, the miner to change his gold dust for necessities, and often for tfaat which was not so necessary, if all J _-^>-^7 / c UuficVc !NH(j^NI H C b O V 6r H" U Prit't-HP i i(- m .rd N i ION K E f1rt(?CH 3«P- j s i M- Ogopogo's Vigil. pag0 43 tales are true. A finely balanced set of gold scales was kept on the office desk as long as LeQuime's did business at the Mission. Provisions waich had to be packed into the country were difficult to obtain at times, but whiskey was always plenti ful. Legend has it that a distillery was operated since the autumn of 1865, and to quote one oldtimer, "Indians had fine time, squaw sell saddle horses for bottle of whiskey, Indian sell wife for flask of v/hiskey. Things to eat were hard to get. Many days without sugar, tea or tfaffe'e, but always whiskey White men, half breeds and Indians caroused to their hearts' content, gambling and parting with their dearest possessions for liquor, with Sunday the big day of the week. The Priests had little or no control over conditions, and these who attended Mass in the morning might be roaring drunk by night. Settlers and miners were coming into the country in great number and conditions started to improve. Indians came with their fur to trade for white man's "ik-tahs" and many interesting tale could be written of the happenings around the old store. We hear of the naked native with murder in his heart and hunting knife in his hand, who had wriggled and squirmed his way so stealthily through a corn patch that he managed to come within a short distance of Mr. Lequime who was working in his garden, almost at the cost of that storekeeper's life. Lequime, however, saw the danger in time. With the savage at his heels he ran for his life to the house where ho arrived just in time to slam a heavy door shut on the extended arm of his pursuer, who had struck at him in that instant. This may have been the origin of the quotation, "Get there, Eli". The thoroughly frightened and indignant Lequime had the door jammed tight on the now helpless Indian's arm, and was calling his wife to bring an axe to chop it off. This might teach the rascal a lesson, but the good counsel of Mrs. Lequime prevailed. To maim the Indian would only start trouble with the band, she said, so they released him. It required diplomacy on the part of white settlers to get along peaceably with the natives at times, and no doubt Indians had good reason to become angry at the newcomers to their country. The Lequimes were looking for trade, not for trouble, and when dogs accompanying their Indian masters, who came to trade, chased, harassed and killed some of Mrs. Lequime'; chickens, she did not have them shot or poisoned. No, they were fed mashed potatoes well seasoned with powdered glass. This had the desired effect, and Indians, after losing some their best dogs which died in a mysterious manner, decided some evil spirit dwelt around the Mission, left their dogs behind when they went to trade in future. Mrs. Lequime was a large capable woman, who lived in a rough country in rough times, and she is credited with a large heart and many kma deeds. She was physician and surgeon to our frontiersmen, nursing them tnrougn Ogopogo's Vigil. Page 44 mountain fever, or setting a broken arm or leg. She attended to one unfortunate who had been mauled badly in a free-for-all, and had his ear partly chewed off, by cutting away the remainde: and dressing the wound. Eli often told how he had arrived in the Valley with only one dollar in his pocket, but it was not long before he owned land, horses and cattle, and was considered one of the influential men of the country. Herds of cattle,, bands of horses, and droves of hogs in creased as fields for hay, grain and vegetables were fenced throughout the length -and breadth of Mission Valley. Each established ranch home could boast of a few fruit trees which gave more variety to the food obtainable, and added the necessary vitamins to the usual heavy meat diet of a cattle ranch. Trees were usually planted close to the house where water was accessible, -and where fences offered the needful protection. There are several styles of fencing to be recorded. The most popular at that time was the log and toggle, five high. Many miles of log fence were erected where suitable timber was close at hand. There were also snake fences of split rails and polos, and the famous Russel fence to be seen in some parts of the Mission Valley to the present day, where they are still doing duty after more than half a century. The Russell fence was patented and a royalty was collected through the sale of wire which went into its construction. This fence consisted of four rails hung by block wire from three half rails stood on end in the form of a tripod. / fifth rail lay in the crotch formed at the top about four and one half feet up. In this manner the Russel fence stood on its own legs over rock, gravel or earth, post holes not being necessary, and was the best for open range or rocky country. At that time it was often built by contract at $300.00 per mile. If it wasn't hog tight, it was considered horse high and bull strong. The cheapest and poorest was a brush fence which consisted of trees and brush slashed in a line, with all branches and boughs left intact to fill the space. House water was obtained by digging a well, and the "Old Oaken Bucket" remained in use for many years. The bucket was lowered and raised, sometimes by rope and pulley, or a long pole balanced on a post and weighted in such a manner that the filled bucket could be raised with very little exertion. Primitive log buildings continued to house most settler crude buildings with one doo: panes, Clay, laying p f V \l, V / 8 6 / SM«PW 0 K Q n p, % t~\ ?4 Mission Pi I 873 Ogop possible with a slight pitch. On this was placed a matting rye grass cured. The entire surface was then covered with a twelve inch layer of "Varved clay", a close stratification of fine texture formed by annual sedimentation. By trial and error the Pioneers learned where to look the clay which would keep out a certain amount of rain or melt ing snow. . Shakes were used when the builder had the use of a frc and there was cedar nearby. In the early development shakes were fastened into place with wooden pins, as also were the rafters and kingplate, and door jams. Doors were sometimes hung on wooden hinges, but mor^ often those of leather. If a precious window glass -were broken, it was replaced by thinly scraped hide until the next pack train arrived. Bunks were built with thin straight poles, well covered with a ratting of dry rye grass, then skins. All this was made with a saw, ax adze and auger by those versatile frontiersmen of the 1870's. Puddled clay, reinforced by a little straw, was the usual composite resorted to when toggled chinks in a log wall were mudded up. Wet workable clay was pressed into cracks b tween the logs with a hand paddle or trowel, and when a cabin was properly mudded the occupant would be well protected from cold weather. Closely laid stone in a fireplace or chimney a had a backing of this worked clay to eliminate cross drafts. About this time some of the enterprising settlers open a dike of lime stone in a draw which runs down the side of Blai Mountain, and is now followed by a road to the Ski Hill. Then a kiln was dug and filled with lime stone. The kiln was thei fired for the prescribed time to burn the stone and make it usable. This accomplished, with the lino slaked and mixed wil sand, it was considered good mortar. The Lime Kiln was used for years. The old working can be seen beside the road when driving up the Lime Kiln Gulch to the Ski Hill. Wives and mothers continued to cook in open fireplaces, using a big iron pot with heavy lid. This was a Dutch oven,j which was buried in hot ashes and coals when the ccok baked bread, or prepared a hot meal. Tin plates, tin cups, broad bladed knives and throe pronged iron table forks were the usual table appointments, while rawhide chairs, rope-laced beds and ? refectory table went to make up the furniture. Floors might be made of whip-sawed boards or paved with blocks. Mere prirnj tive still, a clay and straw surface pounded hard and washed w ox blood gave the floor a hard smooth finish. Rude farm equipment made with axe, drawknife and auger was made workable. Wagons with wh^-ls sawed from the trunic of a "big tree and attached to rough hewn axles with wooden pirn had hubs and boxings of iron, the only parts brought from outside. Wooden beam plows were built with iron shares attached. A harrow was made from the wide crotch of a tree, having wooden or iron teeth driven through a series of holes that made a pattern. Sleighs, ox-yokes, and pack saddles; chairs, tables, bunks and benches; all were worked out of wood by the handy axe men of that day. They whip-sawed lumber, dovetailed their corners, trimmed walls with a broad-axe and constructed chimneys for the houses which made up the settlement. To the south Thomas Ellis was developing Penticton, and N'til-moos-chin, in the north where the missionaries have built themselves a house, has changed its name to Priests' Valley. About this time the Cariboo mines were slowing down. "Busted" miners were following the creeks, trappers continued their lines, and a few new settlers arrived from time to time. In the early 1870's the neighbours bought and exchanged breeding stock, even to fowl, for we hear of young Joe Brent and his small brother taking two hampers of turkeys alive from their father's ranch to a farmer in the north, at the head of the lake. The hampers were packed on the back of a cayuse and delivered by the youngsters without accident, although the boys were frightened at times when they met strangers on the trail. The year 1874 found our ranchers asking for improvements on the Lower Trail through the Big Canyon and along the lake fronts to the south, with some minor re-location. This route was considered more desirable when driving stock, since the grass grown benches supplied feed most of the way. Although this trail was longer, there was less thick bush to drive through, and much easier footing through the Canyon. J.A. Haynes of Osoyoos, representing the Government of the day, received a money grant, and gave instructions to have the lower trail cleaned out and re-blazed. CHAPTER VI On la Crown Colony of British Columbia was schools and teachers in settlements w school age lived. Twenty years later Authorities advertising two Gazette n Okanagan and Nicola School Districts, July About halfway between these periods we learn report written by a Provincial constable who travelled the Mission Valley, that "The Priests have a school foi ren of the settlers. On my return I found the Rev. Fr, in a neat schoolroom teaching five or six children to i write. All instruction in this school is given in the language." When the Okanagan School District was set asj boundaries were defined as follows: "Commencing at a i the mouth of Mission Creek, thence running north along 3hore for a distance oi five' miles, thence easterly foj miles, thence souther..'.".- to Mission Creek, thence westej point of commencement." For a school the Government h- William Smithson' $750.00 for his dwelling house, and Si donated one acre of land for the site. It would apnea; ever, that the building was purchased, and the School i decided upon, some time before a teacher could be seen? the Superintendent of Education, Mr. J. Jessop, remarks report for the year ending June 30, 1875, that this cc: schoolroom and teacher's residence was awaiting an oca He added further that a teacher from California was exj take charge. The expected teacher appeared a few montl in the person of Angus McKenzie, of Pictou County, Nov; He is said to have co^.e walking into the Valley with hi kets and a bundle of books on his back. His credential sisted of a first class teacher's certificate issued bj State of Kansas, which entitled him to a temporary ceri enabling him to teach at once; and though it was not ur December 20th, 1875, that he was engaged, at a salary c per month, we have reason to believe that he had been e before that. According to records kept in a 5" x 7|", calf-bound volume, now deposited in the Library of the of British Columbia, Angus McKenzie acted as first Seci Treasurer for the Okanagan Mission School, and official ly t d pa iths is tied, the ifica that capacit summer of 1878. 'J Account Book of Okai that the Smithson 1 and furnishing befo: teacher's residence e years he irst record wr an Mission Sch ouse had to un it became the eferred to #y. w W, ^ii-M^WW f 1/1=1 !.EEE?Sffi — jKHN! 3 & .step*- Education. There we find inscrib on page 2, the following entries, 1875 Oct. 26 " 28 Dec. 25 1876 Jan. 15 April 7 July 1 Paid Francois Orthero for Lumber J. McDougall for carpenter work Freight on stove Nine lbs. nails 9 250 1 Registered Letter Postage on letter from J. Jessop Broom for Schoolhouse Freight on. stove from Savona's Ferry to Schoolhouse Paid Mr. Lequime.; for Ink To Balance $20.00 20.00 11.91 1.00 7.00 the edit side, pai is written: Oct. 15, 1875, By Cash from Eli Lequime 1876 By Cash from Mr. Smithson for wood $2 for books 250 Mr. Brent for wood $2.00, for books slates and copies $2.00 Mr. Moor for wood Jos. Christian for wood F. Ortherlo for teacher F. Brent for books Wm. Smithson for books F. Ortherlo " " John McDougall Mar. 25 April 9 June 28 L On page 135 Minutes of a meeting re "The Annual School Meeting of Mission Valley I was held in the School House on Thursday the and was constituted, William Smithson, Chairm Secretary. The report of the Trustees for th read and accepted. Said report showed that t] the year amounted to $69.00, and the disburse! leaving a balance at date of $3.60. The foil were elected Trustees for the ensuing year, v: Smithson, Frederick Brent and Joseph Christiai on books, etc., furnished the pupils were paii to improve the schoolroom and the adjoining a] vacations, and to invite tenders for that obj< Ogopogo's Vigil month of vacation should run from the 10th of July. meeting was then closed." Beside the cash salary of $60.00 per month received by Mr. McKenzie, the settlers in this early school district supplied him, free of cost, with meat, milk, butter and eggs, and his firewood. Boys and girls from Similkameen, Osoyoos, Okanagan Falls, White Valley, Head of the Lake, together with those in the prescribed school district, attended this pioneer seat of learning. They lived with the nearby ranchers during the school term, returning to their distant homes for the holidays. Shy and backward children, we are told, were often treated to a big slice of bread and syrup by the teacher, who, in this manner, endeavoured to gain their confidence. The first Trustees, William Smithson, Frederick Brent and Joseph Christian were appointed in 1875, when the District was organized, and were re-elected for office at the first Annual Meeti June 29, 1876. Desks and benches no doubt accounted for the forty dollars expenditure in October, 1875. Transportation charges on a heating stove brought in from the coast over the Cariboo Road, first to Savona's Ferry by freight v/agon, $11.90 then by steamboat to Enderby, and freight wagon to the school- house, $8.50. $20.40, all told, for freight must have been quite as much as the stove cost in the first place,•and shows some of the difficulties early settlers encountered when building up the country. The same year the School Board received $50.00 from Mr. Jessop "for incidental expenses", and the same amount next year for "Schoolhouse improvement", with a like sum for same purpose in 1878. There are charges of $1.00 for daubing the school walls, and $10.00 for mudding the school. It cost 500 and sometimes a dollar to have the room cleaned. $25.00 was Invested in a stove for the schoolhouse kitchen; and $98.00 paid to T. Deloire for carpenter work. Th schoolroom boasted five maps and a blackboard, homemade desks and benches. The teacher's residence was a leanto equipped with locally made furniture and the $25.00 cookstove. During the year 1876 the school was visited by the priests from the Mission, Alfred Postill, Miss Lucy Postill, John Herman, James Lee, John McDougall, J. Phillips and Mrs. T. Christian. The three Trustees visited the school officially on three occasion and during the following year there were about the same number of visitors. For some of its earlier years the school seems to ha been the centre of social life in the community. The Rev. Jam Turner, an itinerant Protestant minister, held Divine Service on occasion of his visits to the Valley, and it was here the first brass band in the Okanagan was formed. Musically inclin Rev. Fr. Pandosy, who played a French horn as well as other 1 -/\^~ %jl*MJI*^. i Ogopogo's Vigil Instruments, organized and instructed some of the o of the district. The result was that quite a credi band was established, which no doubt acquitted itse on occasions of public holidays, etc. We hear of two sons of Trustee Frederick must have inherited the love of music from their Ge taking part in this worthwhile effort, in this way culture to the district in which they lived. Joseph, the elder, played the bass drum, Johnnie learned to play a cornet, and kept his inte in that instrument for thirty years or more. Johnn blew a cornet for several years in Kelowna's first when that city started to develop. These, and othe fellows of the-1 day, assembled at the Okanagan Miss house for practice, instruction and entertainment. The contract to construct a wagon road fr by way of Priests Valley, "Vernon", to Okanagan Mis in 1875. It was called "Okanagan and Mission Valle Road." The contractor, Philip Parke, agreed to bui road to certain specifications, for the sum of $23, it was tendered for late in the season it was not e it would be completed until the following year. The road was built in two sections. Se designated as "from Mission Valley to 'the railway' Lake." John Boyd was superintendent, and Philip contractor. The cost was $11,000.00, and the dis miles. The tender called for grading and ditchin length of section 18 feet wide; forest clearing 18 feet wide; corduroy 50 feet, 18 feet wide. There bridges ranging from 20 feet to 72 feet long and 14 and it appears a great deal of cribbing and walling necessary. Section 11 was designated as "from the T O'Keefe's Ranch at the head of Okanagan Lake", a di 20 miles more or less; John Boyd, superintendent; Parke, contractor, at $12,000.00. Specifications and ditching were the same as for Section 1. The less bridge, but six times as much corduroy and a c amount of cribbing, walling and blasting was requir second section. A report Public Works Dep reads, "Ch: Section 1. tractor ha: and the rot 1 Ogopogo's Vigil. P The 38 miles of wagon road described in the ports of 1875-76 must have joined with short local roa in existence at either end, otherwise there is a discr a couple of miles at Okanagan P.O., and the same at Ok Mission P.O. The completion of this first road was a gre to the inhabitants of the Mission Valley. From this they were able to move heavy freight on wheels or slei ing to the season. It would allow ranchers to deliv ever-increasing tonnage of grain, flour or vegetables side market in ton lots. Four-horse teams hauled th ducts to a steamboat landing on the Spallumcheen River and later a stage lire ran through to Cache Creek on t Road. A return trip would bring merchandise, rnachid ture and other necessities for the settlement, which w ginning of a more comfortable life for those who lived The wagon road started south from O'Keefe's followed by the present highway into Vernon. From t it crossed up and over the Commonag floods Lake, ing along a height of land, the road cut the Winficld and west of Duck Lake much as it does today. Passin the eastern side of the Valley, the road crossed Mill where it comes out Of the hills, and continued south t Simpson Ranch. It then turned directly west to join the old pack trail which leads to Okanagan Mission and at the creek, where James Birmingham superintended the of a bridge in 1879. The construction camp at this bridge had a as cook, who on the occasion of visits to the scene of ties by settlers and their families, often treated the breed and Indian children to tidbits and dainty dishes taste of which they have not forgotten to the present A 72-foot bridge across Mission Creek at th allowed and encouraged further settlement to the south- taken advantage of as time went on. The present day follows this original track, with its many turns and t for the last ten miles. With cattle raising the main industry cf th at that time, it was the ambition of every youngster w sit on a horse to become a cowboy. It was no easy take a herd of beef cattle to market over mcKMitains an rivers, standing night herd in turn, and spending ten hours in. the saddle. On the "boss" of the drive res responsibility of getting the stock through to market loss to their numbers, and in such a manner that the c gain weight as they travelled along. The herd was k in the right direction, but spread out that they might 1 he i lead a cowboy riding "SpJ ki lorse loaded with the grub- 1J 'oyj is", and other camp equ] riders. This pack was then ;o 1 ;he pack saddle by rope enta "d: amond hitch". After a day I : *n to keep their packhorse \ ' bell in sight. If th sre i it, and the animals bee ime ] Ogopogo's Vigil Page they moved forward. In followed closely by a pa in cowhide panniers or " eluding blankets for the a canvas tarp and secure the intricate pattern of on the trail cattle woul white canvas load and tinkling bell in"sight. If there was any cause for nervousness they were more inclined to crowd around the pack than they were to stampede. Indeed, travelling through some places the herd would bunch together so closely at times that their horns would "click clack" like a pair of bones played by a negro minstrel end man, as they squeezed around the packhorse. Then again, wh passing over a narrow cut on a rock face they would be strung oi singly, yet continue to follow their standard as though afraid of getting out of sight and losing its protection. Travelling over a range stocked with other brands the "Spike" rider, if he saw cattle ahead, would call for one of th boys at the rear and have the local cattle hazed out of the way When other stock did mix with a trail herd it entailed extra wo cutting the strange brands out along the way. This was detrimental to the beef, so the country was kept clear when possible Toward midday the drive was halted in order that the beef might bed down, rest and chew their cud. For this period no one was allowed to disturb them. After a reasonable time the cattle would get on their feet again, stretch, yawn, and in a restless manner start grazing as they moved along. Then, after another spell on the trail, camp would be made near water when possible and the stock bedded down for the night. In open country the herd was watched over at night, first by one, then by another o the cowboys to see that they didn't back-track when taking a midnight stretch after getting on their feet to relieve themsel and walk around a bit. This done, and sleep and chew their cud until daylight. After the boys had had sumed, and it was expected to mak When moving at nine or ten miles chance of a steer becoming foot s if the animals were over-driven, to pick their footsteps, thus sav the often stony terrain. Any cow hustling the beef, or disturbing down in the heat of the day, woul that would make a brindle steer t the beef herd would arrive at its when it started out, which was good business. Stock men of those days made a practice of burning the range from time to time, as the Indians had done before t| kfa 1 st travel was re- ten miles that day. e w as not the same CO uld easily happen r g ait allowed them tected hoof from as guilty of ile they were bedded ive a calling down Properly handled, ■nuch heavier than Ogopogo's Vigil Page 53 thus developing better pasture for game 'and their ever-increasing herds. The object of the burn was to keep down scrub pine and fir that today are allowed to cover our hillsides and mountains, where once the bunch grass flourished and was said to wave in the wind like a field of wheat. It is true that settlers were often subjected to on unpleasant smoke nuisance, which at times was so dense that it would hide every living thing from sight. Tales are told of riders who were unfortunate enough to become separated from their horses for a moment or so, and would be unable to find them again, until weeks later when the smoke had About this time home markets were not very good. The Cariboo mines continued to slow down. Interior ranges were covered with cattle while Coast buyers offered the only outlet. In 1876 Thaddeus Harper, looking for new markets, started south from Cache Creek with 600 picked steers, branded "H" on the left hip. On his way to Osoyoos he picked up 600 more and crossed into Washington territory with 1200 extra fine beef cattle from, three to eight years old. Driving slowly and carefully, to keep up weight, they reached Billings, Montana where he shipped on the Northern Pacific to Chicago. Cattle prices had dropped when he finally reached his destination — a "squeeze", James Leighton called it — and Harper took almost a total loss on the first cost. Other drives left for Chicago and were two years on the road, arriving with more cattle than they started with, as they had a mixed herd — cows and steers, and the odd bull. During the second Cariboo excitement an enterprising drover from Oregon sold four thousand sheep to a dealer in the North country, who was to take delivery of the flock at Okanagan Mission. Dry Creek was quite high at the time, so a narrow bridge was constructed for the sheep to cross upon and be counted at the same time. The flock had been sold at so much per head. When all was ready, and the sheep started over the bridge, the vendor and purchaser commenced to count. Both had forty pebbles in a hat, and for each hundred sheep counted they would tally by taking out one pebble. When the count was over there was a difference of two hundred sheep tallied. The man from Oregon claimed he had counted four thousand. The man from Cariboo said he had counted only three thousand, eight hundred. Each considered his count correct and neither would admit to making a mistake. High words soon started to fly and out came the ever ready six-shooter. Fortunately, Mr. Brent, who was a Justice of the Peace, arrived • on the scene in time to avert a tragedy and managed to get matters straightened out somehow, before there was bloodshed. When the ranchers began to plant grain and potatoes Ogopogo's Vigil Page 54 them on foot all the way to Cariboo, This little jaunt took him all summer. At this early date in our farming history Mr. Brent sent a sample of Okanagan wheat to a world fair held at Antwerp, Belgium, where he received a diploma for his exhibit. A bronze medallion suitably struck to commemorate the event was also received, but has unfortunately been lost. This may well be the first of many victories won by Okanagan produce in exhibition throughout the world. It was during this decade that the first water records were applied for, and we find Smithson has taken one out on Mill Creek in 1871. He called it Simpson Creek. Lequime took out the first record on Mission Creek in 1873, and was followed by three priests. Brown took out a record on Mill Creek the same year. Although some Indian Reserves were set aside in 1861- 62, it was not until 1877 that the Reserve Commission came through the Valley in charge of Mr. O'Riley who made his camp on the west side of the lake opposite the Mission. That event is well remembered by some of our oldtimers. Mrs. Saucier tells of visiting the camp with her uncle, Theodore Laurence, who was sent for to give his opinions and counsel regarding the Indians and their lands. The visit lasted a week and the Laurence children carried away a memory of these eminent people, as well as the presents given them by the commissioners. At that time Reserves were laid out much the same as they are today, with the exception of that country between Trout Creek and Deep Creek, a tract of land intended for Indian Commonage; but it was .never registered and was eventually thrown open for settlement. The Indian Reserve at Mission Bridge contains 54 acres and was allotted by the Joint Reserve Commission which visited the Okanagan Valley in 1877. Penticton, and Black Town at the head of the lake, each have about 70,000 acres, while Duck Lake Reserve was allotted 457 acres at the same time. Reserves.No. 9 and 10, having 800 and 1,570 acres respectively, were set aside at a much later date, October 19, 1888, by Commissioner O'Riley who is accused of taking an "0" out of the middle of Sooyoos and placing it in front — Osoyoos. That is how an Irishman twisted an Indian place name, if the story is true. Dr. G. M. Dawson, Valley the same year, 1877, SImilkameen to Okanagan Lake. Allison had cut this cattle trail up Deep Creek, past Chain and Osprey Lakes to Princeton. He : could then move his stock from a winter range in the Okanagan, j where he had a ranch on the West side, across from the Mission, j to a summer range nearer Coast markets and his place of business. the noted geologist, came to the following the Allison "rail from Ogopogo's Vigil Page 55 Sixty years later Mr. John Cushlng and Mr. F. M. Buckland, both of Kelowna, drove through in a motor car, the first wheeled vehicle of any kind to travel from the ferry wharf to Princeton via the Allison cut-off, a distance of 72 miles. From 1876 until 1899 the Okanagan School supplied books slates, pencils, chalk, pens and ink, etc., charging each family with whatever articles their children used in obtaining an education. It is interesting to examine some of these family school accounts, especially those written by Joseph Christian while he was Secretary-Treasurer. Mr. Christian wrote a beautiful copperplate, with all the flourishes and shadings practised by the old school. On Page 118 of the record book we read:- MAIRA HAUGHION Feb. 18 To 1 Arithmetic 350 1 pencil " 18 " 1 Copy Book 110 1 Grammar " 28 "1 Ment.Arith. 400 April 1 Pen Apr. 17 » 1 Pencil .01 29th Ca Geog. Bill - Several family school accounts, where there were two three children to supply, ran as high as $10.00 and $12.00 for the season. It is quite significant when one compares the tho sands of school children we are educating in the Okanagan Vail in this Year of our Lord, 1948, with the thirty families who their children to the Okanagan sixty-five years ago. These ol ranch families were spread from White Valley, the Head of the •Lake, to Osoyoos and Keremeos, with all intermediate settlemen included'. From 1876 until 1889 we have recorded in the little calf-bound book a Haughton, 0'Keefe, Greenhow, Simpson, Wood, Moor, Lezare, Gillard, Lefevre, Gartrell, Richter, Haines, Nicholson, McLean, McDougal, McNeil, Hormon, Hayward, Philips, L-Jones, Young, Belango, Anderson, Cazors (Casorso), Vernon, Tronson, Smithson, Christian, Brent and Lequime. Mr. McKenzie continued to teach until 1878, when Mis M. Coughlan was engaged. She taught until 1882. In 1881 W. Smithson's name was dropped from the list Trustees. Quoting part of the Minutes of June 28, 1880: "He tendered his resignation on account of his very bad health. T resignation was accepted and Mr. Alphonse Lefevre was, by a unanimous vote, elected in his place." Continuing, "For the years 1879 and 1880 nothing has been received in favour of the School from any source whatsoever, thereby leaving the Distrin Ogopogo's Vigil Page 56 in debt principally to the Secretary who has disbursed money fo: urgent school requisites. After having discussed the school matters and having satisfactorily carried out all business, the B. Lequime, Chairman J. Christian, Secretary." An extract from the Minutes of an Annual Meeting held June 25, 1881, reads: "For the past year nothing has been received by the school board and for the necessary expenses connected with the school there is a debt of $39.00 (Thirty Nin Dollars). After transacting the business of the school the Meeting adjourned. The school trustees would report that the deportment and progress of the pupils is very satisfactory and that Miss Coughlan is deserving of great praise for pains she h taken with the'school. Alfred Postill, Chairman." Another entry of interest is on Page 145 and reads: Okanagan Mission June 24, 1882. The annual meeting of Okanagan Mission School District was held in the schoolhouse today. The Trustees' report for the past ye was read and after very many remarks by a Trustee and a sympathizing voter, accepted. The Trustee and voters with harmony left in favour of the school twenty five dollars ($25.00) said amount arising from the sale of a kitchen stove which was bough by a Jew for the residents of this place for Mr. McKenzie, firs teacher in Okanagan. The report showed that the expenses for the past year amounted to twenty-two dollars and twenty-five cents ($22.25) and that apart from the donation of today, viz.; $25.00 nothing has been received in favour of the school for the past year. It was also agreed that the $25.00 should be expended in getting new desks made for the schoolhouse. Mr. Alphonse Lefevre, the retiring member of the Trustees Bard, was with his own consent re-elected for another term. It was also a question of the Meeting who should teach In the school next year since the late teacher had left, and, as no satisfactory conclusions could be arrived at on this question, the meeting adjourned. S. W, Simpson, Chairman. Joseph Christian, Secreta The following year, 1883, the Board tendered Mr. McKenzie a vote of thanks for raising the teacher's salary to $60.00 per month. From July to October, 1882, the school remained without a teacher, the salary offered of $50.00 per mont not being sufficient inducement to anyone to accept the post. But in October of that year R. 3. Hanna, afterward a well known] dentist in Vancouver, was appointed at a salary of $60.00 per month. At the time he was bookkeeper at the Burnette Sawmills Ogopogo's Vigil Page 57 Mr. Hanna was succeeded at Okanagan School by Thomas Leduc. After Mr. Leduc came Mr. Fred Watson who taught at the Okanagan School for several years. The first teacher, Mr. McKenzie, appears to have been very successful and his work is highly spoken of in the reports of the Superintendent of Education. The report for 1877 says in part: "The School in this district (Okanagan) was visited on May 21st, when all the children on the register (21) were in attendance. The results achieved since the opening of the school have been so remarkably satisfactory in all respects that it is difficult to speak too highly of the work accomplished. Children who eighteen months before were utterly ignorant of the simplest rudiments, and unable to speak a word of English, had advanced so rapidly as to be able, when the school was visited, to read fluently and clearly in the fourth reader. The examinations in Grammar, Geography and Arithmetic were eminently creditable to the teacher and pupils, and must have still further increased the confidence and esteem which the parents entertained for their conscientious and hardworking teacher. The discipline was excellent and the scholars evidently took a hearty interest in their work. The settlers in Mission Valley have every reason to congratulate themselves on their good fortune in securing so successful an educator as the gentleman in charge of the school." Those who knew Mr. McKenzie intimately say he was a big man standing well over six feet and that he wore his whiskers Lincoln fashion. He had one wall-eye which he partly closed when looking at anything intently. "Mr. McKenzie was a gentle, kindly man, but one not to be trifled with if his temper was up." So said one of his pupils who studied under him at Langley Prairie, where he taught at a later date. It was also told to his credit, that when a congregation had gathered at a little country school- house and the minister failed to keep the appointment, Mr. McKenzie would take the service rather than disappoint the congregation. By 1880 settlers and ranch on the plow had enlarged their fields and the ranges, and the coming of drovers a Valley in May and September was the gre Men, women, children, in fact, anyone vj helped comb the range for beef. When « that.buyers might be expected there was sold as low as eighteen and twenty doll the only real money available in most c yoked to e covered s to the took a h out sufficient showed it prof not needed in for the "hum-d turn of 1881 saw a hard winter and late sp: toll on those stockmen who went into the wi; .e feed. As time went by experience i i to carry over from' one year to anotl 1 winter, in this way accumulating a ; that visits the Valley once every si Ogopogo'3 Vig r/elve years old were eagerly i long, hard and late feeding \ Joe Christian opened a store on his farm in opposition to the Lequime's, but the venture was not a success. Too many relatives, connections and hangers-on, who had big appetites and no money, broke the storekeeper, who later moved to the upper end of the Valley on Mill Creek and bought a claim from one of the McDougals for three cayuses and two bottles of whiskey, so it was told. That property adjoining the Ellison Airfield is still known as the Christian ranch. In course of time Mr. Christian mortgaged his property to another old stockman, who, in.his will, stipulated there should be no foreclosure so long as his old friend lived. Protestant ministers visited the Valley from time to time, travelling from one ranch to another. A story is told of a time when Parson and Priest were journeying through the country together, looking to the welfare of their respective flocks. With only one saddle horse between them it was their custom each night, when in camp, to play a game of cards to decide which could have the privilege of riding the following day. Chinese had penetrated the mountains and May Long Gue, with some of his countrymen were washing the gravel bars on Mission Creek, for gold. Lum Lock, one of Kelowna's old Chinatown bosses was a young boy doing chores around the ranch houses. At that time his greatest anxiety was to keep his queue attached to his head, for the cowboys of the day had peculiar ideas about amusement. It behooved all Chinamen to carry a staff when moving from one place to another that they might ward off the lariat loop which was sure to descend over their heads when they became the butt of cowboy humour. "Cowboy heap click, him thlo lope, catchum Chinaboy. Chinaboy cully long stick, swish, Chinaboy catchey lope, cowboy no catchey me," is the way Lum Lock explained the game. If Lum or some other Chinaman were caught by a group of drunken irres- ponsibles, there was a big chance the chinaman would lose his pigtail. The queue to them was a badge of respectability, and they were particular to have it combed, braided and coiled, even exaggerating its length by plaiting in threads of silk. OGOPOGO'S VIGIL MAIL AND TRANSPORTATION CHA VII David Lloyd-Jones arrived in the Valley from Brantford, Ontario, in September, 1880, having ridden over the Dewdney Trail from Hope. Following his trade as carpenter and builder, he, with his brother who was already in the country, built a house for Postill on the flat just south of Duck Lake. Lumber for the Postill house was cut in their own mill, but all dressed boards had to be worked out of rough plank. It .was a good day' s work to make a door with four panels. When whipsawing lumber, as had to be resorted to sometimes, 100 feet board measure was a good day's work for two men— one working in the sawpit and the other on the log above. A thousand board feet cut In this manner cost $60.00 to $70.00. Mr. Lloyd-Jones and his brother rented the Smithson Place beside Okanagan School and lived there until 1884. Returning from a visit to their old home in Ontario in the spring of 1885, Mr, Lloyd-Jones pre-empted land where West Summerland is today. The notice of this pre-emption is dated September 20, 1887. As time went on they acquired a band of horses and a herd of cattle, and ranched there until 1893. David Lloyd-Jones then came to Kelowna and formed a partnership with Bernard Lequime in the Kelowna Sawmill Company, managing thnt concern for forty years. Mr. Lloyd-Jones was one of Kelowna's finest citizens, respected and beloved by all. He tells his story at greater length in the Sixth Annual Okanagan Historical Report. James B. Leighton, pioneer of 1863, went into the Cariboo country when quite a young boy, and was long associated with the British Express Company. In June, 1865, he started to work for the B. X., as their subagent at Barkerville and sometimes drove on the Cariboo Road, but was used more often as general utility man looking out for suitable horses and their feed, hay and grain. Having had some disagreement pany, he left them and made a bid on the Mail Conti Cache Creek and Okanagan Mission, thus taking the ] the B. X. in 1881. the Com- etween away from Leighton's agreement for a weekly Mail Serbice from April semi-monthly In winter. He was the t mail into the Okanagan Valley and drc that first season. So on April 7, IE mail to Okanagan Mission. It was not stage, hung on leather straps, becaus does not warrant it." In the fall of McDonald to drive on the Kamloops end the Postal authoriti 1 line was sold to James Shubert in 1885. The contract from O'Keefe's to Okanagan Mission was sublet to Charles Lawson who lived near Girouard's P.O. — now Vernon. Cyril Gillard, with his family, left France in 1882 to join his brother, August, in Canada. They expected to reach the Okanagan soon after the ship landed them in America; but they found only half the journey had been completed. To make matters worse, Gillard was robbed of his money in some dive he was patronizing, which left the family in very straitened circumstances. Leaving his wife and children in New York, he started for British Columbia with his youngest son, Leon, aged nine. Travelling by way of San Francisco and Victoria to Fort Hope, where they arrived in the summer of 1883, they found that Lequime's pack train, which had waited several days for them, had left and wax on its way to the Interior. The saddle horses which had been brought out for the Gillard family to ride were with the train too. This left Cyril and his young son in an unfortunate position. However, the Frenchman possessed a pioneer spirit, and arranged with a countrywoman of his, to whom he had a letter of credit, for the necessary funds to be sent to New York, that his family might continue their .Journey and join him as soon as possible. This attended to, Gillard started out over Hope Mountain, following the pack train which had three days start of him. With blankets and a little food on his back, father and small son, often hand in hand, climbed out into a wilderness inhabited by wild animals and wild men. It was strenuous work following the Okanagan pack trail over mountain streams, up side hills, and across Skagit Rocks; thence through miles of dense timber and a few open meadows. No wonder the boy's feet played out, or that the father threw away their blankets that he might carry his son. At last, after three days of tramping and hardship, they were hailed by a horseman soon after daylight, July 15th. This rider spoke to them in English, but they were unable to understand him. The cowboy who was working for Lequime rounding up the horses and mules for their day's journey, returned to camp a short distance off and reported he had seen a man and a boy on the trail going in. Gaston Lequime, who was in charge of the pack train, immediately decided that these were some of the people he was expecting, and sent a horseman after them who spoke French. The Gillards were soon found and brought back to the camp where they were fed and supplied with horses for the remainder of the journey. Later in the year the Gillard family arrived at Hope from New York. There they took stage for Cache Creek where they had to wait several days for the Okanagan Stage that made the round trip once a month with passengers and mail. Eventually they arrived at Okanagan Mission on sleighs with Alex McDonald popping the silk over a four-horse team, and August was united with his brother and family after a separation of 23 years About this time the Mission Valley boasted of some thirty-three farmers and stock men. Starting from the north we \ /, l*v K N V '''v"r<" o ORJLQNC (■/ LlB<i.lUr>,l?/- J&< : Ca^ peso. "£ B*e„r \ Wty \ Ogopogo's Vigil page @l have Thomas Wood, J.P., on the Winfield ranch by the lake that now bears his name. Wm. Postill . Winfield Siding John Mclnnes George Simpson Jos. Brent Alphonse Lefevre Roland Campbell Isador Bucherie Francois Ortolan Frederick Brent Louie Brent Wm. & David Lloyd Jones O! J. B. Moore Dan Nicholson Arthur Best J. Christian John McDougal Ed McDougal Dave McDougal Alex McDougal Eli Lequime Leon Lequime Gaston Lequime August Gillard Jos. Laurence Mission Farm Jas. Williams eld nch Scott% Cr Simpson Ranch N.E. Rutland Siding South Rutland Siding Golf Course to Benvoulin North of Cry Creek South of Seventh Day Adventist Church Wm. Smithson's Place at Ok. School, Benvoulin S. Barles stretch Bankhead East half of Kelowna Benvoulin Church Guisachan Guisachon . j*- /> ., 6»isachan /tUrfh vui^c *#y South of Mission Creek School Gyro Park and East Hospital & Abbott St. South of Mission Creek Old Kelowna Townsite North of Old Mission North and West of Casorso's Bridge (Thompson South of (Mission Creek, Lake Front In 1883 A. B. Knox, an Aberdonlan, who had lived in North Okanagan for a short time, bought the Blondeaux property from Arthur Best. Farming there successfully for twenty years, he accumulated more property, 1700 head of cattle, fifty horses and the equipment to operate a first class ranch. Knox»passed away in the Kelowna General Hospital, a wealthy man. St. Jame year saw t built with and a choi not be mad Fr. Pandosy, after spending the s e, cffflie back to the 1884 ; 1 ully for thirty years a nd as bless in* ed I calling peo away. This November 1, pie Ogopogo's Vigil as was the little bell that rang fait could be heard for miles on a quiet S to worship, until the building was so "Church of the Immaculate Conception" 1884. Fr. Pandosy continued his labours at the Mission wh in the past he taught natives and children by means of colour prints which depicted Bible stories he would preach about. S of these pictures have been preserved by the Kelowna Boy Scou Association for their Museum. Baptising, marrying, burying a healing the sick in body and mind was the work of this good m who endeavoured to raise the moral standards of the Indians, hold the white man from debasement and evil. So the work wen on at the Mission where a considerable farm and cattle ranch developed. In 1885 Lequime, who had, by this time, acquired a deal of land with a couple of thousand cattle, built a flour across the road from his store. This was a stone mill driven an overshot water wheel, the water coming through ditch and f from Mission Creek a short distance away. Lequime's store wa doing a thriving business. The building of the Canadian Paci Railroad through the nearby country stimulated trade. Beef a vanced in price another $5.00 per head, and hogs on the hoof as ham and bacon had a ready sale. The same was true of vege ables and flour grown and processed in the Mission Valley. F mers, ranchers, or broken down miners labouring around the co try were better off than ever before, and Lequime's store sup most of the needs. The store and saloon boasted of a pool table and th small piano packed in on mule back. Settlers and ranchers tr here until 1906, when the stock of trade goods was moved to t Kelowna Branch. Okanagan Mission Post Office was then moved some five miles farther south to the lake front where it serv today. In the 1880's the two-bit piece was the smallest allowed to stay in circulation. Anytning in, was put to one side in a bag and ship This was rather awkward when buying a spo needle. Two-bits was the price, and Mrs. to anyone complaining, "Look at the freig. to bring it in." Gold dust was weighed i: and furs were taken in exchange for goods Eli Lequime's son, Leon, drove horses gathered from around Okanagan Miss tains to Alberta, hoping to sell them to mounts for the forces fighting in the Rie It was a hard drive out by way of Ft. She smaller, when taken go's Vigil Ft. McLeod many of the animals had hooves worn to the quick. This made them useless for months to come, so it was just as well they found the Rebellion over. Horses were valued at about $5.00 per head, and the. cost of feeding the wranglers, together with their wages on the drive didn't amount to very much. Still, the investment proved a total loss, and all they go1 of the trip was adventure. At one place in the Crow's Nest the cook was held up by a small band of roving Indians who demanded food. Thinking he was -dealing with some of Riel's Rebels, the badly frightened Fred Gillard stuffed them with everything he had at his disposal in the way of food, leaving his own crew short for days with much discomfort. Social events in the form of dances often broke the monotony of a winter's work — stock feeding or wood chopping. On these occasions boys and girls, even the old folk, would dance until dawn, following the intricate figures of a square dance then so popular. A floor manager would chant the dance calls, while the "SET" would shake a leg to the tune of Money Musk, Soldier's Joy, or Turkey in the Straw, Joseph Brent was the musician and fiddled for many old-time dances around the Mission. May we describe one funny circumstance which took place, because of this important position. He told of being a long way from home on the day of a dance. He was goose shooting at Vasseau Lake the morning of a day he had an evening engagement at Okanagan Mission. Mr. Brent was to play for a large crowd and felt he could not disappoint his friends any more than he could miss a good time; so tieing his game birds to his saddle, he started on a sixty-mile ride for home. Reaching Penticton, Brent obtained a change of horses, and leaving his four geese with a friend who was going North with a peck train, finished the last stage of his journey over the upper trail. He had arrived home in time to play for the dance that night. One winter dances came so thick and fast it caused Lon, when Joe had played for several dances another amusing s in succession. C he fed his stock, have a good sleep miss. His wife w so he undressed a hoping party 1 r i Ogopogo's Vigil Page 64 turning over he went to sleep again. Bye and bye someone was knocking at the door, and being annoyed to think his much-needed rest had been broken, Mr. Brent got up to see who was there and to his surprise found it r;as one of the neighbours who had arranged that he should play for them the following night. Asked why he was sleeping at home when he was expected to play as he had agreed to do, Brent told his neighbour it was "tomorrow night" he had engaged to play at their house; that he, Brent, had been playing all night at a dance further up the Valley. Then it struck them both they were somewhat mixed up, and it developed that Mr. Brent had slept the entire day through without waking: By this time it was nearly midnight of another day. Neighbours and guests had been waiting for him to put in an appearance for hours. In desperation they had sent out search parties, and the last place they had looked was in Mr. Brent's home because those who had passed in the early evening reported they had seen no smoke from his chimney nor any light in his window. Washing and dressing as quickly as he could, while a horse was being saddled, it was not long before the old-time fiddler had them all tripping the light fantastic. Young people here indulged in their love affairs as they do the world over. Gossip told of one courtship that was embellished by a duel with fists. It appears an emigrant from south of the border arrived in the Valley with a grown daughter. White girls were not very plentiful at that time, and because of this the father had no difficulty in landing the best jobs with the ranchers. Young fellows danced attendance at every opportunity this fair damsel offered. When a farmer's son took the young lady buggy-riding one afternoon he met on the road another admirer who was on horseback. The mounted youth pulled up in front of the rig and demanded why any other fellow would dare pay attentions to the girl he had been going with. Hot words flew back and forth for some minutes; then the amorous lads tied up their horses and shed their coats. It was a fight to the finish which proved the first young man the victor. So, untying his horse he drove off with his prize. But an old midwife whispered around that the girl had married the wrong man. As a rule the people here must have been very good- natured, for we hear of the road foreman travelling to Centerville to collect a tardy wage cheque from the Government Agent, due men who had worked on the roads here that summer. He collected, but a poker game at the Victoria Hotel took his fancy, and after dropping his own money the foreman staked the recently collected wages of his friends, hoping to retrieve his losses. A week passed and the road gang at the Mission became anxious, so sent one of their number to the northern town to find out what had become of the boss. The foreman was found dead broke and trying to muster up enough courage to return home and tell the sad tale. This, of course, had to be.done sooner or later, and when the circumstances and provocations were fully explained the gang n agreed there was nothing else their foreman could have done, anc it must have been a mighty good game anyway. Gambling, horse-racing and drinking were pastimes thai some of the settlers indulged in to their undoing. This was the sad case of August Gillard with his four hundred cattle, fifty horses and three hundred and twenty acres of land. Losing all, he died in poverty in 1898, without fulfilling the wishes of his old sweetheart in France, who wrote to him saying they would "Finish their days together, if it is as you said in your pleadings." Here are the sentiments of an unselfish old woman of mixed blood, uttered in defense of her drunken white husband's character, "Well what else was there to do when men got togethei but get drunk and enjoy themselves? There was no radio, no pictures, no nothing, but whiskey, so why not? It helped pass the time and even if they did get into fights and knock one another around, it was all forgotten next day." Born in Italy near Turin and Asti, John Casorso went t San Francisco when a young man. Then by way of Esquimalt to Nev Westminster, where he applied for work in a sawmill; but after seeing 200-pound lumberjacks tackling 30-foot logs with a cant- hook, he reconsidered and decided to go further afield. Meeting Father Coccolla and Father Chappini, who were about to set out from Mission by way of the Coquahalla Pass for the Similkameen and Okanagan Mission, Casorso v/as offered permanent work. E accepted, threw in his lot with the Priests, and crossing the river at Hope, the party ascended the Coquahalla. His companior had a gun with two barrels — one for deer and one for birds. But there we:."e no birds, and food was scarce, so they ate what "Oolalie" fruit and other berries they could pick and kept going En route they fell in with a camp of Indians who welcomed and prepared to feed them. John watched the natives,1- met!- of cooking and decided that cleanliness was not one of their vjrj tues. They mixed, food with dirt-covered hands as they stirred the mess, and wiping their noses with their fingers, they would plunge them back into the stew again. Casorso couldn't stomach this at all, and as his pockets were full of berries, he decline the dish. Fr. Coccclla, seeing this, chided him, saying, "Eat, pay no attention to what you see," but he couldn't rise to such heighths of politeness, so ate his berries. Arriving at Okanags Mission, 1883, John Casorso worked for the fathers for about twelve years. spike driven at Craigellachie 1885. Freight was now brought in from Ducks by wagon to O'Keefe's and Okanagan Mission. Miners were flocking to Similkameen and merchandise must follow. Messi Wood and Rabbit, traders and merchants, built a shelter for good n Beach, Summerlahd, and Captain O'Keefe's and the Point, de- on horses up Trout Creek into turn, for th. nd at the fi: ipper would : be drowned. ilt a larger Ruth Shorts for his Mother, could carry was equipped to set up a mast and carry ; weather permitted. It took the best par- make a voyage from the Head of the Lake i Captain was a careful mariner. Heading : sign of a black cloud, or puff of wind, ' mark to his passengers, "Shorts wasn't b. The following year Captain Sho: with a 32-foot keel and 5-foot beam, and Victoria Greenhow." This boat was capabj of freight, as well as several passenger; a coal oil burning engine. On her maidei with a barrel of coal oil, but this supp! Shorts arrived at Penticton, The result tiers along the lake were burning candle; T. D. Shorts reached O'Keefe's with the ' This boat was not a success because of fi converted her into a wood burner. Settli and other lake points delighted with the prospect of a regula: boat service, patronized it to the fullest extent with their passengers and freight. Settlers were coming in from the Eastern Provinces, from across the line. Hundreds of men who had helped build tl C.P.R. were looking for locations in the west where they coul arted out ted before the set- Captain a Greenhow" in Shorts an Mission establish a home as their forefath Provinces. History tells of Sir J colleagues bargaining with Ministe: brace British Columbia within the ] build rail connections from Easter: We read of Sir Sanford Fleming lay: this transcontinental ra" Moberly running survey 1 you will be told of shovel, helped smooth out the right of way. e older nd his lony to e New Dominion by offering to n Canada to the Pacific Coa ing out a proposed route fo d of men like Hector and gh our mountain passes. No and drill, pick and Alexander i settle in Quebec in as 1879. Swinging a west of Prince Arthu thermometer register ber. Having that se drilling partner dec family came to Canada to is construction job as early ning a drill in the rock cuts ex continued to work until the companions o pieces by r Ogopogo's Vigil page 6? nitro-glycerine. The two men returned immediately to the scene of disaster and gave what assistance they could toward gathering together the mangled bodies of their former companions. 1881 saw McLennan in Winnipeg, and the end of steel at Portage La Prairie. Year by year he worked westward, spending the summer of 1883 freighting on the Columbia between Golden and Donald. Later he was one of the half hundred men at Craigellachie when Sir Donald A. Smith drove the "golden" iron spike and the Canadian Pacific Railway was open for traffic 1885. With the completion of the railroad, hundreds of men were out of jobs. So Alex, among others, was looking for work in Kamloops when he met a Mr. Anderson who advised him to come to the Okanagan. Taking this advice, McLennan bought a horse and rode with the Priests' Valley storekeeper to his place of business, where he worked for some time. The following year, 1886, McLennan started with a partner for the mines at Granite Creek, about which everyone was talking. Outfitting at Lequime's, Okanagan Mission, they rode around the foot of the lake leading a packhorse. Crossing Trout Creek, they camped for the night. Next morning they climbed the benches where West Summerland is now, to find an Indian house well supplied with potatoes and dried fish and a stack of hay beside a stable. Putting their horses up, they cooked themselves a good meal and decided to have a look around. Next day Mr. McLennan followed the little creek to Prairie Valley. Returning to the Indian house he told his partner that he had discovered a pretty little valley hidden in the hills, and thought seriously of staking out a farm. This information was met with arguments meant to discourage any land locating. The following day McLennan took his horse and rode over the country again, and returning to camp, decided to remain. After planting his stakes and posting the necessary notice Mr. McLennan rode up the west side of the lake to Priests' Valley accompanied by his partner as far as the Phillips and Armstrong ranch, where they parted company. McLennan rode throug] and completed his location papers with Mr. Dewdney. Back on Trout Creek this pioneer commenced to erect a cabin on the south side of the little creek which ran through his claim. Across the creek from him was a camp of Indians who were chasing wild horses. They appeared very sullen and unfriendly, but after a few days, one, George Shuttleworth, came over and asked what he was doing. McLennan replied that he had taken up this land and was building a cabin according to regulations. Then Shuttleworth told him he was trespassing on Indian Reserve, that.all the land between Trout Creek and Deep Creek was set aside as Reservation. McLennan said he didn't want the land if that were-the case, but would finish the cabin, which he did. Returning to Priests' Valley to interview Mr. Dewdney, he was told that Indians, like white men, were prone to bluff, that the land was for settlement and that the Government would stand behind him. Trout Creek Alex McLennan went, and without any q the first settler in the Summerland District. Hi claim record No. 455 was dated May 31st, 1886. Mr. McLennan sold his farm to the Summe ment and moved to a new property opposite Kelowna the Ferry Wharf. There he erected a comfortable other buildings, and brought into bearing a peach was visited and admired by many of the newcomers in the development years in the early 1900's. He ard to advantage, and retired, to live quietly am for the remainder of his life on Park Avenue, Kel John Conroy, who had been in business 1 country, came to the Mission Valley in 1885. He Boucherie's pre-emption, and after building, open Store with Saloon Bar, close to the highway besid where the Missionaries had their first garden in 1860. Mr. Conroy operated the business for seven moved several miles farther north to improve new still in the family. Mr. Frank Bovette was freighting with m Bender outfit out of Swift Current during the sec elllon. Later he worked on the C.P.R. constructi Sicamous. There he heard of the Granite Creek go He also heard of the settlement at Okanagan Missi to look over this part of the country. Upon arri worked for Mr. Smithson, and in 1886 married his seventeen year old daughter, Rose. Father-in-law time school trustee and secretary, had also held of Justice of the Peace. He evidently was progre he brought into the valley, among other things, t and sulky plow, purchased from Prior's at Kamloop took up land of his own in 1888, where the presen Mission store and Post Office is located, and bui heavy timber. Besides farm work Bovette built loj the settlers, made wagons, harrows, and all sorts as only an old-time Canadian axe-man could do. W! making tongue and "grooved boards, splitting shake making furniture or building a chimney, was all 1 for Frank Bovette; a son and grandson of pioneers father himself. His grandfather, born in Paris 1764, cai Hudson Bay to Norway House on Lake Winnipeg 1789. Gaudrie was a stone mason and worked at his trade Hudson's Bay buildings, including Lower Fort Garr; worked on the construction o the old St. Bonifac which took four years to complete. Few, if any, settlers can lay a greater claim to family foundii in Western Canada. val her smploye AND RAILROADS CHAPTER VIII By the autumn of 1887 Captain Shorts had a 30-foot Clinker built boat with 8-foot beam, which he called the Jubilee in honour, no doubt, of Queen Victoria's long reign of fifty years on the throne. This unique occasion was being celebrated throughout the Empire that year, so why not recognize it in the Okanagan. The Jubilee was steam driven and in additio: to her displacement load she towed a barge when the cargo required more space. There was a great deal of freight to move at that time, as mining continued to develop in Similkameen and the Boundary Country. Although Captain Shorts had a good little boat, he sometimes had trouble with his crew, and was obliged to take chances on an utter stranger to fill a berth once in a while. This was the case one summer day in 1889, as related by Henry Colbeck. Colbeck described a very angry man, wearing a full red beard and a straw hat, who came storming into the Victoria Hotel Vernon, and aired his grievances to the boys around the bar. It was Capt. Shorts who complained of his engineer being drunk and incapable of getting the Jubilee away from the dock. Shorts had a man with a large amount of freight going to Grand Forks and if he could find another engineer, he would put the drunk ashore quick. What few men he knew capable of handling the job were out with threshing engines. As soon as Colbeck, who had had some experience with steam, could contact the Captain, he told him what he had done and could do with steam engines, and immediately Shorts said he would take his word for it and give him a try-out on the trip down. Colbeck promised that if he couldn't deliver the goods, he would expect no pay. Captain Shorts had a pony and a two-wheeled cart, so they drove to the landing where the Jubilee lay. Alongside was a barge loaded with several barrels of whiskey, a grain binder and a lot of other freight. They commenced to prepare supper. Captain and engineer comprised the entire crew, and arranged to get out bright and early the following morning. Colbeck was awakened about 4 a.m. and had steam up, when the man who owned the binder came down from town carrying under his arm a sheaf of wheat he had taken from O'Keefe's field nearby. When the Jubile. got underway, heading down the lake, the passenger with the shea, of wheat proceeded to bore a hole in a keg of whiskey he also possessed and sucked the liquor through a straw until he was tight. After an all day run the Jubilee drew into Bear Creek where she took on wood. Just before sundown they reached Lequime's Landing on a gravel beach, where Kelowna's City Park r Ogopogo's Vigil there out in the open, where the City' today, as well as large trees that lin enade. had been cut and a field of wheat in stalk. Colbeck reports their passenger, who had drunk his fill of whiskey, talked his head off and had a sleep in I • sun atop some freight, now was sober. Captain Shorts started to prepare something to eat and fried bacon on the beach, where all hands, Captain, engineer and passenger enjoyed a good meal. The passenger then set out for Lequime's Hotel and Store four miles away. He landed back next morning about 3 a.m. with-a big hunk of fresh beef. Starting a fire on the beach, this provident passenger proceeded to fry beef steaks and cooked an excellent breakfast enjoyed by all. He told the others he got his beef for four bits from Lequime's Chinaman about midnight, and was told to beat it so no one would see. It wasn't told whether the grain binder was unloaded at Lequime's wharf or not. If it had been, then we could assume that the whiskey drinking passenger who took advantage of Lequime'; through their Chinese cook was a Mission Valley grain farmer. Clement Vacher walked into the valley from Princeton by way of Bear Creek, as did Price Ellison and other disappointed prospectors, Vacher, like many more busted miners, had all .his worldly possessions on his back when he arrived here. This pack included a miner's pick, shovel and gold pan. Prospecting as he travelled along, he found colour in Bear Creek and pay dirt in a gravel bottom about a mile above the lake. There he staked a mineral claim, and later a rural land claim which took in the Falls and Bear Creek Flat on the Lake front. In the course of time Vacher built a cabin and whipsawed enough boards for his sluice boxes at the Mineral Claim. He mined very successfully for a winter or two, taking some $5,000.00 in dust and nuggets dug from the cracks and fissures in bedrock at no very great depth. Coming over to the east side, Clement worked around the Mission for Lequimes and for Charles Brewer, who operated a steam driven sawmill, run by a portable threshing engine, south of Mission Creek on the Penticton Trail, about where the Community Hall and Tennis Courts are today. This first sawmill was on Frank Bovette's property and "Tin-it-hoh-tan", the Indian name for the stream nearby, was then changed to "Sawmill Creek" as it is today. About 1890 Pete Gooding and Bernard Lequime bought and were operating a small mill on Jos. Saucier's place at Hoshie Flat. Some trouble arose between the interested parties that ended in a lawsuit and Lequime got possession of the mill. Vacher tried to make arrangements to have this sawmill moved to Bear Creek where there was plenty of timber available which could be rolled into the water and towed easily and cheaply to a mill on the flat. old man it was first mill in ] As time went on, great piles of sawn on ground now occupied by Kelowna's banking anc ings. A short distance to the north of this mi] bank west of the present Water Street Lequimes bunkhouse. This was for the convenience of the travelling public, who often made good use of 1 It was known as "Grand Pacific Hotel", and a ps nouncing this "eat and flop" was in evidence ur ago. The old Grand Pacific Hotel still stands, down in the course of a few months, along with cluttering up the beach of our new Civic Centre stacked build- til a but j other groun few yec ill be old buj ds. torn ldings of January 1st, 1891, R.S. Hall took over the stage route to Okanagan Mission from Ollie Price Ellison interests end of the Valley for clearing, and later mi him driving a three-se schedule that started The drive covered fift Sicamous, with a chang return trip with mail Then on Wednesday he d Mission with a change another round trip was lay over Sunday. This eighty miles a week, taxed the strength and hours through mud and engers were charged te baggage. Express rang Bob Hall had been steamboat Ellison's picking hi considerab order when waiting fo night, in gathered u the cargo. Abo his new ice rts by two 0 with clock in ;he mail. the construction of th plenty of trouble arou road was being continu It was a long pull up the four-mile hill out of Vernon south over the Commonage. From the Commonage down to Long Lake the driver rode the brake most of the way. In winter the stage passed over the ice and, crossing the gravel bank known as the Railway, continued on through Tom Woods Meadows to Postill's; On one trip in 1891 Father Pandosy was a passenger. Mr. Hall had a bad cold at the time and was coughing in such a manner it . worried the Reverend Gentleman. "When we get to Vernon I shall get you something for that cough," he remarked more than once. Hall was very busy with his mail and parcels when he reached Vernon and had forgotten the promise. Not so with Father Pandosy He hunted the stage driver up and handed him a goose quill filled with camphor, together with a chunk for refills. "Keep that in your mouth and breathe through the quill and you will soon be better," he said. Then Father Pandosy told a story of treating an Indian woman. The woman was threatened with tuberculosis, and had a dreadful cough. Father Pandosy had given her a goose quill and a generous chunk of camphor on which to draw supplies, with instructions on how to use it. The woman, thinking that if a small dose would relieve her cough, a large one would surely effect a quicker cure, chewed the whole piece down at once, with the result that she became violently sick and delirious, to such an extent that the Priest thought she would never recover. However, she did, and as Father Pandosy pointed out at the time, it was not long before she presented her husband with twins. The old woman is alive at the present day, a great grandmother. Another time when Bob Hall was driving to Ducks on the main line of the C.P.R. with a load of deer skins, he was overtaken by Leon Lequime who was riding a relay of horses to Kamloop for a doctor. Leon's brother, Gaston, had been badly injured at Conroy's place that day, when some of the ranchers were cutting out cattle on the flats "where the railroad parallels the highway" now, near Rutland siding. A long-horned steer had charged at Old Man Boucherie who was working around the yard on foot. Gaston jumped his horse into the steer thinking to shoulder the animal off. The impact of horse and steer was so hard and sudden the jar dislocated a vertebra of the rider's spine, causing his death within a few hours, and long before his brother was halfway to Kamloops. this time, and these pioneer traders and storekeepers now the following advertisement in outside newspapers: B. & L. LEQUIME Okanagan Mission, B.C. Importers of Dry Goods, Groceries Ready-made Clothing, Hardware Gents' Furnishings, Etc. Etc. Post Office and Hotel Cattle Hogs and Horses for sale at regular seasons Several Fine Ranches For Sale from $2,000.00 to $12,000.00 Mr. Hall, who stayed at Lequime's stopping place night once a week, considered it was his good furtune to o one of the beds Bernard's mother was so proud of. Mrs. Le made the mattress herself out of wool, and they were perha most comfortable appointments around the place. Mail was re-sorted at Okanagan Mission P.O. Mai the south continued over the hill carried by Jos. Brent wi horse or snowshoes as the season warranted. At the Mission events were moving along smoothly Pandosy was aging. With graying beard, he continued to go footed and bareheaded in summer, and travelled the mountai; trails as his spiritual and medical duties called him at a seasons, without complaint. For thirty years he had atten the ills of the body, cultivated the minds, and pleaded fo: spiritual development of his flock — whites and Indians a Early in 1891 Pandosy received a call from the Similkameen snow lay deep and soft in the mountains when he started hi ney accompanied by Donald McLean from Okanagan Falls. The; reached Keremeos, where the Priest married a couple from Princeton who met him there. But Pandosy had caught a sev cold from exposure and fatigue on the way over the mountai] The wet snow had chilled the traveller to the bone. It wa too hard a ride for one so old and McLean begged him not t continue the homeward journey, but the good Priest was boui keep on, considering duty before bodily comforts. On the : trip Father Pandosy was taken seriously ill at Penticton. Chief, Francois, took him to his cabin where everything po mestead that Pandosy w daughter ance. Wh and capab iately se: Ogopogo's Vigil other comforts for the sick man. Pandosy died in the arms of his o were met on the road weeping. Mr state on the steamer "Penticton" laid away in the little graveyard where Pandosy had laboured so Ion with sincere mourning the settler to pay their last respects to one all, regardless of faith or creed marked by. slab or monument, and n (his coffin was lowered in a foot will remain prominent with us in '. streets. , location "Pandosy" It does seem too bad that we cannot bestow more hono upon one who played such a distinguished and outstanding part the settlement of L'Anse au Sable. The Priest, Father Hetue, who died in 1863 was the first Priest to be buried in the old cemetery. He was followed by Fr. Gendre and Fr. Pandosy. In pioneer days the settlers in this district had a certain amount of respect and sympathy for one another, and caj to a mutual aid in times of trouble. But as time went on it i sad to relate that family feuds and quarrels developed, often reflected upon to the present day when old-timers are discusse Reminiscences sometimes bring out a bad and sordid trait of character which it is well to forget, because they were often exaggerated at the time by a critic who looked into the troubl through the bottom of a whiskey glass. A great deal of hard liquor was consumed in those days. It was cheap and apparent! easy to procure. More people were settling in the Valley where they attempted to dry farm, having put to use every available drop water the creeks would carry. There was no storage water. Cr ran at flood during the spring run-off and dried up by July, leaving little or no water for later garden truck. Water was taken direcj headgate, and run through earth ditcl be irrigated. Disputes often arose i the reduced flow. Neighbours with s< on the Creek sometimes came to blows get more than their allowance. The owner of land with a fj rights at times, and do' it with a she guns were resorted to on occasions tc cr )ps sue from a to the ;o who id and ground should third w at a ne which benefit iter re spectin i arby would by cords g to d had t words f le unre > defend his ailed. Even nilated but were being ble to lug a occasion ra fake trie geld This raps that Indian' blotting and lly succeeded brand on this colt they covetted, out the only other mark on its solid coat of brown, a small white star of peculiar shape on the forehead. The patch of white hair had been flayed from the bone to leave a scar inste of the star which could have been identified by the rightful owners. Fortunately some of the Indians from the Reserve happened along just at that time and literally caught the horse- thieves redhanded. It should have meant a long prison term fo: these men, but they succeeded in buying themselves off. By giving the Indians several times the value of the animal they had burned and skinned, they had hoped to hush the matter up, but the story eventually leaked out. Beef cattle and the odd veal were marketed at times those who did not own them, it was claimed, and animals change ownership when some chance-taking squatter worked over a brand or put his running iron on a maverick. Often small ranchers were credited with having cows which delivered three and four calves in a season. To offset this big ranchers were accused branding and earmarking everything they came across on the ran, Hence the need of a Justice of the Peace and lockup. The Prov incial Government of that day erected the lockup, or "Skookum House", beside the Mission Highway near Rutland Corner. It wa built on the property of Frederick Brent, J.P. Here his son, a constable, incarcerated the unfortunate settlers or natives caught breaking the law of the country. The lockup was built 2" x 6" mill construction, full size 14' x 24' with a cottage roof and two cells, each ventilated by a small iron-barred win dow. This construction proved a heavy load for the sixteen horses when it was hauled to Kelowna on skids some years later to occupy space on the rear of a Government lot in the centre of Block 15 on Bernard Avenue. These solid 6" walls, in their time, have held in custody lawbreakers ranging from drunks and thieves to murderers. Forty years later the building was agaii moved to the City Park where it now serves the public as a man comfort station. On the occas of big ranch own . Cattlemen's Pre eting was called to his feet and known photograph of gathered at Vernon t it was reported that by one of the member s old Klutch Humpers About this time Dan Nicholson was b Lequimes; Crosier, a cariboo miner, was the m was the accountant; and C.A.S. Atwood was man Before the establishment of "hamlet the larger ranches in the district had a forg anvil installed in their tool houses for the travelling blacksmith who visited the distric to overhaul and repair machinery and rolling ranches. He carried his employed during the off ; harness and saddles. An the country at stated in teeth was quite the fash In 1891 Smiths* was subdivided and sold of Vernon. A sketch plan and stage.road as a main wide, and named Gorden S shown as running due wes as it does today, we hav. College Street for a qua: Street ran north and sou a half mile. L stood ->ohr£ tne ill set S 1 ;ide scJ lOOl paralle le Ogopogo's Vigil Mr. Hall was anxious to secure some goo. suggested that Mr. Ellison bid some lots in for h ing the sale of the property, as it was impossibl get down the Valley that day. So Mr. Ellison bou 18 opposite the school. He bid in the first lot ; acre, but the second one was run up in price by s neighbours who did not know they were being bough driver. R.S. Hall farmed there several years. M; manager of the Aberdeen Estate, also purchased tw. The subdivision of Smithson's estate, R.P. 468 executor, was accompanied by others of greater magnitude G. MacKay, formerly of Inverness, Scotland, and later of B. C, where he was connected with the Oriental Trading i and was a Director of the Bank of British Columbia, visi Okanagan Valley about 1890. He was evidently a man of v and saw possibilities for further development in the Mis Valley where the rich bottom land would support a much 1 population, if it produced fruit and vegetables instead and grain. This was made evident by the small orchards ' their few trees around a ranch house and the profusion o etables in the kitchen garden. Mr. MacKay first bought i Nicholson's land, (Wm. Pion's original claim) just east Kelowna for $20.00 per acre. He then took over the John McDougal property, now the "Guisachan" - a name which co ates a certain Scottish countryside. The Lefevre, Moore Christian, and Ortolan ranches were added to the real es already purchased, giving MacKay control of a large bloc! land west of Mission Creek, between Lequimes and Mill Crj the following advertisement appeared: Fruit Farms for Sale at Okanagan Mission. There are upward of 2,000 acres of Land now offered for sale in the best part of Okanagan Mission now under crops of wheat and hay. Lots to suit Purchasers from 10 to 40 acres - Price $60.00 per acre - one-third cash - 1 to 2 years at 8%. Choice of Lots given in order of application. This is bottom land with command of water, such an opportunity was never before offered in the Okanagan Valley. Other lots may be had at all prices from $10.00 per acre upwards. All these lands are almost free from timber. Apply to Robt. Munson, Okanagan Mission or to G.G. MacKay & Son, Vancouver, B. C. arm land and whei a. attend- or . iall to Lo ts 17 and $36 00 per of the for the stage F. Conklin, t en- acre lots 1 Mr, MacKay, as agent for the Earl of Aberdeen, turned the McDougal farm over to the incoming Governor-General of Canada, en bloc, and Lady Aberdeen is said to have superintended the planting of that beautiful evergreen hedge still to be seen as one drives towards Benvoulin. A news item of that day tells us, "A barn and stable 50 x 32 feet is about to be erected on the Aberdeen Estate at the Mission. A considerable quantity of fruit trees have already been planted there this fall, and since the acouisition of the Coldstream Estate it has been decided to lay out the entire Mission property in fruit in the spring. Northern Spy, Baldwin, Gravenstein, Ribston Pippin, and other kinds of apples suitable to export will be planted; also Bartletts and Jargonelle pears for canning. Prunes will be extensively grown for drying, and a limited quantity of peaches, apricots, nectarines and grape vines. Small fruits of all kinds "for jams" will be planted between the trees, the latter coming principally from Toronto nurseries.» After surveying these farm lands into 20 or 40-acre lots, MacKay put it on the market at $60.00 per acre. Other holdings were also subdivided into 40-acre lots and sold to newly arriving settlers, many of them from Great Britain and Ireland. A village or hamlet was laid out about half way between Lequime's store and Okanagan school, where a newly surveyed road met the Old Mission Trail. This spot had been selected because the Vernon and Okanagan Railway Co. had plans to build south to the Boundary, through the centre of the Mission Valley, where this would be a station site. A hotel was built here, also a store, a blacksmith shop and a Chinese laundry, where Sing Lee washed white shirts for 104 each and undershirts for 5£. The place was called Benvoulin, for one of the loved mountains in Old Scotland. The V. & O.R.R. was never built and the S. & 0. Railway turned into Okanagan Landing where freight and passenger boats on the lake filled the needs of the country for many years. Mr. IflfWrt Morrison, who later farmed in Dry Valley, was connectedJwith G.G. MacKay as overseer on the Estate, and it was through family associations with MacKay, dating back to Inverness, Scotland, that Messrs. E.M. Carruthers and G.C. Rose arrived in the Valley in 1891 to take their part in the development of our country. Government Office at V lands in and around th Phillips, Robert Goldi Frederick Brent. The lake transportation: Str. "Pontic Ogopogo's Vigil Page 79 Lake after December 15th, and during the winter months the steamer will not run on schedule time but as occasion requires. The same issue informs us that "Lord and Lady Aberdeen sail on the 9th for England on the Majestic." While Lord and Lady Aberdeen were in residence at Guisachan it is told that Fr. Felix from the Catholic Mission called one Sunday afternoon after Mass to pay his respects to Their Excellencies. On 'arrival at Guisachan House the Priest was shown into the dining-room where several of the Earl's Protestant neighbours had foregathered for divine worship. There was no Presbyterian Church in the Valley at that time; neither was there a resident minister, so His Excellency, the Governor-General of Canada, took the service. On returning to the Mission, Fr. Felix was asked at Lequimes what he thought of the Governor-General, and the Priest replied that he considered Lord Aberdeen a wonderful man because not only was he Governor- General of Canada and a large farmer, but that day he had found him a preacher as well. The following year Benvoulin Church — plans and specifications by Mr. Howard Dell — was built by W.H. Rayraer and named "Bethel" at the suggestion of Lady Aberde It was referred to as a neat edifice. Presbyterians of Guelph, Ontario, supported this church as part of their missionary endeavour for many years. -* TOWN DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER IX The greatest development the Valley ever saw took place in 1892. That was the year the Shuswap and Okanagan Railway was completed and opened May 12th. Vernon had come into existence five years previous to this, when the name of the Post Office was changed from Centerville November 1st, 1887, and great expectations for this new business centre in the Interior of British Columbia are expressed in a full page advertisement appearing in the Vernon News, December 8th, 1891. It read: "VERNON The Terminus of the Shuswap & Okanagan Railway Situated in the Heart of the Great Okanagan Valley - The Railway Centre of the Interior The Shuswap & Okanagan Railway is now under construction and will be completed and in operation to Vernon early next year. The Okanagan and Kootenay Railway Company obtained a Charter (with land grants of 20,000 acres per mile) to construct a Railway from Vernon to Sprats Landing, via the Coldstream Valley and Cherry Creek Mines. A Charter has also been granted by the local legislature to the Vernon and Okanagan Railway Company to construct a railway from Vernon south to the International Boundary to connect with the American System. Vernon is situated in a pass commanding and making tributary to it the whole of the famous Okanagan Valley and its adjacent valleys, the grazing country of the lower Nicola and Similkameen, the mining camp of Rock Creek, Keremeos, Granite Creek, and Siwash Creek. It is impossible to get to any of the above places without first going through Vernon. A branch of the Shuswap & . Okanagan Railway will run from Vernon three miles to the head of Okanagan Lake connecting with steamers and opening up country for 100 miles south, for which Vernon will be the natural market and supply point. The opening of the Shuswap & Okanagan Railway will flood the favoured country with land and mining prospectors and will give a great impetus to the farming, fruit growing, grazing and mining industries. Several important industries are projected and will be started this year. This Is a great chance to make money, as Vernon, being the centre of the most extensive agricultural district in the Province, will undoubtedly become a large and flourishing city. The cultivation of Fruit and Hops and Barley for malting purposes are destined to become leading industries of the Okanagan Valley. Improved lands can be bought at from $10.00 to $20.00 per acre. The climate of this section cannot be excelled on the American continent. The Company has already sold a large number of lots. Many of these will have buildings erected on them this Ogopogo's Vigil Page 31 year. Special inducements are offered to those who pr jpose building. Free sites will be given to parties esta )li shing industries. A large hotel is now being erected by bhe Company and a fine Water System for supplying the Town proj 3d. The best advice we can give prospective purchasers is t ) and see for yourselves. Take the C.P.R, to Sicamous, thenc and stage to Vernon. . & 0. The Okanagan Land and Development Company Limited Head Office - Room 2 - Thompson-Ogle Block Hastings Street, Vancouver Local Agent at Vernon" The Canadian Pacific Railway Company laun , .. , boat Aberdeen on Okanagan Lake May 3rd, 1892. She wheel vessel, 146 feet in length with a 29 foot beai freight, passengers, concentrates, livestock and se effects up and down the Lake three times a week for fifteen years. Good meals served in a well-appoint lining saloon, accompanied a well-furnished lounging salooi id com.- fortable staterooms. The Aberdeen delivered hundre of home seekers to the wharf at Kelowna in her day, and pla an out- standing part in the development of other Lake sett ents, especially those promoted by J.M. Robinson - Peachl in 1900 and Summerland 1902. Pleasant recollections of a v ge up or down the Lake in those steamboat days linger in the ids of early settlers even to the present day, and regret often ex- pressed for a pleasure trip on one of the old flat- tomed stern wheel ships that would, and often did, push her pro p on a wharfless beach to deliver a letter, or a bottle to ae early pre-emption holder living on a land claim. The early 1890' s saw a great deal of minii development in the Similkameen and Boundary Country. A hundred ir and six-horse stage and freight teams travelled the sou ;he rn roads out of Penticton, carrying passengers, merchandise md machinery delivered at the dock by the S.S. Aberdeen. Bernar i L squime, realizing the transportation advantages now offered on the Lake, arranged to have property he had acquired on the wa ber front laid out as a townsite. The survey was made by J.P. Bun lea t and J.A. Coryell, 1891, and comprised the half-section pre-ei apt ed by August Gillard in 1863. The original Crown Grant N 3078 for District Lot 139, Osoyoos Division oi Yale District f which Map 462 is a subdivision, was issued to August Gill on May 5th, 1887. Gillard in turn conveyed the said prope Bernard and Leon Lequime March 1st, 1890. Map 462 inal Map of the Townsite of Kelowna and was. deposit on the 13th day of August 1892, originally filed with the Regis at Victoria, and is now m the Kamloops office. M :*• / vS -y 5 r 4 K:|: r; * g-g* 5 of £ « n LA\Jf\£_NC£ A Vc 1 Ogopogo's Vigil Thi. Downsite Avenue i s todc iy on the Mill Creek; ar id on the Manhattan who gave i which ext( Richter S Bernard's brol ;hers and Page 82 bounded on the north where Bay t by Richter Street; on the south by by Abbott Street, the Lake and was further promoted by Mr. Lequime de business street, Bernard Avenue, amboat Landing on the Lake front to n east and west and are named for er, and the old-time neighbours who had helped settle up the Valley. With the exception of Bernard, Cawston and Gaston, all avenues terminated at Ellis Street on the east. Streets ran north and south and commemorated some of the leading men of the country at that time. On the west Abbott Street is named for H.B. Abbott, Civil Engineer and Superintendent of the C.P.R. in B.C., 1887 - 1896, when he retired. This street ran from Mill Creek to the Lake and made a junction with Bernard Avenue where the C.P.R. Freight and Passenger Wharf was first built. Then came the inevitable Water Street which extended north from Mill Creek to a sand beach half a mile distant. Pendozi Street, named for the Pioneer Missionary, started at Mill Creek and continued north for half a mile to butt into undivided acreage. That part of the street between Mill Avenue and the C.P.R, tracks was canalled and the lots returned to acreage about the turn of the century. Why those who should have known better wrote and registered the name "Pendozi" when the reverend gentleman always signed his name "Pandosy" is hard to understand. Next came Ellis Street named for Thomas Ellis, J.P., farmer, stock raiser and trader, Penticton - one of the cattle barons of the range days. Ellis Street, now one of our busiest thoroughfares, also ran from Mill Creek on the south for three- quarters of a mile, or as far as the Exhibition.and Polo Grounds in those days. Richter Street is named for Frank Richter, erstwhile packer for the Hudson's Bay Company and a cattle baron with estate at Keremeos. Richter Street ran a full mile, starting at a post a few yards north of Mill Creek and continuing to where Bay Avenue is today. The Townsite was enclosed by a stake and rider fence to divide it from the farm property of A.B. Knox who ran a large herd of cattle and horses until he sold out in 1902. Knox gave his name to the mountain north of the City and to the rocky point which juts out to the Lake. On completion of was imperative that a name metropolis. Mr. Lequime, h question with neighbours an who had pre-empted the prop be acknowledged in some way to August Gillard's receivi Indians, consideration was for Brown Bear, however, wa white man's continued use. the Townsite, it r the coming all-important e Old Bear Killer, ars before, should cident which led h-touch from the The native name a mouthful for se of Old Ogopogo Vigil August's oft-told tale of that the native name for t they called it, so the new 1892. grown by Georg That year several commercial orcha side the 200 acres in fruit trees set out or. Small lots of ten and fifteen acres were plan subdivision. Bankhead property was laid out acres, and the Pridham place about 15. The tree stock Valley at his Mission Nursery. Harry Chaplin, an experienced orchardis Bowmanville, Ontario, was working for Henry at the sent to the Okanagan to superintend the Earl's pla years later the fruit from these trees found a mar and lumber camps of B. C, the Prairie Provinces, had broken onto the British markets, when two carl packed and exported by Stirling and Pitcairn of Ke Tree stock brought into the Okanagan Va Henry's Nursery in the Fraser Valley were of varie in Eastern Canada and the States at that time. Ma were partial to the variety of fruit growing in th mothers' backyard when they were children, with th that plantings of Northern Spy, Ben Davis, Russets Tompkins - off variety - were worked over or pulle years. Because the nursery stock was not fumigate shipping, aphis and other tree pests were introduc valley, until now, practically free. This was res timers like Father Richard, who proceeded to call foot" to account when he found him dipping the tip young trees.in a concoction of soaked plug tobacco water. "You newcomers bring bad bugs to the count the priest. "At the Mission, if we found one, it with our fingers and we had no Jrouble. \ Nov:, ever green bugs." This was quite true, and the fruit f compelled to make vats and mix their own poison wh on the trees with hand-pumped machines hauled arou or two-wheeled cart. There had been quite a plant fruits and berries which were producing, but was no jam factory. Big interests had built one w nothing to jam, so everybody was out. A trail from Lequime's landing branched "1 Ogopogo's Vigil direction to McDougal' Okanagan Mission. Christian's, and Lequim Page 84 's, and the pi; Another trail branched eastward to the Nicholson .ce, then with a north-easterly turn, travelled about a mile directions. One branch turned north through Dry Valley. The other under Dilworth Mountain Mission Road at Frederi. out, the east road was ; cut for two miles throui nect with the Mission R< on the Smithson map. Tl and it is hard to belie- a two-ton load through spring of the year. Se" hence the Five Bridges, and willow, so de following alo ng the Cemetery bench and , crossed i [ill Creek and joined the ck Brent's th a Townsite laid . A right-of-way was s Mill Creek to con- rked College Street by the highway today ve it took ood fo ur-horse team to pull the mud ale >ng this r ight-of-way in the veral cros sing s of U ill Creek were made; and these were bord ered with bush, alder it was impossible to ride a hors rough, There was another landing a few miles south where the Gyro Park is, which was known as Priests' Wharf; and yet another at Manhattan Point with a feed and grain warehouse alongside. This was the private property of A.B. Knox who had corrals for livestock erected under the present City Reservoir. Ink was hardly dry on plans drawn a Townsite, when building operations were well quarters. Almost before the lumber turned ou Sawmill had a chance to season, it was being buildings. Many people from the outside who town were at work as soon as they landed. Wm trade as mason as he laid chimney brick and s those who could saw a board and drive a nail building. Lequime's General Store had a Publi by an outside stairway. This hall served as room, and was used for divine services by the ters for the first few months of the town's e tion of the Lake View Hotel was well under wa; are told by those who worked on the building, in Block 12, faced west, on the corner of Law with a gallery and verandah running its full dormer windows in the third floor. The Lake rooms, a commodious dining-room and a large b etor and ope id . elowna all ool Protestant Minis- istence. Construe- in March 1892, we The hotel, built ence and Abbott, ength, and four Lew had 28 bed- r. Archie pre buildi: la ■ contracto; promil he C.F on th for Wm. Crole of Vernon, snt truetion. The he Post Office warehouse and only facing office, of Bernard Aver me within a hundred yards of Lequime's Sawmill. All that ground, Block 51, between Water Street and the Lake bordering Bernard Avenue on the north provided a lumber yard for the mill site. Buildings in Block 13 beside Lequime's store soon included a Farm Implement Warehouse, a butcher shop, and the Poet and Author, Charles Mair's store. Beyond that several houses and shacks were erected for business men and workers further along the Avenue in Blocks 14 and 15. One or two Chinese houses and a store were built in the west end of Eli Avenue, south side, backing up on the Creek and into the heavy bush bordering the Townsite before a ditch was cut to carry the water as it does today. The east end of Eli Avenue was a residential section with three or four good homes. Leon Lequime had built a Livery Feed and Sales Stable on a high piece of ground on Lawrence Avenue, Block 10, across and back of the Lake View Hotel. Here he took care of the land transportation of that day, both passenger and freight traffic. Saddle horses, driving horses and stage teams were cared for and supplied for use of the general public, as well as freight teams that hauled heavy loads of sand, gravel or lumber. At that time in the history of Kelowna all land transportation depended on horse flesh. Oxen or mules were not used here. All vehicular traffic observed the English rule of the road and passed on the right. North of Bernard Avenue, between Ellis and Richter, land was surveyed Into four, eight and twelve acre parcels which were soon under cultivation and worked as vegetable and small fruit farms and pasturage. Irrigation water was supplied from Mill Creek through an open ditch which ran across the Pridham and Knox properties where Glenn Avenue is today. It was then turned North at Richter Street, to be distributed as far as the Exhibition Grounds in a raised earth ditch, three feet above the surrounding land in places, to irrigate a variety of ground crops including tobacco. About this time Mr. D.W. Sutherland, who had visited the Okanagan in 1891, came to Kelowna, February 18th, 1892, and engaged as teacher for our first school, which assembled in Lequime'; Hall until a school house was built. Kelowna's first Public School was built on Mill Avenue North, Block 19, Map 462. It was a one-room structure 24 x 32 feet, which could accommodate some 35 pupils. Mr. H.W. Raymer had the contract to build, and the furnishings, desks, benches, blackboards, etc. were hand made on the job. The room was heated by a wood stove where mischievous scholars thawing frozen ink bottles on a winter day splattered the walls to the vexation of the teacher. In 1892 a trek of American Frontier families took place when half a dozen or more covered wagons rolled through the moun- \ r i Ogopogo' Vigil Page tains to the Okanagan Lake Country and the new town of Kelowna. They were driven by Missourians who had homesteaded in Idaho in the 1880's and after proving up on their claims, were inspired again to try their fortunes in another country. Coming to the end of the trail at Penticton, the wagons and livestock were transported by the S.S. Aberdeen to Kelowna, where the heads of the families staked rural land claims on the fringe of Mission Valley settlement at Black Mountain and the head of Mill Creek. It is told that a Chee Chahko "rawncher" from down in the Valley, afflicted with an ultra-Oxford accent, was walking across a barnyard with one of these Missourians, when the latter stepped off the path to kick a large black sow stretched out taking her ease in the shade of a willow bunch. "Ah, by Jove, I say, old boy," exclaimed the Remittance man, "that's not sporting, don't you know, kicking the poor creature when it was stretched out sleeping. I say, by Jove, it's not cricket." "I allers kick a hog," countered the Mountain Man, "gist that away, ifen they ain'ta gitten inter mischief, they's gist a-comin' out of it, so I allers kick a hog." And so our country developed in Ideas and Culture. The winter of 1892-3 was extremely cold and long. Cattle men suffered severe losses. Ranges and meadov stocked at normal times, so when a mild November and dissolved into sub-zero temperatures at the turn of 1 winter feed was soon exhausted. Week after week the in the north and by March hay, at any distant haul, v at $100.00 per ton, v/ith all strawstacks in the Valle up. By April hundreds of cattle were dead from stan cold. Others were so weak they had to be helped to j in the morning before they could feed. Cowboys, one horns and one at the tail, had to jump for their hors instant a critter was helped to its feet, because the range cattle would attack a man on foot even if it we last lunge. so thick on the Lake between Westside avlly loaded log sleighs drawn by horses Out from the wharf, as late as the first eleven inches thick were cut for summer be-house. Tree plantings of the two ly affected by the cold winter and some ere over- cleaned Lon and Lr feet t the s the e wild their Ice was forme d and K elowna it ca rried h to th e Kelowna Sa wmill week in April, ic e bloc use, and soon fil previous seasons young orchards we re wii Kelowna Post with ?homas Spenc Novem blished February 1st, 1893, h position he held until photograph shows a w and a door facing Bernard st Office", surmounted by is a billboard advertising Ogopogo's Vigil page 87 in large letters "Town Lots". "Twenty acre Blocks, Fruit, Hops, Dairy, Farm Lands, For Sale. Apply Thos. Spence." Another small notice attached to the left hand side of the door reads, "Town lots, Fruit and Farm Lands." Spence was followed as Postmaster by a Mr. McDonald who held office until May 1st, 1895. Leon Lequime was then appointed to the position which he held for eleven months. Mr. E.R. Bailey was installed as Postmaster April 1st, 1896, and the Office was moved to his building in the centre of Block 13, facing Bernard Avenue. When the original Office building was moved further ea'st to Block 14, it became the Provincial Government Public Works Office and Court House. Besides the Post Office Mr. Bailey's building contained a butcher shop, and had dwelling quarters above. Mail was brought in by both stage and boat. The office was moved in Bernard Avenue twice before we had the present building, and Mr. Bailey was succeeded by his son, E.R. Bailey, Jr., the present incumbent, August 1, 1933. Fred Barns and Dan Nicholson built the Benvoulin Hotel on the Mission Road in 1893. Mr. Nicholson was proprietor, and had a small feed stable which, we are told, was painted with a yellow ochre found some miles up Mission Creek and mixed with oil. The hotel, stable, general store and blacksmith shop at Benvoulin served the neighbourhood for some fifteen years before the site of the hamlet was abandoned because of the ever-growing City of Kelowna, which could give better service and values. Today there is little or nothing to show for the dreams and ambitions entertained by the pioneers of the last century — either at Benvoulin, Lequime's or the Mission. Each nucleus of settlement had in its turn taken part in our development. Mr.' McQueen, a blacksmith by trade, came to Kelowna in 1893, and took over a shop just built by Leon Lequime. The blacksmith shop was originally.on the northwest corner of Bernard and on Water Street, Block 17, Map 462. It was moved in 1893 some hundred feet further east to a slough lot, which had been filled with stones and clay to make a foundation for the building. Living quarters for the blacksmith and his family were provided for in the second story. The corner lot was also built up with slabs and gravel and used as a yard for wagons, plows, harrows, etc., that were brought in for repair, as well as a fireplace and block for shrinking iron tires on wagon and buggy wheels. Water Street at this point was for years a menace to any teamster who tried to drive through the slough onto Bernard Avenue. Even the stage pulling out for Vernon ten years later bogged down, and half the business men in town came to its rescue after the horses had been unhitched. The Queen's birthday was celebrated in Kelowna that year when Athletic Sports, together with horse racing, both running and harness events, were organized for the first time for the 24th of May, 1893. The racing took place on a kite-shaped track Ogopogo's Vigil Page 88 ide of Bernard Avenue in the centre ard about 300 yards. Then with a headed back down a straightaway home starting point. The main event of that started on the n of Block 17, to sweep half circle to the le. stretch to a finish a the day was a running race of all Valley horses and local jockeys. This feature was won by C.A.S. Atwood's entry with young Dick Blackburn up. A matched race between a Vernon and a Kelowna horse was also run, the owner of the winning nag to keep both animals. When the Kelowna horse won the chap from Vernon hired his lost mount from its new owner for $4.00 to carry him back home. About this time Mr. David Lloyd-Jone at Trout Creek and, coming to Kelowna, formed with Bernard Lequime in the Kelowna Sawmill Co industry over which he presided for half a cen Jones procured an acre of land from A.B. Knox, his first home at the corner of Richter and Be from a lot A.B. Knox had donated to the Presby built in 1897 by J.M. Curts and replaced by th United Church 1909, These were the first two erected east of Richter Street. sold hi; partners! any Limi holding hip ted, an Lloyd- built ~A-~P: For fellowship and rotestant followings in the their church work and servic broke apart to form their owi Methodist Church was dedicate 1903. The building was bougl his farm property at Benvoul: mile further north on the Mission frame church just north of Dry Cr< several years. It was again move< present school when that centre w; building burned down some years 1; iated as the first minister, 1903, The Methodists of Kelo built their first church on the Pendozi and Lawrence. Rev. Geo. as a probationer in the early da Methodist Minister stationed at ] built in 1903 had seating capaci Parsonage was added in 1905. development of the town irom tne east. On the right is a two-stor the sign "Lequime Bros. & Co." I its outside stairway to the Publi meetings, concerts and religious vacant lot, and Rey and Donal's o: nomic reasons, the various ley were more or less united in but as population increased they lected groups. Mount View y the Rev. J.H. Wright of Vernon, rom Charles Mair and moved from o the farm of John Dilworth a n Road. They placed the little reek, where it remained for ed to Rutland north of the was established in 1906. The ter. Rev. J.P. Hicks offic- .thwest corner ;mselves and of Block 14, > in the district d 1894, shows the ott Street looking yi£il Page 89 c an Church , 24' x 60', wj th ted on the northea 3t 1 19. Several year ; J at< in 1 t he chu rch bel L, us 2d to g ir case of a fi] "e, o] om c }U6 int th em with some ne ws Warehouse, then another vacant lot, and a two-storey building occupied by E.R. Bailey. Next was Charles Mair's General Store, now the City Park Restaurant on Harvey and Abbott with vacancies on each side, and last, a building under construction known as The Raymer's Block occupied the corner of Bernard Avenue and Water Street, Block 13. It consisted of a large store with an inside stairway to a public hall overhead. In the distance a quarter of a mile away two one-storey dwellings with cottage roofs make up the southside of Bernard Avenue, while the north- side displayed water holes, and one house some distance beyond the present Post Office built for Mr. E. Weddell. It must have been a public holiday when the photo was taken, as some 30 or 40 people are in evidence on the street at a distance. Later in the year an Angl a vestibule and vestry complete was corner of Pendozi and Mill Avenue, ! a belfry was added to the edifice, call people to worship, was also rung times to assemble the townsfolk ' of national importance. The Rev. Thomas Green, parish priest, travelled from Penticton each month to officiate until 1897 when he moved to Kelowna with his family to make his home. Our first Anglican minister, like so many of Kelowna's splendid citizens who helped to develop the country, carried on his parochial work with devotion and zeal. The experiment of commercial hop growing was not very successful. Many small yards of five acres or so were laid out on these new subdivisions, only to be condemned by experts who prophesied a failure because of some root fungus which attacked the plants the first year. So the fields were plowed up and put to other uses. Yet to the present day, fifty years later, remnants of the industry may be seen here and there where survivors of those early plantings continue to grow and drape a fence along a roadside with long and lusty tendrils loaded with hops. Harvey Watson, who arrived in the Valley from Toronto to work with his brother, Jesse, on their Alkali Lake property at the north end of Dry Valley, decided he would like an occupation more interesting than cutting Jackpine and building fences, so, brushing up on his knowledge of the three R's, Harvey drove with several other young people from Okanagan Mission to Kamloops, and wrote successfully on an examination for a school teacher's certificate, 1894. Then at the request of ranch families south of Mission Creek he helped organize the Mission School District, with the result that fifteen or sixteen boys and girls, including Casorsos, Smalls, Crawfords, Gillards, Smiths, Berards and others gathered at a log house built by Frank Bovette for Fred Gillard beside the trail which extended by way of the Swamp Road, with rimental tree illard, Smith ; a public school in 1895. The by Scho George The affairs of the distri Trustees, Messrs. Jos. Ch ents a as the self. with ability rown and donatec land from his Clov pose. was occupied the sai ?on, who was a larg iber of t he Provincial Parli 1 distric t was changed to El 100I was built in t alongsj leading up over the It was Praithcrs, McClure fomilie ildren walked or ro educat: I man of the neighb childre was on t le run. He had bee and wa. mted by the Sheriff. The y in the vicinity of the schcolhouse, k: shared th< sir lunc'.. es with him, but wh constat le and otlie rs, they pleyed dur1 even^u. .11; j got awa y into the hills an reachec time. Butts to s, Rices, de miles or that pur- time after lose by, he ated by the r outlaw hero mountain trails adition at that Geo. R.E. Wei and a compani their boat, their overtur Welby was a s shore and obt distress, who a rough sea, evidently was beach, and dro) in the Cemetery rece and creek where a hi is said to be the fi ed craft tow; rong swimmer in a boat to didn't swim I 1th the ware: seized with ; in a f ei hill grave earlier Ogopogo's Vigil Page 91 burial took place in the hill beside this, when a logger named Coons met with a fatal accident across the Lake and died in the Lake View Hotel, 1892. Also, a settler named Boulder from June Springs was killed by a falling tree, while road gangs were clearing the straight highway, "College Street", East of Five Bridges. That was the beginning of the present Kelowna Cemetery Our first doctor, Benjamin DeFurlong Boyce, arrived in Kelowna 1894. Dr. Boyce had been practicing his profession at Fairview, B. C., since 1892, employed by the Strathyer Mining Company. When that gold camp suspended operations in May, two years later, the Doctor came north to the Lake Country, and Kelowna, to make a new start. Here he attended to the ills of the settlers and Indians far and wide. At first journeys taken to visit a patient were made on horseback over pack trails to distant cabins, and in a two-wheeled cart when the semblance of a road allowed. So Cyclone, a tall raw-boned chestnut gelding, with the Doctor in the saddle and a satchel lashed to the cantle, would be met with in lonely places at outlandish hours. Visits to his patients living on the Westside of the Lake were accomplished by rowboat, then by saddle horse, brought to Siwash Point by the sick person's friends or relatives. Having made his call, the Doctor would return to the beach and row across the Lake to Kelowna. This was sometimes done in very unfavourable weather, but the good Doctor never shirked what he considered to be his duty, and it was due to his untiring efforts that our first Hospital was built in 1907. Dr. Boyce lived to see Kelowna grow, almost to his expectations, and was loved, admired and respected by thousands. He, in turn, claimed, "I love the old ladies, young children, Indians, Chinamen and dogs." Kelowna lost one of her finest' citizens in his passing, October, 1944. COMMERCIAL AND SOCIAL CHAPTER X In the early 1890's times were hard, with a very limited market available for farm produce such as women and children were responsible for. Some small farms were planted out to vegetables, berries and small fruit. Larger places had milch cows, flocks of turkeys, ducks and chickens. They had butter, eggs and poultry to sell or trade for groceries, etc., to the local storekeeper, who, in turn, had to find a market on the outside. The family who could supply the hotel, or better still, the S.S. Aberdeen larder, was indeed fortunate, even when they had to wait sixty days for payment, while their bill went through the C.P.R. books in the usual way. It was cash eventually, perhaps 8 or 100 a dozen for eggs; and 150 per lb. for butter, and corresponding values for fresh milk and vegetables. Conditions were bad, practically no money in the Mission Valley and no market for the produce of the newly planted small farms, while over in the mining country around Slocan Lake things were booming. The Kbotenay Country which imported its entire food supply could easily absorb all our surplus produce. So what could farmers and ranchers do to get their crops to that market, was the question of the time. A meeting was called at Benvoulin Schoolhouse by Alf Postill to discuss this problem. That day, in the fall of 1893, the first Co-operative Association to be formed in the Okanagan Valley was brought into being. A collection was taken up amounting to $160.00 to defray expenses for four delegates to visit Sandon and arrange for a market, if possible. The delegates were Howard Dell, Mark Howard, John Casorso, and R.S. Hall. Armed with $40.00 each, and authority to do business, these Mission Valley farmers travelled into the Slocan Country by way of Revelstoke and the Arrow Lakes. Arriving in Sandon, they rented a small 10' x 12' log cabin at $10.00 per month and stowed away their baggage while they had a look around and decided where to locate a warehouse, if that were possible. The C.P.R. was building into Sandon at the time, and Superintendent Marpole's special train was on the track. Mr. Hall introduced himself to Mr. Marpole and explained that he and his company represented a group of farmers in the Okanagan Valley who were anxious to get into this market. They wanted a warehouse on C.P.R. tracks, as that was the only way of shipping from Kelowna. At a second interview the delegates were asked if they had selected a suitable place for their warehouse reauirements. They pointed out a location which would suit their purpose, but were told it had been chosen for station buildings. Had they a second choice? They had. It was across Ogopogo's Vigil Page 93 a ravine. This was granted and the site proved very satisfactory. With the railroad siding on one hand, and the road to the mines on the other, these Okanagan Mission farmers dug a cellar 20' x 60' and traded vegetables and horse feed for lumber. Here they erected a feed house over the cellar and started business. Bob Hall was left in charge, while Mr. E.R, Bailey acted as Secretary, and attended to the shipping of fruit, vegetables, oats and hay at the Kelowna end. At Kelowna a warehouse was built on the lakeshore beside the C.P.R. wharf, Block 51. This packing house with vegetable cellar underneath and a smokehouse alongside was later operated by the Kelowna Shippers Union until 1900, when Stirling and Pitcairn took over the assets of that company and used the upper part of the building for their Fruit Packing Plant. The first exhibition of farm products of the Okanagan Mission Valley district was displayed in this building in the fall of 1896. Hogs grown in large numbers by the dry farmers in the vicinity of Kelowna were marketed on the hoof and slaughtered at the "Pigaloo" on the lake front, where the present power house now stands. The pork when dressed was processed into hams and bacon, dry-salted in large vats and eventually smoked with birch wood and hung to cure in the basement of the packing house. This local product was marketed successfully at the mines and lumber camps throughout the country. Captain Nicols, whose home was at the east end of Eli Avenue, was in charge of this meat packing plant, which operated for several years, eliminating to a great extent the long overland drives necessarily made by the swine herds in the past decade, and giving employment to several people. About this stage in our development, 1894, John Collins arrived from England with capital to invest in a new country. Louis Holman, an American from Wisconsin, with a knowledge of tobacco culture, had come into the Valley earlier. Getting together, these men started a plantation at the Mission across the road from Lequime's blacksmith shop and beside the mill. A successful crop was harvested and the following year, C.S. Smith, who had arrived in the Okanagan from the West Indies, made further contribution to the tobacco plantation experiment, when he interested himself by investing his money in the industry. That year more ground was planted with the result that sufficient tobacco leaf was grown and cured to warrant a small cigar factory, which operated for several years. Here and there around the Mission tobacco barns were built to house the green leaf harvested in early September. There the leafed stalks were left to ?— dry be handled and stripped. This gave winter work to those in need of employment, and for some years the tobacco industry looked as though it would become the main business of the Mission Valley. 1 r Ogcp cpogo's Vigil as the crop of tobacco leaf had been cured strip into hands. It took three grades and varieties o to build a good cigar - a core, a filler, and the of which were produced and processed in the field around Kelowna. Mission planters claimed there w in this soil essential for the production of good and the manufacturers produced a smoke which, whe: rolled and seasoned, was a delight to the connois Havana, and Sumatra leaf grew well and worked up Extracted from an advertisement issued are the following observations: "The K.S.U. is t tent the offspring of an older association workin plans founded in 1895, for the purpose of handlin farm and garden produce under the guidance of Mes and Crozier. After a time it was found desirable gain more favourable shipping terms, and to meet demands in the Kootcnay for farm produce, to roor on a different system; the result - incorporation 1896, with a capital in 1883 ol $3,000.00. The d shareholders -are all men deeply interested in the the district, since they are either property hoi. or merchants. The Managing Director, Mr. C.S. Sm Secretary, Mr. C.A.S. Atwood, are thorough and up men, whose whole time and attention are given to of the Company." The foU ov.-i ag statement wag C.S. Smith at that ti ie, "The la -gel during the six mor ths ending Marc i- 1 actually paid out in the purchase Ci the erection of ws reh cuses, etc., pro which the company was formed has ' culation of this r one / is found to ad district; and the est ablishmeiit o: packing and cigar- rial: ing must add Valley. The latte r b usiness has Company under the sup Tobacco growing ws In this year he er ter who thoroughly unc quality of the lea Collins to plant e result was better ts, Messrs. Collins ar nity for introducing ar derably to the monetary d Holman deserve Shippers Un day in Bloc substantial ., with cigar .2, Plan 462, Lequime' per day' board burned down with consider and finished lumber was cu mining camps of Camp MacKe: built a few yards further operated for six years, un in 1906. Again it.was mov where the new Civic Centre A booklet, ornam Bear's head in a circle, w Agricultural and Trades As Valley, 1898, and announce 1894 to of vital imporl read, and disci degrees, the A< In the following year of 1895 Mr. tion of the first Shippers Union produce. This, in its turn, was prosperous Kelowna Shippers Unior made. It will thus be seen that marked degree the origin and deve factory condition. Messrs. Rayme President; and Watson, Secretary, under whose guidance the society last venture is to purchase land north of Gaston Avenue - for the ings, etc., which will be ready 1 Exhibition of the resources of tr control of the A. & T.A., which, respulnsible for the highly credii rtments. ty of 28,00 Grizzly he sion med in cultural Mission iley, exhibition ground with field for lacr football and baseball. It was also Another source of enterta of Mr. E.R. Bailey, who had charge Library", which had on its shelves history, biography and fiction. Rev. Father Carion was in in 1896, when that property was sol the last of the farmer priests to o adjoining lands. Some 2,000 acres the forty years of Oblate Managemen five hundred cattle and about thirt raised for use on the ranch. Some grown and fed on the farm. Wheat, cultivated for the use of the Missi supplied other local needs. Usual! attached to the place as Superinten responsible for the care of the sto help needed for the different seaso; were usually required for haying an When Father Eumilin came brought-with him his mother and sis or overseer, for the estate. Fr. E and Nicholson property of 80 acres, **'*«•«« family, and added this to t barn built by Contractor Ra; in charge of this larger ve: was grown there for several i Holman, who had the respon Page 96 r polo practice. es under the directioi Kelowna Lending upply of works of 33, and through supported milin bought a block now o e farm. Here >d by i had tobacco was put Tobacco of Loui, curing. d Mr. John Casorso tobacco culture. nder the direction of the gradin nd The cigar leaf when d as sold in Kelowna and-Vernon, f good grade and quality. The full complement of farm equip ize, and had produced good cro; he immediate vicinity of Missi. ences had been erected over th: ibid tc not a f peop le time ong Ranc is sold to exce pti m of th e S bv .' ohn Casorso the 0.M brand Lane Company so $35,000, ock, whie the bought Ogop il Helowna's popul altogether by migration i it seems. In 1894 the f: was a son to Mr. and Mrs This event was followed i daughter at the home of ] child, Edith, and she wa Edith is still with us a' On the south s: Street to Pendozi Street a six-foot plank walk, wl scales, where loads of h Page 97 ally increasing, and n of the world, either, He was called Bernard. driveway which led to the rear. There the family driving horse and buggy, whi and icehouse occupied space near the ki pump, or a drive point and pump, provid depth. Gravelled paths would lead from well clipped lawns and brilliant flower ldents were already taking a pride in ti four-plank sidewalk some of the homes b and a mounting block — appointments ne where so many equestrians took their pi driving a buggy. The last of these con to be used stood in front of the Doctor or two other residences. The "mounting block" was made cutting steps, about three in number, 1 which was set on end to stand about 30 rendered give the fould it addle, o ient "horse blocks" the Rectory, and one log of wood, gh. This, wh ding habit to the horn of as le d along- >e would .so often to graze and nib lots. This help under control at more fastidious along th-3 plank Klondike of our re d clear country oamed i the ranges of that beef 1 the rough mded, driven 5 were ! for 3ir tr i if they left to the investment asportation Ogopogo's Vigil hands and cowboys to make a few dolls useless cayuse bands which occupied j could use. Some of the wild horses 1 country back of Squally Point were re out of the Valley and sold for pack i small horses could carry 150 pounds t survived one or two trips before the] bleach on the "Trail of '98", they wo which would be about $5.00 per head, to the scene of operations. Many of these poor creatures were so exhausted by the time they were run down and roped, that whe the roundup was over, they were despatched on the spot. Others with more stamina, and perhaps caught with less exertion, were shipped out, but they must have been a sorry lot of cayuses when they reached their destination. The reception and welcome home of two Boer war veterans took place February 1901, when Sergeant William Brent, a native son, and Cecil Nicholson, who had served with the Strath cona Horse, returned to Kelowna from Africa. Our town people had erected an arch for the occasion, which they decorated and trimmed With cedar boughs, flags and bunting. The Arch was set up on Bernard Avenue in front of Lequime's Store. When the Aberdeen arrived at the dock all the available inhabitants of the town and district were there to meet it. First, the Reception Committee, represented by D.W. Sutherland, presented each returned man with a Key to the City. The Key, an iron bar two feet long with a turned handle at one end, and a three by four inch tongue at the other, had been made by McQueen, the blacksmith, for the occasion. Then Billy and Cecil were followed along the memory remains with doubt the Lake View and evening. Cecil Nic: singer by professioi They lived near the Bert Hall and Harol cona Horse, but wer Alt eked, rling are- box car first at Kelowna north as Duck Lake. Much of the pack and the few boxes delivered to Kelown the Aberdeen and transferred to the L one of the Railway men who witnessed trip, as the steamer delivered a few took two weeks to assemble this first That was the beginning of a Valley and the Province of British Co later yielded approximately 9,000,000 estimated 25,000 acres; aggregating i Dollars. in 1900-1, and Ch is packing foreman 1902 pping of the first feed two cars of ap was an experimenta those responsible. Glasgow after a loi whl ch was the better i Lawson and . corner of Bernard Avei pla ce for local soft ing , where Ernest Clei final days of the i a home made lidd chet or a nail st'r done by one persor tru ndled them across 1 hand barrow, to ship t the market absorbed ti By 1904 WilJ cha rge of the packing Ogopogo's Vigil page 100 Horses hitched to farm wagons, equipped with two and three ton tiva ing where irrigation was availa It was not all work f They enjoyed sports as well. S Bankhead and the Creek mouth, w by the young folks much more th winters were colder and the sea the production of concerts and Aunt", filled the winter evenin the stage. Lacrosse was the sui between Kelowna, Vernon and Arm throughout the season. Cricket Country men, and polo was succe could afford the time and ponie A brass band under th would break from th course in 52 or .53, bunch. This caused knew all the horses friends, as though Derby. Of course f their adherents as Land o' Cakes" was on the west side of Canadians used in si weighted with iron; submerged in the mu thaw and overflow ti been carelessly lef was a "Turkey manship with turkey for hi the person wh inch circular while the rif two-inch bull Page 101 one side, and ad- e contest, of the bulls et at the the match Ogopogo's Vigil placed his 30-30 bullet In the bullseye a little to i While the spectators were congratulating Mr. Weddell miring his shot, Joe Brent, who was runner-up in the picked up a carpet tack and stuck it in the c< eye, boasting he could drive it through with same distance. This he did with one shot, wii and the turkey. Unfortunately for some of our early citizens too mue time was wasted at cards, such as poker, blackjack, and other games of chance. Those who became gamblers, in several cases, lost all they had. A poker game was in progress almost any time a fello wished to sit in at the old Lake View, with a tinhorn called Tommy, who was always ready to play — morning, afternoon or evening. It was during one morning session that the local minister walked in on the gong and said, "Boys, I want your attention for a moment." The game stopped as the players listened respectfully to the preacher, as he told them of an accident that had occurred farther up the Valley. A stump rancher, not in very good financial circumstances, had broken a leg. He had a wife and children, and as the family depended on his wages earned in the hay fields, they were going to be in poor shape to go into the winter, and would need some assistance. "So," continued the parson, "I am out to collect some money for their benefit and thought this would be a good place to start the contributions." The poker they listened with : had just been dealt table. The tinhorn occasion and, pickir take the whole pot - minister accepted tt took his leave as tt another game. Then tricks ever played < player. "You are a money the way you dc have lifted the jaci "I won't i confessed the tinhoi the old boy never fc year, because he hac the parson with the Heavy snov discomfort in 1903, creeks to the"Lake. pla; king the boys, rds to commence at my cards," after, "but f caused considerable ater rushed down our was no control of cr> gopo Vigil oday; no dams to hoi late summer when ere floods roaring down Mi nvoulin school house, . to inundate a great p head waters as there is irrigation water for the May and June saw- break the bank ab Creek come rushin the City of Kelowna. To make matt. Okanagan River at Penticton was ch. other debris until the Lake was ra: high level. So, with high lake le' Kelowna was under water in many pi; floated the three-plank sidewalk 01 Lake water reached into the busine 17 and 18, and most of the parklan the Creek on Pendozi Street water mile or more. On Abbott Street an. Avenue raised sidewalks reached fr. to the Lake View Hotel where the L; to Water Street it was possible to along the store fronts, or tie up : Block 12, Those who stepped off tl to the knee in water, as was the ci Creek water flowed through the Kno: many acres of land west of Richter to the Lake, There was a repetiti. but not quite as bad. Public pres Victoria had the mouth of the Okan; a freer runoff. Many bridges had 1 came to town over a trail along th. Cattle ranching was stii: Valley at the turn of the Century, hundred to two and three thousands and fed in the fenced-in meadows di of the larger cattle men to break ] Knox had sold an acre of land in II north corner of the Bernard Avenue property. The opposite corner was Church, which was, like the Benvou! by the Guelph organization, Knox was a good rancher 1 and a hundred or more horses, when near Kelowna to a syndicate consis- DeHart, James Harvey of Indian Hea< Sutherland of Kelowna, for $75,000, into lots ranging in size from one 120 foot depth on Bernard Avenue, further back, with Ethel Street rui the subdivision, north and south. 640 acres of land surveyed into lo- at reasonable prices by newcomers j some of whom thought it a nice pla< d back and upr f Mill is now .alf a nard try in our eria stered ttle, r r friox then so in the Nicol ed quite a rich man. Many new home ate the ever-in dozen dwelling s were built creasing popi y appearance of rved the reside hurch, or go vi to light the wa in the dark. and herd of that time he following yea pulation of the tow Bernard Lequime, who 1 time, sold their 6,743 acres to for $65,000 on the 14th of Marcl Douglas Lake Cattle Company bou excepting fifty cows with calf ) horses were sold to Mr. John Bu who took East with him a little which had freighted over Hope M. mule had been sold off the rand his fondness for the Okanagan, taken — Fraser Valley, Cariboo Kootenay — he "hightailed" it : leaving his new owner miles beh was breaking prairie sod in a f Alberta. At that time Lequime' burned on the left shoulder of , so long familiar to stock men I from the range. That year the townsit section of the Lequime property Street, extending to the east a; various sized lots, mostly acre; tended as it is today. A bridg. the great cottonwood trees whici felled to build a corduroy road at that time was covered with w. corner of Park and , Elliott's cottage. oley e ttle, Creek, mpany. served until a lar corner of Richter Okanagan Mission Post served the settlers at the old its present position on the laki Mission Creek. A return wire strung Stirling and PItcairn's Packing at each end, was followed by a Dr. Boyce's home and P.B. Willi 12. D.W. Crowley Company Limit their butcher shop, stables and residences. The following year these several lines at a home-m watch repair shop in Block 14, ; Mamie McCurdy officiated as our that new central. Two or three in the course of time. Then fi his switchboard and goodwill, t and phones, to the Okanagan Tel formed. H.B.D. Lyson had a bo north of the Sawmill, where he sailing craft. It was he who o vehicle -. On the we landing place for tl ireatened to .cairn's Pack ignited by s n Kelowna ci amme of plan- Events su rowing races in hom s flatbottomed boats held the attention of men, women and children during the afternoon. The most ex- remittance man, walked out on the extreme stern of the big boat Ogopogo's Vigil and after drawing the attention top of the great paddle wheel cc boots on. In the early evening between Billy Newman and Marshal in the men's bathing house. The Lequime's storehouse and stood c west of the present promenade er] where the hulk of the old S.S. f As dusk fell, the sporting fratd which was lighted by a couple of interested onlookers, and the ha the fray without any preliminari menced to belt one another with stopped by friends and supporter and two seconds were appointed, earnest, when the cry of "fire, assembly who rushed out into the Ing through the night. Everybod the fire until Lequime's store v, galvanized buckets and tin pails fighters, who formed a bucket br filled pail after pail of water hand to hand by the chain of vol was splashed on the flames. Aft was quenched with only slight da freight sheds. A fire menace such as who had their life savings inves but buckets and manpowerI It wc men bargained for the Old San Fr which had seen service in Califc come north from one frontier toy in Vernon, and was again out of recently installed. A subscript in Kelowna who were most interes fire engine with 400 feet of 3g suction intake was purchased frd ed from the clothes and boxing match o those ection 1 run up Bernard Avenue ing w initi Station Agent Waybill in hi; it back, the : that the town; true tion a fei ever was paid obtained Augus r Ogopogo's Vigil President. The the provisions of the Benevolent Societies A Acts which name nnd objects are as follows: 1. The intended corporation name of the Soc Kelowna Club". 2. The objects of the society are social in helpfulness, mental and moral improvemen creation and the promotion of good fellc 3. The names of those who are to be the fir managing officers are J.L. Pridhara, C.S. H.W. Raymer, H.S. Rose, D.Vv. Sutherland, G.W. Mappen, A.H. Crichton, who may from appoint a President, a Vice-President an Treasurer, and they shall hold office un Meeting of the Society, which shall be c from the date hereof, to elect new trust officers, and the retiring Trustees or U shall be eligible for re-election. The.successors of the said Trustee Officers shall be elected at the times and i vided by the bylaws of the Society. The Soc common seal of such design as may be chosen or Managing Officers. In testimony, whereof signed this presents this twelfth day of Aug Signed in the presence of Walter R. Pooley, Pro. B.C. Filed in duplicate the 30th day of S.Y. Wootten Registrar General." The Club began with a room on the K.S.U. building, which was furnished as a re desk and table for writing and a few easy ch Here the Club remained until the present loc Avenue between Pendozi and Ellis was selecte building erected, with lawn tennis courts an ■as time progressed. School page an Decembe. 1904, had ,. Conklin by unanimous Dilworth, stated that, in t school building is totally health of the children atte Motion was carried. Moved Hardy that in the opinion o absolutely necessary and we one. Carried. It was also request the teacher to keep Voters present at the Meeti Conkling, Geo. E. Boyer, Jo T.G. Spear, I. Mawhiney Jr. and W.A. Peterman. So the little ] as a school for thirty ye before that. It was demc structure and is now almc When the Coroiic in Kelowna in 1937 one oi represented the first set with some of the original building. When.the old ] the best shakes were pile Thirty years later some i What became of John Conlin, C Jas. E. Lyttle E.R. Conkling, Truste doing s celebrated ry parade t was roofed Trustees from time t, French, Scottish and deliberating English Public ities exchanged " . Huron ntin the perplate, hool finances Ogopogo's July 6, 1909. worth one hundre. in those days. was among the many tains for an easier edited country news; Manitoba and on vis trade as printer an. the "Kelowna Clario: August 14, 1904. I on a gasoline drive the Kelowna Clarion and week-old news, printed weekly arri to allow the other town nev G.C. Ro: Courier, e took over the lished bank! connections ult that sue] for the A previous $<. rfa*\c\«A fc-crbw-ft-fc. pwf*^ j imn edial dit ches Thi lar ds, v hich v as fina. lrr on Company. Starvation 1 by 1905 as Drj Valley ths t di£ trict and wer owners by improvin skirting the western side Murray' s 160 acres and Jo] Gordon operated 640 with Eckelsons' 480 at the nor 160, which took in McKay ] James Murray cultivated 4 had an 80-acre strip betw. at the southern end of th. This great expai there were men in the com what irrigation would ace Eastern families who wish establish themselves wher comfortable life. So aga: and others interesting th. system for Dry Valley. A' Creek, hoping to conserve Mission mo secured on all the swampers spent two . by Beaver Lake. On they met one of the in to stake the coui by prior right. Th. Lands at Victoria r. ey to land ' was discus Ogopogo' prize of $100.00 for a more s\ii gated valley. The John Morriso as Glenmore at an earlier date, name "Glenmore". Among the sev names for the little valley was lady who resided on Ethel Stree also suggested the name "Glenmo prize was divided, each lady ge There were times when sidered and accomplished in a m have just recounted, if you can oldtimer who had inherited the Three or four dry far at the home of one of the numbe of bringing water down to their During the evening several bott sumed, and the story is that af had the whole scheme planned, a] bottle, the water would have be morning. The Charter of Incorp is dated May 4, 1905. This was incorporation presented to the by some 229 qualified voters. of Kelowna wisely considered th gain if self-controlled. The C should consist of a Mayor and f these offices to be held at the at 12 o'clock noon and the poll E.W. Wilkinson being appointed to the Minute Book, the first m The new Coun Schoolhouse on the 20t were Mayor H.W. Raymer C.S. Smith, D.W. Suthe office and qualificati Health, l Elliott Moved by council! e following committees Lloyd-Jones and Elliott; Works, Lloyd-Jones, nd and Smit ollows: . Council shall appoint a Clerk, t the said off! of $300.00. That the ,000.00. held by one person at rnish bond to the City was moved by E.R. Bailey and seconded by Lloyd Mayor be authorized ivertise in the Clario Clerk, Treasurer, and Collector. Carried. Moved by E.R. Bailey, seconded by C. D.W. Sutherland be authorized to get quotation set of Books for the City. Carried. Moved by Sutherland, seconded by Smi Works Committee be authorized to make all nece the sidewalks. Carried. send the Govern a request that ith, That the Mayor e Aldermen, with inted. written to regis rc3SH5,Qg'%8 m
Other copies: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/18968307
Books
English
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Kelowna : F.M. Buckland
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Original Format: University of British Columbia. Library. Rare Books and Special Collections. FC3845.O5 B8 1948
Okanagan Valley (B.C. : Region)--History
Kelowna (B.C.)--History
Ogopogo's vigil : a history of Kelowna and district
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