Okanagan history

COAST JAPS? The story behind this infamous Kelowna sign from 80 years ago
Photos of this infamous sign have been published and posted numerous times over the last…

Owners of beloved ramshackle house in Armstrong area digging up its history
An uninhabited dilapidated house in the Armstrong area is the subject of numerous photographs and…

$50,000 needed to save SS Naramata in Penticton
The City of Penticton is working on a disposal plan for the historic SS Naramata,…

Chinese Canadian commandos who trained in Okanagan remembered 80 years later
During the Second World War there were 13 Chinese Canadians who volunteered for the extraordinarily…

Why Kelowna gets credit for first European settlement in Okanagan
EDITOR'S NOTE: Since its original publication March 3, this story has triggered debate between historians about…

iN VIDEO: Vernon historian digitizes old film reels to connect people with their past
Vernon historian Francois Arseneault digitizes and catalogues old film reels in order to preserve them,…

Why Okanagan Lake doesn’t freeze anymore
Don Knox remembers not only skating on a glassy smooth Okanagan Lake as a young…

Ghost town near Oliver could have the first augmented reality heritage tour
Historians are working to turn a ghost town into a tourist attraction in order to…

Highway 3 was BC’s first trans-provincial highway despite reverting back to nature
Back in the earliest days of BC’s European history there were intense territorial battles between…

Why Summerlanders could have had a half-day off today
It may have been short lived but there was a time when today, Oct. 18,…

How Santa, not Shakespeare, led to the naming of the Okanagan’s Myra Canyon
The Myra Canyon on the Kettle Valley Railway in the Okanagan is world renowned for…

Imaginary cows had a say in where Westbank First Nation reserves were placed
Ever wonder how European colonizers decided where to put Indian reserves in the Okanagan? It…

There’s a Kamloops and Summerland connection to the ‘Cremation of Sam McGee’
“The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, “But the queerest they ever did see “Was…

BC’s first trans-provincial highway stalled before it reached the Okanagan
Before there was the Cariboo Wagon Road to Barkerville, the BC government started building a…

Founder of three Okanagan communities wanted to keep them exclusive
It all started with a peach. From that one delicious bite, John Moore (JM) Robinson…