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Recording the Birth of Naramata in the Okangan Region of British Columbia
Rare second edition of this separately published map of British Columbia focusing on mining regions, with early annotations promoting the area around Vernon, including an early reference to Naramata, British Columbia.
The map shows mining record offices and sub record offices. It also shows wagon roads and trails.
The annotation at the bottom states:
Vernon is not really on the lake a shown but the C.P.R. goes right through it five miles to Okanagan Landing at the head of the Lake.
the little cross at letter r of Vernon is Ok[anada] centre -- the mark on the west of the lake is Summerland & opposite it is the new place Naramata where land has been $200 an acre no less from the opening.
The map was utilized by an early pioneer in the area around Vernon and Okanagan. The user was clearly one of the earliest people to witness the boom in Naramata. In November 1906, John Moore Robinson purchased the area around Narmata, which at first was called Nine Mile Point, then East Summerland and Brighton Beach, and finally to Naramata within the first year. By March 1908, a ferry service was established and the Railroad created via the Kettle Valley Railway in 1914. Robinson sold parcels of land to people from other parts of Canada and Britain, and Naramata became known as a cultural hub, where people would come from across the region by boat for concerts, plays, operas, regattas- and as Robinson and his wife were spiritualists-seances. Paddlewheelers regularly stopped at the local wharf carrying freight and passengers up and down Lake Okanagan.
Vernon and Okanagan Region
In 1811, fur traders began travelling around the area. After one of these, David Stuart, began working with the Pacific Fur Company, which was bought out by the North West Company,
Luc Girouard became the first white settler in the area. Fur traders decided to camp in Vernon, but the town really began to develop in 1863, following the discovery of gold in the area. Centreville, the original business district, was established in 1885, as were a post office, hotel, general store, and school house, followed by a Hudson's Bay Company store in 1887, in a rough wooden structure.
In 1891, the Canadian Pacific Railway reached the area, including Okanagan Landing. The S.S. Aberdeen sternwheeler was launched by the Canadian Pacific Railway for use on Okanagan Lake in 1893 connecting Vernon to Penticton at the south end of Okanagan Lake, and points between and a canal was created in the area in 1906.
