August18_2010

Botanical Glossary - Home - References Cited

Olalla's name comes from the Salish Indian word, "Olallie", or Saskatoon Berry - a plant that grows in abundance throughout the Keremeos Creek Valley. At the turn of the century Olalla was being heralded as one of the richest gold claims ever discovered in the Province's interior region. Claims with presumptuous names, such as Star of Hope, Copper King, Bullion and Opulence and were staked and hopes were high. Like many great mining stories, however, the initial finds didn't amount to much and the many mines that doted the hillsides were soon abandoned as none of the claims turned a reasonable profit.

Photos - The vintage farm and old log barn is located at 1675 Highway 3A in Olalla BC.

Photos - Frames left and right: Highway 3A snakes along Keremeos Creek through the valley between Penticton and Keremeos. These two photos look north along the length of the valley toward Twin Lakes and Yellow Lake. Keremeos Creek has overflown the banks at the time of this photo (earlier this summer) and is causing a bit of flood concern with farmers along its path.

Center frame: Barcello Road looking east from Highway 3A.

Olalla is a small ghost town set back to the east of highway 3A with a few houses lining a long main street, a school and perhaps a saloon at one time that doesn't exist today. The main portion of the original mining town of Olalla was wiped out in a fire in late spring of 1963.

Photos - Farmhouse and barn located at 2796 Barcello Road beside Highway 3A in Olalla BC. The design of the farm house and the barn is typical of the 1920s.

Click here for more photos of Olalla and Highway 3A for this day.