February12_2010

Botanical Glossary - Home - References Cited

Quail's Gate Winery property at 3303 Boucherie Road in Westbank. Quails’ Gate is known for its ideal vineyard site for growing varietal grapes, especially Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Other varieties that we grow include Riesling, Merlot, Gewürztraminer, Optima, Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Blanc, Marechal Foch and Chasselas. The tour guide will take you through the entire growing season, explaining what activities take place in the vineyard at various times of the year.

Photos - Moving on from Gellatly Regional Park I traveled along Gellatly road to Boucherie Road to connect back with Highway 97 (at Horizon Drive entrance), but along the way I saw this old log house and had to stop to see what the history is. The house you see here is the restored Allison House. Westbank was initially settled by the Allison Family in 1870. They built a log cabin on the bench overlooking Okanagan Lake.

Photos - Frames left and right: The Allison House main entrance (left) and north facing building side (right frame). S. Allison collected, documented and pressed wild flowers and medicinal plants names and botanical names. The book was taken to Ireland in the 1880's and is in Archives today. Victoria, B.C. Archivers holds many, many letters written by Mrs. Allison from Sunnyside, B.C. depicting life for the Interior Salish Indians and requesting relief. Copies of letters are in Kelowna's museum.

Center frame: Medalta 10 Gallon Crock in front of Allison House - Charles Pratt, a Scotsman came to Alberta in 1908 determined to make his fortune in Medicine Hat. After trying his hand in many businesses and finally losing it all in real estate he found himself farming in 1915. With the profits from his first crop he partnered with Ulysses Grant and William Creer and incorporated Medalta Stoneware Ltd. in December 1915 in the pottery buildings and equipment of the defunct Medicine Hat Pottery Co. Ltd., the first pottery plant to be built in the city in 1912. After renovating the factory they commenced production in May 1916. Medicine Hat was able to offer unlimited, cheap natural gas supplies while high quality stoneware clays were readily available from quarries at nearby Eastend, Saskatchewan. By 1921, Medalta had penetrated the eastern market, becoming the first firm in western Canada to ship manufactured goods to Ontario and points east. In 1924 the company reorganized under new ownership as Medalta Potteries Ltd. The new company made plain stoneware crocks, jugs, bowls and churns for household use. By 1918 the company had $48,000 annual gross sales (the average wage was $1100). By 1924 the company was supplying households across Canada with distributors in places like Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. In addition, Medalta Stoneware also supplied jugs to the liquor control boards in all three prairie provinces.

Mr. Allison and native ladies attended the birth of 8 of his children. He relied on his early training in medicine. Joe McKay, Peter Reilly and family, Professor Dawson and family lived a short distance from the Allison place and would visit often. Father Pandosy also visited Sunnyside, B.C. Westbank is also the original hitching post site where traders met on the Old Cariboo Trail.

The Hudson's Bay Trail was abandoned in 1846 but it soon saw use again in the gold rush in 1856. In 1859-60, the Roman Catholic Mission, was established by Father Charles Pandosy and Father Pierre Richard, this was the beginning of settlement in the Okanagan.

Ten years later, 1870, the Allison Family, the first to live on the west side of the lake, traveled by pack-train from Princeton to "Sunnyside", the old name for the Okanagan. John Fall Allison, a young medical student from Leeds Infirmary, England, answered the call of the west by traveling out to the California gold rush. From California he made his way to British Columbia, and in 1858, he was sent by Governor Douglas to locate a trail from Fort Hope into Similkameen. Mr. and Mrs. John Fall Allison were the first white settlers to make their home at "Sunnyside", of whom we have any record.

The Allison home, sturdily built of hewn logs by John McDougall, still stands on the bench overlooking Okanagan lake although it is now occupied by Quail's Gate Winery.

Photos - Rounded, waterwashed rocks making up the external structure of the Allison House Chimney.

Click here for more photos of Glenrosa/Westbank for this day.