Botanical Glossary - Home

An antique McCormick Deering Tractor in an orchard - 12515 Camps Landing Road:

McCormick is a historical name in the agricultural history of the USA and the world at large. McCormick began producing agricultural equipment in 1831 and is getting stronger as it ages. You are probably familiar with the venerable McCormick Farmall tractor. This unit was a heavy duty, all around work horse that served as a pulling machine and a donkey engine - the large pulley was still installed at this early date in tractor/farm history, to be used as an engine to operate other stationary farm equipment. In the 1920s the machine was in direct competition with the flesh and blood farm animals. The motorized farm equipment had to have many bonus features to make life easier for the serious farmer.

The donkey engine was probably the second source of power on many Okanagan farms at the turn of the 20th century. Farmers were sometimes able to obtain old engines from local logging companies who had much greater financial resources and were able to have cutting edge technology available at the time. The use of these donkey machines which were used to replace the horse and donkey for such tasks as saw cutting and skidding logs was not readily available until the 1910s and 1920s. The donkey engine provided significant advantage in clearing land and could be delivered to a logging site or farm and be put to use immediately.

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The District of Lake Country has been inhabited for 7000 to 8000 years but only recently, in 1995, became an incorporated community. Formerly, the four separate communities, Carr's Landing, Okanagan Centre, Oyama and Winfield were part of the Regional District. At the time of incorporation, each community was about 90 years old and each had its own distinctive personality and heritage.

The Interior Salish people were the first to live here. They were hunter/gatherers and left no written history. Caucasion people first passed through the valley in the middle of the nineteenth century, hauling furs traded for in the north and shipped out from ports established on the Pacific.

Next came the missionaries. The Oblates established their first mission around Duck Lake and then moved to a more permanent residence on Mission Creek in south east Kelowna.

The discovery of gold brought men who prospected the creeks and although they did find some gold here, it was never a bonanza. However, other men noted the rich grasslands and brought cattle in to feed the miners in the Kootenays and further north. This was the start of the big ranches.

By the beginning of the 20th century, new pioneers built wooden irrigation systems by hand and made fruit growing on a commercial scale possible. Orchards gradually replaced the ranches and packing houses and other businesses arising out of the fruit industry sprang up.

By 1908, the C.P.R. had built a line to Vernon and steam driven paddle wheelers were hauling passengers and freight to the railhead.

Gradually roads in the Okanagan were improved and cars and trucks became more numerous. The paddle wheelers were no longer economically viable and were discontinued. The wonderful climate of the Okanagan and Lake Country attracted more new residents and some of the orchards gave way to houses - but not all. The residents of Lake Country still enjoy a semi-rural environment with lots of orchards and vineyards and all of the benefits of a smaller community.

Along the backroads of Okanagan Center there are many old farm parts and orchard machinery quietly rusting in the elements - Okanagan Center BC - September 12, 2009.