Two Gibbons brothers, Harry from Ellison and Clare from Okanagan Centre went into partnership to establish OK Sawmills sometime shortly after 1940. The brothers operated their sawmill at a number of locations on the extensive forested slope south and east... [Continue Reading]
Today the Central Okanagan enjoys a level of economic diversity unimaginable to earlier generations. In the first half of the twentieth century, our local economy was based primarily on the natural resources of the valley. A long growing season and... [Continue Reading]
Learn more about the Munson Simpson Sawmill. ... [Continue Reading]
This is the third in a series of blogs exploring the logging history of Lake Country, this one focussing on transporting logs to the Munson and Simpson mill in Winfield in the 1927-9 period. Large logs were preferred because the... [Continue Reading]
The donation of historic photographs by Pete Simpson to the Lake Country Museum has led me to examine the circumstances behind the building of a sawmill in Winfield in 1927. These photographs were of the Munson and Simpson mill located... [Continue Reading]
In the near future our Lake Country Museum & Archives will be rolling out new marker panels celebrating our area’s short but rich history. These will be welcome additions to a number of panels put in place a few years... [Continue Reading]
In early days our orchard industry dominated the Okanagan Valley’s economy; a close second was logging and sawmilling. While big mills like Simpson’s Sawmill in Kelowna were the best known, a recent feature in the Kelowna Daily Courier spoke to... [Continue Reading]
Lake Country Museum and Archives has received a donation of McCarthy family photographs from Donna Day of Winfield. Her late husband, Max Day, found a package of family photographs in the old McCarthy barn, which was an iconic historical building... [Continue Reading]
