6

Cloverdale Ranch owned by George Whelan
1863-1893
Ellison, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

Credits:
Kelowna Public Archives

7

In 1857 Father Pandosy, an Oblate priest, had established a mission at Yakima in Washington State, but after being accused by the local authorities of siding with the natives following a murderous skirmish and finding guns and powder buried in the Mission, Father Pandosy was told to leave the country. At first he sought asylum with the Jesuits at Colville and then with the Jesuit Fathers at Coeur d'Alene, but in the spring of 1859, upon advice from Bishop Demers of Vancouver, Father Pandosy returned to Colville for supplies and to enlist the aid of any families who might wish to accompany Pandosy and Father Richard to the new mission site in the Okanagan. Cyprian Laurence, his native wife, Teressa, and brother Theodor, accompanied the Oblate Priests, with William Pion acting as the escort and scout of this small party, packing them into the Okanagan in 1859.

8

View of the Dilworth Bluffs
Before 1902
Dilworth Mountain, Kelowna, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

Credits:
Kelowna Public Archives

9

Father Pandosy wrote to Reverend Father D'Herbomez on October 9, 1859:
We arrived tonight at a place which we have chosen for our Mission. It is a great valley situated on the left bank of the great Lake Okanagan, and rather near the middle of the Lake. . . . . .

10

View of Kelowna and Okanagan Lake
Circa 1912
Okanagan Lake, Kelowna, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

Credits:
Kelowna Public Archives

11

L'Anse au Sable is the largest valley of all the surrounding country, all who know it, praise it. The cultivable land is immense, and I myself believe that if Br. Blanchett is able next year to plant some vine cuttings, we shall be able to start a plantation."
The Missionaries and their party of settlers made their first camp at Duck Lake next to the Parson Brothers, and suffered through the first winter which proved to be intensely cold with deep snow forcing them to kill their horses for survival and to live on moss, dried berries and roots. In the spring of 1860 they moved further down the Valley, and settled on Mission Creek where there was better cultivable land to establish a permanent mission. Between 1861 and 1863, more settlers came into the Valley, amongst them John McDougall, a Hudson's Bay Company trader, and his native wife, Eli Lequime and his wife Marie Louise and sons, Bernard and Gaston, August Calmels and his wife and partner Chapuis, Joseph Christien, Isadore Boucherie, August Gillard, Jules Blondeaux, and Francois Ortholan.

12

Hockey game on Bankhead Pond
Circa 1900
Dilworth Mountain, Kelowna, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

Credits:
Kelowna Public Archives

13

The first several years were a struggle for the priests and settlers, with W.G. Cox in 1862 referring to the owners of the five cultivated farms as paupers, without enough money between them to construct a flour mill even though the wheat crops were looking promising. However, by 1863 the settlers and the Mission were beginning to benefit from their hard toil.
In 1863 Provincial Constable W.C. Young wrote to John C. Haynes Esq. at Sooyoos Lake:
. . . [Arrived] at the Mission settlement on the 28th [November] . . . weather warm and pleasant and the country free from snow. The cabins, farms, fences and haystacks in every direction gave the country a pleasant appearance after travelling the dreary mountain trails.

14

A.B. Knox Ranch. House, barn and young fruit trees.
Circa 1891
Okanagan Mission Valley, Kelowna, British Columbia

Credits:
Kelowna Public Archives

15

The improvements yet made are very small and for the want of a good home market and more particularly for want of a good flour mill, the farmers have not attempted to raise more than sufficient produce for their own use. . . .

16

Calf roping at the Postill Ranch
Circa 1895
Ellison, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

Credits:
Kelowna Public Archives

17

The land, though not of first quality, appears to produce abundantly; all crops have been good this past season . . . several small fields of fall wheat very well put in and looking excellent.
. . . . With a good flour mill here and mines in the vicinity this will doubtless yet become one of the best of our agricultural settlements in this Colony.

18

Guisachan Ranch
Circa 1890
Okanagan Mission Valley, Kelowna, British Columbia

Credits:
Kelowna Public Archives

19

The Catholic Mission buildings are new and very neat. All crops have been very good this past season and that without any aid from irrigation. I saw some very good tobacco of their own growing and was told by Fr. Richard that the total produce this year is not less than - wheat 1,000 bushels; barley 200 bushels; and potatoes 2,900 bushels.
Thus, the stage was set for the arrival and entrepreneurship of Frederick Brent - land that produced abundantly, an agreeable climate, and most importantly, settlers in need of a flour mill for the grain that was, by 1863, growing well in the Okanagan Valley.