Coldstream: The Ranch Where It All Began

Ann Turner is the financial and budget manager of the University of
British Columbia Library.

Located on the outskirts of Vernon, British Columbia, the Coldstream
Ranch has been operating continuously since 1863. It has always been a
vast holding, originally 13,261 acres and now with more than 200,000
acres owned, leased, or held under permit.

The Okanagan orchard and cattle-ranching industries began there, and
over the years it has supported market gardening, haying, logging,
gravel production, horse breeding, and even military training during
World War II. With such a long history of labour-intensive operations,
the ranch has been home and/or workplace to thousands of people. Its
story is their story, and the author, who was born there, tells it well.
She uses their reminiscences and historical photographs liberally to
bring the ranch and its characters alive.

This is a fine local history of the Coldstream Ranch community. The
descriptions of technologies used in the various industries over the
years are particularly interesting from a historical perspective.