Okanagan Lake

OKANAGAN LAKE, 360.8 sq km, extends 128 km from northwest of VERNON to PENTICTON at its south end. Draining south via the Okanagan R toward the US border, it is the largest of a chain of lakes occupying the floor of the OKANAGAN VALLEY in the south-central Interior. The lake is a remnant of a much larger glacial sea—Penticton Lake—left behind by melting ice at the end of the Pleistocene era about 10,000 years ago (see GLACIATION). It is surrounded by clay cliffs and grassy benchlands and is the centre of BC's fruit-growing industry (see TREE FRUITS), which flourishes thanks to a hot, dry climate and rich alluvial soils deposited by the glaciers. Warm water and sandy beaches attract a growing number of TOURISTS every summer. Part of the traditional territory of the OKANAGAN First Nation, it was visited by Europeans for the first time in 1811, and traders subsequently followed a FUR BRIGADE trail on the west side of the lake. Father Charles PANDOSY founded an OBLATE mission near the present site of KELOWNA in 1860, the first white settlement on the lake. The fruit trees he planted in 1862 were the beginning of the extensive orchards that proliferated after 1900. Steamboat service began on the lake in 1886, when Capt Thomas SHORTS launched the first of his boats (see PADDLEWHEEL STEAMBOATS). The SHUSWAP & OKANAGAN RWY connected the lake to the CPR main line at SICAMOUS in 1892 and the CPR launched its own steamer service the following year. Steamers plied the lake until 1937, when the last boat, the SICAMOUS, retired, having been replaced by rail and improved ROAD connections. A floating bridge carried the main highway across the lake at Kelowna for 50 years. When it opened in 1958, it was the first structure of its kind in Canada. In May 2008, the 5-lane William R. Bennett Bridge opened, replacing the 3-lane floating structure and alleviating traffic congestion. Some people believe Okanagan Lk to be the home of OGOPOGO, a prehistoric underwater creature. See also LAKES.