Celebrating 75 Years

The name Osoyoos comes from the word sẁiẁs (pronounced ‘soo-yoos’) meaning ‘narrowing of the waters’ in the local Okanagan Nation language (nsyilxcən).

The ‘O’ prefix in Osoyoos was added by settlerpromoters wanting to harmonise the name with other place names beginning with ‘O’ in the Okanagan region (Oliver, Omak, Oroville, Okanogan).

Thousands of miners heading to the goldfields and farmers driving herds of livestock crossed the 49th parallel from 1858 resulting the building of a customs house in Osoyoos in 1861, with John Carmichael Haynes the tax collector.

Seniors (age 65 and over) comprise 43 per cent of the town population with the average resident aged 55.4 years (2016) compared to 40.8 years for the rest of the population of British Columbia. The average age of the Osoyoos senior population is second in B.C only to Qualicum Beach at 60.1 years.

Although many people claim the town is in a desert, Osoyoos actually gets 10 cm too much rain each year to be an actual desert.

In 1865 the Dewdney Trail – a 720 km trail connecting Fort Hope (now Hope) to Fort Steel in the East Kootenays – passed through the narrows where Osoyoos is now situated.

After repairing the bridge across the narrows in 1880, pioneer Theodore Kruger charged a toll of $1.25 per person on a horse and 75 cents per head of livestock. The area around Osoyoos has one of the highest levels of biodiversity in the entire country and is home to over 100 rare plants, and over 300 rare invertebrates.

How did Anarchist Mountain get its unique name? One account says it is named after Richard G. Sidley, an early settler, and ‘wild Irishman’, who was appointed Justice of the Peace and Customs Officer (1891) and the first postmaster at Sidley (1895). Another account is that Sidley named it after an eccentric prospector and purported cattle thief named John Haywood, who carried a stick of dynamite in his boots. When asked why, Haywood said he was an anarchist.

During World War I, the minerals of Spotted Lake were used in manufacturing ammunition and it is said that prior to this plundering of the minerals, the lake featured an even greater variety and intensity of colours.

Tomato ‘hot caps’, circa 1935

Crew working in fgd, Vista from Anarchist MT, circa 1955