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NATURE
· Plants and Animals in the Dry Land
FIRST PEOPLES
· The Osoyoos Indian Band: Preserving Our Past, Strengthening Our Future
HISTORY
· A Scarcity of Water
This is a link to a map of the Grasslands of British Columbia with an optional close-up map of the Southern Okanagan.

FOCUS  Southern Okanagan

A Scarcity of Water
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This is a black and white photograph of men and machinery building the main canal, Oliver, British Columbia.
Building the main canal, Oliver, 1920. BC Archives, I-52336.
The Oliver-Osoyoos area was first irrigated by Chung-Wu, a farmer who supplied vegetables to the mining camps of Fairview and McKinney. The first orchard in the southern part of the valley was planted in 1905 by Leslie Hill who located his farm on the east side of Osoyoos Lake. Large-scale irrigation began in the area when Premier John Oliver initiated the South Okanagan Land Project in 1920. The project was designed to irrigate 1,200 hectares for cultivation, affecting 8,900 hectares of land. A reliable water supply was available by 1927. Early orchardist George Fraser noted that the project "assured the development" of the Osoyoos district, as "sage brush and greasewood disappeared" and were replaced by "well cultivated land."
The main irrigation canal, Oliver. BC Archives, I-52736.
This is a black and white photograph of the main irrigation canal, Oliver British Columbia.
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