A Ride through the History and Abundance of the Spallumcheen Valley

September and October are two of the best months to cycle in the North Okanagan. The back roads are free of summer traffic; it’s a great time to explore on two wheels.

North of Vernon is the Spallumcheen Valley, which means ‘beautiful valley’. We bike north from the intersection of 43 Ave on Old Kamloops Road, along Swan Lake. There is still some green in the fields that slope down to the lake.  But Old Kamloops Road, with its very narrow shoulder, is no place for distraction.

Soon we cross to the right shoulder of Highway 97 and proceed west past young apple orchards and rows of tasselled corn.  The highway drops down to the Spallumcheen Golf Course.  On our right is the Historic O’Keefe Ranch.  We stop for a visit.

First we meet Pierre Cloutier, a want-to-be cowboy who has traveled with his dog Eska and his four-horse team across Canada.  He has stopped at the ranch for a needed rest and today is re-shoeing his horses.

Pierre Cloutier Shoeing his horses at Historical O;Keefe Ranch

In 1862, 21 year old Cornelius O’Keefe left Eastern Canada, eventually arriving in the Cariboo.  He was too late to make his fortune gold mining and soon realized the real profiteers were those supplying the miners.  In 1866 he met Thomas Wood, and later, Thomas Greenhow.  They herded cattle from Oregon up into the Okanagan Valley.  Realizing they had discovered an ideal place to raise cattle, they each pre-empted 160 acres of land and, in June 1867, created the original ranch.

In the late 1860’s Cornelius lived in the original log house with his Aboriginal wife Rosie and their two children. Then In 1877 he returned to Eastern Canada to marry Mary Ann McKenna. They had nine children and soon the log house was too small.  By 1886 a fine Victorian house emerged, first as an addition onto the log house which was eventually replaced with newer additions. In 1899 Mary Ann died leaving Cornelius with eight surviving children.  He returned east and, at age 63, married 23 year old Elizabeth Tierney.  Over the next 13 years they had six more children. 

 

The Mansion at Historic O'Keefe Ranch

Today we join visitors from Quebec, Italy and Vancouver to tour the O’Keefe Mansion.   The rooms are adorned with the finest furniture, Italian glass fixtures, exquisite European porcelain and silverware of the day. The interior woodwork is hand carved, including the staircase, constructed with no nails.  A large Swiss music box, wound by hand, plays the tops hits of 1905.

A wooden walkway leads to the old general store and post office where Cornelius was post master from 1872 to 1912.  Farther along is St Anne’s RC Church, constructed in 1888, the scene of many weddings today.  The ranch prospered through the 80’s and 90’s and by the 1890’s reached about 12,000 acres.  By the early 1900’s much of the land was sold to the L&A Company for orchards and settlement. 

Inside St Anne's Church at  Historical O'Keefe Ranch

We visit the Quilt Shop manned by quilters from the ‘After Seven Sew n Sews’ who display quilts and sell their handwork.    At the Red Shed Pottery Studio a sign requests that if we buy pottery to place our money into the blue cookie can.  The potter, Burt, is making water filters out of clay and wood powder for ‘Potters without Borders’, an organization which provides simple, affordable water filters internationally (www.potterwithoutborders.com) 

There is no time for a trail ride, the corn maze, or lunch at the Cattlemen’s Club Restaurant.  Perhaps we’ll return in October for a ghost tour or to the Field of Screams when the corn maze becomes a very scary place. (www.o’keeferanch.ca )

Some grain products for sale at Roger's Foods Bulk Store

We bike to St Anne’s Road and continue north, veering right on Otter Lake Road to Larkin Cross Road.  Turning right, the road winds through low land and crosses a creek before climbing up an old embankment.  We pass tidy farms and turn off at Rogers Foods to visit its Bulk Food Store.  What started in 1951 as a simple stone mill to provide flour to the Roger’s family, is now a thriving company that, along with a sister plant in Chilliwack, provide over 457 ton of quality milled products to stores and bakeries across BC and Alberta.  I scoop up bulk BC grown dried cranberries, the 7-grain cereal and bulk almonds.

After loading up our panier bags, we bike to the turn-around that puts us onto Hwy 97A.  For 4 km we pedal along an ample shoulder, the sound of the traffic reverberating through our bodies.  We turn west onto Hwy 97, returning  to the Old Kamloops Road which takes us back towards 48 Ave, clocking the ride at about 32km.