Recognition by Heritage BC
Black Mountain Park has received formal recognition from Heritage BC. A post by Ian Pooley has been put on the BC Francophone history website: heritagebc.ca/francophone-historic-place/lequime-ranch-kelowna/?lang=fr.
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"This historic site is located in Black Mountain/Sntsk'il'nten Regional Park, Kelowna. Originally, the ranch was a 7,000 acre property, established in 1860 by Eli Lequime and his family, emigrants from Bordeaux, France. By the late 1870's, it was the largest cattle ranch in the Okanagan Valley. This site owes its value to its association with the Lequime family, who also owned the Lequime store, the post office and a hotel in the former Francophone community of L'Anse-au-Sable.
"Today, only the last vestiges of the original ranch remain, a 640 acre grazing area integrated into the new Black Mountain Regional Park... This agricultural landscape is also considered the only remaining remains of L'Anse-au-Sable."
Don Wilson and his dad at the ski bowl!
J.W. Hughes' gladiola crop on his Black Mountain farm.
(photo KPA 1381 courtesy of Kelowna Public Archives)
William Walrod Farm on Black Mountain, 1943.
(photo KPA 1016 courtesy of Kelowna Public Archives)
Ski race at the Black Mountain ski bowl, 1945.
(photo KPA 3965 courtesy of Kelowna Public Archives)
Belgo-Canadian construction camp below Black Mountain, 1910.
(photo KPA 5567 courtesy of Kelowna Public Archives)
This photo was taken in 1925-26, looking south-east towards Gopher Creek and the summit of the mountain. There is a tomato field in the foreground.
Image I-52494 courtesy of the Royal BC Museum and Archives