Imagine a life without regular news. Without word from family, loved ones or friends for months at a time. Newspapers often arrived months after they were published. A life where communication with family was only accomplished over a rough trail through the Okanagan wilderness. With the establishment of a post office in 1872 at Okanagan Landing, Okanagan Mission, and Fairview, mail service became available to the Valley, but it was slow, irregular, and at the whim of Mother Nature. With the launch of the SS Aberdeen in 1893, post offices began to spring up around Okanagan Lake. The CPR's Lake Service sped up the delivery of mail in the Okanagan, reducing the time to days instead of weeks. With the launch of the SS Sicamous in 1914, the first regular daily mail service was established.
According to R. F. Marriage in an Okanagan Historical Society Report, the railway had a contract to carry mail on passenger trains in a specific car that was equipped with a mail room to sort mail in transit : an RPO (Railway Post Office). There was also a contract for Baggage Car Service (BCS) whereby the mail was carried in closed bags which were sorted at destination. This was how the mail from across the country arrived to connect with the Lakeboats.
William Finlayson was the first clerk working on the rail line which ran from the settlement of Sicamous on Shuswap Lake to Okanagan Landing (on Okanagan Lake), and his wife ran the General Store and Post Office. Other members of the family held the position until 1954, and likewise at Okanagan Landing until 1969 (122 years of family service to the Post Office). This was often the way with small post offices - choices were frequently made on who you knew and whether you seemed reliable enough to be appointed a clerk or Postmaster.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Post is a link to a Wikipedia general overview of Canada Post changes over the years, beginning in 1867 with the establishment of the Dominion of Canada.
If you are interested in cancel stamps and railway or steamship mail rooms, the following link will take you to the Railway Post Office Study Group, which also has links to various other postal and railway sites packed full of detailed information. https://bnaps.org/studygroups/rpo/rpo1.htm
The photo above shows a few of the cancel stamp hammers from the time period showing the marks for Penticton and Okanagan Landing Railway Post Office - Pen & O.L. R.P.O. (The page is from the Newsletter of the Canadian R.P.O. Study Group of the British North America Philatelic Society).
There are a number of articles of interest in the Okanagan Historical Reports about mail delivery in the Okanagan. https://bcrdh.ca/islandora/object/ohs%3A10822#page/44/mode/2up and another written by Hester White about mail delivery in 1882 https://open.library.ubc.ca/viewer/ohs/1.0132203#p28z-7r0f:mail%20day%201882%20hester%20white
Randy Manuel, a local historian, has gathered details on the early post offices of the Okanagan and rendered it in a map version. This allows us to see how large an area the deliveries had to cover - on horseback, wagon, or by foot - to reach the intended recipient.
Early Post Offices of the Okanagan 1872 - 1914
"The earliest Post Offices often served a large geographical area such as O'Keefe located at the head of Okanagan Lake.
Mail arrived by horse, the pack animals would have come from Kamloops Colonial Post Office that had been established 5th of May 1870. Mail could take weeks or months to reach its' destination depending on the season, and how long deep snow lay in the high mountain passes.
O'Keefe served from Spallumcheen to Osoyoos, the Similkameen and all along the Boundary Country. Established 14th August 1872 this first Post Office in the Okanagan was followed just two months later when Okanagan Mission came established October 1st 1872. Mail would come by horse. By 1890 - 91 semi reliable boat service offered a semi regular run down Okanagan Lake. Ice in winter could delay boat traffic sometimes for weeks. The arrival of regular sternwheel ships operated by CPR finally put mail service on a regular basis. The CPR ship Aberdeen operated from 1892 - 1916. The SS Okanagan and the SS Sicamous had mailrooms on board, sorting mail, dropping off and picking up mail along their route.
At Penticton, mail for Similkameen and the lower valley would go by horse or stage.
POST OFFICES - NORTH TO SOUTH
O'Keefe 14th August 1872
Vernon 1st November 1887 formerly Priests' Valley
Okanagan Landing 1st October 1898
Ewing's Landing aka Short's Point 1st Decmber 1907
Okanagan Centre 1st November 1907
Nahun 1st August 1905
Wilson's Landing 1st August 1908
Kelowna 1st February 1893
Okanagan Mission 1st October 1872
Glenrosa 1st January 1912 (3 miles south east of West Bank)
West Bank 1st May 1902
Gellatly 1st June 1903
Trepanier 1st August 1926
Naramata 1st December 1909
Summerland 1st November 1902
Gartrell 1st May 1910
Penticton 1st December 1889
Back Country Post Offices
The mail to the back country offices, would have landed first at one of the Lakeside Ports.
Mineola est. 1st March 1916
Balcomo 1st July 1907
Allen Grove and
Green Mountain 1st June 1908
Okanagan Falls 1st February 1899
White Lake 1st August 1895
Fairview 1st December 1892
Chute Lake 16th October 1921
Marron Valley (Lake) 1st April 1924
Many of the small Post Offices closed when the community like the Gold Camp of Fairview, died and became ghost towns.
Other Post offices "folded" into the greater community around them - Balcomo, Mineola, Gartrells aka Trout Creek became part of Summerland"
Map of the "Ghost" Post Offices
"The map shows location where Pioneer settlers would go to get mail from home. Often a Post Office was in some one's home, a position or appointment to be a Post Office often depended on who you voted for. If you were Liberal and had an office, you might lose it, if the Conservatives took power.
Some remote locations vanished, like Mineola or Nickel Plate, when the only industry like a sawmill (Mineola) or a gold mine (Nickel Plate) closed down.
The west end of Prairie Valley in Summerland was called Balcomo. Its Post Office was in a house - which still stands today as a Country home over 107 years later.
White Lake Post Office is now an office for the Manager of the Nature Trust Biodiversity Ranch 120 years after it first opened."
Many thanks to Randy for sharing these maps and his research with us!
Randy's recommendation for more information on early Post Offices is the book by George H. Melvin "The Post Offices of British Columbia - 1858 to 1970".
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