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Kelowna Facts & Tibits

  • The Mission Creek Greenway is a beautiful 7.5 km trail following Mission Creek and stretches from Mission Creek Regional Park to Lakeshore Road.
  • The name Ogopogo came from a music hall song popular in the 1920's. Ogopogo has been called a Demon Fish, Snake, Sea Serpent, Big Lake Devil, Oar Fish, Giant Sturgeon, That Thing, And by the First Nations, N'Haatik. In 1926 the government announced that the new ferry being constructed for Okanagan Lake would be equipped with monster repelling devices.
  • In August 2003 the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire destroyed 12 of 16 wooden Trestles and damaged 2 steel trestles. The fire consumed 26,000 hectares of forest and 234 homes covering a perimeter of almost 200 km. The fire was caused by a lightening strike near Squally Point across Okanagan Lake from Peachland on August 16, 2003.
  • Okanagan Lake
    • Surface Area - 87000 acres
    • Mean Depth - 76 Meters/249 feet
    • Maximum Depth - 230 Metres/755 feet
    • Total Volume - 24,644 km (cubed)
    • Water Residence or Renewal Time - 52.8 Yrs
    • Shoreline Length - 270 km/168 miles
    • Maximum Width - 5 km/3 miles
    • Minimum Width - 1.5 km/1 mile
    • Average Width - 3.2 km/2 miles
  • Dilworth Mountain - John Dilworth was an early Kelowna farmer.
  • Knox Mountain - Named for early rancher, Arthur Booth Knox who arrived in the Okanagan in 1874
  • Ellison District - Named for Price Ellison, stock raiser and wheat farmer, who was a long time resident of the area. Ellison served as MLA from 1898 to 1916 and was Minister of Finance and Agriculture in 1910.
  • Oyama - Named for Iwao Oyama, a Japanese Field Marshal who fought in the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War.
  • Wood Lake - Circa 1860, Thomas Wood became the first settler in the area now known as Winfield, named for Wood's home, Winfield Lodge.
  • Okanagan Lake Bridge
    1. The overall length of structure from shore to shore is 1.4 km (7/8 mi)
    2. The pontoon section of the bridge is 640 meters. (2100') in length. A typical section of the pontoon is 15 meters (50') wide and 4.5 meters (15') in depth, being submerged about 2.4 meters (8') under normal conditions.
    3. Ten typical pontoons of 61 meters. (200') length, ad two end pontoons of 15 meters (50') length make up the 640 meters (2100') of full length. The individual pontoons are connected together to act as a continuous unit, 640 meters 92100') long.
    4. The lift span is 81 meters (265') long and can be raised to provide 18 meters (60') of vertical clearance.
    5. Each pontoon has two anchors, one on each side, for a total of 24 anchors.
    6. Each anchor weighs 70 tons, and is embedded 8mtrs (25') into the lake bottom.
    7. The Okanagan Lake Bridge was opened on July 19, 1958 and operated as a toll bridge until April 1st, 1963.
    8. This bridge is the only structure of its kind in Canada, and one of the few of its kind in the world.