The video above is courtesy of the Oliver Tourism Association.
Early Oliver
Oliver
Oliver is nestled between mature forested mountains and is located at the northern tip of the Sonoran Desert. The landscape consists of a complex array of habitats and our region supports one of the most diverse assemblages of species in Canada, many of which are not found elsewhere in the country.
Archaeological evidence suggests that the ancestors of First Nations people have lived in BC since the last ice age, ten to twelve thousand years ago.
In 1919, the British Columbia Government, under the premiership of John Oliver, undertook an initiative to irrigate 8000 acres of semi-arid desert land in the South Okanagan. This project, titled the Southern Okanagan Lands Project (SOLP), resulted in the development of one of the most successful tree fruit and viticulture areas in Canada. The year 1927 saw the completion of the irrigation project which was twenty-five miles long. It consisted of the concrete diversion dam, twenty miles of concrete ditches, twenty-seven flumes, and a wood stave siphon. The Ditch is often called the "life line" of our community for without it, Oliver would not exist.