ae Loe eee Fl ital
. f

ADVENTURES IN COOKING 165

The Granby Mining and Smelting Company have again entered the
Phoenix Camp which they abandoned in 1919. With the revival of copper
mining, claims have been taken up both in Phoenix and Motherlode,
and mills built.

Grand Forks, too, was first the centre for mining from Phoenix and
the North Fork of the Kettle River However, Sunshine Valley is a naturally
productive agricultural valley which takes in Grand Forks and th e former
towns of Carson and Columbia, both of the latter were actually in exist-
ence before Grand Forks. ‘The townsite of Carson was laid out by the
McLaren Brothers. It was the natural stopping place for people coming
in from Marcus, Washington, which was the normal route for entering
the country at that time. ‘The McLaren Brothers built a hotel and had
the post office, Donald McLaren was a blacksmith by trade and as he had
learned to speak, and read and write the Chinook trade language used by
the Hudson Bay fur traders, they were well patronized by both the local
Indians and the travellers coming in to search for gold or to take up land.

The Manly Brothers started the townsite of Grand Forks and it was
incorporated as a city in 1897. It is still the largest centre in the Kettle
River District.

James McConnell pre-empted the first land in the Sunshine Valley in
the 1870’s. He had been running cattle in the valley each summer for
Judge Haynes of Osoyoos, and eventually set up his own homestead.

William Covert and wife and three children were among the earliest
settlers, coming in 1885. Mr. Covert brought in the first apple trees by
pack train, and started the first fruit orchard, which did very well.

Mr. E. Spaggett, a first settler and first Postmaster in 1892 brought in
the first threshing machine in 1894, and a mill was built on “4th of July”
Creek to grind the grain.

Through the years many honors have come to Sunshine Valley for
their agricultural products. Carloads of apples were being shipped to
Australia before 1916; and in 1921 the T. Eaton Company paid $16,000.00
for the output of one orchard. Displays of fruits were sent to England.
Poultry shows were held. In 1932 P. ‘Tjebbes won the World Champion-
ship for potatoes, having grown 30 tons to the acre; and C. C. Heaven
gained recognition from the Certified Seed Growers Association. In 1947
an estimate of the seed crop was $1,000,000. A Field Day has been held
annually since 1943.

Fall Fairs are held annually at Grand Forks and at Rock Creek, and
are very popular events, with entries from all parts of the District as well
as from the southern Okanagan.

Logging and saw mills—the largest, Boundary Sawmills Ltd, situated at
Midway—are the main industry throughout the whole District, and there
is seldom any unemployment. Tourists and sportsmen enjoy this district
for its fine climate and plentiful game and fish, and mountain lakes and
scenery. Although primarily known as a mining country, there are some
fine farms all through the District and fine herds of purebred cattle on
the rangelands.