Oyama, BC

Population: 1,000+

Highlights:
Gatzke's Farm Market
Golf course
Ellison Provincial Park
Dee Lake - large trout fishing
Big White Ski Resort, approximately 64 kilometers southeast of Kelowna
Silver Star Mountain Resort, 22 kilometers) northeast of Vernon.
Carr's Landing (named after pioneer Andy Carr)

History:
First Nations in the area survived as a semi-nomadic culture for thousands of years. "Axts-lu-chus" is the Indian name (for the area Oyama resides today), it means 'The peninsula going across'.

In 1870, the young twenty-two year old Tom Wood from Newfoundland was one of the first settlers in the Okanagan Valley, who had come to the area in hopes of finding gold, rather he found himself working to supply cattle to the local miners, buying a ranch (among many other struggles) and later selling it off to retire in 1902.

In 1906, a post office was established in the home of the first acting postmaster Dr. Irvine. It was his mother who suggested that the post office be named Oyama after a Japanese field marshal, Prince Iwao Oyama, who fought in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905. The name later was extended to include the whole area.

Climate:
Summer average 19 degrees Celsius
Winter average 0 degrees Celsius