So a friend of mine presented me with some great histroical fruit crates the other day. They are furit crates from the West Kootenay and Okanagan regions of BC. These are great histroical markers of the fruit growing area that exists today in the Okanagan in British Columbia and what was once a thriving fruit growing region in the interior west Kootenay region of British Columbia.
I wrote about the west kootenay fruit growing history in our very first blog in 2009 see link but these fruit crates are a great connection to the fruit growing histroy of the area. The first is from the Associated Growers of British Columbia and of special interest is that this box was packed and shipped by the Needles Co-op Union. Needles was an old settlement across the Arrow Lakes from the town of Fauquier but was flooded with the development of the Keenlyside dam in 1968. Needles is still a point on the map today as it is the west side ferry stop for the Needles-Fauquier ferry across the Arrow lake.
Hear is another one, "Old Gold" brand apples packed by Unity Fruit Limited from the Vernon area,
Here is a grape packing box also from "Pioneer Ranch" and the name "N.P. Casorso" of Kelowna, B.C. and "Established 1905".....lots of fruit growing history in the region.