Olalla is an unincorporated settlement in the

South Okanagan South Okanagan was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia beginning with the election of 1916. Following the 1975 election boundary revisions accompanied the riding's renaming to Okanagan South. The riding ...

region of the

Southern Interior of British Columbia Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, located southwest of

Penticton Penticton ( ) is a city in the Okanagan Valley of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, situated between Okanagan and Skaha lakes. In the 2016 Canadian Census, its population was 33,761, while its census agglomeration The ce ...

(the nearest large city) and just north of

Keremeos Keremeos () is a village in the British Columbia Interior, Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. The name originated from the Similkameen dialect of the Okanagan language word "Keremeyeus" meaning "creek which cuts its way through the fl ...

Kaleden Kaleden () is an unincorporated community about midway along the western shore of Skaha Lake in the Okanagan region of south central British Columbia. Adjacent to BC Highway 97, the locality is by road about south of Penticton. Agriculture As ea ...

, just northeast beyond Olalla along BC Highway 3A, occupies the pass dividing the Okanagan Valley beyond and the

Similkameen Country The Similkameen Country, also referred to as the Similkameen Valley or Similkameen District, but generally referred to simply as The Similkameen or more archaically, Similkameen, is a region roughly coinciding with the basin of the river of the sam ...

of which Olalla is a part. Olalla is a retirement community.

School

The Similkameen Elementary Secondary School in Keremeos serves as the primary education centre for the region.

Name & History

Olalla's name is a local adaptation of the

Salish Salish () may refer to: * Salish peoples, a group of First Nations/Native Americans ** Coast Salish peoples, several First Nations/Native American groups in the coastal regions of the Pacific Northwest ** Interior Salish peoples, several First Nat ...

and Chinook word for "berries", a reference to locally abundant Saskatoon berries. The word is listed as ''olallie'' or ''ollalie'' in many Chinook Jargon lexicons. Olalla was the site of a mining boom in the 1890s. Briefly it was the bustling centre for several productive mines, but ore deposits did not meet expectations; the town faded and it became a small collection of homes on the highway between Keremeos and Penticton.

References

* Unincorporated settlements in British Columbia Populated places in the Similkameen Ghost towns in British Columbia Chinook Jargon place names Designated places in British Columbia Populated places in the South Okanagan Populated places in the Okanagan Country {{OkanaganSimilkameen-geo-stub

School

Name & History

See also

References