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 same name in 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, ...

. The term "Similkameen District" also refers to the Similkameen Mining District, a defunct government administrative district, which geographically encompasses the same area, and in more casual terms may also refer to the Similkameen electoral district, which was combined with the

Grand Forks-Greenwood Grand Forks-Greenwood was the name of a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia centred on the town of Grand Forks, in the Boundary Country between the Okanagan and Kootenay Countries. The riding first appeared i ...

riding by the time of the 1966 election. The Similkameen Country has deep historical connections to the Boundary Country and the two are sometimes considered one region, partly as a result of the name of the electoral district. It is also sometimes classed as being part of the

Okanagan The Okanagan ( ), also known as the Okanagan Valley and sometimes as the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is part ...

region, which results from shared

regional district In the province of British Columbia in Canada, a regional district is an administrative subdivision of the province that consists of a geographic region with specific boundaries and governmental authority. there were 28 regional districts in t ...

and other administrative boundaries and names. The term "Similkameen District" may also historically refer to the

Similkameen Division Yale Land District Similkameen may refer to: * Similkameen Country or Similkameen District, or "the Similkameen", a historical georegion in British Columbia, Canada * Similkameen River, a river that runs through southern British Columbia, discharging into the Okanog ...

, which also includes

Osoyoos Osoyoos (, ) is the southernmost town in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia between Penticton and Omak. The town is north of the United States border with Washington state and is adjacent to the Osoyoos Indian reserve. The origin of the na ...

and the

Boundary Country The Boundary Country is a historical designation for a district in southern British Columbia lying, as its name suggests, along the boundary between Canada and the United States. It lies to the east of the southern Okanagan Valley and to the west o ...

to Osoyoos' east. The name "Similkameen" is said to have originated from the ''Similkameigh'' indigenous people of the region, meaning "treacherous waters". Although the

Similkameen River The Similkameen River runs through southern British Columbia, Canada, eventually discharging into the Okanagan River near Oroville, Washington, in the United States. Through the Okanagan River, it drains to the Columbia River. The river is said ...

's last few miles are in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

state, only the British Columbia part of the river's basin is named "the Similkameen". The Similkameen is one of several historical regions of British Columbia whose foundations and settlement lay in the days of the

Colony of British Columbia The Colony of British Columbia refers to one of two colonies of British North America, located on the Pacific coast of modern-day Canada: *Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866) *Colony of British Columbia (1866–1871) See also *History of Br ...

, and was one of the first areas of the province prospected as well as farmed and ranched. The area has seen a number of famous gold strikes and large mining operations, notably the Tulameen Gold Rush of the 1880s and 1890s and the

Nickel Plate Mine Nickel Plate Mine was a gold mine on Nickel Plate Mountain at Hedley in the Similkameen region of southern British Columbia. Discoveries In 1894, Keremeos rancher, J.L. Coulthard, in partnership with Edgar Dewdney, staked three claims on what b ...

at Hedley, but also including coal at Blakeburn and Coalmont, and copper at Allenby and Copper Mountain, all of these locations in the vicinity of

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

. Orcharding and ranching are important to the Similkameen Country, with orcharding and ranching operations in the

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 ...

first started by

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

n immigrant Francis Xavier Richter in 1864. Richter's original of fruit trees at Keremeos Centre are considered to be one of the two foundations of BC's orcharding industry, the other being started by the Oblate Fathers at

Okanagan Mission Father Pandosy Mission, also known as the Okanagan Mission, was the original home for Father Pandosy in Kelowna, British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pa ...

. Today the area is seeing a burgeoning wine industry and a boom in sunbelt-oriented recreation housing and property development.

Major towns

* Tulameen * Cawston * Coalmont * Hedley

First Nations

The Similkameen Country is mostly in the traditional territory of the Similkameen subdivision of the

Okanagan people The ''Syilx'' () people, also known as the Okanagan, Okanogan or Okinagan people, are a First Nations and Native American people whose traditional territory spans the Canada–US boundary in Washington state and British Columbia in the Okanagan C ...

or Syilx. There are two Indian Bands in the region, the

Upper Similkameen Indian Band The Upper Similkameen Indian Band or Upper Smelqmix, is a First Nations band government in the Canadian province of British Columbia, whose head offices are located in town of Hedley in the Similkameen Country. They are a member of the Okanagan ...

at Princeton and the

Lower Similkameen Indian Band The Lower Similkameen Indian Band or Lower Smelqmix, is a First Nations band government in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Their office is located in the village of Keremeos in the Similkameen region. They are a member of the Okanagan ...

at Keremeos. The upper reaches of the Similkameen and its upper tributaries such as the Tulameen and Pasayten Rivers, however, were part of the traditional territory of the

Nlaka'pamux The Nlaka'pamux or Nlakapamuk ( ; ), also previously known as the ''Thompson'', ''Thompson River Salish'', ''Thompson Salish'', ''Thompson River Indians'' or ''Thompson River people'', and historically as the ''Klackarpun'', ''Haukamaugh'', ''Kni ...

and their subgroup the Scw'exmx.

References

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