Student's killer on parole
Charges after investigation
Hostage was on captor 
Regulating power prices
Gen X is raking it in
LeBlanc laying groundwork
US vetoes UN resolution
$100M Nassar settlement
12 Trump jurors picked
Rates slow green economy
Vicinity hires president,
Record housing starts
Warriors ready for Round 2
Kalamalka Bowl cancelled
Rockets live to fight on
Rihanna's parenting ‘hack’
Tarantino scraps film
Munn talks cancer battle
Kelowna: Panorama from Siwash Point on the westside of Okanagan Lake in 1909 and 2023
Siwash Point refers to the northernmost extension of high ground running from Lakeview Heights to a point jutting into the lake just north the bridge.
The word, “Siwash”, refers to indigenous people and suggests the point may have, at one time, been the location of an encampment or settlement of indigenous people. It was in common use, by both indigenous and European settlers, but has fallen out of favour in recent years.
The most striking difference between the two photos, besides the overall spread of urban development visible in the modern-day photo, is the ongoing intrusion of multi-storey structures (10 storeys and more) which are not seen in the 1909 photo.
Not only was there no need for such buildings back then, the technology to effectively construct such tall structures was just being developed. New York City’s tallest building in 1908 was only 41 storeys tall.
The other striking difference is barely captured in the modern-day photo. In the lower left corner of the photo, a chimney and the top of an evergreen tree bracket the roofline of houses and a forest of large pine trees along the ridge facing the lake. Most of Siwash Point in 1909 was vacant land. However today, only a few open spots between the residences and trees, provide glimpses that still required splicing photos together, to approximate the same vista that was easily obtained back then.
In both photos, the central highpoint is Dilworth Mountain, which rises about 268 metres above the valley floor to an elevation of just over 610 metres above sea level.
The knoll at the far left of the two photos is Mount Baldy, which reaches an elevation of just over 530 metres above sea level.
Please email your comments and suggestions for future Second Look views to Terry Robertson at [email protected].
(The older photo and was taken in 1909 by pioneer photographer G.H.E. Hudson. Credit: Canada Patent and Copyright Office / Library and Archives Canada / PA-029607.)
This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
