This photo was taken sometime around 1922 during the construction of the Kelowna line of the Canadian National Railway.
Taken in the Oyama area near Kalmalka Lake the photo shows men and horses working on a rock cut during railway construction.
Cuts are typically used in road, rail, and canal construction to reduce the length and grade of a route.
In 1912 the provincial legislature approved construction of a Canadian Northern Railway line to Kelowna from the main line at Kamloops. Construction was delayed from the starting, and then suspended with the outbreak of World War I in 1914.
According to the City of Kelowna, construction resumed on the rail link from Kamloops, and in 1925, after a thirteen-year wait, the CNR line to Kelowna was completed.
In September of 1925, Mayor D.W. Sutherland drove a gilded spike to mark the arrival of the first train within Kelowna’s city limits.
The CNR completed its facilities in Kelowna in 1926 with the construction of this stalwart station for passengers and light freight.
This photo was donated to the Okanagan Archive Trust Society by Sam Tyndahl.
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