Coldstream Ranch

In 1863, three former officers of the British army arrived in the North Okanagan. Two of the officers, brothers Forbes and Charles Vernon, pre-empted land in the Priest Valley area, later to become the City of Vernon. The third officer, Capt. Charles F. Houghton, applied for and received a Crimean War military land grant of 1,450 acres. This area forms the central core of the Coldstream Ranch. In 1871, Capt. Houghton was elected to the House of Commons in Ottawa, and sold the ranch to Forbes Vernon, who began actively purchasing land throughout the Coldstream Valley. A year later, a weather station was established at the ranch to gather statistics. Shortly after purchasing the ranch, Vernon also entered politics, and was elected to the B.C. Legislature in 1875. By the year 1891, Forbes Vernon was spending much of his time in Victoria, and decided to sell the then 13,261-acre Ranch to Lord and Lady Aberdeen from Scotland. Lord Aberdeen built extensive irrigation and domestic water works and began subdividing the land into lots of 10 to 40 acres, making land available for new settlers and encouraging development in the area. Once this had been done, the Coldstream Ranch became the site of the first commercial orchard in the Okanagan. In 1893, Lord Aberdeen was appointed Governor-General of Canada for a six-year term. In 1906, realizing that additional sources of water were required to service the extensive orchard lands, Lord Aberdeen brought in other shareholders were brought in to form Coldstream Estate Limited. An ambitious construction program was then initiated, with major capital supplied by James Buchanan, a British businessman and owner of the 800-acre Lavington Ranch property east of the Coldstream Ranch. James Buchanan received a Knighthood and became Sir James Buchanan, Lord Woolavington. He purchased the Coldstream Ranch from Lord Aberdeen in 1920 and later conveyed it to his daughter, Lady Catherine Macdonald- Buchanan, who operated it as a sole proprietorship until 1948. In that year, the Ranch was incorporated with five directors from B.C. For almost 80 years, ownership of the Coldstream Ranch has remained with the descendants of Lord Woolavington. In 1994, the ranch was sold to the Keith Balcaen family of Lavington.