Garnett Valley Road and Garnett Valley were named after pioneers Edgar and William Garnett.
The Garnett brothers pre-empted their land at the entrance to Garnett Valley in 1887 and again in 1889.
The family name Garnett is spelled with a second “t” but often the second “t” is forgotten.
How this came about was due to a provincial map published in 1920.
Some of the letters of the title of the map covered up the second “t” of the name Garnett and since then, maps have used the name Garnet.
Garnett Valley Road is one of the oldest roads in British Columbia.
The first map to show this road (trail) was a map attributed to Samuel Black in 1833.
An older road, another Summerland road, is the Princeton-Summerland Road identified on a map from 1827. Both trails were First Nation trails and sections of these trails have been carbon dated at 6,000 years old.
Garnett Valley Road is part of the Okanagan Fur Brigade Trail system.
It was first described in 1811 and used for the fur trade from 1825 to 1847.
After that date, there was little use of the road ( trail) until British Columbia’s gold rush in 1858.
About 10 per cent of the miners who travelled to the gold fields of the interior of the Colony of British Columbia used this route. The majority of the miners travelled through the Fraser Canyon.
In 1858 cattleman, businessman and prominent citizen, Joel Palmer travelled along this trail.
His journals describe his travels through this area.
From present day Garnett Lake to Peachland the trail has a very steep descent and Palmer complained about the condition of the roadway.
Palmer’s complaint is probably the first complaint of a road in British Columbia.
Summerland has created a 50 acre historic park, Priest Encampment at Garnett Lake.
Also, Summerland has the only preserved section of the Fur Brigade Trail; as a 4.1-kilometre linear park from Priest to the Brigade lookout.
With the recent announcement of improvements to Garnett Valley Road with the addition of a bike lane, the possibility exists to connect a bicycle trail from Garnett Lake to the planned bike trails of the Central Okanagan Regional District at Peachland.
The goal is to create a trail that extends the entire length of the Okanagan Valley.
The Summerland section would be one of the most scenic sections.
