Letter from Stephen Freemen to James Goldie

Letter from Stephen Freemen to James Goldie

British Columbia
agriculture
economy
expansion
business
employment

A letter from Stephen Freemen to James Goldie detailing his intention to sell his half of the plot of land they share in Vernon, BC. Goldie was the manager of an independent fruit ranch in the Okanagan. The favourable climate of the Okanagan area was central to the agricultural economy of B.C and property was regularly bought and sold as people sought to invest in pursuit of profit and to then move on to new opportunities, as with Freemen. Or with a longer-term view in the case of Goldie, settle permanently on Rainbow Ranch which employed a numerous crew of Japanese and European immigrants to work the ranch. This highlights the theme of the colonial legacy in BC, with no regard to Native ideas towards the land and ownership. With the fruit ranch and land values detailed in the source, economic development and settler colonialism can also be identified as central themes.

Stephen Freemen

University of British Columbia Library Open Collections
Rainbow Ranch Collection

https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/rainbow

31 January 1910

Sebastian Jones

The Lake Country and Museum Archives
Rainbow Ranch Collection
Item - 10.14288/1.0354651

English

Textual - handwritten

20th century British Columbia