George J. Fraser  (1872-1958)

George Fraser was born in Teeswater, Ontario in 1872.  He arrived in the Okanagan Valley around 1896.

During 1896 to 1900, Fraser worked on large stock ranches in the Vernon and Kelowna districts.  By 1903 he owned his own ranch, which he sold in 1906.  In this year Fraser started the Kelowna Canning Company, one of the first canning enterprises in the Valley.  In 1907 he married Annie Josephine Plaskett.  They moved from Kelowna to establish a cannery in Penticton in 1910.

Fraser came to Osoyoos in 1910 and purchased 200 acres on the east side of the lake.  The Frasers moved to Osoyoos in 1917.  Fraser operated the Hill Ranch and by 1919 was sole operator.  During this year, a group of friends were interested by Fraser to purchase the Hill Ranch and form the company Osoyoos Orchards Ltd.  These men put in the pumping system, planted orchards, and thus started the intensive development of the district.  Fraser was president of the Oliver Co-Op Growers and then was first president of the Osoyoos Co-Op.  In 1938 he retired from orchard work and started a real estate and insurance office in Osoyoos, which he sold in 1947.

During these years Fraser took an active part in establishing a saw-mill, cement works, cannery, and theatre.  Also, during his forty years in Osoyoos, Fraser held office in the Community Hall, School Board, Board of Trade, Cemetery board, the Red Cross, and the Okanagan and Osoyoos Historical Societies.  Fraser wrote a book on the history of Osoyoos, entitled The Story of Osoyoos.  In 1944, he was asked to drive the last spike when the railway came to Osoyoos, and in 1952 was awarded the first Good Citizenship Award.  George J. Fraser passed away in 1958 and Mrs. Fraser, born 1879, passed away in 1971.