Yarrow, British Columbia
Encyclopedia
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
and 12 km southwest of downtown Chilliwack
Chilliwack, British Columbia
Chilliwack is a Canadian city in the Province of British Columbia. It is a predominantly agricultural community with an estimated population of 80,000 people. Chilliwack is the second largest city in the Fraser Valley Regional District after Abbotsford. The city is surrounded by mountains and...
, in British Columbia, Canada. It is in the Fraser Valley
Fraser Valley
The Fraser Valley is the section of the Fraser River basin in southwestern British Columbia downstream of the Fraser Canyon. The term is sometimes used to refer to the Fraser Canyon and stretches upstream from there, but in general British Columbian usage of the term refers to the stretch of the...
at the foot of Vedder Mountain
Vedder Mountain
Vedder Mountain is a mountain located in the Fraser Valley between the village of Yarrow and the village of Cultus Lake. It stands 924 m high and is tree covered to its summit with some open areas. A hiking trail crosses the mountain. Old logging roads are also present....
. The village was first settled by Mennonites in the late 1920s, following the draining of Sumas Lake
Sumas Lake
Sumas Lake was a body of water between Sumas and Vedder mountains, midway between the present-day cities of Chilliwack and Abbotsford, British Columbia. Its name means "a big level opening" and is a reference to the site of the lake, which lay between Sumas Mountain and its American counterpart,...
and the reclamation of the former lake bed for agriculture. Yarrow is located within the City of Chilliwack
Chilliwack, British Columbia
Chilliwack is a Canadian city in the Province of British Columbia. It is a predominantly agricultural community with an estimated population of 80,000 people. Chilliwack is the second largest city in the Fraser Valley Regional District after Abbotsford. The city is surrounded by mountains and...
.
Geography
Yarrow is at the foot of the Skagit Range of the Cascade Mountains on the Vedder RiverVedder River
The Vedder River, called the Chilliwack River above Vedder Crossing, is a river in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington....
, near the latter's confluence with the Fraser
Fraser River
The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia at the city of Vancouver. It is the tenth longest river in Canada...
, which traverses the Lower Mainland
Lower Mainland
The Lower Mainland is a name commonly applied to the region surrounding and including Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. As of 2007, 2,524,113 people live in the region; sixteen of the province's thirty most populous municipalities are located there.While the term Lower Mainland has been...
, of British Columbia. The Lower Mainland Ecoregion
Lower Mainland Ecoregion
The Lower Mainland Ecoregion is the biogeoclimatic region that surrounds Vancouver, British Columbia, comprising the eastern edge of the Georgia Depression and extending from Powell River, British Columbia on the Sunshine Coast to Hope at the eastern end of the Fraser Valley...
is part of the Pacific Maritime Ecozone. The village of Yarrow lies between Vedder Mountain to the south and Sumas Mountain
Sumas Mountain
Sumas Mountain is a mountain located in Whatcom County, Washington, 15 miles northeast of Bellingham and southwest of Vedder Mountain. Located in the Skagit Range the mountain is notable for its high biodiversity and year-round hiking trails. It is sometimes referred to as American Sumas to...
to the northwest. The climate is temperate with most of the precipitation falling in the winter months as rain. The summer is warm and relatively dry. The fertile upper Fraser Valley supports the growth of many varieties of fruit, vegetables and herbs. Yarrow's economy is thus primarily agricultural and includes dairy farms and field crops (blueberries, corn, cole crops and hay).
History
The property that was to later become the village of Yarrow was first owned by Volkert Vedder, who alienated it from Crown landCrown land
In Commonwealth realms, Crown land is an area belonging to the monarch , the equivalent of an entailed estate that passed with the monarchy and could not be alienated from it....
in 1858. In 1910, the British Columbia Electric Railway
British Columbia Electric Railway
The British Columbia Electric Railway was a historic Canadian railway which operated in southwestern British Columbia.Originally the parent company, and later a division, of BC Electric, the BCER operated public transportation in southwestern British Columbia from its establishment in the...
constructed a line from Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
to nearby Chilliwack
Chilliwack, British Columbia
Chilliwack is a Canadian city in the Province of British Columbia. It is a predominantly agricultural community with an estimated population of 80,000 people. Chilliwack is the second largest city in the Fraser Valley Regional District after Abbotsford. The city is surrounded by mountains and...
that skirted the edge of Sumas Lake
Sumas Lake
Sumas Lake was a body of water between Sumas and Vedder mountains, midway between the present-day cities of Chilliwack and Abbotsford, British Columbia. Its name means "a big level opening" and is a reference to the site of the lake, which lay between Sumas Mountain and its American counterpart,...
. One of the stations along this line was named Yarrow. The townsite was built on land reclaimed, in part, from Sumas Lake
Sumas Lake
Sumas Lake was a body of water between Sumas and Vedder mountains, midway between the present-day cities of Chilliwack and Abbotsford, British Columbia. Its name means "a big level opening" and is a reference to the site of the lake, which lay between Sumas Mountain and its American counterpart,...
. In the early 1920s, the provincial government built dykes to channel the Vedder River
Vedder River
The Vedder River, called the Chilliwack River above Vedder Crossing, is a river in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington....
through the Vedder Canal to the Fraser River
Fraser River
The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia at the city of Vancouver. It is the tenth longest river in Canada...
. This dyking project, which was completed in 1924, opened 12,000 acres (49 km²) of land for agriculture to the west of Yarrow. By 1928, much of the land was owned by Chauncey Eckert. That same year, a group of ethnic Dutch-German Mennonites, who had fled persecution in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, began buying lots of this land from Eckert. They created a Mennonite community that flourished from the late 1920s until the early 1960s. As many Mennonites began to assimilate into mainstream Canadian culture, they moved away from the rural village of Yarrow, and subsequent settlers were of many different ethnic backgrounds. Today, Yarrow functions mainly as a semi-rural suburb of Chilliwack.
Yarrow Days
