For those of us who have moved into Joe Rich Valley during the past 25 years, it is difficult to appreciate just how isolated Joe Rich really was until almost 40 years ago. It is this very isolation from other communities that makes it such an interesting and clearly definable historical study.
In 1895, the Joe Rich population was probably made up of only its original settler, Joe Rich himself. By 1910, there were still less than ten people here; by 1920 perhaps 20 residents and by 1930, about 35. When Howard and Gerry Demitor canvassed all the residents to arrange for electrical power and telephone to come into the valley in the mid 1960s, there were still only about 13 homes and 45 residents in Joe Rich. Up to that date, nearly all Joe Rich residents worked in the valley either farming or logging or both or else they used this area as a summertime cottage hideaway as was the case with the McKays, Willets, Trenches, Dr. Shepherd and George Patterson. A very few, like Billy Black sometimes worked away from Joe Rich, but had their families here and came home on the weekends. Life here was quiet and peaceful, but primitive and hard work before electricity.
The first settlers arrived before motor vehicles were common and so often relied on horses and wagons or sleighs. The road was unpaved, narrow and nearly twice as long as it is now. Passing another vehicle could only be done at some of the wider spots in the road. The trip to town took the better part of half a day and longer if one lived where the Philpotts did.
When Cyril Weddell arrived in 1919, he had a Model T Ford, but conditions on the road especially in winter sometimes forced him to use a horse. He occasionally left his vehicle at the “red barn” in Black Mountain and came to and from Joe Rich by horse and sleigh or wagon. Later, he got a Model A Ford and the trip was more reliable, but it still took a few hours to go to downtown Kelowna. Even in 1960 when Howard Demitor arrived, it was a pleasant, but long slow drive to Joe Rich with dust from the road filtering in through every crack in the vehicle. The road ended in Joe Rich and the traffic on the road was minimal. A breakdown could mean a long wait. Today, we drive at a speed of 85 to 90 kilometres per hour in air-conditioned comfort with soft music in the background and reach downtown Kelowna in half an hour.
It was in the 1960s that everything changed. Power and telephone arrived in 1965 and the road to Joe Rich was straightened and all paved in 1968. These changes revolutionized Joe Rich life. The primitive and intimate little community began to mushroom into what it is today. By 1970, it had more than tripled in ten years with the Dion subdivision across the highway from the Weddells. By 1980, there were over 200 residents when Mr. Jerome opened up the Tamarack Park subdivision off Goudie Road. By 1990, there were perhaps 700 residents, a number which had grown to 1030 by 2001 and must be close to 1200 today. Betty Philpott once wistfully remarked to Gert Weddell, “We sold out Joe Rich when we paved the road and turned on the lights”.
The population of the valley has not only increased, but it has changed. Most residents no longer seek their livelihood in the valley. The Demitors and the Russells in the early 1960s, though they both did some farming here, were the first to earn the major part of their income from work in Kelowna and yet come home to Joe Rich each night. Most residents now work in Kelowna and use Joe Rich as a ‘dormitory’ community. There are exceptions in addition to the ranchers and loggers who still live here. Bob Hamm produces pottery in Joe Rich. Geoff and John Holman run a successful graphics business by computer from Joe Rich. Dan Hyatt and John Wood produce furniture here. At the end of Philpott Road, Del Radomske runs a log home construction business and school. Gordie Bonn runs a ‘Joe Rich Garage’ business on Gosh Hawk Road. There are several couples who are retired here, but these Joe Rich residents are vastly outnumbered by those who drive each day into Kelowna to their work. This change in demographics has led to an inevitable loss of the community cohesiveness which was characteristic of the old Joe Rich. The more recent residents tend to see Joe Rich as a lovely setting for their home rather than as their livelihood and their whole life. Hence, the heated discussions that Regional District Planning Meetings always seem to lead to. Quite understandably the old and the recent residents view our valley differently.
The peace and silence of Joe Rich is gradually giving way to the pressure cooker lifestyle of urban work and noisy traffic passing down Highway 33 or on to Big White. Even the children now attend large schools. But Joe Rich still offers great advantages. Some it didn’t offer in the past. Even with its current population of over 1000, it remains a beautiful place to live. It is now one of those rare spots from which a person can work in a sophisticated modern environment and still come home each night to a very rural setting with forest or farm surroundings; the best of both worlds.