Lee Creek

Located on the north shore of Shuswap Lake Lee Creek is situated in a popular tourist area that attracts visitors who enjoy the many watersports found here including kayaking, swimming and water skiing. As well it is located next to Tsútswecw Provincial Park (pronounced choo-chwek), previously known as Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park, which is probably best known as home to one of the largest Sockeye salmon runs in North America – the Adams River run.

Adams River Salmon Preparing to Spawn | K. Walker

Location

Lee Creek is located in BC’s Thompson Okanagan region on the northern shore of Shuswap Lake 18 km (11 mi) east of Chase via Hwy 1. Take the Squilax Bridge off Hwy 1 between Chase and Sorrento and follow the Squilax-Anglemont Highway.

Step Back in Time

In March 1886, the Kamloops Sentinel reported on the Scotch Creek Stabbing Case, in which after heavy drinking, and an argument, Billy Lee was stabbed seven times by his partner Charles Arbbuckle. A later news item reported that he had recovered and that is when he likely built his cabin near the creek where he panned for gold and did some trapping. The remains of his cabin are still there, rotting into the ground.

When the first permanent settlers began arriving in 1906, they named their community Lee Creek after Billy Lee who had lived there until likely 1894, the year of the big flood. Ray Corning arrived in 1913 with his wife and young son and after attempting to homestead they moved to Salmon Arm where he worked as a highway engineer. The creek was renamed after Corning in the 1940s when the first road and bridge were built. Lee Creek’s first permanent homesteader, Oliver Freeman, utilized the creek for irrigation and to power his sawmill.