The New Frontier

In 1882, Shorts made his way to the Okanagan Valley. Finally, he had found a place where he was happy and where he could earn a living. He obtained 320 acres (130 hectares) of land in the area that is now called Fintry. Fintry is located on the west side of Okanagan Lake just 9.5 nautical miles from Okanagan Landing. This land became his homestead. Roads and trails into his acreage were nearly non-existent. Shorts was always on the lookout for a means to earn a good living. From the isolated location of his home, he quickly saw the need for a transportation system up and down the lake. So, he had a boat builder in Spallumcheen build him a rowboat. This new boat was the start of commercial traffic on Okanagan Lake.

The Ruth Shorts Rowboat

Shorts was one of the first businessmen to operate a commercial boat on Okanagan Lake. His freight business made the Okanagan Lake area more attractive to many settlers. Starting in 1883, Captain Shorts ran a boat between O’Keefe Ranch at the north end of Okanagan Lake to Penticton at the south end of the Lake. This boat was a 22-foot long (about 6.5 metres) rowboat called Ruth Shorts. The captain named the boat after his mother.