Tom Heffron: The Mysterious Miner of Kalamalka Lake

Recently I was told of a hermit-type individual who apparently lived in a cave beneath the current Kalamalka Lake Lookout. After some personal investigation and community sourcing from social media the consensus seems to be that this man was one Tom Heffron. 

The only resource I have not been able to look at is the archives of the Greater Vernon Museum as they are closed due to the COVID 19 pandemic. If anyone else has more information (especially with first hand sources) I would welcome it! But for now, here is the story of the mysterious miner of Kalamalka Lake:

Bill Leeper, who grew up in the Vernon area, was the first to call this local legend to my attention. Bill says his father would often visit the hermit during the war times. Leeper reports:

“(The hermit) lived in the cave below the lookout. My dad was probably about 8 or 9 at the time, very early 40's, wartime. Dad used to go visit him and bring him stuff, one of his favorite things was canned milk, and the old fellow would make him a hot coco using some of the canned milk.”

An early view of the Kal Lake Lookout on the old highway

Leeper also recalls visiting the cave site with his father around 1963:

“… I asked him to take me and show me the cave, I probably thought the hermit would be still be there. We drove up to the lookout, looked over the railing down below… (I) got down to the cave and the path went between a big rock that blocked the entrance from view and there was the cave, so of course my imagination was filled with all kinds of stuff, but no hermit...”

After some social media discussion another person posted the following obituary of a man named Tom Heffron. The dates and details all line up and Bill Leeper agrees that this obituary seems to belong to one and the same person as the hermit his father used to visit. 

According to the obit from the Vernon News (dated June 29, 1950), Tom was born in Ireland on March 1st, 1872 and had resided in the Vernon area for about 43 years dabbling in logging, rail laying and mining ventures. The obit goes on to say:

“In later years he chose to live in a rough shack, thrown against the side of a gully, in the hills beside Kalamalka lake and to the east of the Vernon-Kelowna road.”

This description fits closely to Bill Leeper’s location of Tom’s living quarters. It is thought he likely lived in both a shack and a cave in the vicinity below the current look out. Unfortunately, Tom was found dead in his shack “in the hill bordering Kalamalka Lake” on a Sunday evening (perhaps June 25th, 1950 before his obituary appeared in the local paper that Thursday*). His funeral was held on the Tuesday and he was buried in the old part of Pleasant Valley Cemetery. 

What else do we know about this mysterious man? The Vernon News obituary says: “He was quite a familiar figure, striding along the road at a brisk pace, with his cane, usually a pack on his back and sometimes carrying a shovel to one of his 'mines'”.

Further investigation found his name in the 1921 Canada Census, which actually lists him being born one year earlier in 1871. It recalls his year of immigration from Ireland as 1886 and, surprisingly, lists that he was married – to a Norah Heffron (who was also born in 1871 in Ireland). Who was this Norah and when did she die or disappear from the picture? I have not been able to find out as of yet but perhaps this heartbreak is what drove Tom into a recluse lifestyle.

A few other things we know about Tom from some old newspaper articles are that he liked to try and foretell the weather for the orchardists and also that he claimed to be the one responsible for introducing the Concordia Grape to the Okanagan.

The Vancouver Province, August 28th, 1948

“Tom Heffron, who holes out in the Vernon district, wears a full beard, and reads signals in the sky which tell him what the weather is going to be like, has solemnly warned the orchardists to be prepared for early frosts.”  

The Vancouver Sun, September 14th, 1949

“Mr. Tom Heffron, of Sappa Ranch, Shower Bath Road, Vernon, B.C., writes… “It all happened through the young son of a farmercoming to the gang laying steel for the Canadian National Railways from Kamloops to Kelowna. This school-boy came to our steel gang with a water bucket full of Concord grapes and they were a very good sight for sore eyes… To make a long story short, I told the boy to tell his father to plant out his whole farm (160 acres) in Concord grapes.” 

What's left of the cave below the lookout that Tom may have lived in. PC Bill Leeper

Take these newspaper articles for what you will but they certainly reveal that Tom Heffron was an interesting character! My hope in writing this blog is to revive some old history surrounding Kalamalka Lake but, more importantly, to help leave a bit of a legacy for this man about whom little remains known…




*finadagrave.ca lists his death date as June 8th, 1950