SAVONA

SAVONA
Is a unincorporated lakeside village located approximately halfway between Kamloops and Cache Creek along the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway #1). Just like its neighbors to the west and east, Savona enjoys Semi-arid climate and very mild and wet winter with average temperatures that exceed 35 degrees Celsius and 10 degrees Celsius during the summer and winter months respectively. The community was originally known as Savona’s Ferry and was originally located on the northern shore of Kamloops Lake where it was at the end of stagecoach line from Cache Creek on the Cariboo Wagon Road and it was at this time that passengers heading up to Kamloops and point east, were forced to rely on steamships to get across Kamloops Lake to get to these destinations until a man named Francis Savona (Francois Saveneux, in French), who the town is supposedly named after, operated a ferry across the lake. The highway originally went through the town, but during the 1960s and during construction of the Trans-Canada Highway, Savona is now bypassed entirely. The community is served by many industries including cattle ranching, forestry, and logging, with a large specialty plywood sawmill run by Ainsworth Lumber Company, that is considered to be one of British Columbia’s largest plywood mills. Because of its small population many retirees choose Savona has a haven, who want to retire and spend the rest of their lives close to a lake.

SAVONA’S POPULATION: 581