The Okanagan Trail was an inland route to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush from the Lower Columbia region of the Washington and Oregon Territories in 1858–1859. The route was essentially the same as that used by the Hudson's Bay Company fur brigades, following the Columbia River to the confluence of the Okanogan River, and then up that river's watercourse via Osoyoos, Skaha (Dog) and Okanagan Lakes, then using a pass via Monte Creek to Fort Kamloops, at the confluence of the North and South Thompson Rivers. The route then went west from there down the Thompson River either to the lower gold-bearing bars of the Fraser River between what is now Lytton, British Columbia and Yale, British Columbia, or via Hat Creek and Marble Canyon to the upper Fraser goldfields around present-day Lillooet, British Columbia. A shorter branch-route to the lower Thompson and lower Fraser Canyon diverged from the main route at the confluence of the Similkameen River and the Okanogan (at present-day Oroville, Washington). Cayoosh and The Fountains are today's Lillooet, British Columbia and environs.
See also
- Whatcom Trail
- Yakima War
- Cayuse War
- Fraser Canyon War
- Dewdney Trail
- Douglas Road
- Old Cariboo Road
- Cariboo Road
- Similkameen Trail
- River Trail
- Hudson's Bay Brigade Trail
- Columbia District
- Oregon boundary dispute
- Oregon Country
- Oregon Treaty
- Oregon Territory
- Fort Vancouver
External links
- Detailed history on "Crowsnest Highway" website history page
- Indians ambush gold prospectors in McLoughlin Canyon (Okanogan Valley) on July 29, 1858, HistoryLink.org Essay 7614
Further reading
- Mather, Ken (2018). Trail North: The Okanagan Trail of 1858-68 and Its Origins in British Columbia and Washington. Heritage House. ISBN 978-1-77203-230-7.