The Plateau Peoples
The Plateau peoples had always engaged in trade with other Native peoples on the Plateau, and to a lesser extent, on the Pacific Coast. Trade expeditions were limited to how much an individual could carry in a canoe or on their back and the routes usually followed the river valleys, especially in the easier north south travel, whether by foot or canoe.
…The arrival of the horse (1700 – 1730) significantly changed the trade network on the Plateau. With horses, the volume and variety of goods increased, and routes became direct.
Source: Trail North – The Okanagan Trail of 1858 – 68 and its origins in British Columbia and Washington, Ken Mather.
An Important First Nation Trade Route for over 6000 years
The First Nation trade route that ran north along the Okanagan River and lake system and veered west to the Thompson River was particularly significant as it connected the two large river drainage areas and the peoples of the Columbia and Fraser rivers. Sections of this trail have been carbon dated to be over 6000 years old.
The Period of the Fur Trade
David Thompson of the Northwest Company was set down the Columbia River in 1811 to open a passage from the interior to the Pacific. He was instructed to cooperate with the Pacific Fur Company at Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia. David Stuart of the PFC and Thompson returned up the Columbia the same summer. In August they reached the mouth of the Okanagan River where they established Fort Okanagan, the first European habitation in the interior Washington territory.
David Stuart and 3 others from the PFC as well as First Nation guides then headed north on horseback to explore the Okanagan valley. When at the head of Okanagan Lake, they were told of a great river further north. Thinking it might be the Fraser River or a tributary they set out and reach the Thompson River near present day Kamloops. Stuart and his party were the first white men to travel this trail, and it quickly became a major fur trade route.
The establishment of the International Border in 1846 ended fur transportation along the route and the trail fell largely into disuse.
The Miners Brigades
The BC gold rush of 1858 brought miners, traders, and cattle onto the trail again. Ten years after the major California gold rush of 1848, tens of thousands turned their eyes to the Fraser river. The dangers of the Fraser River canyon meant many chose the route up the Columbia river to Fort Okanagan and onto the old Fur Brigade Trail to the Thompson river instead.
The Trail Today
Today there is little of the original trail left that has not been developed or that lies under the asphalt of new roads. This is a section of the Trail of the Okanagans that is still as it was - the Fur Brigade Trail between Summerland and Peachland.
Source: Trail North – The Okanagan Trail of 1858 – 68 and its origins in British Columbia and Washington, Ken Mather.
