Okanagan Trail

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Okanagan Trail" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

Route of the Okanagan Trail. Dotted lines are alternate routes to the lower Fraser Canyon

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. It became a trail for miners, including Americans from California who were prospecting for gold.[1]

The route was essentially the same as that used by the Hudson's Bay Company fur brigades, which traded with the local Salish Indians.[1] It followed 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. From there, the route went west 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).

During the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, the Shuswap Country saw an influx of foreigners through the Okanagan Trail. These then travelled to Tkemlups and northward along the trails to the Cariboo region.[2]

Cayoosh and The Fountains are today's Lillooet, British Columbia and environs. The trail today still exists for tourists to drive along and make stops along the way.[1]

## See also

[edit]

* 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

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Fletcher, Mike (2017). British Canada at 150 years: 1867-2017: Significant Frontier Era Stories, Photographs and Heritage Places. Troubador Publishing Ltd. p. 142\. ISBN 978-1-78589-307-0.
2. ^ Ignace, Marianne; Ignace, Ronald E. (2017). Secwépemc People, Land, and Laws: Yerí7 re Stsq'ey's-kucw. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 233\. ISBN 978-0-7735-5203-6.

## External links

[edit]

* 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

[edit]

* 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.

This British Columbia-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

|

* v
* t
* e

This article about a location in the state of Washington is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

|

* v
* t
* e

This Canadian history article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

|

* v
* t
* e

This article relating to the history of the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

|

* v
* t
* e

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template