 In 1811 Fort Okanogan was built by the Pacific Fur Company at the confluence of the Okanogan and Columbia Rivers . The fort 's ownership passed to the North West Company , then the Hudson 's Bay Company . Fort <unk> , near Kettle Falls , was another important fur trading outpost . The Okanogan River was used by fur brigades traveling between Fort Okanogan and Kamloops . In the late 1850s this route became known as the Okanagan Trail and was widely used as an inland route to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush . 
