Okanagan

The Okanagan is a chain of lakes and valleys in the interior of the Pacific Northwest, home to the Syilx people. Salmon gathered at the falls on the Okanagan River, while bitterroot grew in the surrounding country; both were part of a seasonal round of fishing, hunting and gathering. Trails through the valley linked the Syilx to the Columbia basin. In 1811 a fur-trading expedition came north from the newly founded Fort Okanogan, and traders began to use routes already travelled by Indigenous people.