Fort Okanogan

Fort Okanogan sits where the Okanogan and Columbia Rivers meet, featuring restored buildings that represent early American settlement in Washington. Today it operates as an interpretive center with exhibits and walking routes that explain the fort's trading history.

The fort was established in 1811 as the first American settlement in Washington and became a crucial trading hub for the Pacific Fur Company and later the Hudson's Bay Company. It grew into a central gathering point where traders and Indigenous peoples conducted business together.

The Interpretive Center displays the traditions of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and their deep roots in this region. Visitors learn how Indigenous peoples and European traders interacted and built relationships through commerce.

The site is easy to navigate on foot with marked paths leading through restored buildings and around the grounds. Exhibits and informational signs are open throughout the year and help explain what happened here during the trading era.

The original fort site now sits underwater in Lake Pateros, created in 1967 when Wells Dam was built on the Columbia River. This inundation shows how modern development reshaped the physical traces of early settlement history.