John Jacob Astor's fur traders built Fort Okanogan in September 1811. The British North West Company took possession during the War of 1812. The Hudson's Bay Company owned the fort from 1821 to 1860, and it was moved in the 1830s to the Columbia River. At the mouth of the Okanogan River, the fort served as a trading center. The United States won authority over the region in 1846, and the Hudson's Bay Company abandoned Fort Okanogan 14 years later.