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1855: 1858 - Wagon Train

The first record of a wagon train passing through the Okanagan Valley was in 1858 when the expedition of Palmer and Miller started out with nine wagons with supplies that would be needed by the gold miners from Walla Walla, Washington. They finally managed to reach Fort Kamloops where they sold their goods, horses and wagons. Parts of the Brigade Trail on the west side of Okanagan Lake were too steep for the heavily laden wagons so they built rafts, dismantled the wagons and loaded the wagons and their goods onto the rafts. They crossed Okanagan Lake from where Peachland is now and landed at Mission Creek. The horses and oxen went back to Penticton and up the east side of the lake through Wild Horse Canyon. The wagons were reassembled and proceeded along the valley to the east of Duck Lake and then up along the east side of Okanagan Lake.