In 1821 the North West Company and its extensive stations were adjoined to the Hudson's Bay Company. As HBC officials traveled overland to Fort George, they passed through Fort Okanogan. The former four NWC employees there were retained, one being Hawaiian, three French-Canadian. The number of staff was increased greatly, so that by 1826 over 40 Native and White laborers resided at the post. The food supply was still based on local Indigenous food production, such as
salmon, over 19,000 consumed annually, along with
venison rather than imported agricultural practices. Additionally several quarts of
Wapato and over a thousand quarts of various berries were consumed in 1826. HBC Governor
Sir George Simpson commented about Fort Okanagan during his 1841 visit to the
Columbia District: ...is an outpost from the establishment of Thompson's River [Fort Thompson/Fort Shuswap], maintained more for the purpose of facilitating the transport business of that post and
New Caledonia than for trade as there are few or no Fur bearing animals in the surrounding country. In the last two decades of its use the station had only one employee residing there, generally with their family. Starting in 1848 the Okanogan Trail was no longer used by fur trapping brigades, now getting their supplies from
Fort Hope instead of Fort Okanogan. The company began considering abandoning the post in 1853, no longer finding it financially viable to maintain. Negotiations for the sale of its property within the United States were still ongoing with the American Government, with the HBC unwilling to lose its basis for land claims of Fort Okanogan. The son of departing manager Joachin La Fluer, François Duchouquette, was instructed in 1853 to work there. He continued to maintain residency at the location until given orders in 1860 to remove the remaining supplies and property of the HBC. Duchoquette left with a pack train on 18 or 19 June, leaving the post "for all practical purposes abandoned..." and later established a trading outpost outside
Keremeos in
British Columbia. Robert Stevenson, a witness to the withdrawal recalled that:At the time of our visit all the Indians in that part of the country were congregated at the fort assisting the factor in packing up the goods preparatory to moving the post to Keremeos in British Columbia. The goods were packed in Hudson Bay 'parflushes' made of raw hide, and loads were arranged for 150 horses. The post was to be abandoned the following day, and no goods were on sale that day. American and Chinese gold miners in the area took wood from aging fur station, leaving it barren. No buildings of Fort Okanogan remained by 1880. ==Management==