Okanogan County's natives were called the Okanogans, Methows, Nespelems and San Poils. They have since been joined on the Colville Indian Reservation by bands of Nez Perce, Wenatchee, Lakes, Colville, Palouse, Moses and Entiat Indians.
     Early non-Indians came to the county seeking furs and, eventually gold and silver. Some highlights:
     July 3, 1811: David Thompson and other fur traders from British-owned Northwest Company drift into the area. They are said to be the first white men to arrive in the Okanogan.
     Late summer, 1811: John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company builds its first inland post on the south bank of the Okanogan River near confluence with the Columbia. First establishment to fly the American flag in what is now Washington state.
     1821: Fort Okanogan becomes property of the Hudson's Bay Company.
     1821-1846: Furs gathered from all over sprawling New Caledonia - most of northwestern Canada - come down the Okanogan River to the fort and are transferred to boats for passage to Vancouver.
     1838: Hudson's Bay Company relocates Fort Okanogan about a mile away on the shores of the Columbia.
     1853: Area that's now Okanogan County becomes part of Clark County under original formation of Washington Territory.
     1854: Area that's now Okanogan County becomes part of Walla Walla County.
     1857-58: Prospectors turn into a wild-eyed stampede headed for the Cariboo gold fields of British Columbia.
     1858: Hiram F. "Okanogan" Smith settles near the foot of Lake Osoyoos as Okanogan County's first permanent white resident, plants county's first fruit orchards. Some of his apple and pear trees still bear fruit.
     1860: The fur trade dwindles; Fort Okanogan is abandoned.
     1860s: Ben Snipes and others push great herds of cattle nearly 800 miles from the Yakima country to Cariboo mining camps. Some prospectors dip gold pans in the Similkameen River.
     1863: Okanogan County area becomes part of Stevens County.
     April 2, 1872: Presidential executive order creates Colville Indian Reservation. Four months later the northern boundary moves south to its present location.
     1886: Reservation land west of the Okanogan River opens to entry. Cascade foothills explode with activity as miners and homesteaders pour.
     1888: Okanogan becomes a county, with county seat temporarily in Ruby.
     1889: County seat moves to Conconully.
     1892: North half of Colville Indian Reservation becomes public domain.
     1893: Price of silver collapses; boom towns fade.
     1890s: Stern-wheel riverboats ply the Columbia River to Brewster and, in high water, the Okanogan River as far as Riverside.
     1900s: Fledgling irrigation districts form, expanding Okanogan Smith's orchard into the county's largest economic force by the 1970s. Lumber and cattle raising grow in importance.
     1915: County seat moves to Okanogan.
     1916: South half of the Colville Indian Reservation opens to settlement.
     Feb. 26, 1938: U.S. government approves Colville Confederated Tribes' constitution and by-laws; Colville Business Council established.
     1988: County celebrates its centennial.
     1989: State celebrates its centennial.
     1992, post election: Okanogan County gains national prominence as the county with the longest string of correctly going for the presidential winner. Streak extends back to 1904 and Theodore Roosevelt's victory.
     1996: Okanogan County loses national "bellwether" distinction by going for Republican Bob Dole instead of winner Bill Clinton.
     1997: Colville Indian Reservation celebrates 125th anniversary.