It took about two months for the fur traders to travel from Fort Vancouver to Fort St. James. The Hudson’s Bay men would travel by boat on the Columbia River from Fort Vancouver to Fort Okanogan. They could also travel on the Fraser River from Fort Alexandria to Fort St. James. However, the middle section, from Fort Okanogan to Fort Alexandria, could not be travelled by boat, so an overland trail was needed. This overland portion of the Fur Brigade Trail was very rough when the fur company started using it. The trail followed existing First Nations trails that sometimes were only paths through the Okanagan. The Hudson’s Bay Company saw the need for a more clearly marked trail. In 1824, they asked their employee, Tom McKay, to blaze the overland portion from Fort Okanogan to Kamloops. The trail had been in use since 1810, but McKay made the trail easier to follow.