At that time, Oregon Country was under joint British - U.S. occupation under the Treaty of 1818. The Oregon Treaty of 1846, ended the Oregon dispute and placed Fort Colville south of the new boundary at the 49th Parallel. The Hudson's Bay Company then founded Fort Shepherd, just north of the new boundary, as a surrogate location secure on British territory; although operations at Fort Colville continued for a few years longer. In 1859 the Palliser Expedition reunited in Fort Collville and then proceeded down the Columbia River, after having explored much of what is now western Canada, from the Great Lakes to Lake Okanagan. During the gold rushes of the 1850s and 1860s it became an important centre for mining activity and supplies.