Theodore Kruger was born in Hanover in 1829, and died in Oliver in 1899. He came from Germany to San Francisco in 1854 and moved to the Fraser River in 1858, where he mined at Boston Bar. When gold was found at Similkameen, Kruger opened a store and stopping place 6 miles south west of Princeton. He then moved on to Cawston, and pre-empted land there with Frank Richter. He soon moved to the old customs cabin in Similkameen and from there was sent to take charge of the Hudson’s Bay trading post in Osoyoos in 1866. He purchased the trading post in 1872 when the HBC closed it. Kruger House became known as the most important stopping place and supply centre on the crossroads of the trails leading to the gold fields of the Kootenay and Cariboo. Mrs. Christanze Kruger was born in Schleswig–Holstein in 1857 and died in Penticton in 1939. She came to Victoria in 1872 and married Theodore Kruger the following year, travelling to the Okanagan by way of the Hope-Princeton trail. She was the only white woman in Osoyoos until Judge Haynes remarried in 1875. After Judge Haynes’ untimely death in 1888, Mr. Kruger became customs officer until his death in 1899.