Fort Astoria
Encyclopedia
Fort Astoria was the Pacific Fur Company
's primary fur
trading post in the Northwest, and was the first American-owned
settlement on the Pacific coast. After a short two-year term of US ownership, the British owned and operated it for 33 years. It was the first British port on the Pacific coast of the Americas
. Control of Fort Astoria was a factor in the British and the Americans' resolving their disputed claims to the Oregon Country
.
The Fort Astoria Site was added to the list of National Historic Landmarks on November 5, 1961. It is marked by a reconstructed block house and is home to The Fort George Building, which houses Fort George Brewery.
's Pacific Fur Company, controlled by Americans, arrived via Captain Jonathan Thorn
's ship,Tonquin
. By the end of May, they had completed a fort, built with bark-covered logs enclosing a stockade, with guns mounted for defense. In 1811 the Tonquin carried 12 Native Hawaiian
laborers from the islands, including Naukane
(also known as John Coxe). In 1812 it transported another 26 laborers to Astoria from Hawaii. By the time an overland party joined them in February 1812, they had constructed a trading store, a blacksmith
's shop, a house, and a storage shed for pelts
acquired from trapping or trading with the local Native Americans
. The traders arranged cannons around the perimeter for defense. The post was to serve as an administrative center for various satellite forts such as Fort Okanogan
.
In 1811 British explorer David Thompson
navigated the entire length of the Columbia River
. He reached the partially constructed Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia, two months after the Pacific Fur Company's ship Tonquin.
Two of the notable founders were Alexander MacKay
and Alexander Ross
from Canada, who had previously been with the North West Company
. Mackay died in the 1812 battle with natives that destroyed the Tonquin near Vancouver Island. In 1813 Ross joined the North West Company
after they acquired Fort Astoria.
(Hawaiian), and people from various indigenous
North American peoples, including Iroquois
and others from Eastern Canada
. They found life quite monotonous, with the fish and vegetable diet boring. Venereal diseases were problematic.
Types of fur taken at the fort included beaver
, sea otter
, squirrel
, and red fox
.
On June 15, 1811, two unusual native visitors arrived: the Two-Spirit
woman Kaúxuma Núpika
(known in English as Man-like Woman or Bowdash, which is derived from the Chinook Jargon
burdash) and her wife, both of the Kootenai
from the far interior. The Astorian Pacific Fur Company leaders suspected the two of being spies for the North West Company, but at the same time welcomed their detailed geographical knowledge. About a month later, David Thompson
of the North West Company arrived. Thompson knew the Kootenai couple and told the Astorians about Kaúxuma Núpika and her unusual life. Both the Astorians and Thompson's party ended up protecting the life of Kaúxuma Núpika, whose prophecies of smallpox
among the local natives put her life at risk.
Thompson, who for months had been out of touch with the evolving politics between the fur companies, believed that the North West Company
held a one-third partnership with Astor's Pacific Fur Company
. He carried a letter to the effect. The Astorians knew that the deal had fallen through but dealt with Thompson as if the deal were still on. The journals of Thompson and the Astorians are silent on the matter, yet both parties took steps to mislead or thwart the other, while at the same time remaining on friendly terms. It is likely that in this remote region, neither party knew for certain whether the two companies were to be allies or competitors.
Thorn and the Tonquin left for Russian America in June 1812, but the ship and crew were destroyed at Clayoquot Sound
, Vancouver Island
after troubles with the Tla-o-qui-aht people there. Astor
sent the Beaver to resupply the fort and to carry fur to Russian America, and thence to Canton
in exchange for highly valuable Chinese goods.
between the British and Americans brought tension to this fort, though not as a result of hostilities between the fur companies. In 1813, the Pacific Fur Company officials, desiring to abandon the fort, sold it to officers of the British-owned North West Company. They had arrived at the coast after running low on food supplies in the Interior. Despite this sale to a British company, the British seized the fort with war-sloop
Racoon
. Its captain William Black renamed the post Fort George. It soon became the centre of North West Company operations in the region, where the company had no competition for the land-based fur trade. It became an important port-of-call for the Maritime Fur Trade
.
By 1818, complications of the Treaty of Ghent
, which ended the War of 1812, resulted in an odd scenario: a fort never conquered was returned as booty-of-war. This led to additional complications of international law concerning the region, and circumstances set the stage for the "joint occupancy" of what became known as the Oregon Country afterward. British Columbian historians E.O.S. Scholefield and F.W. Howay state it this way:
Despite the ceremony of possession, actual North West Company and ownership went on as before, and no actual American presence was established in the region from the symbolic repossession.
In 1821 the North West Company was merged into the Hudson's Bay Company
, which took ownership of the fort. George Simpson
, governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, visited the Columbia River region in the mid-1820s and spent the winter of 1824-25 at Fort George. He did not like the fort, finding it inappropriate both as a fur post and a regional depot. He ordered the construction of Fort Vancouver
, a new post and depot upriver at a site with better potential for agriculture, to be the administrative center of Columbia District
.
Fort George was used as the company's main depot in the region from 1821 until Fort Vancouver was completed in April 1825. Fort George was abandoned from June 1825 to 1829. The Hudson's Bay Company reoccupied it on a small scale from 1830 to 1848. During this time, the fort became the center of the Hudson Bay's Company's emerging salmon
fishery
. The company used the salmon to feed its town employees, as well as exporting some to the Hawaiian Islands
market.
The post finally became United States territory only after the Oregon Treaty
ended the Oregon boundary dispute
. Great Britain ceded its territorial rights south of the 49th parallel
. The Hudson's Bay Company gave up its possessions in the region, though the treaty had guaranteed their continued existence.
Pacific Fur Company
The Pacific Fur Company was founded June 23, 1810, in New York City. Half of the stock of the company was held by the American Fur Company, owned exclusively by John Jacob Astor, and Astor provided all of the capital for the enterprise. The other half of the stock was ascribed to working partners...
's primary fur
Fur
Fur is a synonym for hair, used more in reference to non-human animals, usually mammals; particularly those with extensives body hair coverage. The term is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat, also known as the "pelage". Fur is also used to refer to animal...
trading post in the Northwest, and was the first American-owned
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
settlement on the Pacific coast. After a short two-year term of US ownership, the British owned and operated it for 33 years. It was the first British port on the Pacific coast of the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
. Control of Fort Astoria was a factor in the British and the Americans' resolving their disputed claims to the Oregon Country
Oregon Country
The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from...
.
The Fort Astoria Site was added to the list of National Historic Landmarks on November 5, 1961. It is marked by a reconstructed block house and is home to The Fort George Building, which houses Fort George Brewery.
Founding
The fort was founded in March 1811 when officers and employees of John Jacob AstorJohn Jacob Astor
John Jacob Astor , born Johann Jakob Astor, was a German-American business magnate and investor who was the first prominent member of the Astor family and the first multi-millionaire in the United States...
's Pacific Fur Company, controlled by Americans, arrived via Captain Jonathan Thorn
Jonathan Thorn
Jonathan Thorn was an officer of the United States Navy in the early 19th century. He was born on 8 January 1779 at Schenectady, N.Y.. He was appointed a midshipman on 28 April 1800...
's ship,Tonquin
Tonquin
The Tonquin was an American merchant ship involved with the Maritime Fur Trade of the early 19th Century. The ship was used by John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company to establish fur trading outposts on the Northwest Coast of North America, including Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River...
. By the end of May, they had completed a fort, built with bark-covered logs enclosing a stockade, with guns mounted for defense. In 1811 the Tonquin carried 12 Native Hawaiian
Native Hawaiians
Native Hawaiians refers to the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants. Native Hawaiians trace their ancestry back to the original Polynesian settlers of Hawaii.According to the U.S...
laborers from the islands, including Naukane
Naukane
Naukane , also known as John Coxe, Edward Cox, and Coxe was a Native Hawaiian chief who traveled widely through North America in the early 19th century...
(also known as John Coxe). In 1812 it transported another 26 laborers to Astoria from Hawaii. By the time an overland party joined them in February 1812, they had constructed a trading store, a blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
's shop, a house, and a storage shed for pelts
Fur
Fur is a synonym for hair, used more in reference to non-human animals, usually mammals; particularly those with extensives body hair coverage. The term is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat, also known as the "pelage". Fur is also used to refer to animal...
acquired from trapping or trading with the local Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
. The traders arranged cannons around the perimeter for defense. The post was to serve as an administrative center for various satellite forts such as Fort Okanogan
Fort Okanogan
Fort Okanogan was founded as a fur trade outpost by John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Company in 1811. It was built at the confluence of the Okanogan and Columbia Rivers, in what is now Okanogan County, Washington...
.
In 1811 British explorer David Thompson
David Thompson (explorer)
David Thompson was an English-Canadian fur trader, surveyor, and map-maker, known to some native peoples as "Koo-Koo-Sint" or "the Stargazer"...
navigated the entire length of the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
. He reached the partially constructed Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia, two months after the Pacific Fur Company's ship Tonquin.
Two of the notable founders were Alexander MacKay
Alexander MacKay (fur trader)
Alexander MacKay was a Canadian fur trader and explorer who worked for the North West Company and the Pacific Fur Company...
and Alexander Ross
Alexander Ross (fur trader)
-Fur trader and explorer:Ross emigrated to Upper Canada, present day , from Scotland about 1805.In 1811, while working for John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company, Ross took part in the founding of Fort Astoria, a fur-trading post at the mouth of the Columbia River...
from Canada, who had previously been with the North West Company
North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada...
. Mackay died in the 1812 battle with natives that destroyed the Tonquin near Vancouver Island. In 1813 Ross joined the North West Company
North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada...
after they acquired Fort Astoria.
Operations
The inhabitants of the fort differed greatly in background and position, and were structured into a corporate hierarchy. The partners of the company were at the top, with clerks, craftsmen, hunters, and laborers in descending order. Nationalities included Scots, French Canadian, American, KanakaKanakas
Kanaka was the term for a worker from various Pacific Islands employed in British colonies, such as British Columbia , Fiji and Queensland in the 19th and early 20th centuries...
(Hawaiian), and people from various indigenous
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
North American peoples, including Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
and others from Eastern Canada
Eastern Canada
Eastern Canada is generally considered to be the region of Canada east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces:* New Brunswick* Newfoundland and Labrador* Nova Scotia* Ontario* Prince Edward Island* Quebec...
. They found life quite monotonous, with the fish and vegetable diet boring. Venereal diseases were problematic.
Types of fur taken at the fort included beaver
American Beaver
The North American Beaver is the only species of beaver in the Americas, native to North America and introduced to South America. In the United States and Canada, where no other species of beaver occurs, it is usually simply referred to as "beaver"...
, sea otter
Sea Otter
The sea otter is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between 14 and 45 kg , making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the smallest marine mammals...
, squirrel
Squirrel
Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots , flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa and have been introduced to Australia...
, and red fox
Red Fox
The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...
.
On June 15, 1811, two unusual native visitors arrived: the Two-Spirit
Two-Spirit
Two-Spirit People , is an English term that emerged in 1990 out of the third annual inter-tribal Native American/First Nations gay/lesbian American conference in Winnipeg. It describes Indigenous North Americans who fulfill one of many mixed gender roles found traditionally among many Native...
woman Kaúxuma Núpika
Kaúxuma Núpika
Kaúxuma Núpika, also called Qangon, Bowdash, and the Manlike Woman, was a Kootenai person who lived in the early 19th century....
(known in English as Man-like Woman or Bowdash, which is derived from the Chinook Jargon
Chinook Jargon
Chinook Jargon originated as a pidgin trade language of the Pacific Northwest, and spread during the 19th century from the lower Columbia River, first to other areas in modern Oregon and Washington, then British Columbia and as far as Alaska, sometimes taking on characteristics of a creole language...
burdash) and her wife, both of the Kootenai
Kootenai (tribe)
The Ktunaxa , also known as Kootenai, Kutenai or Kootenay , are an indigenous people of North America. They are one of three tribes of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation in Montana, and they form the Ktunaxa Nation in British Columbia...
from the far interior. The Astorian Pacific Fur Company leaders suspected the two of being spies for the North West Company, but at the same time welcomed their detailed geographical knowledge. About a month later, David Thompson
David Thompson (explorer)
David Thompson was an English-Canadian fur trader, surveyor, and map-maker, known to some native peoples as "Koo-Koo-Sint" or "the Stargazer"...
of the North West Company arrived. Thompson knew the Kootenai couple and told the Astorians about Kaúxuma Núpika and her unusual life. Both the Astorians and Thompson's party ended up protecting the life of Kaúxuma Núpika, whose prophecies of smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
among the local natives put her life at risk.
Thompson, who for months had been out of touch with the evolving politics between the fur companies, believed that the North West Company
North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada...
held a one-third partnership with Astor's Pacific Fur Company
Pacific Fur Company
The Pacific Fur Company was founded June 23, 1810, in New York City. Half of the stock of the company was held by the American Fur Company, owned exclusively by John Jacob Astor, and Astor provided all of the capital for the enterprise. The other half of the stock was ascribed to working partners...
. He carried a letter to the effect. The Astorians knew that the deal had fallen through but dealt with Thompson as if the deal were still on. The journals of Thompson and the Astorians are silent on the matter, yet both parties took steps to mislead or thwart the other, while at the same time remaining on friendly terms. It is likely that in this remote region, neither party knew for certain whether the two companies were to be allies or competitors.
Thorn and the Tonquin left for Russian America in June 1812, but the ship and crew were destroyed at Clayoquot Sound
Clayoquot Sound
Clayoquot Sound is located on the west coast of Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is bordered by the Esowista Peninsula to the south, and the Hesquiaht Peninsula to the North. It is a body of water with many inlets and islands. Major inlets include Sydney Inlet,...
, Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...
after troubles with the Tla-o-qui-aht people there. Astor
John Jacob Astor
John Jacob Astor , born Johann Jakob Astor, was a German-American business magnate and investor who was the first prominent member of the Astor family and the first multi-millionaire in the United States...
sent the Beaver to resupply the fort and to carry fur to Russian America, and thence to Canton
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
in exchange for highly valuable Chinese goods.
British tenure
The War of 1812War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
between the British and Americans brought tension to this fort, though not as a result of hostilities between the fur companies. In 1813, the Pacific Fur Company officials, desiring to abandon the fort, sold it to officers of the British-owned North West Company. They had arrived at the coast after running low on food supplies in the Interior. Despite this sale to a British company, the British seized the fort with war-sloop
Sloop-of-war
In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...
Racoon
HMS Racoon (1808)
HMS Racoon, sometimes spelled HMS Raccoon, was an 18-gun ship sloop of the Cormorant Class of the Royal Navy. She was built by John Preston, of Great Yarmouth, and launched on 30 March 1808.-Service:...
. Its captain William Black renamed the post Fort George. It soon became the centre of North West Company operations in the region, where the company had no competition for the land-based fur trade. It became an important port-of-call for the Maritime Fur Trade
Maritime Fur Trade
The Maritime Fur Trade was a ship-based fur trade system that focused on acquiring furs of sea otters and other animals from the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and natives of Alaska. The furs were mostly sold in China in exchange for tea, silks, porcelain, and other Chinese...
.
[With the foundation of Astoria in 1811] for the first time, the North West Company had a competitor in the territory west of the Rocky Mountains. That competition did not last long. From beginning to end fortune frowned upon the American Fur Company. Its ships were wrecked, its overland expedition suffered losses and hardships; its affairs were mis-managed, and jealousies and bickerings marked its councils; then war broke out between Great Britain and America, and HHM Raccoon [sic] was despatched to take Fort Astoria. The officers of the warship looked forward to winning much prize-money, as the post was said to be weel-stocked with furs. However, it was already in possession of the British. Without supplies, and without an adequate force to defend the place, Donald McDougall, who in [Wilson Price] Hunt's absence was in command of the place, had disposed of the fort and all it contained to the North West Company, whose agents had found their way to the Columbia.
Upon his return from a tour of the Russian settlement and the Sandwich Islands, Wilson Price Hunt found that the fort and its supplies and stores that it contained had been transferred to J.G. McTavish and John Stuart, the representatives of the North West Company. He was not, perhaps, altogether in favour of this disposition....nevertheless he acquiesced at the time....thus all the efforts and expenditure of John Jacob Astor, who had aspired to be supreme in the new region, went for naught and his British rivals acquired sole control of the whole field.
No sooner had the North West Company acquired Astoria than it energetically proceeded to occupy the rich territories lying between the Fraser RiverFraser RiverThe Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia at the city of Vancouver. It is the tenth longest river in Canada...
and Columbia RiverColumbia RiverThe Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
. Fort George, formerly Astoria, became the capital of the Oregon Territory [sic], and all supplies for the transmontane region were shipped to that place around the Horn, or through the Strait of Magellan. Fort George became a Fort WilliamFort WilliamFort William may refer to:In Canada:*Fort William, Ontario, a Canadian city which, together with Port Arthur, became part of Thunder Bay in 1970**Fort William , a related Canadian federal electoral district...
in miniature. Fields were cultivated, several large buildings erected, and the pallisades [sic] and bastions strengthened. The Nor'Westers were noted for their hospitality and bonhomie. The banqueting hall was often the scene of the revelries of as jovial a set as ever gathered together. Nevertheless the officers were jealous of each other and life at Fort George was not always as depicted by Commander Wilkes, the author of this picture.
By 1818, complications of the Treaty of Ghent
Treaty of Ghent
The Treaty of Ghent , signed on 24 December 1814, in Ghent , was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
, which ended the War of 1812, resulted in an odd scenario: a fort never conquered was returned as booty-of-war. This led to additional complications of international law concerning the region, and circumstances set the stage for the "joint occupancy" of what became known as the Oregon Country afterward. British Columbian historians E.O.S. Scholefield and F.W. Howay state it this way:
During the war of 1812-14 the British government at the earnest solicitation of the North West Company sent out the sloop of war Raccoon [sic] to demolish Astoria; but before her arrival Astoria had passed into the hands of the North West Company by purchase, yet Captain Black could not resist the temptation of "taking" the fort, and as we have already shown, he went through a little demonstration of hauling down the American flag and running up the British in its place. When the war was settled by the Treaty of Ghent, the first article provided that "all territory, places and possessions whatever, taken by either party from the other during the war, or which may be taken after the signing of the treaty excepting the islands hereinafter mentioned (in the Bay of Fundy) shall be restored without delay."
In the negotiation of that treaty the word "possessions" was introduced by Henry ClayHenry ClayHenry Clay, Sr. , was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives...
, as he later proudly stated for the very purpose of including Astoria, even though it was not known at the time that it was captured. In accordance therewith in October 1818, commissioners representing the two nations met at Astoria and exchanged acts of delivery and acceptance whereby the British Commissioner Captain Hickey of HMS BlossomHMS Blossom (1806)HMS Blossom was an 18-gun Cormorant-class sloop-of-war. She was built in 1806 and is best known for the 1825–1828 expedition under Captain Beechey to the Pacific Ocean. She explored as far north as Point Barrow, Alaska, the furthest point into the Arctic any non-Inuit had been at the time...
and J. Keith for the North West Company "did in conformity to the first article of the Treaty of Ghent restore to the Government of the United States through its agent J.B. Prevost, Esq., the settlement of Fort George on the Columbia River." The North West Company after they had obtained possession of Astoria had given it the name of Fort George. it was strongly contended that the effect of this transaction was a formal recognition of the territorial rights of the United States at the mouth of the Columbia. In addition to these claims in her own right the United States also claimed by contiguity that portion of Oregon west of the boundaries of Louisiana. And, further, claim was made by them as a result of the Florida Treaty of 1819. by that treaty, all of Spain's rights passed to the United States. It was urged that as the heir of Spain the United States obtained strength from the discoveries of the Spanish explorers Heceta, Bodega, and Maurelle. In order to escape the difficulty which the Nootka convention naturally placed in the way of any claim of exclusive sovereignty the United States were forced to argue, as they did most energetically, that by reason of the war which broke out between Spain and Great Britain in 1796, the convention of 1790 ceased to have any effect.
The British claims, however, did not allege any exclusive right or sovereignty of Great Britain in the disputed territory. The claim was that the Nootka convention entitled Great Britain to a sort of joint right to settle upon and thereby obtain the sovereignty of such portion of the territory as were desired.
Despite the ceremony of possession, actual North West Company and ownership went on as before, and no actual American presence was established in the region from the symbolic repossession.
In 1821 the North West Company was merged into the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
, which took ownership of the fort. George Simpson
George Simpson (administrator)
Sir George Simpson was a Scots-Quebecer and employee of the Hudson's Bay Company . His title was Governor-in-Chief of Rupert's Land and administrator over the Northwest Territories and Columbia Department in British North America from 1821 to 1860.-Early years:George Simpson was born in Dingwall,...
, governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, visited the Columbia River region in the mid-1820s and spent the winter of 1824-25 at Fort George. He did not like the fort, finding it inappropriate both as a fur post and a regional depot. He ordered the construction of Fort Vancouver
Fort Vancouver
Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trading outpost along the Columbia River that served as the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company in the company's Columbia District...
, a new post and depot upriver at a site with better potential for agriculture, to be the administrative center of Columbia District
Columbia District
The Columbia District was a fur trading district in the Pacific Northwest region of British North America in the 19th century. It was explored by the North West Company between 1793 and 1811, and established as an operating fur district around 1810...
.
Fort George was used as the company's main depot in the region from 1821 until Fort Vancouver was completed in April 1825. Fort George was abandoned from June 1825 to 1829. The Hudson's Bay Company reoccupied it on a small scale from 1830 to 1848. During this time, the fort became the center of the Hudson Bay's Company's emerging salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
fishery
Fishery
Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats,...
. The company used the salmon to feed its town employees, as well as exporting some to the Hawaiian Islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
market.
The post finally became United States territory only after the Oregon Treaty
Oregon Treaty
The Oregon Treaty is a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846, in Washington, D.C. The treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling competing American and British claims to the Oregon Country, which had been jointly occupied by...
ended the Oregon boundary dispute
Oregon boundary dispute
The Oregon boundary dispute, or the Oregon Question, arose as a result of competing British and American claims to the Pacific Northwest of North America in the first half of the 19th century. Both the United Kingdom and the United States had territorial and commercial aspirations in the region...
. Great Britain ceded its territorial rights south of the 49th parallel
49th parallel north
The 49th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 49 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean....
. The Hudson's Bay Company gave up its possessions in the region, though the treaty had guaranteed their continued existence.