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Our time in Oregon is officially over, we are now exploring Washington, the only state in the country named after a President. The name first came into use in 1853 when Washington Territory was split out of the existing Oregon Territory. Originally much larger, Washington Territory included parts of what are now Idaho and Montana. Washington was reduced to its current size when it was admitted to the Union in 1889 as the 42nd state.

The state of Washington shares much of its early history with that of Oregon. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, Oregon Country was at one time claimed by both the Spanish and British empires. In 1775 Captain Don Bruno de Heceta claimed the area for Spain, but Spain was too busy in the southern part of the continent to establish much of a presence. In 1778 Captain James Cook sailed the coastal waters, followed shortly by several other British sailors. The Spanish also sent more ships north and in the 1790s the north coast became quite crowded with British, Spanish, and American ships. All three of the countries were hoping to find the rumored Northwest Passage, since it was widely believed that whoever owned the Passage would dominate world trade.

The British soon forced Spain to leave the area, which left the fledgling United States as the crown’s only competitor. As it had done during the Revolutionary War, Britain underestimated the young country. It just so happened that in 1792 Captain Robert Gray, an American, was the first to discover and successfully sail up the Columbia River. Unluckily for the country, Gray, a merchant sailor, neglected to claim the watershed, and British captain George Vancouver immediately sent one of his men to claim it for the crown. Yet Gray’s trip gave the U.S. a claim to the area based on “right of discovery.” In 1811 another American merchant strengthened the U.S. claim with the establishment of a small fur trading post in Oregon Country, called Astoria.

Through skillful negotiations the U.S. not only bought vast holdings from France—the Louisiana Purchase in 1803—but also Spain’s territorial rights to the northern section of the continent in 1819. All that remained in the way of “Manifest Destiny” was Britain, whose primary occupying force was the Hudson’s Bay Company. HBC, which operated with government authority by rights of a royal charter, had no interest in giving up their fur-rich territory that they called the Columbia District. An 1818 agreement between the two countries allowed for joint occupancy of what the Americans called Oregon Country. HBC officials attempted to thwart American settlement of the region by over-trapping the area’s fur-bearing animals and by forbidding HBC trading posts to do business with them.

HBC’s main outpost in the Oregon Country was established by Dr. John McLoughlin in 1824 on the north side of the Columbia River near the mouth of the Willamette. Named Fort Vancouver after the British sailing captain, the fort grew to control 34 outposts, 24 ports, 6 ships and over 600 employees. It was the dominant force in the region, and the Fort also enjoyed relatively good relations with the native people in the area. Though there was a legal agreement to share the area, HBC policy might have deterred Americans if their Chief Factor at Fort Vancouver hadn’t disobeyed orders.

McLoughlin was by all accounts a kind, fair, and successful administrator. His fort was surrounded by various tribal peoples and was in the middle of territory coveted by American settlers, yet Fort Vancouver was never attacked. A testament perhaps to McLoughlin’s skills as a negotiator. Relations between the U.S. and Britain were strained when the first American wagon train full of settlers arrived at the fort in 1841. Defying orders to the contrary, McLoughlin welcomed the settlers into the fort and allowed them to purchase provisions. It was a calculated risk since there was every reason to believe that the incoming Americans would attack the Fort if they weren’t able to acquire desperately needed supplies.

Meanwhile the two countries continued to negotiate for ownership of the region. In 1846 the Oregon Treaty settled the dispute, establishing the 49th parallel as the border between the U.S. and British-controlled Canada. Under the treaty, HBC was allowed to continue its operations in the newly formed Oregon Territory, but by then the wealthiest years of the company were over. Not only was there a decline in the fur-bearing animal population—a direct result of their over-hunting policy—but they lost their Chief Factor. McLoughlin retired that same year and moved with his family down the Willamette Valley. A few years later McLoughlin became a U.S. citizen, in 1851 he was elected mayor of Oregon City, and later he was dubbed the “Father of Oregon.”

Though most of the American pioneers settled in what is now Oregon, in 1846 a man appropriately named George Washington Bush staked a claim in what would become the state of Washington. Even if he had wanted to, Bush couldn’t have settled his family in Oregon because the area had several racist settlement laws, and Bush was a black man.

In 1849 the U.S. Army established Vancouver Barracks on a small rise overlooking HBC’s Fort Vancouver. The Army was there to ensure the safety of the new settlers and protect all American claims south of the 49th parallel. In 1860 HBC finally abandoned Fort Vancouver and moved its operations to Fort Victoria, north of the U.S. border. By the end of the day the U.S. Army taken over the fort. They briefly renamed it Fort Columbia, and with the land including the Vancouver Barracks it became the first American military outpost in the region.

The U.S. fort’s early years were fairly uneventful. In 1853 Ulysses S. Grant served as the Fort’s Quartermaster. He wasn’t there long before being re-assigned to Fort Humboldt in California in 1854. This next tidbit surprised me: in July of that same year Grant resigned from the Army. Grant spent the next seven years struggling to make a living for his family. When President Lincoln called for volunteers after the Confederates fired the first shots of the Civil War, Grant helped organize and lead a small infantry. And the rest as they say, is history.

The next Army man of note to serve at Fort Vancouver (the name was changed back at some point) was Philip Henry Sheridan. Sheridan was at the fort as part of a survey team sometime between 1855 and 1857. Sheridan saw action in both the Yakima and the Rogue River Wars, where he gained valuable experience that served him well during the Civil War. Sheridan earned the nickname “Little Phil” since he was only 5’5”; President Lincoln had this to say about him, “A brown, chunky little chap, with a long body, short legs, not enough neck to hang him, and such long arms that if his ankles itch he can scratch them without stooping.”

The original fur-trading fort burned down in 1866 and over the years the Army further changed the landscape as the post grew to meet the demands of modern warfare. Right after the turn of the century, Pearson Air Field was established on top of where HBC’s once profitable trading post had been. I’m sure I am missing a multitude of Army men who served their country with distinction, but the next big name at Fort Vancouver was George C. Marshall. Marshall was the Brigadier General in command of Vancouver from 1936 to 1938. In 1939 Marshall was selected by President FDR as his Army Chief of Staff, a position Marshall held until 1945. After the end of WWII Marshall was appointed Secretary of State and he worked on the Economic Recovery Plan to help Europe rebuild. It became known as the Marshall Plan and it helped Marshall win a Nobel Peace Prize in 1953. Fort Vancouver remained busy until after WWII.

In 1947 archaeologists discovered the foundations of the historic trading post, and in 1948 the site was designated as Fort Vancouver National Monument. Parts of the historic fort were rebuilt, though the airfield continued to operate and the nearby Vancouver Barracks remained an active Army post until 2000. Thankfully, the fine old houses on Officers Row, the West Barracks, and the Pearson Air Field—along with the rebuilt Fort Vancouver—were all recognized and protected in 1996 as the Vancouver National Historic Reserve.

During our visit we were actually a bit overwhelmed by all that there was to see and do. Since we had limited time to explore the Reserve, we focused solely on the rebuilt Fort Vancouver. After watching a short introductory movie at the Visitor Center, we walked downhill across a large field to the fort. Our higher vantage point provided us with a great view of the Columbia River just beyond the fort, and in the distance we could see the tops of Portland’s skyscrapers.

Before reaching the fort we came upon some gardens and orchards, they were a small example of the extensive agriculture practices employed at the fort. McLoughlin and HBC both knew that if Fort Vancouver was to thrive, it had to be self-sufficient. To that end the outpost employed hundreds of laborers to tend the fields and livestock and to work in the mills, dairies, blacksmith shop, and at other necessary jobs. The laborers were an eclectic mix of Native Americans, Hawaiians, Scots, Irish, and English who lived just outside the fort in a cluster of houses called Kanaka Village.

Inside the fort we were treated to several living history exhibits; the fireplace in the kitchen was a hive of activity as the cook prepared the noon meal. In keeping with British custom at the time the meal consisted of at least seven courses—and often more. Herbs from the garden were being chopped for garnish, a turkey was roasting, soup was simmering, and bread was rising; it all smelled delicious. I think cooking can be hard, and I’m not called upon to cook huge meals for large groups of people without the benefit of modern conveniences!

With growling tummies we headed over to the Indian Trade Shop. The small shop was loaded from floor to ceiling with all manner of colorful and useful items: beads, wool blankets, guns, ammunition, and tobacco to name a few. The shopkeeper explained that the value of all the items was based on beaver pelts and, since we had no furs we would be unable to do business with him. But I really wanted some of the pretty blue beads…

On to the Fur Warehouse. This huge building was where all the furs brought into the fort were processed, weighed, and baled to prepare them for the long ocean voyage to England. We expected to see a few furs on display as a symbolic representation, but we were stunned to find the room filled with piles of unbaled furs from not only beavers but otters, minks, bears, and deer. There were also several hundred bales ready for shipping stacked along the far wall, whether they were full of real fur I did not ask. The clerk told us that none of the furs were from the original HBC outpost (obviously) instead they had been purchased from a modern day fur company. We left the warehouse with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it was fascinating to see the various steps in the process in a remarkably real way (except without the stench, the clerk said), and yet there were an awful lot of dead animals in there.

By then it was time to watch reenactors load and fire several weapons from the period. I know the guide said they followed extra steps for safety’s sake, but it took forever to load and fire these things. How in the world did people manage to kill each other with such inefficient machinery? From what we’ve seen and heard about guns and cannons from the 1800s, it was just as dangerous to load one as it was to have one pointed at you.

Lastly we climbed to the top of the fort’s only bastion. The third story provided a great view of the fort, the Columbia River, and the surrounding land. Nearby, the tops of tall buildings poked through the trees and the noise of traffic reached our ears, yet it was still easy to envision the trading post at the height of its busiest years. Fort Vancouver was crucial in the early years of settlement in the Pacific Northwest and we’re glad that it is still around to remind us of the story.

Photos: View our photographs from Fort Vancouver, Washington.

Dates: We visited Fort Vancouver, Washington on 07/06/08.