Fort Colvile

Last updated
Fort Colvile
Fur Trade Outpost
PaulKane-BushCamp-ROM.jpg
Indian camp at Fort Colvile by Paul Kane
USA Washington location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Fort Colvile
Coordinates: 48°37′42″N118°5′31″W / 48.62833°N 118.09194°W / 48.62833; -118.09194
CountryUnited States
State Washington
Place Kettle Falls
Constructed1825
Founded by Hudson's Bay Company
Abandoned1871

The trade center Fort Colvile (also Fort Colville [1] ) was built by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) at Kettle Falls on the Columbia River in 1825 and operated in the Columbia fur district of the company. Named for Andrew Colvile, [2] a London governor of the HBC, the fort was a few miles west of the present site of Colville, Washington. It was an important stop on the York Factory Express trade route to London via the Hudson Bay. The HBC for some time considered Fort Colvile second in importance only to Fort Vancouver, near the mouth of the Columbia, until the foundation of Fort Victoria.

Contents

Under the Treaty of 1818, the Great Britain and the United States of America both claimed rights to the Oregon Country. The contentious Oregon dispute for ownership of the land was ended by the Oregon Treaty in 1846. The boundary between British North America and the United States was extended to the Pacific Ocean on the 49th Parallel, with all of Vancouver Island considered British. During the gold rushes of the 1850s and 1860s, Fort Colvile in 1860 especially became an important centre for mining activity and supplies. Abandoned in June 1871, [3] some buildings stood until they burned July 6, 1910. [4]

The construction of Grand Coulee Dam resulted in the site being flooded in 1940, as was Kettle Falls. When Lake Roosevelt was drawn down for construction of Grand Coulee Dam's Powerhouse #3 in the late 1960s and early 1970, Fort Colvile and Kettle Falls were revealed. After archaeological work was performed by Washington State University and the University of Idaho, the Fort Colvile site was again inundated by Lake Roosevelt. In 1974, Fort Colvile was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its historic significance. [5]

Establishment

It replaced Spokane House as a regional trading center, due to the latter being deemed to be too far from the Columbia River. [6] Governor George Simpson considered the disuse of Spokane House to likely offend Spokane elders, and ordered for a dispersement of gifts among them. [2] The removal of the company property at Spokane House was moved to Fort Colvile in March 1826. [2] Simpson also gave instructions to Chief Factor John McLoughlin for "every possible exertion be used to be lay up an abundant stock of Fish and other provisions" due to limited capacity to send freight from Fort Vancouver. [2] Additionally Simpson stated that a station on Kettle Falls would be "a more desirable situation in regard to Farming, fish, provisions generally as also in respect to Trade..." than the Spokane House. [7]

Operations

During the 1820s, yearly purchases of furs rarely exceeded 20 blankets being sold. [8] Increased amounts of animal hides were gathered by Fort Colvile started with the "Flat Head brigade," which joined the Bitterroot Salish on their annual migrations past the Rocky Mountains. [8] A skirmish in 1829 between the Bitterroot Salish and inhabitants of Columbia Lake caused fears among HBC employees about the defenseless state of Fort Colvile [9] Additional employees were sent to erect a palisade and establish the mill during the Winter. [10]

The staff number for Fort Colvile fluctuated with the seasons. Operations commencing in the Spring required upwards of 30 employees during the 1830s. [9] Usually only five men were stationed there throughout Winter, [11] and if the number was above that, McLoughlin would reassign the extra staff. [12] Spokane Garry was considered a prospective employee at the Fort until McLoughlin rejected the proposition. [13] Alex McLeod, born at the fort in 1854 recalled that "The trading post proper was a square enclosure. The store and warehouses were on the north side, and Chief Trader McDonald's house was on the east side. The married employees, like my father, lived outside the enclosed post yard on the south and west sides." [14]

The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions Missionaries established Tshimakain Mission in 1838. The missionary families of Elkanah Walker and Cushing Eells developed ties with Fort Colvile officers and wives, then the closest white settlement in the area. After the Whitman Massacre, the missionaries fled their station for the protection of the HBC trading post.

Agricultural operations at Fort Colvile were prominent, eventually supplying other interior posts with wheat, peas, flint corn, and potatoes. The prairie that the station was on was deemed an "island of fertility" by visiting artist Paul Kane. [15] At its foundation, 24 bushels of potatoes were sown, but over half was eaten by rodents. [2] The farm was able to produce enough crops to feed its staff and Fort Nez Perces in 1830. The harvest wasn't large enough to support the brigade of fur trappers headed to the New Caledonia district, requiring shipments from Fort Vancouver. [16] 20 Native and White men labored on the farms in 1838, about two-thirds of the total number of men kept at trade post. [17] The potato harvests had increased greatly in size compared to the initial sowing, in 1838, it was over 7,000 bushels. [18] Charles Wilkes of the United States Exploring Expedition found that farming was the primary focus of the establishment "for the whole of the northern posts depend upon Colville for supplies of provisions." [19] Salmon was easily procured when the seasonal runs commenced. One pioneer recalled that Kettle Falls men would "put large wicker baskets below the falls and raised them up three times a day, always filled with fish." [14]

Fort Colvile was the center for construction of Columbia boats, the wooden-planked canoe-like watercraft used to convey freight and passengers on the Columbia River in the fur trade era. [20]

Later years

After the signing of the Oregon Treaty of 1846, Fort Colvile was south of the 49th parallel and therefore within American claimed land. The Hudson's Bay Company founded Fort Shepherd, British Columbia, just north of the new boundary, as a surrogate location secure on British territory. They continued some operations at Fort Colvile for a few years longer. While traveling through in 1853, Washington Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens described Fort Colvile as:

The buildings consist of a dwelling house, three or four store-houses, and some smaller buildings, used as blacksmith shops, etc., all of one story and constructed of squared logs. The whole was once surrounded by a stockade, forming a square of about 70 yards on each side. This has been removed, except on the north side, where it encloses a narrow yard containing offices. One bastion remains. About 30 yards in the rear of this square are the cattle yards, hay sheds, etc., enclosing a space of 40 by 60 yards, roughly fenced in, and the sheds covered with bark. On the left of the front are seven huts, occupied by the lower employes[ sic ] of the company. They are of rude construction, and much decayed. On the right of the square, in the rear, at a distance of a few hundred yards, are three more buildings, used for storing produce. [1]

In 1859 the Palliser Expedition reunited in Fort Colvile and proceeded down the Columbia River, after having explored much of what is now western Canada, from the Great Lakes to Lake Okanagan. The mill maintained at the fort was sold in 1865. [3] Early settlers surrounding Colvile were often French-Canadians formerly in the employ of the HBC. [3] At social occasions held at their former station, "would drink whisky [sic] and brandy and sing old songs or tell tales of hunting experiences." [14] Such outings were found to be composed of "the lighthearted trapper with his gaudy moccasins and leggings, through all shades of colour to the dusky hue of the Indians". [3]

Map of the route of the York Factory Express, 1820s to 1840s. Modern political boundaries shown. York-Factory-Express.png
Map of the route of the York Factory Express, 1820s to 1840s. Modern political boundaries shown.

Managers

ManagerRankTenure
John W. Dease Chief Trader1825-1829 [21]
Francis Heron Chief Trader1829-1831 [21]
Francis Ermatinger Clerk1831-1832 [21]
Francis Heron Chief Trader1833-1835 [21]
Archibald McDonald Chief Trader1835-1842 [21]
Archibald McDonald Chief Factor1842-1844 [21]
Francis Ermatinger Chief Trader1844-1846 [21]
Paul FraserChief Trader1845-1846 [21]
John Lee LewesChief Trader1846-1848 [21] [22]
Alexander C. Anderson Chief Trader1849-1853 [21] [23]
Augustus PellyChief Trader1853-1854 [21]
George Blenkinsop Chief Trader1857-1859 [24]
Angus McDonaldClerk1856-1871 [21]
J. W. McKayChief Trader1871 [21]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John McLoughlin</span> Hudsons Bay Company figure in Oregon (1784–1857)

John McLoughlin, baptized Jean-Baptiste McLoughlin, was a French-Canadian, later American, Chief Factor and Superintendent of the Columbia District of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver from 1824 to 1845. He was later known as the "Father of Oregon" for his role in assisting the American cause in the Oregon Country. In the late 1840s, his general store in Oregon City was famous as the last stop on the Oregon Trail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Vancouver</span> United States historic place

Fort Vancouver was a 19th-century fur trading post built in the winter of 1824–1825. It was the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department, located in the Pacific Northwest. Named for Captain George Vancouver, the fort was located on the northern bank of the Columbia River in present-day Vancouver, Washington. The fort was a major center of the regional fur trading. Every year trade goods and supplies from London arrived either via ships sailing to the Pacific Ocean or overland from Hudson Bay via the York Factory Express. Supplies and trade goods were exchanged with a plethora of Indigenous cultures for fur pelts. Furs from Fort Vancouver were often shipped to the Chinese port of Guangzhou where they were traded for Chinese manufactured goods for sale in the United Kingdom. At its pinnacle, Fort Vancouver watched over 34 outposts, 24 ports, six ships, and 600 employees. Today, a full-scale replica of the fort, with internal buildings, has been constructed and is open to the public as Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oregon Country</span> Early-19th-century U.S. fur trade district in North America

Oregon Country was a large region of the Pacific Northwest of North America that was subject to a long dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States in the early 19th century. The boundaries of the area, which had been created by the Treaty of 1818 without recognizing indigenous claims to the area, consisted of the land north of 42° N latitude, south of 54°40′ N latitude, and west of the Rocky Mountains down to the Pacific Ocean and east to the Continental Divide. Article III of the 1818 treaty gave joint control to both nations for ten years, allowed land to be claimed, and guaranteed free navigation to all mercantile trade. However, both countries disputed the terms of the international treaty. Oregon Country was the American name while the British used Columbia District for the region. Meanwhile, Indigenous nations had lived in the area since time immemorial, though with little legal recognition in the American and British legal systems. Evidence along the Salmon River shows people lived there at least 16,000 years ago, and may have populated the continent after migrating along the Pacific Coast, then following up the Columbia River into the interior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Astoria</span> Primary fur trading post of the Pacific Fur Company

Fort Astoria was the primary fur trading post of John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company (PFC). A maritime contingent of PFC staff was sent on board the Tonquin, while another party traveled overland from St. Louis. This land based group later became known as the Astor Expedition. Built at the entrance of the Columbia River in 1811, Fort Astoria was the first American-owned settlement on the Pacific coast of North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Skene Ogden</span> British-Canadian fur trapper and explorer

Peter Skene Ogden was a British-Canadian fur trader and an early explorer of what is now British Columbia and the Western United States. During his many expeditions, he explored parts of Oregon, Washington, Nevada, California, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming. Despite early confrontations with the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) while working for the North West Company, he later became a senior official in the operations of the HBC's Columbia Department, serving as manager of Fort Simpson and similar posts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Work (fur trader)</span> Canadian politician

John Work was a Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company and head of one of the original founding families in Victoria, British Columbia. Work joined the Hudson's Bay Company in 1814 and served in many capacities until his death in 1861, ultimately becoming a member of the company's Board of Management for its Western Department. He also served on Vancouver Island's Legislative Council. At the time of his death, Work was the largest private land owner of Vancouver Island. Work left an important legacy in the form of sixteen journals which chronicle his trading expeditions from 1823 to 1851. His journals provide a detailed record of Pacific Northwest land features, native peoples, and the Hudson's Bay Company's fur trading business in the early 19th century.

Spokane House was a fur-trading post founded in 1810 by the British-Canadian North West Company, located on a peninsula where the Spokane River and Little Spokane River meet. When established, the North West Company's farthest outpost in the Columbia River region was the first ever non-Indigenous settlement in the Pacific Northwest. An American rival of the NWC, the Pacific Fur Company opened a station adjacent to Spokane House, called Fort Spokane. The War of 1812 and ongoing supply issues caused the collapse of the PFC, with its posts now under the control of the NWC. The original Spokane House was abandoned in favor of Fort Spokane, though the latter location was still called Spokane House. The second Spokane House saw use as a major post in the interior Oregon Country until the NWC was absorbed by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821. During a general tour of the Pacific Northwest, Spokane House was abandoned by George Simpson in 1825, in favor of a new post that became Fort Colvile. The site of Spokane House is in Spokane County in the U.S. state of Washington, just northwest of the city of Spokane.

Andrew Colvile was a Scottish businessman, notable as the governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, a huge organisation set up for the North American fur trade but also instrumental in the early history of Canada. He was also chairman of the West India Docks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area</span>

Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area is a U.S. national recreation area that encompasses the 130-mile (210 km) long Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake between Grand Coulee Dam and Northport, Washington, in eastern Washington state. The Grand Coulee Dam was built on the Columbia River in 1941 as part of the Columbia River Basin project. Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area is a unit of the National Park Service and provides opportunities for fishing, swimming, canoeing, boating, hunting, camping, and visiting historic Fort Spokane and St. Paul's Mission. Crescent Bay Lake in Grant County just southwest of Lake Roosevelt also falls under the jurisdiction of the National Recreation Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbia District</span> Fur trading district in British North America

The Columbia District was a fur trading district in the Pacific Northwest region of British North America in the 19th century. Much of its territory overlapped with the disputed Oregon Country. It was explored by the North West Company between 1793 and 1811, and established as an operating fur district around 1810. The North West Company was absorbed into the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821 under which the Columbia District became known as the Columbia Department. The Oregon Treaty of 1846 marked the effective end of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Okanogan</span> United States historic place

Fort Okanogan was founded in 1811 on the confluence of the Okanogan and Columbia Rivers as a fur trade outpost. Originally built for John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Company, it was the first American-owned settlement within Washington state, located in what is now Okanogan County. The North West Company, the PFC's primary competitor, purchased its assets and posts in 1813. In 1821 the North West Company was merged into Hudson's Bay Company, which took over operation of Fort Okanogan as part of its Columbia District. The fort was an important stop on the York Factory Express trade route to London via Hudson Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oregon pioneer history</span> Account of the founders Oregon

Oregon pioneer history (1806–1890) is the period in the history of Oregon Country and Oregon Territory, in the present day state of Oregon and Northwestern United States.

The Puget Sound Agricultural Company (PSAC), with common variations of the name including Puget Sound or Puget's Sound, was a subsidiary joint stock company formed in 1840 by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). Its stations operated within the Pacific Northwest, in the HBC administrative division of the Columbia Department. The RAC-HBC Agreement was signed in 1839 between the Russian-American Company and the HBC, with the British to now supply the various trade posts of Russian America. It was hoped by the HBC governing committee that independent American merchants, previously a major source of foodstuffs for the RAC, would be shut out of the Russian markets and leave the Maritime fur trade.

Alexander Roderick McLeod was a fur trader and explorer in British North America who began his career with the North West Company in 1802.

The Colville people, are a Native American people of the Pacific Northwest. The name Colville comes from association with Fort Colville, named after Andrew Colvile of the Hudson's Bay Company. Earlier, outsiders often called them Scheulpi, Chualpay, or Swhy-ayl-puh; the French traders called them Les Chaudières in reference to Kettle Falls. The neighboring Coeur d'Alene called them Sqhwiyi̱'ɫpmsh and the Spokane knew them as Sxʷyelpetkʷ. Their name in nselxcin, sx̌ʷýʔłpx, refers to "sharp pointed trees".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">York Factory Express</span> 19th-century fur trading convoy route

The York Factory Express, usually called "the Express" and also the Columbia Express and the Communication, was a 19th-century fur brigade operated by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). Roughly 4,200 kilometres (2,600 mi) in length, it was the main overland connection between HBC headquarters at York Factory and the principal depot of the Columbia Department, Fort Vancouver.

Thomas McKay was an Anglo-Métis Canadian fur trader who worked mainly in the Pacific Northwest for the Pacific Fur Company (PFC), the North West Company (NWC), and the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). He was a fur brigade leader and explorer of the Columbia District and later became a U.S. citizen and an early settler of Oregon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Sinclair (fur trader)</span>

James Sinclair was a trader and explorer with the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). He twice led large parties of settlers from the Red River Colony to the Columbia River valley. These were both authorized by the HBC as a part of grandiose plans to strengthen British claims in the Oregon boundary dispute.

The Fort Walla Walla–Fort Colville Military Road was built in June 1859 to connect the Walla Walla area with its fairly easy access to the Columbia River to the mountainous area of the Huckleberry and Selkirk Mountains of current Northeast Washington and the Inland Northwest. Brigadier General William S. Harney, commander of the Department of Oregon, opened up the district north of the Snake River to settlers in 1858 and ordered Brevet Major Pinkney Lugenbeel, 9th Infantry Regiment to establish a U.S. Army post to restrain the Indians perceived as hostile to the U.S. Army's Northwest Division and to protect miners who traveled to the area after first reports of gold in the area appeared in Western Washington newspapers in July 1855.

The Columbia boat was a type of inland boat used to carry furs, trade goods, supplies, and passengers along the Columbia River during the fur trade era, c. 1811–1845. It needed to be large enough to carry substantial cargo, light enough to portage around such obstacles as falls and rapids, and made of locally sourced materials. It was modeled after the birchbark canoe used in waterways east of the Rocky Mountains, but was sheathed with thin cedar planks.

References

  1. 1 2 Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Vol. 1. Washington D.C.: Severely Tucker. 1855, p. 420.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Lewis, S. William. Information concerning the Establishment of Fort Colvile. The Washington Historical Quarterly 16, No. 2 (1925), pp. 102-107
  3. 1 2 3 4 Barman, Jean and Bruce M. Watson. Fort Colvile's Fur Trade Families and the Dynamics of Race in the Pacific Northwest. The Pacific Northwest Quarterly 90, No. 3 (1999), 140-153.
  4. ↑ "The Colville examiner. (Colville, Wash.) 1907-1948, July 16, 1910, Image 4". 16 July 1910. p. 4.
  5. ↑ Currents and Undercurrents:, An Administrative History of Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, National Park Service
  6. ↑ John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company establishes Fort Spokane in 1812 HistoryLink.org Essay 5101
  7. ↑ Gibson, James R. Farming the Frontier, the Agricultural Opening of the Oregon Country 1786-1846. Vancouver, B.C.: University of British Columbia Press. 1985, p. 43.
  8. 1 2 McLoughlin, John and Burt Brown Barker. Letters of Dr. John McLoughlin, written at Fort Vancouver 1829-1832. Portland: Binfords & Mort. 1948, p. 68
  9. 1 2 McLoughlin and Barker (1948), p. 95
  10. ↑ McLoughlin and Barker (1948), p. 68
  11. ↑ McLoughlin and Barker (1948), p. 193
  12. ↑ McLoughlin and Barker (1948), p. 281
  13. ↑ McLoughlin and Barker (1948), p. 293
  14. 1 2 3 Work Projects Administration. Told by the Pioneers, Volume 1. Olympia: Washington Pioneer Project, 1937.
  15. ↑ Kane, Paul. Wanderings of an Artist among the Indians of North America. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts. 1859, p. 306
  16. ↑ McLoughlin and Barker (1948), pp. 131-132
  17. ↑ Gibson, James R. Farming the Frontier, the Agricultural Opening of the Oregon Country 1786-1846. Vancouver, B.C.: University of British Columbia Press. 1985, p. 45.
  18. ↑ Gibson (1985), p. 445.
  19. ↑ Wilkes, Charles. Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition, Volume IV, New York City: G. P. Putnam and Co., 1856, p. 455.
  20. ↑ Holloway, Thomas H. (2022). "Columbia Boats, Voyageurs, and the River They Ran: Transporting Freight and Passengers on the Columbia River during the Fur Trade Era". Pacific Northwest Quarterly. 122 (2): 52–72.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Watson, Bruce McIntyre. Lives Lived West of the Divide: A Biographical Dictionary of Fur Traders Working West of the Rockies, 1793-1858. Kelowna, B.C.: Centre for Social, Spatial and Economic Justice of the University of British Columbia. 2010, p. 1061. ISBN   978-0-9810212-7-0.
  22. ↑ Drury, Clifford M. First White Women Over the Rockies Diaries, Letters, and Biographical Sketches of the Six Women of the Oregon Mission who made the Overland Journey in 1836 and 1838 Vol II Mrs. Elkanah Walker and Mrs. Cushing Eells. Glendale, CA: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1963.
  23. ↑ Anderson, Nancy Marguerite, The Pathfinder, 2011, Victoria, British Columbia, Heritage House Publishing Company, Ltd.
  24. ↑ Watson (2010), p. 205.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.