Fort Nisqually - 19th Century History

19th Century History

The Hudson's Bay Company expanded to the west coast by forming the Columbia District to oversee its operations in what was once known as the Oregon Country. Forts would be built in the District at central fur gathering locations, accessible to a large number of tribes. In 1824, Fort Vancouver was built a few miles from the Columbia River to the south and Fort Langley was built in 1827 on the Fraser River to the North. The Cowlitz Portage, an overland and shortcut route was soon created establishing a vital link between the two forts. After the attack and murder of Alexander Mackenzie and four men in his party on this route, it was determined a fort located at a half way point was needed for safety and security reasons.

The new midway location was at Nisqually, chosen for its excellent ship anchorage, its convenience for overland travel, the friendliness of local tribes and its prairies for grazing animals and growing crops. The first building was a storehouse of fifteen by twenty feet built on the beach next to the Sequalitchew Indian Village. Nisqually House as it was known was built in April 1832, and had three men with a few supplies left behind to manage it. One year later in May 1833, Chief Trader Archibald MacDonald returned with Dr. William Fraser Tolmie and seven men to begin the construction of a permanent fort.

Fort Nisqually was the first European trading post on the Puget Sound. Dr. William Fraser Tolmie spent the year there, writing about the region extensively in his journal. Fort Nisqually was originally located near the mouth of Sequalitchew Creek on the plains north of the Nisqually River Delta, in the present town of DuPont, Washington.

The original 1833 fort site soon proved to be too small for its operations, and the fort was relocated in 1843 about a mile from the original fort, closer to Edmonds Marsh and Sequalitchew Creek. This new site was chosen because it was close to a water source and timber.

Fort Nisqually was operated and served by Scottish gentlemen, Native Americans, Kanakas (Hawaiians), French-Canadians, Metis, West Indians, Englishmen and, in the last final years before the British cession of their claims to Puget Sound with the Oregon Treaty, a handful of American settlers. Fort Nisqually grew from an obscure trading post to major international trading establishment. The fort's main export was beaver pelts that could be used for making a beaver-pelt top hat. Along with the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, a subsidiary of HBC, Fort Nisqually also started to export livestock and crops for local consumption and export to Russian Alaska, Hawaii, Mexican California, Europe and Asia. In 1841, a large number of the Sinclair Expedition settlers chose Fort Nisqually a their final destination.

Dr. William Fraser Tolmie was Chief Factor of Fort Nisqually as well as the manager of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company from 1843 to 1857. His tenure covered the transition from British to American control beginning in 1846 as result of the Oregon Treaty, and the Puget Sound War. He was well respected due to his experience with the region and maintained friendly relations with the British, Indian peoples and American settlers arriving to claim land under the Donation Land Claim Act.

Fort Nisqually was never a military outpost and only one small military engagement was recorded in the fort's history. Nevertheless, American and British military forces occasionally visited the fort. The 1846 treaty between the United States and Great Britain established the border between British North America and the United States at the 49th parallel which left Fort Nisqually on American soil. With the fur trade in decline and increasing harassment from American settlers, tax collectors, and revenue agents, Fort Nisqually closed in 1869 and the United States paid the HBC $460,000 for its land.