Columbia District

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This page is for the fur district of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Pacific Northwest. For the United States capital district, see District of Columbia.

The Columbia District was a fur trading

Fur trade

The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur....
 district in the Pacific Northwest

Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in the northwest of North America . There are several partially overlapping definitions but the term Pacific Northwest should not be confused with the Northwest Territory or the Northwest Territories of Canada....
 region of British North America

British North America

British North America consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of United States ....
 in the 19th century. It was explored by the North West Company

North West Company

The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal, Quebec from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada....
 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

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and is one of the oldest in the world. The company was incorporated by British royal charter in 1670 as The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay; it is now domiciled in Canada and has adopted the mo...
 in 1821, under which the Columbia District became known as the Columbia Department. The Oregon Treaty

Oregon Treaty

The Oregon Treaty, is a bilateral treaty between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846 in Washington, D.C....
 of 1846 marks the effective end of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department.

North West Company

Beginning in 1807, David Thompson

David Thompson (explorer)

David Thompson born Dafydd Patronym#Ireland, Scotland and Wales Thomas, was an English-Canadian fur trader, surveyor, and map-maker, known to some native peoples as "Koo-Koo-Sint" or "the Stargazer"....
, working for the North West Company, explored much of what would become the Columbia District. In 1811 he located Athabasca Pass

Athabasca Pass

Athabasca Pass is a high mountain pass in the Canadian Rockies. The headwaters of the Whirlpool River, a tributary of the Athabasca River, eventually flow into the Arctic Ocean....
, which became the key overland connection to the emerging fur district.

Starting in 1811 the American 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....
 challenged the North West Company's operations in the Columbia District, establishing a number of trading posts. The North West Company was able to buy the entire operation of the Pacific Fur Company in 1813.

In 1815 the North West Company's business west of the Rocky Mountains was officially divided into two districts, the older New Caledonia

New Caledonia (Canada)

Main article: History of British Columbia'New Caledonia' was the name given to a district of the Hudson's Bay Company that comprised the territory largely coterminous with the present-day Canada province of British Columbia, Canada....
 district in the northern interior, and the Columbia District to the south. Also in 1815 the New Caledonia district began receiving the bulk of its annual supplies by sea from the lower Columbia rather than overland from Montreal. By 1820 the North West Company operated six posts on the lower Columbia River and its tributaries, including Fort George

Fort Astoria

Fort Astoria was the Pacific Fur Company's primary fur trading post in the Northwest, and was the first United States settlement on the Pacific coast....
 (Astoria), Fort Nez Percés

Fort Nez Percés

Fort Nez Perc?s, sometimes also spelled Fort Nez Perc? and later known as Fort Walla Walla was a fortified fur trade post on the Columbia River on the territory of modern-day Wallula, Washington....
, 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 River and Columbia Rivers, in what is now Okanogan County, Washington, Washington....
, Spokane House

Spokane House

Spokane House was a Factory founded in 1810 by the British-Canadian North West Company under direction of David Thompson . The post was sited on a peninsula where the Spokane River and Little Spokane River....
, Flathead Post

Saleesh House

Saleesh House, also known as Flathead Post, was a North West Company Factory built near present-day Thompson Falls, Montana in 1809 by David Thompson and James McMillan of the North West Company....
, and Kootanae House

Kootanae House

Kootanae House, also spelled Kootenae House, was a North West Company fur trading post built by Jaco Finlay under the direction of David Thompson near present-day Invermere, British Columbia in 1807....
.

Under the North West Company the Columbia District was bounded, roughly, by the southern edge of the Thompson River

Thompson River

The Thompson River is the largest tributary of the Fraser River in the south-central portion of British Columbia, Canada. The Thompson River has two main branches called the South Thompson and the North Thompson....
 on the north, and by the southern and eastern limits of the Columbia River

Columbia River

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It is named after the Columbia Rediviva, the first ship from the western world known to have traveled up the river....
 basin. North and west of the Thompson was the New Caledonia

New Caledonia (Canada)

Main article: History of British Columbia'New Caledonia' was the name given to a district of the Hudson's Bay Company that comprised the territory largely coterminous with the present-day Canada province of British Columbia, Canada....
 fur district, in what is now north-central British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's Provinces and territories of Canada and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu ....
. The Thompson River region was its own fur district, centered on a fur trading post that later became the city of Kamloops

Kamloops, British Columbia

Kamloops is a city in south central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the two branches of the Thompson River and near Kamloops Lake....
. The Thompson River District was the link between the Columbia and New Caledonia Districts.

In the Treaty of 1818

Treaty of 1818

The Convention respecting fisheries, boundary, and the restoration of slaves between the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, also known as the London Convention, Anglo-American Convention of 1818, Convention of 1818, or simply the Treaty of 1818, was a treaty signed in 1818 between the...
 between the U.S. and Britain, the two powers agreed that each had free and open access the Oregon Country

Oregon Country

Oregon Country or Oregon was a predominantly United States term referring to a region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British North America and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s....
. This "joint occupation" continued until the Oregon Treaty

Oregon Treaty

The Oregon Treaty, is a bilateral treaty between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846 in Washington, D.C....
 of 1846, yet American attempts to conduct commercial operations in the region failed in the face of competition by the North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company. The only sphere in which the Americans dominated was the maritime fur trade along the coast. But the HBC successfully took over the coastal maritime trade during the 1830s.

The North West Company found the Native Americans

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples....
 of the Columbia region generally unwilling to work as fur trappers and hunters. The company depended upon native labor east of the Rocky Mountains and found it difficult to operate without assistance in the west. For this reason the company began, in 1815, to bring groups of Iroquois

Iroquois

The Iroquois Confederacy is a group of First Nations/Native Americans in the United States that originally consisted of five nations: the Mohawk nation, the Oneida tribe, the Onondaga , the Cayuga nation, and the Seneca nation....
, skilled at hunting and trapping, from the Montreal region to the Pacific Northwest. This practice soon became standard policy and was continued for many years by both the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company and was essential for the extension of the fur trade into much of the Columbia basin. The Iroquois were intended not only to support company personnel but, it was hoped, teach local natives the skills of hunting and trapping, and convince them to take up the work. This effort was largely unsuccessful. The reason generally given for the unwillingness of the natives to take up trapping and hunting was that their way of life was highly focused on salmon and fishing, and that the abundance of salmon resulted in little incentive for taking up hunting and trapping. Instead of cooperation there were altercations between the Iroquois and local natives. In 1816 parties of the North West Company, including a number of Iroquois, explored the Cowlitz River

Cowlitz River

The Cowlitz River is a river in the state of Washington in the United States, a tributary of the Columbia River. Its tributaries drain a large region including the slopes of Mount Rainier, Mount Adams , and Mount St....
 valley and the Willamette Valley

Willamette Valley

The Willamette Valley is the region in northwest Oregon in the United States that surrounds the Willamette River as it proceeds northward from its emergence from mountains near Eugene, Oregon to its confluence with the Columbia River at Portland, Oregon....
, reaching as far south as the Umpqua River

Umpqua River

The Umpqua River on the Pacific Ocean coast of Oregon in the United States is approximately long. One of the principal rivers of the Oregon coast, it drains an expansive network of valleys in the mountains west of the Cascade Range and south of the Willamette Valley, from which it is separated by the Calapooya Mountains....
. Both exploring expeditions ended with violent clashes between the Iroquois and local natives. In addition the North West Company began to hire Native Hawaiians, known as Kanakas

Kanakas

Kanakas were workers from various Pacific Islands employed under varying conditions in various British Empire colonies, such as British Columbia , Fiji and Queensland in the 19th and early 20th centuries....
. This practice was continued and greatly expanded by the Hudson's Bay Company.

The North West Company was unchallenged in the fur trade of the region from 1813 to 1821, when it was merged with the Hudson's Bay Company. During this period the company put into practice the system attempted by the Astorians' Pacific Fur Company. A supply ship arrived each spring at Fort George (Astoria). Fur brigades from the interior of the Columbia and New Caledonia districts would converge on Fort George each spring. Furs were loaded on the ship and supplies carried back to the interior. The ship would then carry the furs to Canton

Guangzhou

'Guangzhou' is the Capital and a sub-provincial city of Guangdong Province of China in the northern and southern China part of the People's Republic of China....
, China, where furs would be exchanged for tea and other goods, which were then carried to Britain, completing a global circuit. Company letters, reports, and personnel were generally conveyed overland along a route between Fort George and Fort William

Fort William, Ontario

Fort William was a city in Northern Ontario, located on the Kaministiquia River, at its entrance to Lake Superior. It amalgamated with Port Arthur, Ontario and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970....
 on Lake Superior, making use of Athabasca Pass. Later, under the Hudson's Bay Company, the York Factory Express

York Factory Express

The York Factory Express, usually called "the Express" and also called the Columbia Express and the Communication, was a brigade operated by Hudson's Bay Company in the early 19th century connecting York Factory, Manitoba and Fort Vancouver....
 used this route, reoriented to York Factory on Hudson Bay.

The Columbia District under the North West Company was only marginally profitable at best. There were numerous problems at many posts. The only consistently profitable areas were the Kootenay River

Kootenay River

The Kootenay River is the uppermost major tributary of the Columbia River, flowing through British Columbia, Montana and Idaho. It is one of the few rivers in North America which begins in Canada, enters the United States and then reenters Canada....
 and Snake River

Snake River

The Snake River is a major tributary of the Columbia River in the U.S. states of Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. The river's length is , its drainage basin drains , and the average discharge at its mouth is ....
 countries. New Caledonia produced many furs, but its remoteness made it costly to operate. Nevertheless, the North West Company succeeded in creating a functional network oriented to the Pacific via the Columbia River. Another important legacy was the construction of Fort Nez Perces

Fort Nez Percés

Fort Nez Perc?s, sometimes also spelled Fort Nez Perc? and later known as Fort Walla Walla was a fortified fur trade post on the Columbia River on the territory of modern-day Wallula, Washington....
 on the Columbia River near its confluence with the Snake River. Fort Nez Perces would long remain a strategic site, located at the junction of a variety of trails leading to vastly different regions. The fort became an important center for the procurement of horses, a base for expeditions far to the southeast, and a focal point for fur brigades preparing to journey through the Columbia River Gorge

Columbia River Gorge

The Columbia River Gorge is a canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Up to deep, the canyon stretches for over as the river winds westward through the Cascade Range forming the boundary between the State of Washington to the north and Oregon to the south....
. The shipping of furs to Canton, China, was a financial failure for both the North West Company and, later, the Hudson's Bay Company, in part due to the East India Company's monopoly on British trade in the Far East.

Hudson's Bay Company

The North West Company was merged with the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821. Operations west of the Rocky Mountains were reorganized and the fur districts of New Caledonia and Columbia were merged in 1827 under the name Columbia Department. The name New Caledonia continued continued to be used for the old northern district, and in time came to be used for areas such as the Fraser Canyon

Fraser Canyon

The Fraser Canyon is a stretch of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley....
 and the Lower Mainland

Lower Mainland

The Lower Mainland is a name commonly applied to the region surrounding Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In 2007, 2,524,113 people live in the region; sixteen of the province's thirty most populous municipalities are located there....
.

In 1824 the Hudson's Bay Company built Fort Vancouver

Fort Vancouver

Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trade outpost along the Columbia River that served as the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company in the company's Columbia District ....
 on the lower Columbia River to serve as the headquarters of the entire Columbia Department, which was previously the role of Fort Astoria

Fort Astoria

Fort Astoria was the Pacific Fur Company's primary fur trading post in the Northwest, and was the first United States settlement on the Pacific coast....
 (renamed Fort George).

The Hudson's Bay Company York Factory Express

York Factory Express

The York Factory Express, usually called "the Express" and also called the Columbia Express and the Communication, was a brigade operated by Hudson's Bay Company in the early 19th century connecting York Factory, Manitoba and Fort Vancouver....
, overland route to Fort Vancouver, evolved from an earlier express brigade used by the North West Company

North West Company

The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal, Quebec from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada....
 between Fort Astoria

Fort Astoria

Fort Astoria was the Pacific Fur Company's primary fur trading post in the Northwest, and was the first United States settlement on the Pacific coast....
 (renamed Fort George) to Fort William

Fort William, Ontario

Fort William was a city in Northern Ontario, located on the Kaministiquia River, at its entrance to Lake Superior. It amalgamated with Port Arthur, Ontario and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970....
 on Lake Superior

Lake Superior

Lake Superior is the largest of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by Ontario, Canada and Minnesota, United States, and to the south by the U.S....
. By 1825 there were usually two brigades, each setting out in spring from opposite ends of the route, Fort Vancouver

Fort Vancouver

Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trade outpost along the Columbia River that served as the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company in the company's Columbia District ....
, and York Factory on Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay is a large , relatively shallow body of water in northeastern Canada. It is approximately 850 miles long and 650 miles wide. It drains a very large area that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana, and the southeastern area of Nunavut...
, and passing each other in the middle of the continent. Each brigade consisted of about forty to seventy five men and two to five specially made boats and traveled at breakneck speed (for the time). Indians along the way were often paid in trade goods to help them portage around falls and unnavigable rapids. A 1839 report cites the travel time as three months and ten days--almost 26 miles (40 km) per day on average. This established a 'quick' (about 100 days for 2600 miles (4200 km)) way to resupply their forts and fur trading centers as well as transmitting messages between Fort Vancouver and York Factory on Hudson Bay.

The supplies were brought into Fort Vancouver and York Factory by ship every year (they tried to maintain one years extra supplies to avoid disastrous ship wrecks etc.). The furs they had traded were shipped back on the supply ships with the furs from Fort Vancouver often being shipped to China

China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
 where they were traded for Chinese goods before returning to England

England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
. The furs from York factory being sold in London

London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
 in an annual fur sale. The brigades carried supplies in and furs out by boat, horseback and as back packs for the forts and trading posts along the route. They also carried status reports for supplies needed, furs traded etc. from Dr. John McLoughlin

John McLoughlin

Childhood and early career McLoughlin was born in Rivi?re-du-Loup, Quebec, Quebec, of Irish and French Canadian descent. He lived with his great uncle, Colonel William Fraser, for a while as a child....
, Chief Factor of the Columbia District HBC operations, and the other fort managers along the route. This continued until 1846.

Between the acquisition of the North West Company in 1821 and the Oregon Treaty

Oregon Treaty

The Oregon Treaty, is a bilateral treaty between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846 in Washington, D.C....
 of 1846, the HBC greatly expanded the operations of the Columbia Department. The fur trade was extended to essentially every major river from the Yukon River

Yukon River

The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. Over half of the river lies in the U.S. state of Alaska, with most of the other portion lying in and giving its name to Canada Yukon Territory, and a small part of the river near the source located in British Columbia....
 in the north to the mouth of the Colorado River

Colorado River

The Colorado River is a river in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately 1,450 mi long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains....
 in the south, and east to the headwaters of the Missouri River

Missouri River

The Missouri River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, and the longest river in the United States of America. The Missouri begins at the confluence of the Madison River, Jefferson River, and Gallatin River rivers in Montana, and flows through Missouri River Valley south and east into the Mississippi north of St....
 tributaries. American fur trade competition was effectively blocked through various strategies, including selectively overhunting frontier regions to create "fur deserts", and the construction of forts on the Pacific Northwest coast to intercept furs before American ships could acquire them.

The HBC also diversified their economic activity and began exporting agricultural foodstuffs, salmon, lumber, and other products. Russian Alaska

Russian Alaska

Russian America was the name used for Russian possessions in the New World the period between 1733 and 1867 in which Russian Empire claimed the territory that today is the U.S....
, Hawaii

Hawaiian Islands

The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of 19 islands and atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll....
, and Mexican California

Alta California

Alta California was formed in 1804 when the Las Californias, then a part of the Commandancy General of the Provincias Internas in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, was divided in two, along a line separating the Franciscan missions in the north from the Dominican Order missions in the south....
 were developed as markets for these exports. The HBC opened agencies in Sitka, Honolulu

Honolulu, Hawaii

Honolulu is the Capital and most populous census-designated place in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Although Honolulu refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and the county are consolidated, known as the Honolulu County, Hawaii, and the city and county is designated as the entire island....
, and Yerba Buena

Yerba Buena (town)

Yerba Buena was the name of a town in the Mexico territory of Alta California that became the city of San Francisco, California, after it was claimed by the United States....
 (San Francisco

San Francisco, California

The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the List of United States cities by population in the United States, with a 2007 estimated population of 799,183....
) to facilitate the trade.

Fort Vancouver was the nexus for the fur trade on the Pacific Coast; its influence reached from the Rocky Mountains to the Hawaiian Islands, and from Alaska into Mexican-controlled California. At its pinnacle, Fort Vancouver watched over 34 outposts, 24 ports, six ships, and 600 employees. Also, for many settlers the fort became the last stop on the Oregon Trail

Oregon Trail

The Oregon Trail was one of the main overland migration routes on the North American continent, leading from locations on the Missouri River to the Oregon Territory....
 as they could get supplies before starting their homestead.

By 1843 the Hudson's Bay Company operated numerous posts in the Columbia Department, including Fort Vancouver, Fort George

Fort Astoria

Fort Astoria was the Pacific Fur Company's primary fur trading post in the Northwest, and was the first United States settlement on the Pacific coast....
 (Astoria), Fort Nisqually

Fort Nisqually

Fort Nisqually was an important fur trade and farming post of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Puget Sound area of what is now Washington but in its heyday was part of the HBC's Columbia Department....
, Fort Umpqua

Fort Umpqua

Fort Umpqua was a Factory built by the Hudson's Bay Company in the company's Columbia District , in what is now the U.S. state of Oregon. It was first established in 1832 and moved and rebuilt in 1836....
, Fort Langley

Fort Langley National Historic Site

Fort Langley, is a Parks Canada National historic site, a former trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company, now located in the village of Fort Langley, British Columbia....
, Fort Colville

Fort Colville

The trade center Fort Colville was built by the Hudson's Bay Company at Kettle Falls on the Columbia River, a few miles west of the present site of Colville, Washington in 1825, to replace Spokane House as a regional trading centre, as the latter was deemed to be too far from the Columbia River....
, 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 River and Columbia Rivers, in what is now Okanogan County, Washington, Washington....
, Fort Kamloops, Fort Alexandria

Alexandria, British Columbia

Alexandria or Fort Alexandria is a National historic site on the Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada and was the end of the Old Cariboo Road and the Cariboo Wagon Road....
, Flathead Post

Saleesh House

Saleesh House, also known as Flathead Post, was a North West Company Factory built near present-day Thompson Falls, Montana in 1809 by David Thompson and James McMillan of the North West Company....
, Kootanae House

Kootanae House

Kootanae House, also spelled Kootenae House, was a North West Company fur trading post built by Jaco Finlay under the direction of David Thompson near present-day Invermere, British Columbia in 1807....
, Fort Boise

Fort Boise

Fort Boise refers to two different locations in southwestern Idaho. The first was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post near the Oregon border, dating from the era when Idaho was part of the fur company's Columbia District....
, Fort Hall

Fort Hall

Fort Hall was a 19th century outpost in the eastern Oregon Country, part of the present-day United States, and is located in Fort Hall, Idaho. It was considered the "most significant of all pioneer institutions in the West" by noted historian Merrill D....
, Fort Simpson, Fort Taku

Fort Durham

Fort Durham, also known as Fort Taku, Taku, Taco, and Tacouw and in legal terms as AHRS Site JUN 036 is an archaeological site near Taku Harbor, Alaska, within the limits of Juneau City and Borough, Alaska....
, Fort McLoughlin

Fort McLoughlin

Fort McLoughlin was a Fur trade established in 1833 by the Hudson's Bay Company on Campbell Island in present-day British Columbia, Canada.One of the primary reasons for the establishment of Fort McLoughlin, as well as Lax Kw'alaams, British Columbia to the north, was to undermine the United States dominance of the maritime fur trade....
 (in Milbanke Sound

Milbanke Sound

Milbanke Sound is a Sound on the coast of the Provinces and territories of Canada of British Columbia, extending east from Queen Charlotte Sound , with Price Island on the west, Swindle Island on the north, and the Bardswell Group of islands on the south....
, Fort Stikine

Wrangell, Alaska

Wrangell is a city and List of boroughs and census areas in Alaska in the U.S. state of Alaska. At the 2000 United States Census the population was 2,308....
, as well as a number of others.

Increasing numbers of American settlers arriving on the Oregon Trail

Oregon Trail

The Oregon Trail was one of the main overland migration routes on the North American continent, leading from locations on the Missouri River to the Oregon Territory....
 gave rise to the Oregon boundary dispute

Oregon boundary dispute

The Oregon boundary dispute, or the Oregon question, arose as a result of competing United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and United States claims to the Pacific Northwest of North America in the first half of the 19th century....
. With the signing of the Oregon Treaty

Oregon Treaty

The Oregon Treaty, is a bilateral treaty between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846 in Washington, D.C....
 in 1846 the U.S.-British boundary was fixed on the 49th parallel

49th parallel north

The 49th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 49 degree true north of the Earth equator.The parallel forms part of the United States-Canadian Border from British Columbia to Manitoba on the Canada side and from Washington to Minnesota on the United States side, or from the Strait of Georgia to the Lake of the Woods....
. This effectively destroyed the geographical logic of the HBC's Columbia Department, since the lower Columbia River was the core and lifeline of the system. The U.S. soon organized its portion as the Oregon Territory

Oregon Territory

The Oregon Territory is the name applied both to the unorganized Oregon Country claimed by both the United States and United Kingdom , as well as to the Organized incorporated territories of the United States formed from it that existed between 1848 and 1859....
. The administrative headquarters of fur operations, and of the Columbia Department, then shifted to Fort Victoria

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia. Located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Victoria is a major tourism destination seeing more than 3.65 million visitors a year who inject more than one billion dollars into the local economy....
, which had been founded in 1843 in anticipation of the results of the dispute.

By 1846, the Columbia District proper had been more than halved and the name had fallen into relative disuse, until revived when the new Mainland Colony needed a name. The uncharted territory of the remainder of the Columbia District, including the remainder of the British coast north of Puget Sound

Puget Sound

Puget Sound is an inland marine complex of waterways from the Pacific Ocean, connected to the rest of the Pacific by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, in the Pacific Northwest of the United States....
, as far north as at least Queen Charlotte Strait

Queen Charlotte Strait

Queen Charlotte Strait is a strait between Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It connects Queen Charlotte Sound with Johnstone Strait, Discovery Passage and then to the Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound....
 (Fort Simpson

Fort Simpson (Columbia Department)

Fort Simpson was a Fur trade established in 1831 by the Hudson's Bay Company near the mouth of the Nass River in present-day British Columbia, Canada....
 and Fort McLoughlin

Fort McLoughlin

Fort McLoughlin was a Fur trade established in 1833 by the Hudson's Bay Company on Campbell Island in present-day British Columbia, Canada.One of the primary reasons for the establishment of Fort McLoughlin, as well as Lax Kw'alaams, British Columbia to the north, was to undermine the United States dominance of the maritime fur trade....
 were administered from Fort St. James, the capital of New Caledonia

New Caledonia

New Caledonia , is a "sui generis collectivity" of France located in the subregion of Melanesia in the Oceania. It comprises a main island , the Loyalty Islands, and several smaller islands....
. After 1846 New Caledonia informally referred to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush

Fraser Canyon Gold Rush

The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River, a few miles upstream from the Thompson's confluence with the Fraser River at present-day Lytton, British Columbia....
 region in 1848 and farther north the Cariboo Gold Rush

Cariboo Gold Rush

The Cariboo Gold Rush was a gold rush in the Provinces and territories of Canada British Columbia. Although the first gold discovery was made in 1859 at Horsefly Creek by Peter Dunlevy, followed by more strikes at Keithley Creek and Antler Horns lake in 1860, the actual rush did not begin until 1861, when these discoveries were widely public...
 area during the 1860s. As also had included Fort Langley since as early as 1827.

With the creation of the Crown Colony

Crown colony

A Crown colony was a type of colonial administration of the British Empire.Crown colonies were ruled by a governor appointed by The Crown . Though the term was not used at the time, the first of what would later become known as Crown colonies was the Colony of Virginia in the present-day United States, after the Crown took control from the...
 on the British mainland north of the then-Washington Territory

Washington Territory

The Washington Territory was a historic organized territory of the United States that was formed in February 8, 1853 from the portion of the Oregon Territory north of the lower Columbia River and north of the 46th parallel north east of the Columbia; which had been ceded by Britain in the 1846 Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundar...
 in 1858, Queen Victoria

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was from 20 June 1837 the Queen regnant of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and from 1 May 1876 the first Empress of India of the British Raj until her death....
 chose to use Columbia District as the basis for the name Colony of British Columbia

Colony of British Columbia

The Colony of British Columbia was a crown colony in British North America from 1858 until 1871. At its creation, it physically constituted approximately half the present day Canada provinces and territories of Canada of British Columbia, since it did not include the Colony of Vancouver Island, nor the vast and still largely-uninhabited regi...
, i.e. the remaining British portion of the former Columbia District.

In their

Historical figures of the Columbia District

• David Thompson
  David Thompson (explorer)
  
  David Thompson born Dafydd Patronym#Ireland, Scotland and Wales Thomas, was an English-Canadian fur trader, surveyor, and map-maker, known to some native peoples as "Koo-Koo-Sint" or "the Stargazer"....
  
• John McLoughlin
  John McLoughlin
  
  Childhood and early career McLoughlin was born in Rivi?re-du-Loup, Quebec, Quebec, of Irish and French Canadian descent. He lived with his great uncle, Colonel William Fraser, for a while as a child....
  
• Sir James Douglas
  James Douglas (Governor)
  
  Sir James Douglas, Order of the Bath, was a company fur-trader and a British British Empire in northwestern North America, particularly in what is now British Columbia....
  
• Samuel Black
  Samuel Black
  
  Samuel Black was a Canada fur trade and explorer noted for his exploration of the Finlay River and its tributaries in present-day north-central British Columbia, which helped to open up the Muskwa River, Omineca River, and Stikine River areas to the fur trade; as well for his role as Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company for the Columbia...
  
• Peter Skene Ogden
  Peter Skene Ogden
  
  Peter Skene Ogden , was a fur trader and a Canada 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 and despite early confrontations with the Hudson' Bay Company during his time with the North West Company, l...
  
• Chief Nicola
  Nicola (chief)
  
  Nicola , also Nkwala or N'kwala, was an important First Nations in British Columbia political figure in the fur trade era of the British Columbia Interior as well as into the Colony of British Columbia ....
   (Hwistesmetxe'qen)
• Chief Seattle
  Chief Seattle
  
  Chief Seattle or Sealth , also spelled Seathle, Seathl, or See-ahth, was a leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish Native Americans in the United States tribes in what is now the United States state of Washington....
   (Sealth)
• James Sinclair
  James Sinclair (fur trapper)
  
  James Sinclair was a trader and explorer with the Hudson's Bay Company. Mount Sinclair and Sinclair Canyon in the Canadian Rockies are both named after him....
  
• Sir 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 Northwestern Territory and Columbia Department in British North America from 1821 to 1860....
  
• Alexander Ross (fur trader)
  Alexander Ross (fur trader)
  
  Alexander Ross was a fur trader and author who emigrated to Upper Canada, , from Scotland in about 1805.Working for John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company, Ross took part in the founding of Astoria, Oregon, a fur-trading post in Oregon in 1811....
  

See also

• Oregon Country
  Oregon Country
  
  Oregon Country or Oregon was a predominantly United States term referring to a region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British North America and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s....
  
• Oregon boundary dispute
  Oregon boundary dispute
  
  The Oregon boundary dispute, or the Oregon question, arose as a result of competing United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and United States claims to the Pacific Northwest of North America in the first half of the 19th century....
  
• Colony of Vancouver Island
  Colony of Vancouver Island
  
  See main article Vancouver IslandVancouver Island , was a crown colony of British North America from 1849 to 1866, after which it was united with British Columbia....
  
• History of British Columbia
  History of British Columbia
  
  British Columbia is the westernmost province in Canada. Indigenous peoples have inhabited the territory that is now called "British Columbia", as described in their oral traditions, from time immemorial....
  
• History of Oregon
  History of Oregon
  
  The History of Oregon, a U.S. state, may be considered in five eras: geology history, inhabitation by Native Americans in the United States, early exploration by Europeans , settlement by pioneers, and modern development....
  
• Rupert's Land
  Rupert's Land
  
  Rupert's Land, also sometimes called "Prince Rupert's Land", was a territory in British North America, consisting of the List of Hudson Bay rivers, that was owned by the Hudson's Bay Company for 200 years from 1670 to 1870....
  
• Pig War
  Pig War
  
  The curved lines are as shown on maps of the time. The modern boundary is made of straight line segments and roughly follows the blue line.|partof=|place=Washington-British Columbia border...
  

External links