A River of Settlers

Before 1846, American immigrants traveling the Oregon Trail to Fort Vancouver had to choose at The Dalles, eighty miles upriver from here, whether to navigate their own handmade raft or take a Hudson's Bay Company boat down the Columbia River to here. Many chose to complete these last eighty miles on a Company boat. When they arrived here, Fort Vancouver's manager, Chief Factor John McLoughlin, offered food, supplies, and medical treatment to the weary Americans, then directed them to settle south of the Columbia River in the Willamette Valley. The Company hoped that by discouraging settlement north of the Columbia River, the river would become the international boundary between the United States and British North America. After 1846, immigrants took either a land or water route from The Dalles to Fort Vancouver. Eventually, the arrival of many thousands of new American settlers helped tip the balance in favor of the United States' boundary claims.

Vancouver, Washington · United States